1. Emmie, 9, asks: can fish smell?

   1. Yes, but they only smell things outside the water

   2. Yes, they smell things in the water

   3. Fish can’t smell or taste

   4. No – it’s to save them from their own strong scent

2. Martha, 8, asks: what does the meme six-seven actually mean?

   1. The numbers add up to 13, considered unlucky

   2. The sum 6x7 equals 42, a number widely regarded to be the meaning of life

   3. It has no fixed meaning

   4. Most people blink 6-7 times in 30 seconds

3. Toby, 10, asks: why are our veins blue when our blood is red?

   1. Veins look blue because of the way light interacts with our skin

   2. Blood is only red when it leaves the body due to intense oxygen exposure

   3. We evolved like it to stop predators seeing our blood

   4. Blue blood cells evaporate when blood leaves the body

4. Sam, 6, asks: what is the hottest thing in the universe?

   1. The solar flares of stars

   2. The Earth’s core

   3. The sun

   4. Quark-gluon plasma

5. Mireya, 8, asks: why do planets orbit the sun and not around other planets?

   1. The sun was there first

   2. Nobody knows

   3. The planets are positive magnets, but the sun is a negative magnet

   4. Because of gravity – the sun has a greater mass, so has a stronger gravitational pull than other planets

Solutions

1:B - Most fish have smell receptors in “pits” on their nose. When chemical traces of scents in the water reach these receptors, a signal is sent to the brain, similar to the way humans smell. A few species of fish, such as seahorses and pipefishes, have no smell receptors., 2:C - The famous six-seven trend originates from the song “Doot Doot (6 7)” by Skrilla. Despite becoming very popular in 2025, it has no fixed meaning., 3:A - Veins look blue due to the way light passes through our skin and reflects back to our eyes – red light can travel through the skin and be easily absorbed, whereas blue light is mostly reflected back, so it’s the colour we see., 4:D - The hottest thing we know of is quark-gluon plasma, produced in experiments at the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva. It is believed to be one of the materials present after the big bang, and has reached 5 trillion degrees C., 5:D - The sun has a much greater mass than the other planets in our solar system, so it exerts the strongest gravitational force. This makes the planets orbit the sun rather than each other.

Scores

1. 5 and above.

2. 4 and above.

3. 3 and above.

4. 2 and above.

5. 0 and above.

6. 1 and above.