Lisa Morris, age 9, of Rowayton, Connecticut, for her question:

Does the North Pole move?

Hawaii was once near the North Pole. This was millions and millions of years ago. Several million years later, Japan had a chance to move near the North Pole. Much later, the North Pole was visited by Siberia, in northern Russia. It seems that the North Pole likes to wander around the globe. But the changes are so slow that we would hardly notice much change in a million years. The South Pole also seems to wander. Millions of years ago, the Antarctic ice cap was in Africa, on what is now the hot sandy Sahara desert.

Experts tell us that the poles themselves do not really wander around the globe. They always point to the same fixed spots in the sky. What really moves is the earth's outer crust. It slides around somewhat like a loose jacket. As it moves, it gradually shifts different lands and seas over the North Pole and the South Pole.