Here is the Highlights Magazine free printable Hidden Picture Puzzle Hotlink for June 2009. As always, this puzzle is provided courtesy of Highlights Magazine.

Click on the puzzle link below.

June 2009 Hidden Picture Puzzle (Cooling off in Summer)

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I love ladybugs!

Far from being the docile “cows” of the insect world, these polka-dotted wonders are more like leopards!  They are voracious predators that benefit the garden by devouring destructive insects called aphids. The picture below captures a ladybug munching on an unfortunate aphid.

Not only are they beneficial, ladybugs are a joy to behold!  They come in many designer colors other than the classic red.  Check out these beautiful specimens in  black, green, orange, red, yellow and grey!

Ladybug Facts:

• The number of spots identifies the type of ladybug.
• There are more than 5,000 different species of ladybugs throughout the world.
• As ladybugs age, the color of their spots fade.
• Birds are the major predator of the ladybug. Ladybugs will play dead when threatened.
• Ladybug larvae can eat about 25 aphids a day; adults can eat over 50!
• Female ladybugs are larger than males with most species reaching an adult size of about 1/4 inch.
• While flying, a ladybug beats its wings 85 times per second.
• While eating, ladybugs chew from side to side and not up and down like animals.
• Ladybugs produce a chemical substance that smells and tastes horrible. This prevents them from being eaten by predators.
• In winter, ladybugs do not eat and survive on nutrients stored in their bodies.

The labybug, like all beetles, undergoes a complete metamorphosis during its life. The life stages of the ladybug are: egg –> larva –> pupa –> adult. 

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Free Shipping plus Clearance Prices!

Just until midnight 6/2/09!

There are so many cool items on sale in the clearance section.  If you are a novice star gazer, try the MySky by Meade.  This amazing hand-held device allows anyone to effortlessly navigate the night sky like a pro! 

Reg. $249.00
Clearance $149.00

To activate sale prices and free shipping shop through the Edmund Scientific banner above and apply Promo Code “SHIP31″ at checkout.

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Wallace & Gromit had a patent on this invention long ago (see “A Close Shave”)

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I have always been intrigued by the the mysterious sentinels of Easter Island.  Did you know that some of those statues are 60 feet tall and weigh 80 tons?!  That’s twice the size of the biggest monoliths at Stonehenge!

Who carved them and why?

How did they move these massive statues 10 miles or more to their present locations?

What do they signify?

What happened to the civilization that created them?

I got an opportunity yesterday to screen the upcoming National Geographic Channel program “Explorer:Easter Island Underworld”.  The program takes a fascinating look at how scientists are using up-to-the-moment technology to unravel these and other centuries old mysteries surrounding this remote and mystical place.

Unlike many programs I have watched on this topic, this National Geographic program actually gives us answers and insights based on hard evidence.  We also learn quite a bit about the day-to-day life of the civilization that created these iconic statues - their belief system, diet and the strange obsession that likely lead to their doom.

Explorer: Easter Island Underworld premiers Tuesday June 9th at 10 pm E/P

To see more details about this program including scheduling information CLICK HERE. You can even set a reminder on the NatGeo website so you’re sure not to miss the premiere in the midst of all the start-of-summer craziness.

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Here are the Highlights Magazine free printable Hidden Picture Puzzle Hotlinks for April and May 2009. As always, these puzzles are provided courtesy of Highlights Magazine.

Click on the puzzle links below.

April 2009 Hidden Picture Puzzle (Springtime Fun)

May 2009 Hidden Picture Puzzle (Ballooning)

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Coupon Code “SECRETSALE18″ is good only until 4/18/09. Click the banner below to start shopping and don’t forget to enter the special ”Secret Sale” code “SECRETSALE18″ at checkout for another 18% off any order!

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What is the difference between nuclear fission and nuclear fusion?

Nuclear Fission

The word fission means to split apart. When the nucleus of an atom is split apart, a tremendous amount of energy is released. A very small amount of matter contains a very large amount of energy.  This energy, when let out slowly, can be harnessed to generate electricity. When it is let out all at once, it can make a tremendous explosion in an atomic bomb. Inside the reactor of an atomic power plant, uranium atoms are split apart in a controlled chain reaction.

Although all atoms possess this latent energy, radioactive substances such as uranium possess heavy and unstable nuclei making them easier to manipulate into a chain reaction whereby a heavy nucleus is split into two lighter particles which in turn go off and strike other uranium atoms splitting those.  This process is exothermic, meaning that it releases heat.  The breakdown of the atoms in just one pound of uranium can produce energy equal to the burning of almost three million pounds of coal!

Nuclear Fusion

Fusion means joining lighter nuclei to make heavier ones. The sun uses nuclear fusion of hydrogen atoms into helium atoms. This process, like fission, gives off energy in the form of heat, light and other radiation.

Scientists continue research on harnassing nuclear fusion as a viable energy source.  A solution has not been found yet to maintain a fusion reaction in a contained space.

The advantage of utilizing nuclear fusion as an energy source is that it creates less radioactive waste than fission, and its supply of fuel can last far longer.

