Muse (magazine)
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Muse is a magazine for children (recommended for those age 10 and up). It is published by the publishers of Cricket and Smithsonian magazine. It contains articles on history, science, and the arts. There are cartoon characters on the margins known as the "New Muses": Kokopelli, Urania, Mimi, Bo, Chad, Crraw, Feather, Aeiou, and Pwt. Urania is the only one of the original Greek muses, but Kokopelli is a fertility and trickster god of many Native American tribes. The name of Bo, a bovine muse, comes from Latin.
The Muse magazine is published nine times every year. In each issue is a comic ("Kokopelli & Company"), written by Larry Gonick, an article on something loosely related to the subject of the issue by Nancy Kangas, many articles about different subjects, a math article by Ivars Peterson, letters from readers, a contest, and a question and answer page. In addition, Bo's Page features several amazing facts about different events in society and science, such as "sponge-nosed" dolphins and dinosaur daycares. In most issues, a "fake fact" is included, which readers try to guess. The answer is given upside-down at the end of Bo's Page.
Past issues of Muse have included articles on things like vegetarianism, pie throwing, alien life, Naked Mole Rats, the origin of the moon, pirates, urban legends, insects, mummies, tenrecs, the history of napkins, New Zealand's exploding trousers, Rube Goldberg inventions, The Lord of the Rings, blind cavefish and much, much more.
[edit] Meet the Muses:
- Kokopelli: muse of tunes and tricks
- Chad: muse of Hardware
- Aeiou: muse of Software
- Bo: muse of Factoids
- Urania: muse of Astronomy
- Feather: Muse of Plants
- Crraw: muse of Bad Poetry
- Pwt: muse of Animals
- Mimi: muse of getting along with people
Robert Coontz, who answers the Q&A section of the magazine with Rosanne Spector, also runs the fan page for subscribers who can't wait four months for their letter to be published. Robert Coontz and Rosanne spector also moderate MuseBlog, "Where Musers Mingle."
