The air fills with high-pitched chirps. But it’s not birds calling. It’s frogs! They are so noisy it sounds as if there could be hundreds of them. These frogs are why the team has climbed nearly eight hours to visit this cloud forest, a mountainous area where clouds hang low among the trees.
The scientists have come to study miniature frogs—some no bigger than a jellybean! These frogs need cool temperatures and moisture to live, so a damp cloud forest is the perfect place for them. Twenty-one kinds of cloud forest frogs have been discovered during other trips. Now the professor and his team hope to find even more.
The team walks toward the sound, but the amphibians go quiet and hide as soon as they feel footsteps coming near. To frogs, something moving on the forest floor might be a hungry snake. They can stay quiet and out of sight for up to an hour. Even if the professor and his team can’t see the frogs, they know where the amphibians are likely to be. Cloud forest frogs spend their day in the leaf litter, the fallen leaves that pile up on the forest floor. There they find bugs to eat, and their skin soaks up moisture from the wet leaves.
Now they burrow deeper into the leaves to hide. The scientists get down on their hands and knees and lift the muddy leaves one by one. Sometimes they can’t find a single frog, no matter how many leaves they check. Being a scientist can be frustrating!
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Chopsticks
Shay can never hold her chopsticks properly. When she uses them, they crisscross and make an X, and sometimes she cannot quite pick up the slippery pieces of tofu. Her mother laughs.
Matthias and the Dragons
STRIDING QUICKLY ALONG, Matthias glanced uneasily at the black stone cliffs towering beside him. Ahead, a still lake swarmed with dark clouds of midges. Finally, he spied the faraway ocean. Now I know my way back, he thought. I’d better hurry. We’re leaving the inn this afternoon, and Father won’t be too pleased if I’m late.
Doodlebug & Dandelion - The Jellybean Machine
“Where’s Dandelion?”
THE FUN ZONE : Sundial
TAKE THIS SUNDIAL, or shadow clock, outside on a sunny day. It’s not as exact as a watch, but it’s more fun!
Letters from Leo
CHILDREN STORIES
Meltdown at the Doughnut Factory
CHILDREN STORIES
OPHELIA'S LAST WORD - EXTREME JELLYBEAN CUISINE
IT TAKES A long time to make jellybeans! But whipping up this delicious jellybean bark won’t take you a whole week.
Telling Time
Art by Kelly Canby
Secret Message Scytales
HISTORY COMICS
ONE WEEK WONDER
WOULD YOU WAIT a week to eat a jellybean?
Pivoting to Troll
Elon Musk’s incessant posting may do wonders for his ego and clout in right-wing circles, but it has destroyed value pretty much everywhere else
Rafael Brandão THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME!
In the fall of 2017, MD's own Giles Thomas was in San Marino, Italy covering the pro show. Two future stars made their pro debut that day. One was the tank-like Hadi Choopan, and the other was a study in shape and symmetry named Rafael Brandão from Brazil. Giles immediately recognized the vast potential in the young man, and as time went by the rest of the bodybuilding world caught on. Fast-forward to 2022 and "Rafa," as many know him, is one of the best up-and-coming competitors in Open Bodybuilding. We spoke about training with Flex Lewis, the true power and rewards of bodybuilding beyond the superficial muscles, the meteoric rise of Brazilian athletes in the IFBB Pro League, and his first Mr. Olympia coming up later this year.
Why Land Is Key to Brazil's Presidency
Lagging Lula in polls, Bolsonaro is wooing rural voters by giving squatters title to their farms
Avoiding A Brazilian Detroit
The country's Motor City is losing plants and jobs in a sign of manufacturing decline
SAMBA
FABIO KOEHLER is an artist and a musician who has been living away from his native Brazil for over six years. Here he shares the joy of samba and describes how people from all cultures have danced and made music to connect with life, transform pain into happiness, and come together in community.
Jatoba
"Pretty, but tough and ornery"
TERRITORY OF ABSENCES ALMIR BINDILATTI
ART MARKET
OUTAGE HIGHLIGHTS HOW VITAL FACEBOOK HAS BECOME WORLDWIDE
The six-hour outage at Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp was a headache for many casual users but far more serious for the millions of people worldwide who rely on the social media sites to run their businesses or communicate with relatives, fellow parents, teachers or neighbors.
Brazil Speeds Up Mobile Payments
A year ago the Pix platform didn’t exist. Now half the population uses it like cash
Billionaires Vie for the Future of Brazilian Finance
An escalating battle between two billionaires is upending the financial community in São Paulo, Latin America’s wealthiest city.