Text # 4 “A full moon could give you a bad night's sleep”
If you have trouble sleeping at certain times of the month, it could be because of a full moon. Scientists from the University of Washington say there is a link between the lunar cycle and sleeping patterns. They say that on nights when there is a full moon, people could experience more restless sleep. The reason for this could be the Moon's changing brightness. When there is a full moon, the extra brightness in the night sky could interrupt our sleep. The scientists said: "Moonlight is so bright to the human eye that it is entirely reasonable to imagine that, in the absence of other sources of light, this source of nocturnal light could have had a role in [changing] human nocturnal activity and sleep."
The scientists conducted a study of the sleep patterns of over 500 people. Each person wore a special wristband that tracked their sleep. The study included 98 people from an isolated village in rural Argentina. These people did not have access to electricity and other artificial light sources. Their sleep patterns were compared to 464 people living in U.S. city of Seattle, which has lots of artificial light pollution. The scientists discovered that people in the rural village and in the big city got less sleep on the nights leading up to the full moon. The scientists said the artificial light in cities does not seem to affect sleeping patterns and that, "human sleep is synchronised with lunar phases."
TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if 1-8 below are true (T) or false (F).
- Scientists say there is no link between sleep and lunar cycles. T / F
- Scientists say people may have restless sleep when there is a full moon. T / F
- The extra brightness of the Moon could interrupt our sleep. T / F
- Moonlight is a source of nocturnal light. T / F
- Scientists looked at the sleep pattern of over 5,000 people. T / F
- Some of the people in the study lived in a rural Argentinian village. T / F
- People in a rural village got more sleep on nights before a full moon. T / F
- Scientists say human sleep is synchronised with lunar phases. T / F
Text # 5 “Early humans may have hibernated in winter”
Many animals hibernate for the winter. They stock up on food and hide away in a hole or cave to escape the snow and cold. Scientists now believe early human beings may have hibernated too. The scientists looked at the fossils of bones from our early ancestors who lived around 430,000 years ago. The bones were found in a site in the north of Spain. The scientists are experts in studying fossils and ancient bones. They say that the cuts and other signs of damage on the bones they examined are similar to those on bones of animals who hibernate, like bears. They also say that early humans may have hibernated to escape the extreme cold. Winters were much colder hundreds of thousands of years ago.
The scientists looked at the bones of several dozen humans. Scientist Antonis Bartsiokas said there is evidence that early humans slowed down their metabolism so they could survive longer in winter without food. However, humans could not slow their metabolism like a bear. Bears can wake up after months of hibernation and their body will be the same as when they went into hibernation. The bones of the early humans showed people suffered health problems because of hibernation. Many of the problems were caused by a lack of vitamin D, which we get from sunlight. This can make our bones weaker. The researchers said: "We have to emphasise that hibernations are not always healthy."
TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if 1-8 below are true (T) or false (F).
- The article says animals stock up on food and hide in a cave or hole. T / F
- Scientists studied the bones that were over 500,000 years old. T / F
- The scientists are experts in hibernating for the winter. T / F
- Winters were milder hundreds of thousands of year ago. T / F
- The scientists looked at the bones of over 100 early humans. T / F
- Bears could slow their metabolism for longer than early humans. T / F
- A lack of sunlight caused early humans health problems. T / F
- A scientist said hibernating was always healthy.
Text # 6 “ Photo of Andromeda Galaxy wins astronomy prize”
A French photographer has won a top photography contest. Nicolas Lefaudeux won the prestigious prize in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2020 competition. This is run by the Royal Observatory in the UK. Mr Lefaudeux won the $17,000 prize for his photo of our closest galaxy - the Andromeda galaxy. Andromeda is two million light years from Earth. It neighbours our Milky Way galaxy. Lefaudeux used a special technique called tilt-shift to take his photo. The result is a spectacular photo that makes Andromeda look amazingly close to us. In the photo, we can clearly see the bright, oval-shaped galaxy in the darkness of space. It is surrounded by countless other stars and celestial objects.
Mr Lefaudeux is a celebrated astronomy photographer. His winning photo is titled "Andromeda Galaxy at Arm's Length". It beat thousands of other photos from the world's leading photographers. The photo won in the "Galaxies" category, as well as the competition's overall best photograph. Lefaudeux told reporters he was very surprised at winning the top prize. He said: "I was really not expecting to be the overall winner. I had some hopes for being placed in the galaxy category, as I liked the sense of depth given to the galaxy." He joked that he was "over the Moon" when he got the news that he had scooped the prize. Reporters said he could now "reach for the stars" and win more prizes.
TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if 1-8 below are true (T) or false (F).
- A Russian photographer won a top astronomy photo prize. T / F
- The photo contest was run by the USA Observatory. T / F
- The Andromeda Galaxy is two million light years from Earth. T / F
- The winning photo showed the Andromeda Galaxy with nothing around it. T / F
- The winning photo is called "Andromeda Galaxy at Arm's Length". T / F
- The winning photographer was not at all surprised he won. T / F
- The photographer said he was over the Moon about winning. T / F
- Reporters told the photographer to reach for the stars. T / F