Ian Blaska, age 12, of Barre, Vt., for his question:

DOES ATLANTIS EXIST?

Atlantis was a large, mythical island in the Atlantic Ocean. It does not exist.

Plato tells a fanciful tale that a great empire existed on Atlantis in ancient times. Its armies planned to attack Mediterranean countries. Later, earthquakes and floods shook Atlantis and submerged it. During a day and night of rain, the story goes, the entire country sank into the sea.

In later years, many people believed that Atlantis had indeed existed. When Christopher Columbus and other European explorers reached the West, the story of Atlantis increased in meaning.

Some scientists believe that Atlantis was actually the island of Thira in the Aegean Sea. A volcanic eruption destroyed a large portion of Thira about 1500 B.C.