We all have questions about the world around us and it could include social, scientific or daily life queries. We ask our parents and teachers for the answers.

But, let’s admit, at a young age like yours, the trail of questions never stops; let’s just give your parents or teachers a little break and ask Dr Universe at https://askdruniverse.wsu.edu/ — a site with questions from kids around the world on everything they are curious about.

So who is Dr Universe? Well, it is a cute but intelligent fictional cat character wearing a lab coat, who intently investigates and explores the perfect explanation for questions submitted by kids from around the world. Dr Universe doesn’t do her job on her own, she teams up with professors, researchers and other experts to provide fact-based answers.

So on the site, you will find no twisted details. With a simple interactive homepage, the site is easy for you to navigate. You can select from the sections given in the centre.

Clicking on “Explore” will open the categories of “Brain and Body”, “Culture”, “Earth and Sky”, “Food and health”, “History and Geography”, “Plants, animals and bugs”, “Technology, Engineering and Math”; while you can ask any question in the “Ask me” section and watch questions being answered in video format in “Videos” section.

The section, “Activities” will allow you to download virtual background, posters, colouring sheets, etc. but you can listen to the podcasts in episodes from the section, “Podcasts”.

You will be amazed to see that even six-year-old kids ask question and get an answer. So it feels like a family board where you can ask any question that comes to your mind. And of course, Dr Universe encourages children to keep asking questions.

The website gets a lot of questions and Dr Universe does her best to answer as many as possible via e-mail. She posts one big question each week on the website and sends it out in the Cat Mail e-newsletter.

The site claims that each post is fact-checked and vetted by a professor, researcher or graduate student from Washington State University.

Have questions? Ask Dr Universe at https://askdruniverse.wsu.edu/ or stay connected with her on Facebook and Twitter for updates.

Published in Dawn, Young World, March 12th, 2022