PLANET SCIENCE NEWSLETTER - ISSUE 04 Stardate: Friday 4th October 2002 Did you know you can choose to receive this weekly news update free by email? sign up here More illuminating than an MP's memoirs, more action-packed than the Spartak Moscow goalmouth on Tuesday night ... here's another round up of all the news-you-can-use from Planet Science. Here's what's on the agenda: 01. EARTH SCIENCES WEEK 02. ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK - Help Help Volcano! 03. MOUSES AT THE READY - bag yourself some woody goodies... 04. MOUSES AT THE READY - Counting to Infinity 05. SCIENCE CLUBS 06. ARCHAEOLOGY 07. YOUNG BRITISH FEMALE INVENTOR 08. SCIENCE BEHIND THE NEWS - the green, green grass of golf 09. RWW: A veritable Joule of a site 10. COMEDY CORNER EARTH SCIENCES WEEK Following hot on the heels of international Space Week, here we are on the doorstep of another action-packed global science-themed week. This time, it's Earth Sciences Week, (13-19 Oct) which sees organisations all over the world gearing up with a host of fun, fascinating events and attention-grabbing activities. Whether it's open days at the British Geological Survey, hands-on experiments, or a Giant Jump-inspired mini-quake, this is one week in which earth science will really rock your world.... (sorry, couldn't resist). Anyway, Earth Sciences Week is an annual celebration of the geosciences that aims to enhance people's awareness of the importance of earth sciences to our lives and to help understand how the Earth works. This international event is supported by the American Geological Institute and even former president Bill Clinton is a fan. But don’t let that affect your decision (!) This year's theme is 'Water is All Around You', emphasising the importance of the Earth's greatest natural resource - and (naturally!) Planet Science is here to help you get involved. We've put together some ideas and activities for the home and classroom, plus links to what's available, and you can find them all here. >top ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK To fit in with the geological theme of the coming week, we'd like to highlight a longstanding favourite hands-on activity here on Planet Science. We like to call it 'Help Help Volcano!'... What you'll need: • Vinegar • Baking powder • Washing-up liquid • Food colouring (red works particularly well) • Small plastic bottle • A plate or tray • No-bake clay (optional) • A tablespoon What to do: 1. Put 1 tablespoon of baking powder in the plastic bottle. If you have time and clay, make a volcano shape with the clay around the bottle - it does add to the effect! 2. Add a small amount of washing up liquid, and a few drops of food colouring. 3. Make sure that the volcano is on the tray / plate. And that you've got your apron on! 4. Add vinegar and stand well back... Variation: Put a bung in the bottle and watch it fly out.) What's happening? Well, a. you're on your way to a career in tv visual effects... cheap ones anyway! And b. what you're observing is a classic acid base reaction. Carbon dioxide is given off when the vinegar reacts with the baking powder, leading to a rapid overflowing of the solution. PS this activity does stink a bit, so we recommend you only repeat it once or twice - but it's up to you... >top MOUSES AT THE READY 1: SEED GATHERING SUNDAY Calling all tree-lovers... Sunday 13th October is Seed Gathering Sunday and the Tree Council, the UK's leading tree campaigning charity, would like YOU to get involved. They've even put together five sets of lovely tree-related freebies to give away to the quickest people to email us... But first - a bit more about Seed Gathering Sunday. SGS is a nationwide event aimed at getting as many people as possible to do their bit for the the not-so-abundant tree population in Britain. A wide variety of seed gathering events will be running all over the country on or around the 13th to encourage us all to grow the trees of the future... Getting involved is easy - it's a lovely way to spend a day, and there've prepared plenty of advice to help you with identifying and gathering the seeds as well as growing them. Full details can be found at: http://www.treecouncil.org.uk And so to those freebies. Mmmmmm they sound magic. We have five sets of the substantial 'Good Seed Guide' book, a set of six postcards described as 'the best looking tree postcards ever', AND a seed-gathering carton. If you think this sounds like your kind of thing, all you need to do is email David Tasker on david@planet-science.com with the words 'I WANT TO GO ON A TREE SPREE!' in the subject line. >top MOUSES AT THE READY 2 – ‘COUNTING TO INFINITY’ If you're in the London area and aged anywhere between 9 and 150, have we got a show for you… We’ve managed to acquire a couple of free family passes to 'Counting to Infinity', a maths-based magic carpet of a journey through space and time currently on at the Hampstead Theatre. Ben Silburn is the man in the centre of the action, running about like a crazy thing, cleverly disguised as a succession of important historical mathematicians, from Pythagoras (top footballer apparently) to Sir Isaac ‘I am a genius’ Newton… In turn, these historical characters explain what their contribution to maths was, and how it will help our hero, Omer, to meet the devilish challenge he has been set: to measure the volume of a single raindrop… Serious maths, serious fun, and plenty of audience participation is what the show’s all about. Oh and that tree should get an award for Best Supporting Actor… The show’s on right now and full details can be found on the theatre’s website at http://www.hampstead-theatre.co.uk (scroll down past ‘Abigail’s Party’ – though that’s apparently excellent as well!) The tickets we’ve been given are 4-person family passes for the show at 2pm on Saturday 12th October. So if you’re around and about – what are you waiting for? Send an email NOW to anne@planet-science.com with the words ‘I’M COUNTING ON THESE TICKETS!’ in the subject field, and your name and daytime phone number in the message. The first two emails received will be the lucky winners. >top SCIENCE CLUBS – RESOURCE PACK OUT NOW ‘SciZmic’, the science discovery club network, links together science clubs, science centres and organisations supporting science clubs, and they have a new set of resources they want you to know about… The sciZmic resource pack has been created in response to requests from science club leaders, and is full of ideas to help you put together science-related activities for 10-14 year olds. It contains over 32 different activities, projects and challenges based on 4 themes: habitat, weather, flight and pollution. Activities are designed to work as stand-alone projects, suitable for 1 or 2 indoor and outdoor club sessions, and they’re open-ended investigations, often building on previous activities. They’re suitable for individual students, pairs of students or small groups. Challenges are group activities which could be used for team building or something with a more competitive element… Sample activities are available at http://www.scizmic.net . To obtain a copy of the full pack please send a cheque for £15, made payable to The BA/ECSITE-UK, and your name and address to The sciZmic Resource Pack c/o The BA 23 Savile Row London W1S 2EZ >top REDBRIDGE MUSEUM – ‘OUT ON SITE’ If you’re interested in archaeology and science and you’re in the North-East and East of London, Redbridge Museum have news for you. Here’s what they say: "Coming to a library near you, Redbridge Museum will be on the road - exploring the science of archaeology! Sessions will include digging for real hidden history, detecting evidence through a microscope and conducting your own fizzing scientific experiments! You’ll also get a chance to handle real artefacts as old as Roman times and find out for yourself what it takes to look after them! "Sessions can be booked by calling Redbridge Museum on 020 8708 2317. Tickets are free. Children under 10 years must be accompanied. (The minimum age for children is 6 years old). If you work at or belong to a community group or centre, Out on Site could come and visit you. Sessions are suitable for children and adults and are a great opportunity to bring history to life. If the group/centre is for elderly or young people, people with special needs, a disability or health issues, the touring session can come to you!" For the full touring programme, and to make bookings, call 020 8708 2317. >top YOUNG BRITISH FEMALE INVENTOR OF THE YEAR Look out! A new scheme is afoot to tap into the creativity for which our country is so well known… The Young British Female Inventor of the Year competition is an offshoot of The British Female Inventor of the Year Award and aims to encourage the next generation of female inventors… All you have to do is design something that you think will be invented in the future. And the organisers say imagination is more important than scientific or technological knowledge … The competition is split into two age categories: 12 years & under and 13-18 Years, and the closing date is 20th November 2002. For full details have a look at their site: http://www.bfiy.com Finalists will be invited to attend the award ceremony for The British Female Inventor of the Year Award at the Cafe Royal in London. The winners will be presented with a trophy and assorted prizes. >top SCIENCE BEHIND THE NEWS … or in this case, some science behind the SPORT. This week, the subject under Science Line’s scanning tunnelling microscope is the green green greens of the world’s best golfclubs, like at the Bellfry last week for example… http://www.sciencenet.org.uk/slup/CuttingEdge/ >top RECOMMENDED WEBSITE OF THE WEEK This week's RWW is quite wordy, but we think also very good, and a bit different. It's called 'EUREKA MOMENTS' and its all about the nature of creativity. It's packed with quotes and reflections on the matter by scientific geniuses like Einstein, Darwin and Galileo - and by other non-science smallfry like that guy, whasshisname Shakespeare and others. Print it off and keep it by your side, it's quite inspiring! The url is: http://www.cis.vt.edu/fac/janene/2204/eureka.html >top AND SO TO COMEDY... And it's been a big week. Not only have the Laugh Lab results been announced, but we've received some exceeding good jokes from the newsletter-reading community in response to Dr Comedy's 'Doctor Doctor' challenge... Sue Purdy opened the batting with: - "Doctor, Doctor, I keep thinking I'm covered in gold paint." - "Don't worry, it's only a gilt complex!" Which was OK, but didn't score toooo highly on the scientific content side... However, that was not a problem for comedy-physicist, Mark Dyball: - "Doctor doctor I'm feeling dreadfully lethargic in the mornings..." - "As soon as you get out of bed climb on top of the wardrobe." - "Will that cure me?" - "I don't know, but it will increase your potential energy!" Nor, indeed for our winner, Laurence White of the NGfL content team, who came up with this giant: - "Doctor, Doctor, I've developed centrifugal alchemy." - "I think you're just swinging the lead." Laurence wins a funky filofax, and the following commendation from Dr Comedy. "I think is the clear winner as it has been very painstakingly worked out from the punchline back, and with the element of science integral to the joke. A mini masterpiece!" she says... Oh and for good measure, he gave us this one as well: - Doctor, Doctor, Doctor, Doctor, congratulations on your PhD. Excellent. >top LAUGHLAB RESULTS OUT NOW... As they've been all over today's papers, you'll probably be completely familiar with the results of Richard Wiseman's LaughLab online humour experiment... But we still recommend you read right through the Final Report which was issued yesterday, as it's the most entertaining scientific paper you'll have read in a while. And if the Planet Science team are anything to go by, your funny bone will be well and truly tickled by the mad combination of ostensibly scientific exposition - and jokes you can easily imagine Billy Connolly making a neat job of. The full report is at http://www.laughlab.co.uk - but if you can't get on the site right now, call back later, it's "experiencing difficulties" right now as 150 people per second are attempting to log on... >top >top ANY OTHER BUSINESS Yes! One other bit of business relating to last week's make-your-own-compass activity... Pauline Britton, school technician and Tawny Owl, wrote to us to say that when she does this activity with her Brownies, they find that polystyrene is better than cork as it's easier to push the needle through.... However, she adds, "do not use the ones that look and smell like 'wotsits' because they dissolve in the water and you get a mess that resembles vomit". Good tip, thanks Pauline! The next newsletter will be along same time next week and if you've got anything you'd like to share with the class, please send it to Anne McNaught on anne@planet-science.com That's all for now - have a great week! >top