Australian Geographic Explorers

What’s a maths teacher’s favourite kind of tree? Geometry. Why do plants hate maths? Because it gives them square roots. Are monsters good at maths? Not unless you Count Dracula. Why did the girl wear glasses during her maths class? It improved di-vi

When I was little I used to try to save cicadas from birds during summer. I’d try to nurse them back to health. I was washed in a bucket on the beach when I was a baby, and grew up in a tent! I did a voiceover for The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part’s

1 Have you always been interested in insects? No! I’ve always appreciated nature, but it wasn’t until my first year of university that I became interested in entomology. I had to take a science credit for my degree, which I thought would be terrible,

Aussie skater Keegan scored a 95.83 to secure the top spot on the Olympic Games podium! And his dad Chris thought he’d lose his lunch with nerves while watching. 1 Keegan was born in the US, but spent his childhood on Queensland’s Gold Coast, masteri

Learn how motors work. Connect a simple circuit to build this amazing dinosaur with wood. Have fun exploring basic mechanics. Easy to build. Just mould to create your own glow human skeletons. Mould it, paint it, make it glow ! Place your solar racer

1 You’ve written three maths books, and you’re also the subject of a novel, as part of the cool Aussie STEM Stars series. I read all the others in the series, and there are some incredible individuals with astonishing stories, and I wondered if I bel

What made you want to live in a tank underwater for 12 days? At 15, I saw the Great Barrier Reef and tried scuba diving for the first time. I was hooked! Dad always told me: “If you dream it, you can do it,” so I entered Australian Geographic’s Live

Robots are automated machines that carry out the tasks humans designed them to do. Some look a bit like people, such as C-3PO from Star Wars – or the new humanoid robot Sophia, designed to serve in healthcare, customer service and therapy, and the fi

Anything is possible at Explorers magazine. You’ll meet real-life eco heroes, learn practical ways to help the planet and its animals, and will learn useful survival skills too. There are also lots of activities to do and jokes to LOL at, and every i

Let’s break a silly myth right off the bat. You don’t need a farm or even a big backyard to grow your own fruit and vegies – you just need patience and lots of enthusiasm. In fact, you can start really simply with just a pot in a sunny spot in your h

When mum told me there were dinosaurs in my backyard, I thought she was joking – but a visit to the Museum of Tropical Queensland in Townsville, where I spent some time in their Palaeontology Lab, confirmed it. There are plenty of fossils for kids to

1 Keep it simple. Take it one day at a time, and be patient with yourself. Life is strange right now. 2 Vent. Share how you feel with your friends and family instead of keeping it bottled up. 3 Meditate. Sit for five minutes and breathe nice and slow

With funding from WWF, Dr Romane Cristescu is updating her tiny solar-powered bluetooth ear tags to Very High Frequency technology, to better track – and save – koalas after bushfires. Awesome! In an Aussie first, Tip Top has swapped the plastic bag

There is a stretch of coast in western Tasmania that’s famous for its quicksand. It’s claimed vehicles, dogs and even cows, although fortunately any humans who got stuck have been able to navigate their way out. Quicksand looks like solid ground, but

What are monotremes? They’re mammals that lay eggs. All other mammals give birth to live young, but the echidna and platypus lay eggs! Echidnas deposit a single egg into a small pouch on their belly, and the female incubates the egg until it hatches.

The world’s most famous painter was also a scientist, inventor and engineer. 1 Most of his art was lost – luckily the Mona Lisa survived! 2 Leonardo loved animals, and was really good at music. 3 He had many interests, so took years to do a painting!

What was it like the first time you worked with one of these turtles? Amazing! Manning River turtles are like living, breathing dinosaurs. They have been around for so long – and nearly entirely unchanged. The first opportunity I got to go and look f

step-by-step Explorers Sadly, green turtles are endangered. Their main threats come from getting caught in fishing gear, being hunted for their meat and eggs, eating plastic, and loss of beach nesting sites. ■

1 How did you get into film? When I was 12, I watched Spider-Man at the cinema, and was in awe when I saw him swing through the streets of New York. I knew some basic Photoshop, and understood someone had created those pictures on computer, so I made

Siblings: I am the sixth child in a family of eight, consisting of three girls and five boys. I have a twin sister, Ruth, and we both study at Nabiswera Primary School. Pet: A pet white-and-brown cat that I feed with milk and left-over food. Hobbies: