October/November 2022

Killer Plants

Life Science

These plants make meals out of insects and other critters.
Movie Animator

Engineering, Technology

Digital artist Renato dos Anjos brings some of your favorite movie characters to life.
Bertha Parker's Big Find

Life Science, Earth and Space

This Native American archaeologist found an animal skull that changed our understanding of human history.
Meet the Star-Nosed Mole

Life Science

Get nose-to-nose with a strange rodent
Going, Going, Gone

Earth and Space, Physical Science

Helium has all kinds of uses. But is the world running out of this special gas?
An Incredible Invention

Engineering, Life Science

How flushing toilets changed the world
Explain This!

Physical Science

Constructing Explanations: Analyze a photo of an intriguing natural phenomenon.
Reaching for the Sun

Earth and Space

Read a short science news article with a graph about solar probes.
Mummy Revealed

Physical Science

Read a short science news article with a diagram about scanning mummies with X-rays.
Rainbow Fish

Life Science

Read a short science news article about a newly named fish.
Cheese Bot

Engineering, Technology

Read a short science news article about a robot that checks cheese quality.

Slideshows

What's Really Going On Here?

<p>Check out the explanation for the back page of the October/November 2022 issue.</p>

Person in a kitchen but standing on the ceiling

It’s not easy to boil a kettle of water while you’re standing on the ceiling! That’s what the young woman in this photo appears to be doing.

But she’s not really defying gravity—the force that pulls objects toward Earth. In reality, her feet are firmly planted on the ground. She is visiting a tourist attraction in the Southeast Asian country of Thailand. It’s a house built entirely upside down!

The house, named Upside Down Pattaya, doesn’t just look topsy-turvy on the inside. The outside of the building also appears as if it has been flipped over onto its roof.

Two images, person on ceiling with bed on floor and one of person on ceiling with table on floor

Inside the house, beds, chairs, potted plants, sofas, tables, and even toilets are attached to the ceiling. This helps create an optical illusion! Optical illusions are things that visually trick a person’s brain into seeing something that’s different from reality. The design of the house makes visitors feel like they are walking on the ceiling. When someone snaps a photo of them and then flips the image upside down, the illusion can fool our brains too.

Two images, person on floor with bed on ceiling and one of person on floor with table on ceiling

This is what the previous photos look like before they were flipped upside down.

The upside-down house in Thailand isn’t the only one. You can find similar attractions in Germany, South Africa, and the United States.

Photo Credits

Slides 1-4: RAY EVANS/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Slide 5: LUIZ BARRIONUEVO/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM