2020-03-14 The Week Junior

14 March 2020•The Week Junior 15

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Airline takessteps to help

airportwheelchair users

T

he airline British Airways has

started testing self-driving electric

wheelchairs to help passengers with

disabilities at JohnFKennedy Airport

in NewYork, in the US.

The wheelchairs, made by the

Japanese technologycompany Whill,

arecontrolled through an app on

people’smobile phones.Passengers

canuse the app to tell the wheelchair

whereinthe airport they’d liketogo.

The chairs have been equipped

with sensors, to detect what’sinfront

of them and avoid bumping into things.

Oncethe personhasreached their

destination and got out

of the chair,the

seat drives

itself back to

adocking

station,

whereitwill

charge and

be available

to be picked up

by another passenger.British Airwa

says that almost halfamillion of

its passengers need help getting

around in airports every year.

The airline also says itexpects this

number to rise by 10% in the next

year.Thecompany says the

wheelchairs will allow passengers

who find it difficult towalk long

distances to be moreindependent

in airports.

Ricardo Vidal, the head of

innovation at British Airways,

says that in the next few months

his team will start testing the

wheelchairs at Heathrow Airport

iLdon to get more

eedback. He says

that he hopes the

technology will

mean disabled

passengers have

amore“seamless

daccessible airpor

nce” in future.

A

stronomers (people who study

stars and objects in space) have

discovered that our planet hasanew

moon (although it is only temporary).

On 19February,scientists at the

Catalina SkySurvey Observatory in

Arizona, US, spottedanew asteroid

about the sizeofacar orbiting the

Earth. Asteroids aresmallrockyobjects

in the solar system.

By tracking its path, the team

worked out that the asteroid had been

captured by Earth’sgravity,probably

around three years ago,andso was

anew mini-moon.Amoon is the

term for any natural object that

orbitsaplanet.However,unlikethe

(big) Moon, the orbit of this object

–snappilycalled 2020 CD3–isnot

very stable, and it is thereforelikely

only to be herefor ashort time.

One scientist, GrigoriFedorets, from

Queen’sUniversity Belfast in Northern

Ireland, predicts that itcould be flung

away as soon as April, although not

all scientists agree with him.

This is only the second time an

asteroid has beenrecorded orbiting

the planet asamini-moon. The first,

called 2006 RH120, orbited Earth from

September 2006, until escaping in

June 2007.

Earth gets temporary new moon

The new

mini-moon.

S

tudentstakingpart in the V&A

Museum’sInnovate National

Schools Challenge have designed

anextendable school shoe to

reducethe number of pairs of

shoes that get thrown away as

children’sfeet grow.Every year,

London’sV&A Museum invites

teams of students fromYears 7, 8

and9toinvent designs to solve

everyday problems. This year,one

of the winning teamscame up

with the ideaforaschool shoe

thatcould be dismantled and

rebuilt slightly bigger to allow

them to grow with children’sfeet.

Enjoythesestories? Findmoreint hismonth’sTheWeekJunior

Science+Naturemagazinesciencenature.theweekjunior.co.uk

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Theever-growing

school shoe

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The wheelchair

beingtested.

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and

experien

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Aself-driving wheelchair

tested

at Nari

taAirport in

Tokyo,

Japan,

cantell which

gatetogotobys

canning

thepass

enger’s

face.