How do ballerinas dance on the very tips of their toes? It’s called “en pointe,” a phrase from the French language. A professional dancing en pointe looks almost magical. How does she balance like that? Does it hurt? It may look dainty, but it is one of the most strenuous things anyone can do. It takes major strength, years of training, and special shoes called pointe shoes. And yes, it does hurt.
Otherworldly Origins Marie Taglioni was the first woman to popularize dancing en pointe. In 1832, she danced an entire ballet this way. Many classical ballets are full of magical creatures, like fairies in The Nutcracker and enchanted swans in Swan Lake. Rising en pointe makes the dancers seem to float weightlessly like the otherworldly beings they portray. But pointe shoes then were very different than today’s hard pointe shoes. Taglioni balanced on her toes wearing nothing more than soft, tightfitting satin slippers with leather soles, and some extra stitching under the tip.
Modern Engineering
Esta historia es de la edición April 2020 de Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
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Esta historia es de la edición April 2020 de Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
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Who's Your Cousin?
The great apes are among the most popular animals in most zoos. Their actions, facial expressions, and family life remind us so much of ourselves. Have you ever wondered, though, how we might look to them?
Is it possible to die of boredom?
To figure out if we can die of boredom, we first have to understand what boredom is. For help, we called James Danckert, a psychologist who studies boredom at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
THE PROBLEM WITH PALM OIL
Palm oil is all around you. It’s in sugary snacks like cookies and candy bars. It’s in lipstick and shampoo and pet food.
SERGE WICH
Serge Wich’s favorite days at work are spent out in the forest, studying orangutans in Sumatra and Borneo or chimpanzees in Tanzania.
ELODIE FREYMANN
When you’re feeling sick, it probably doesn’t occur to you to try eating tree bark.
Guardians of the Forest
EARLY, MAKESHIFT WILDLIFE DRONES HELPED TO DETECT AND PROTECT ORANGUTANS.
APE ANTICS
The Whirling World of primate play
Dr. Ape Will See You Now
HUMANS AREN’T THE ONLY PRIMATES THAT USE MEDICATION.
THE LEFT OVERS
A lot has happened for modern humans to get to this point. We lost most of our hair, learned how to make tools, established civilizations, sent a person to the Moon, and invented artificial intelligence. Whew! With all of these changes, our bodies have changed, too. It’s only taken us about six million years.
SO, WHAT IS A PRIMATE?
What do you have in common with the aye-aye, sifaka, siamang, and potto? If you said your collarbone, you re probably a primatologist—a person who studies primates. If you’re not, read on.
