by: Amelie Zhou (age 9) and Michelle Zhou (age 9)

Ever heard of Colonel Chris Hadfield? He was the first Canadian to walk in space, and he went around the world 2600 times. Now does that ring a bell? Voice K got to visit the Ontario Science Centre and had the opportunity to interview astronaut Colonel Chris Hadfield!

 We entered a room filled with exhibits, with a stage and chairs. There were a lot of seats reserved for important guests, such as friends of Chris Hadfield, and Lesley Lewis, the former CEO of the Ontario Science Centre. A stage looked like it was set up for a bunch of speeches, as it had a podium and an official background. There was definitely going to be a lot of media professionals around.

The press conference started with dancers wearing space suits walking to the stage in slow motion. They stretched their arms like they were in space and danced with electronic music. The speeches started at 9:30am. First, some people began with speeches about how this exhibit was dedicated towards Chris Hadfield and Lesley Lewis. Then Chris Hadfield himself made a speech about being an astronaut. He talked about how we were little toddlers, waiting to explore the entire universe. He talked about how it was interesting that evolution saw the need to allow us to explore before we could communicate. We could walk before we could talk.

Lesley Lewis also made a speech about how she became CEO of the Ontario Science Centre. She talked about her steps, and how grateful she was to have this exhibit dedicated towards her. Two people dressed as astronauts did a little dance, and during the break, the Ontario Science Centre glee sang Is Somebody Singing written by Chris Hadfield.

There was also a little media scrum where people asked for Hadfield's autograph, and asked him questions. There was also a lot of other media present. There were a lot of microphones around, and a lot of people were waiting in line to interview him. Finally, after all the questions, it was our turn to interview Chris Hadfield.

Voice K: We recently watched the movie Gravity, what’s the chance of that disaster happening to the real Space Station?

Hadfield: I saw the movie Gravity also. And the problem they had was some debris, some rocks and pieces from space went into their spaceship and caused damage to the spaceship. The International Space Station gets hit by tiny rocks like grains of sand all the time. The ISS has armor on the outside, so it's protected. There is a chance, though, that a piece about the size of your fist would hit it. That would punch a hole in the space station The crew practice for the situation when, suddenly, the space station's losing pressure. They close patches and put on oxygen masks. They might even get into the Soyuz, their little lifeboat.

Voice K: Is it scary in space knowing that you could die at any moment?

 Hadfield: Is it scary on Earth knowing that you could die at any moment? Think about that huge earthquake in Nepal that just happened. It killed all sorts of people. So, the question is, do you allow yourself to be scared, or not? The difference between scary, and being scared; that’s a personal decision, and it depends how you learn about other things. You have to ask yourself where you live, are there earthquakes? What about hurricanes, tornadoes, tidal waves, or gigantic tigers?

 Voice K: Has there ever been a conflict in space, like two people don't get along well?

Hadfield: The Canadian Space Program doesn’t let people randomly go into space. They select astronauts carefully from all over Canada. Only four of us got chosen out of over 5 000 people, and only two of us could live on the space station. The crew is put together and trained years before the expedition. We would be the type of people who get along well with each other anyways. By the time we got to space, we already knew each other very well. We never once had a conflict, partly from training, partly from the type of people they were, and partly because we morally choose not to.

Voice K: What do you miss most when you are in space?

Hadfield: I try and never miss anything. I never spend my time being somewhere, wishing I was somewhere else. I just don't think it's a useful way to go through life. I was weightless, could see all seven billion people everyday, so I didn't spend much time missing things.

Voice K: What do you think about the one-way trip to Mars?


Hadfield: No, no. There’s no one-way trip to Mars happening. It's just an idea, but no, it's not happening. Our technology is not good enough, and it hasn’t been invented yet, but one day, a miracle just might be invented.


Voice K: What is the future plan for the Canadian Space Program?

Hadfield: Canada has been a world leader in space since the very beginning. We were third in nation in space for 50 years. It think we'll continue to build satellites that will help us communicate with the other side of the world, teaching us more. Our satellites can monitor the pollution, climate change, and even the ice in the Arctic! They donate pieces to other satellites, do they could be built, and Canadians help to explore the universe.

            Voice K learned a lot about Chris Hadfield interviewing him, and the International Space Station. It was fun to look at all the interesting exhibits. They showed actual items, such as astronaut clothes, models of spacecraft, and plants growing the way they would in space, in the actual environment. Ontario Science Centre is a great place to look and learn, and you should take the chance to visit it when you can.

