Wednesday was the hottest July day in England ever, with a temperature of 36.5C (97.3F) taken at Wisley, Surrey. The temperature beat the previous record from July 1911 when temperatures reached 36C (96.8F) in Epsom, Surrey. As the heat rose, zookeepers were giving animals treats to keep them cool. Animals were given regular hosings down and sprayed with dirt, which acts as a barrier to the sun, while they were fed with specially made ice blocks containing fruit - or for lions, blood. Yuk! What a thought! I’d rather have a ’99.

So why does hot weather pose such a problem for people? Well older people, especially those over the age of 75, are at risk of serious illness, and even death, during very hot weather. The last major heatwave in the UK was in 2003 and was reportedly responsible for the deaths of around 2000 older people. There are several reasons for older people being particularly at risk during a heatwave.

Firstly, as we get older our bodies become less able to recognise hot temperatures. Plus, in older age we have fewer sweat glands and sweat less. Sweating is the body’s natural cooling mechanism and therefore not being able to sweat as much means that it is not possible to stay as cool naturally.

Also, it is common in older age to not feel as thirsty. Therefore it is very important to drink plenty of fluids (avoiding tea, coffee and alcohol) during a heatwave, even if you don’t feel very thirsty, to avoid dehydration. 

The human body is made up of 70% water. Water is essential to the normal working of the body. It lubricates joints and eyes, aids digestion, flushes out waste and toxins and keeps skin healthy. Dehydration is when the normal water content of the body is reduced. This leads to a change in the vital balance of sodium (salt) and potassium in the body. The function of many cells depends critically on these substances so if they are not maintained at the correct levels serious effects follow.

So you may want to pass the following advice on to anyone you know who may be suffering in the hot weather:

To avoid the effects of the heat, such as heat exhaustion or heatstroke remember to:

• Stay inside when the sun is at its strongest – between 11am and 3pm
• Pull the curtains across any windows that are exposed to direct sunlight
• Open windows if the temperature outside is cooler than inside
• Use an electric fan
• Wear light, loose clothing
• Drink plenty of cool drinks
• Eat light cold meals
• Wash or shower in cool water
• When you do go outside, use sun protection lotion of at least factor 15 and wear a hat

So loose clothing is the way to go – not tightly wrapped up like a mummy. Speaking of mummies - a gem in one of King Tutankhamun's necklaces could have been made by a chunk of space rock smashing into Earth millions of years ago. Scientists think it was made by a meteorite exploding over the Sahara Desert millions of years ago. The blast's heat would have turned the ground to glass and created the gem. When they examined the gem they realised that it could only be made at an extremely hot temperature - and the only answer was a meteorite hitting the Earth. The explosion would have been more powerful than an atomic bomb. But as there's no sign of the crash, such as a crater, the scientists reckon the meteorite must have exploded above the desert.

King Tutankhamun's tomb was discovered by archaeologists in 1922. It contained his body along with 5,000 relics. The pharaoh is thought to have died in 1352 BC. See CBBC Newsround for more details, quizzes and games.

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They say ‘Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun’ so maybe we’ve had a little too much sun lately. That’s our excuse for bringing you the hideously catchy llama song. Come on everybody sing up ‘Here’s a llama, there’s a llama, and another little llama…’

It’s been sent in to us by Ted Turner age 11 of Worcestershire so if you can’t get it out of your head, blame Ted! And of course now you all want to know about llamas so here we go…

The llama (Lama glama) is a large camelid that originated in North America and then later on moved on to South America. The term llama is sometimes used to mean any of four closely related animals i.e. the true llama, the vicuña, alpaca, and guanaco. They were used as a system of transportation for the Incas. And if that’s not enough llama for you then checkout the Llama Corner.

The difference between llamas and alpacas are that llamas are larger and have more elongated heads. Alpacas also have more luxurious wool than llamas.

The difference between llamas and camels is that camels have a hump or humps and llamas do not. What do you call a camel with three humps? Humpfrey! 

Should be ‘What do you call a llama? Hump-free’. Yep. Yep, much better joke…

On a more serious note, there’s a great website called NOISE (we didn’t want to mention it earlier in case it alarmed a llama). NOISE stands for New Outlooks in Science and Engineering. The site is full of interesting features including one that tells you all the cool jobs in science and engineering. Plus there’s a trivia section with facts like: starfish have no brains, it would take 150 years to drive to the sun and why the number 37 is so weird. Intrigued? Click on the site and see for yourself.

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Remember issue no. 50? We were giving away a Fingerprint Detective Discovery Tube. A nifty little kit in its own plastic tube. Very handy for sleuthing… The lucky winner is Jordan Claxton (12) from Rotherham. Well done! It will be on its way to you shortly.

So keep entering – you never know! Next time - it could be YOU…

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