Is Fake News Monkey-business?
Hurried
conclusions
and being
sensational.
Sometimes,
fake news
is skewing
our rationale.
No more
slow-plodding
on things
that are boring.
The dash
to get printed
or famously best,
means stunning
results might
have lied on
their tests.
Then doors,
opened hastily,
start
a calamity,
causing
confusion,
profusion
and mess!
Their dinosaur mother
left earlier on
as Sauropods never
cared for their young.
So baby-saurs scratched
from inside their shells
‘til together they hatched
from their eggy cells.
Their nest had a guest
of a hungry snake
just waiting for food
to hatch on its plate!
But snakes only munch
one mouthful for tea.
So hatching at once,
most babies ran free.
There’s safety in numbers … for some anyway!
Serpent-like monsters,
grotesque teeth and claws,
wide wondrous wings
and frightening jaws.
Scaly or feathery,
bellowing fire,
this dragon’s our fear
to hire or retire.
Most humans will have
innate fear of snakes.
Don’t want to be bitten
or eaten like cakes.
Nor to be gouged
or burnt into flakes.
And flying or falling
can give us the shakes!
This dragon of terror
can come to our aid.
By facing our fears,
our future is made.
And like many fears,
once overcome,
our dragon could end-up
being our chum.
Birdsong sounds
We can:
cackle like a Kookaburra,
hoot like an owl,
coo like a dove
or cluck like a fowl.
But some bird sounds
need whistling skills,
to copy Willie Wagtails
or Fairy-Wren trills.
While other birdsongs
are too hard to do –
screeching like Galahs
hurts my voice box too!
inspired by the Birds In Backyards website, where you can listen to 40 different Australian backyard birdsongs:
Do Dolphins Kiss?
The dolphins swimming in the sea
make clicks and squeaks quite frequently.
These sounds move fast through liquid’s layer
compared to noises in the air.
Their clicks and chirps we can’t translate
but that’s how they communicate.
Not all their whistles we can hear.
They’re pitched too high for human ears.
They also sent out sounds to mark
locations of the sharks at dark
by bouncing echoes in the black
and timing when they’re getting back.
Since dolphins have to hold their breath
when swimming in the ocean’s depth
their voices aren’t from air that flows.
Instead they’ve lips inside their nose!
Their happy squeaks and chatty clicks,
those chirpy whistles, pops and hiss
like sounds of children’s playground bliss
are made from just a dolphin’s kiss.
Food Flight
Food
in zero gravity
creates
quite a calamity.
Crumbs
can float-off anywhere:
mingle
with your wafting hair;
up
your nose;
get
in your ears;
cause
choking, sneezing
itching
tears!
Tourists
will soon fly in space
expecting
snacks to be in place.
Marshmallows
can’t get up your nose.
At worst
they might mess-up your clothes.
If
thrown around
they’re
safe and fun.
Food-ball
cushions
tasting
yum!
First published in Double Helix (April 2017)
Reproduced with permission of CSIRO
https://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/stem-on-station/ditl_eating
As days grow cooler,
deciduous trees
change their colours
then lose their leaves.
Before they fall,
green chlorophyll’s
no longer made
in autumn’s chill.
So we can see
those leaves unclad,
revealing what
they’ve always had.
Rich-red raincoats
misty-glossed,
veins criss-crossed,
flapping honey
leather soles,
and dying, dowdy
paper scrolls.
This autumn rainbow’s
red – gold – brown.
Confetti falling
all around.
http://www.livescience.com/16508-fall-leaves-rainbow-gallery.html
Venice, in the Middle Ages
feared infection from the boats
that visited its harboured stages,
ordering sailors to “stay afloat!”
For forty days they had to anchor.
NOT set foot on Venice land,
to make sure none were sick and rank
or had bubonic plague at hand.
Quaranta giorni (Kwa-rant-a jee-or-nee)
Quaranta giorni (Kwa-rant-a jee-or-nee)
is “Forty Days” in Italian.
That’s where the word for isolation
known as QUARANTINE began.
https://www.dictionary.com/e/quarantine-vs-isolation