On Tuesday, November 18, 2014, Voice K went to the media opening of the Ontario Science Center's newest exhibit, "Brain – The Inside Story."  The experience was so educational, fun, and even weird!

 The Exhibition:
by Dea Yu (age 9), Michelle Zhou (age 9) and Jeffrey Li (age 9) 


The first thing we saw when we walked into the doors of the Brain exhibition was a large amount of tangled wires covering the ceiling. At first I felt very confused, but then I read a sign and suddenly I understood. This is what it looks like in a brain.

As I moved on, I learned more and more fascinating facts. Did you know that if you have shorter memory it is because you don’t get enough sleep? Also, did you know that there are about 100 billion neurons present in the human brain? That’s about 15 times the total human population on earth!

There were activities and games at every turn. There was a stacking game, a tracing game, a language game, a map route game, and lots more!

The tracing game had you trace a shape while looking at your actions in a mirror, so you can only see what you are doing through the mirror. There was a Beginner Shape, which was a triangle. The Advanced Shape was a star. Warning: this activity is easier said than done, but it gets easier over time. It was an example of How-to Memory.

The stacking game is a simplified version of the Towers of Hanoi, where two people can compete against each other. There was also a screen that showed you what happens in your brain when you do things. For example, it showed what happens in your brain when you steal a cookie from mom,  when you're happy, or when you’re hungry.  

There were plenty of strange facts as well. One of the games taught you that things can be easier to memorize when they are in groups that make sense. Plus, there were facts about memory. There was one guy who memorized 2254 digits of π!

Also, we learned that descriptive words can play tricks on your mind. There was also one activity that told you to read two columns that had colored words in them. Column A had words like black, red, and white printed in the color of the words. Column B had the same words, but printed in different colors. Then you had to use the clock above to time someone not to read the words, but to say the color they are printed in. You will notice that Column B takes longer.

We interviewed two guests at the exhibition, Alicia Hilderley and Andrew Barr.

Alicia is a Ph.D. student at the University of Toronto. She works part-time for the Holland-Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, one of the organizers for the event.  She gets to work with lots of kids and play interactive games with them.

Alicia claims to like everything about the exhibit, but feels that having more games, which is already her favorite part, would make the place even more attractive. Her number-one activity is "Stacking Cubes." Though Alicia is an expert on brains, she still learned lots of new and interesting things at the exhibition. "It's very inspiring," Alicia concluded.

Andrew is also learning about the brain at school – its function, makeup, and evolution. He said that his experience at the science center would help him indefinitely during his studies. Andrew found the exhibit very fun and exciting because it was his first time at the facility in many years and he was able to gain a lot of knowledge from the trip. Above all, Andrew liked the languages activity, as he felt that it revealed the substantial differences between some of the languages that are spoken around the world.

Interview with Dr. Elaine Bidiss
by Amelie Zhou (age 9) 

Elaine Bidiss is a scientist at the Bloorview Research Institute and a Professor at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering. 

She was developing a new way to let kids have fun while waiting in the waiting room of Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. She didn't want kids to be bored, but, in an even worse scenario, anxious. Anxiety could result in resistance to treatment, worry, and fighting to not go back to the rehab center. Boredom is just a minor problem, but anxiety proves to be a major problem. They didn't want kids to have a bad memory of the place.

The problem was, they couldn't use toys that involved touching surfaces that everyone touches, because contagious viruses could spread very easily just at a touch. That meant iPads, computers, dolls, hand-activated toys were out of the question. What about bubble machines? That was a good question. It only involved looking at something. However, it’s still no good ─ that interested parents for about 5 minutes, and kids for about 5 seconds. The hospital tried so many things, and after years of experimenting, they came up with a great toy that involved the art of waiting. There was a colourful carpet on the floor and by standing on the squares, floor sensors under the carpet send messages to a big screen. The longer you stand there, the prettier the pictures and sounds will become. Now, parents and kids alike can enjoy growing a garden together!

We also wanted to know why she chose to study the brain. She thought that the brain was a sort of magical thing, and she thought that it was important to know how your brain works, how you learn, how you think. 

 “We want to make sure that kids with disabilities can do things all kids like to do and have fun doing it,  so we design technology that makes it easier for kids to do those sorts of things,” Dr. Bidiss said. We asked a few questions on the brain itself, and learned that playing piano is good for the brain. If you want to improve someone’s brain, it takes practice and willingness. When we asked her why she thinks the brain is located in our heads, she laughed and said she thinks it makes it harder to be damaged, compared to being located in the foot or hand.