Over two billion years back in the past the Earth’s like a snowball with frozen white crusts.
The carbon dioxide levels were low which made our world colder and covered in snow.
Life had evolved as small single cells. But many would die as the temperatures fell.
Since some could survive that long glacier spell, could other ice worlds hide life-forms as well?
First published in Double Helix (Jul 2016)
Reproduced with permission of CSIRO
Turn me over,
Then put me down,
And watch the snow begin:
Onto trees,
And Christmas scenes,
The secret’s glycerin.
Mixed with water
Inside the globe,
It slows the glitter down,
So when it falls
It looks like snow,
Drifting all around.
A perky little Pea crab knocked on an oyster’s door He bellowed out for food please then hollered out some more
The sleepy slimy oyster didn’t really have a say as the cunning little Pea crab barged in to live that day That cute and crafty Pea crab shelter, air, and food all free sponged of his oyster roommate gently rocking in the sea
Queen Elizabeth II met Shetland Pone Cruachan IV, the mascot of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, during a visit to Stirling Castle.
“Earth control to Major Tom”
David Bowie sang this tune,
It helped me to imagine
The men walking on the moon.
Who would have thought it could happen?
“Not in our lifetime”, we’d say.
But it definitely did, I assure you.
Oh what an amazing day.
The furthest in space I’ve ever travelled
Was in a jumbo jet,
But looking down on those clouds
Was the closest I’d ever get.
Australian Children’s Poetry 