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museumofhoaxes.com gives us their list of the 100 best April Fools jokes in history.  Here are the top ten.  CLICK HERE to see the rest.

1957: The respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied, “place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.”

1985: Sports Illustrated published a story about a new rookie pitcher who planned to play for the Mets. His name was Sidd Finch, and he could reportedly throw a baseball at 168 mph with pinpoint accuracy. This was 65 mph faster than the previous record. Surprisingly, Sidd Finch had never even played the game before. Instead, he had mastered the “art of the pitch” in a Tibetan monastery under the guidance of the “great poet-saint Lama Milaraspa.” Mets fans celebrated their teams’ amazing luck at having found such a gifted player, and Sports Illustrated was flooded with requests for more information. In reality this legendary player only existed in the imagination of the author of the article, George Plimpton.

1962: In 1962 there was only one tv channel in Sweden, and it broadcast in black and white. The station’s technical expert, Kjell Stensson, appeared on the news to announce that, thanks to a new technology, viewers could convert their existing sets to display color reception. All they had to do was pull a nylon stocking over their tv screen. Stensson proceeded to demonstrate the process. Thousands of people were taken in. Regular color broadcasts only commenced in Sweden on April 1, 1970.

1996: The Taco Bell Corporation announced it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Hundreds of outraged citizens called the National Historic Park in Philadelphia where the bell was housed to express their anger. Their nerves were only calmed when Taco Bell revealed, a few hours later, that it was all a practical joke. The best line of the day came when White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale. Thinking on his feet, he responded that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold. It would now be known, he said, as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.

1977: The British newspaper The Guardian published a special seven-page supplement devoted to San Serriffe, a small republic said to consist of several semi-colon-shaped islands located in the Indian Ocean. A series of articles affectionately described the geography and culture of this obscure nation. Its two main islands were named Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse. Its capital was Bodoni, and its leader was General Pica. The Guardian’s phones rang all day as readers sought more information about the idyllic holiday spot. Only a few noticed that everything about the island was named after printer’s terminology. The success of this hoax is widely credited with launching the enthusiasm for April Foolery that gripped the British tabloids in subsequent decades.

1992: National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation program announced that Richard Nixon, in a surprise move, was running for President again. His new campaign slogan was, “I didn’t do anything wrong, and I won’t do it again.” Accompanying this announcement were audio clips of Nixon delivering his candidacy speech. Listeners responded viscerally to the announcement, flooding the show with calls expressing shock and outrage. Only during the second half of the show did the host John Hockenberry reveal that the announcement was a practical joke. Nixon’s voice was impersonated by comedian Rich Little.

1998: The April 1998 issue of the New Mexicans for Science and Reason newsletter contained an article claiming that the Alabama state legislature had voted to change the value of the mathematical constant pi from 3.14159 to the ‘Biblical value’ of 3.0. Soon the article made its way onto the internet, and then it rapidly spread around the world, forwarded by email. It only became apparent how far the article had spread when the Alabama legislature began receiving hundreds of calls from people protesting the legislation. The original article, which was intended as a parody of legislative attempts to circumscribe the teaching of evolution, was written by physicist Mark Boslough.

1998: Burger King published a full page advertisement in USA Today announcing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a “Left-Handed Whopper” specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger patty, etc.), but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers. The following day Burger King issued a follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the new sandwich. Simultaneously, according to the press release, “many others requested their own ‘right handed’ version.”

1995: Discover Magazine reported that the highly respected wildlife biologist Dr. Aprile Pazzo had found a new species in Antarctica: the hotheaded naked ice borer. These fascinating creatures had bony plates on their heads that, fed by numerous blood vessels, could become burning hot, allowing the animals to bore through ice at high speeds. They used this ability to hunt penguins, melting the ice beneath the penguins and causing them to sink downwards into the resulting slush where the hotheads consumed them. After much research, Dr. Pazzo theorized that the hotheads might have been responsible for the mysterious disappearance of noted Antarctic explorer Philippe Poisson in 1837. “To the ice borers, he would have looked like a penguin,” the article quoted her as saying. Discover received more mail in response to this article than they had received for any other article in their history.

1976: The British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on BBC Radio 2 that at 9:47 AM a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event was going to occur that listeners could experience in their very own homes. The planet Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, temporarily causing a gravitational alignment that would counteract and lessen the Earth’s own gravity. Moore told his listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment that this planetary alignment occurred, they would experience a strange floating sensation. When 9:47 AM arrived, BBC2 began to receive hundreds of phone calls from listeners claiming to have felt the sensation. One woman even reported that she and her eleven friends had risen from their chairs and floated around the room.

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Here are the Highlights Magazine free printable Hidden Picture Puzzle Hotlinks for February and March  2009. As always, these puzzles are provided courtesy of Highlights Magazine.

Click on the puzzle links below.

February 2009 Hidden Picture Puzzle (The Queen of Hearts & Old King Cole)

March 2009 Hidden Picture Puzzle (Traveling Squirrels)

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