In the wooden treehouse in the old oak tree 🎵 behind their home, there was a perfect, scientific silence. It was called The Cardboard Lab for good reason. Even though the floor was made of wood, every supercomputer and research station was built from carefully cut, recycled cardboard.

Clara, the eight-year-old Chief Engineer, adjusted the pencil tucked behind her ear and pulled her safety goggles down over her eyes 🎵. Her white lab coat, which was at least two sizes too big, rustled with every move 🎵. She had taped a square onto the wooden floor with yellow electrical tape 🎵. This was The Sterile Zone.

In the middle of the square lay a small, rectangular magnet. Clara carefully sprinkled black powder 🎵 from a little jar all around it. Next to it sat a box of ordinary paper clips.

“According to my calculations…” she muttered to herself, making notes on her clipboard. “These iron filings are about to form a perfect, flat pattern. I’ll draw a map of the invisible force, close my Research Journal, and prove that physics is perfectly neat and tidy.”

Out on a branch by the window, Copernicus the veiled chameleon blinked lazily 🎵. He was feeling relaxed and glowing a beautiful, grassy green.

Suddenly, the treehouse door burst open with a loud BANG 🎵 as it hit the wall.

“BANZAAAAAAI!”

A red tornado spun into the room. It was Leo 🎵. He was wearing a cape made from an old bath towel and pink swimming goggles over his eyes. In his hand, he held a long stick with a string tied to it. At the very end of the string dangled a giant, chewed-up wad of bubblegum.

Copernicus immediately flashed his warning colors: bright yellow 🎵 with black spots.

“Quiet!” hissed Clara, shielding her experiment with her hands. “You’re disrupting my test environment!”

“I’m going fishing!” the six-year-old announced proudly, waving his stick around 🎵. The chewed-up gum swung just an inch from Clara’s nose 🎵. “I’m going to catch invisible flying fish. They have a nest in here, I can feel it!”

Clara sighed so deeply that the bottom of her oversized lab coat fluttered.

“Leo, it’s simple biology. Fish don’t fly, and they certainly don’t live in oak trees. Plus, that gum is full of germs. Step out of The Sterile Zone! I’m conducting a very important experiment on magnetism.”