#YOUTUBE SHIFTY EYED SPIES MAC#

IRA FLATOW: Could you tell, of course, after you’ve taken it down what the payload is, whether it was spying or just doing some sort of other surveillance?ĭAVID STUPPLES: Certainly. I suppose the spy balloon or reconnaissance balloon might be larger. So you probably can’t tell the difference. So that’s a weather balloon and a spy balloon. And they will also be carrying electronics and antennas. The payload will have solar panels on to provide them power. IRA FLATOW: Is there any way to tell whether a balloon is a spying balloon or a corporate or research balloon?ĭAVID STUPPLES: Not really because they normally have the fabric, which is inflated and lifting the payload. But today, they’re much more sophisticated. So they’ve been around for hundreds of years. They’ve also been around, of course, for people who want to spy on other people because it’s a way that you can sneak up onto them because they’re very quiet. As you mentioned in your introduction the balloons are used for a variety of things, including looking at the weather and also looking at the winds in the stratosphere, the jet stream.

What’s your take on all of this news? Is it surprising?ĭAVID STUPPLES: No, not really. Stupples, I feel like I’ve heard the word “spy balloons” more in the last two weeks than I have in my entire life. Welcome to Science Friday.ĭAVID STUPPLES: I’m very pleased to be here. David Stupples, professor of electronic and radio engineering and director of electronic warfare research at City University of London. So today we’re going to look into the technology behind balloons and focus a bit on what kinds of electrical spying balloons are capable of. And although this might sound like a new problem, there are probably thousands of balloons floating above us– a few for spying, others for studying things like near-space or the weather. This bonanza started with a balloon from China, then escalated into other objects, and now even Russian spy balloons shot down over Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, this week. So go ahead and grab that box of leftover chocolate.īut first, the news has been dominated by updates about suspicious objects being detected in the stratosphere. And as a belated Valentine’s Day treat, we’ll learn about the physics of how chocolate feels in your mouth. Plus, what a new study says about the cost of cancer treatments. Later in the hour, we’re going to dive into the hidden and underappreciated world of seaweed. This highly entertaining second book will have kids clamoring for a third.IRA FLATOW: This is Science Friday.

Yet somehow, there's lots of historical content, and ideas that stretch kids' brains, for instance, the concept of locked-room mysteries, and comparisons of British versus American English. The story's enlivened throughout with Lowery's cartoony art.

#YOUTUBE SHIFTY EYED SPIES MAC#

Another's padded with five pages of spelled-out numbers, from one to two hundred twenty-three, as Mac tries to stay awake counting stones (spoiler alert: He doesn't). One chapter's just a two-sentence punchline. The text is droll, both Mac's deadpan commentary and the Queen's starchy dialogue, and the jokes include cross-Atlantic underwear gags - American pants vs. This clever locked-room mystery about the theft of the Crown Jewels is a whodunit and howdunit, but the real mystery is how Mac Barnett packs in so much fun - and actual history! The Impossible Crime: Mac B., Kid Spy, Book 2 has abundant illustrations and a high joke-per-page ratio, and the narrator is young 7-year-old Mac himself, a video-game loving, wisecracking kid who does his American best to adapt to the demands of spying for the British Queen.

Youtube shifty eyed spies