PLANET SCIENCE NEWSLETTER - ISSUE 07 Stardate: Friday 25th October 2002 Did you know you can choose to receive this weekly news update free by email? sign up here It's ghoulish, it's schoolish ... and there are three terrible jokes at the end. May we present: this week's newsletter. Welcome welcome welcome...! And hanging out in the cavern tonight: 01. TEACHING AWARDS - and the nominations are... 02. PLANET GOTH - be afraid, be very afraid 03. ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK - blood and gore 03. NOMINATE YOUR LOCAL (school science) HERO 04. GRADUATE FAIRS - there to be used! 05. Science goes ON THE BUSES 06. SCIENCE BEHIND THE NEWS - kidney keyhole operations 07. RWW - antibiotics & 3 hammer horrors 08. JOKE OF THE WEEK 09. AOB GOOD LUCK ALL NOMINEE TEACHERS First of all, congratulations to all the nominees for the BP Science Year Teaching Award. The ceremony will take place with the winner being announced on Sunday. As you may remember, this is a one-off award being sponsored by BP in recognition of top teaching carried out during Science Year. Over the past several months, the award judges have been out and about visiting schools and the 14 regional winners are as follows: Kate Aldridge, Covingham Park Junior School - West Jane Attwood, Rose Bridge High School - North West Fiona Blankson, Hotham Primary School - South East Daniel Bloomfield, Landau Forte College - East Midlands Richard Cooper, Churchdown School - West David Mason, Millom School - North East and Cumbria Catherine Newstead, Caton St Pauls C.E. Primary School - North West David Overton, Hull College - North Alison Pearson, Oldbury Wells School - West Midlands Alison Popperwell, The Cooper's Company & Coborn School - East Stuart Reeves, Thomas Peacock Community College - South Helen Reynolds, Gosford Hill School - South East John Sandbach, North Devon College - South West Emma Willmott, Bettws High School - Wales The award ceremony is taking place at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London on Sunday night, and as is the tradition by now, the event will be televised on BBC1 on 3rd November, so you'll be able to witness all the tears and laughter for yourself then. As before, there will be a glittering array of media starlets there on the night (outshone though by the teachers with their fab impromptu speeches again, what's the betting?!) So good luck to all the regional winners ... but the truth is of course, Everyone's A Winner. And now for something completely different... Back to top ADULTS GET SCARED TOO It's only natural to consider death... ... after all, it's the one certain thing in life... ... but some people consider it slightly more often than others ... Such are the opening words to the newest and blackest area of the Planet Science website, Planet Goth. Ready for you to explore on Hallowe'en. All things vampire, bloodthirsty, jet-black, ghost-white, nocturnal and best-left-6-feet-under are waiting for you inside the Haunted House. So be our guest... You're not chicken are you? Of course not. So go on, go on in. Your friends are all waiting for you. And they've been waiting so long. Come on, what's the worst thing that ... could ... happen? HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAA Click click quick quick! Race your way around the Haunted House if you dare, and then satisfy your hunger with a few Trick or Treats. A Peppermint Scream Cream perhaps? A few fake scabs and scars for you, Vicar? Yes, goths like cookery too and they've opened up their dusty recipe Book of the Undead especially for you in time for 31st October. It's all there on Planet Goth, and whether you're a ghoulish fiend or it really is the science you're after, you'll find what you came for. Oh yes... We're really proud of our Ghoulish Grotto, and this is a good moment to say Thank You a Million Times to Telepathy, our interactive studio, who were responsible for the whole thing. A truly supernatural creative triumph... Nigel and Sarah, the Telepathy team, are sadly leaving us in a week's time for the rubbishy reason that a fantastic overseas work opportunity came up. (That's what they told us anyway.) Good luck wherever you may roam and thank you so much for everything!! Back to top ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK Right, back to the plot. And the runes dictate that our featured activity this week has to be a Trick or Treat. So here, straight from the Naked Ghoul Cookbook, may we present the recipe for: Edible Fake Blood. You will need: 175g cornflour 75ml water 175ml golden syrup 3 teaspoons red food colouring 1 teaspoon green food colouring Peppermint essence What to do: 1. Mix cornflour and water together in a bowl or jug. 2. Add the golden syrup. 3. Add the red and green food colouring. You will need to play around with the quantities of red and green food colouring. Adding more red food colouring will make the blood more pinky and adding more green will give the blood a more browny colour. 4. Add a drop of peppermint essence to give it a minty taste. (Makes it more appetising for most mortals than salty-metallic essence ... Here comes the science: What makes blood that lovely vampire-attracting colour? Real blood gets its colour from haemoglobin, a protein containing iron that is found in red blood cells. Oxygen diffuses from the lungs and into the blood where it binds with haemoglobin and is carried by the red blood cells to tissues around the body. Blood appears red because when white lights falls on it, it absorbs all the colours in sunlight except red, which it reflects. But red food colouring is much more of a pinky colour than blood so you need to add green to remove the pink tinge. Green food colouring absorbs all colours apart from green, so when mixed into the red colouring it absorbs some of the red light that was previously been reflected. This makes the blood mixture darker and the colour 'dirtier'. Yum yum - feeling thirsty yet? By adding only a little bit of green to the red food colouring you should get just that realistic brown tinge to the blood. Back to top MORE NOMINATIONS WANTED FAO Teachers only! There just aren't enough awards happening this week, so we are launching our own Planet Science quest to find someone - a NON-classroom teacher - who has this year demonstrated a commitment your science department above and beyond the call of duty... It could be a head-teacher, a technician, a PTA activist or... who knows? But they've gotta be good. To nominate, just drop an email to Katie Walsh on katie@planet-science.com and tell us who they are, the school and address and what they have done for you! We will enter them all in a prize draw to win a fabulous Filofax bound in red leather, portobello style worth £130 from our generous friends at Paperchase. Nominations from teachers only please. And of course all great ideas that crop up will be shared around for the good of the country! Back to top GRADUATE FAIRS - TOP TIPS FOR SUCCESS If you're a recent graduate, you'll know that the Graduate Fair season is beginning to swing into action and now’s the time to get organised for them. And as any careers advisor will tell you, it's even useful to attend these fairs if you're in the first or second year of your course, as you can't be too prepared for the world of work… “Aunty” Mia of the Planet Science careers agony team has some handy hints for you: Book early Treat the day as an interview opportunity Look smart Wear comfortable (but polished!) shoes Take lots of CVs along with you in plastic sleeves, and, for all the corporate literature and goodies … Bring a nice lightweight shoulder bag please! (NOT a tatty old supermarket one, it’s all about first impressions!) For a full list of fairs taking place around the UK, have a look at the Prospects site here And watch out for more tips about graduate fairs in the Next Steps area of the Planet Science area soon. And remember, you can get one-to-one advice from Mia and her colleagues there too – just click through where it says ‘Agony’. Carpe Diem! Back to top GET ON THE BUS, GUS If you're going to be travelling on any buses in the London area between now until mid November, keep your eyes peeled for any scientifically-curious posters... 'Sci-bus' is the name of the biggest bus poster campaign about science ever mounted. Acres of advertising space have been booked on buses in capital cities throughout Europe (and on bikes in Amsterdam, and the Metro in Paris) and it's estimated that 8 million people will see the posters during the course of European Science and Technology Week (4 - 10 November 2002). The Graphic Science Unit at the University of the West of England, Bristol are the people who have planned the campaign in partnership with the European Molecular Biology Organisation, and with funding from the European Commission. They say, "The campaign aims to encourage young people to have their say about some of the hottest issues raised by science. In London, bus users will be encouraged to express their opinions on the use of technology in communications. Around Europe, other posters will raise issues of transport, new medical techniques and food production." Having spotted the posters, passengers will be able to respond to the question posed using their mobile phone or by visiting a specially created web site. From there they'll be able to contribute to an online discussion - which will of course be international. Professor Frank Burnet, who directs the Graphic Science Unit has high hopes for the campaign. "Many people would like to have more say about how science is applied in their world. This is a unique chance and I hope lots of people take it." You can read all about the campaign at http://www.scibus.com. Back to top SCIENCE BEHIND THE NEWS - KIDNEYS THROUGH THE KEYHOLE The hugely controversial issue of live organ donation has been featuring prominently in the news this week. With 7000 people in Britain waiting for kidney transplants, and only 1400 transplantable kidneys becoming available each year, there's a massive shortage of organs and the government is now in consultation regarding payment to relatives for donating one of their own, living, kidneys. On Radio 4's 'Today' programme, one contributor mentioned the possibility of easier kidney donation through the use of keyhole surgery. Sounds improbable? John Humphries certainly thought so - but Science Line have been investigating. Click Here for their report. Back to top RECOMMENDED WEBSITE OF THE WEEK 1. BUG INVESTIGATORS http://www.buginvestigators.co.uk/ Also on a medical theme, here’s a curriculum-linked website for teachers form the Department of Health that’s designed to raise awaresness of the issue of antibiotic resistance and micro-organisms of all sorts. As you can see, the interactive activities aren’t quite ready, but there are plenty of project sheets to print off. They’ve been put together to fit into the 'Living things in their environment’ module (item 5f of KS2 Science in the National Curriculum) and to be compatible with the QCA Schemes of Work ‘Keeping Healthy’, 5A, and ‘Micro-organisms’, 6B. The site producers say the resources can also be used by PSHE teachers in relation to 'Learning how to make more confident and informed choices about their pupils' health and environment' and for Item 3 on 'Developing a healthy, safer lifestyle’. And if you’d like a hardcopy of the pack, just click on the ‘Contact’ button. To order a copy of the pack,order@buginvestigators.co.uk or phone 01793 616 943 or fax 01793 619 542. 2. A HISTORY OF HORROR http://www.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=halloween.htm &url=http://www.tabula-rasa.info/DarkAges/ Ok, not much science here, but it’s to be read in conjuntion with a visit to our own Haunted House which is packed with ‘perfectly rational explanations’ as Scully would say… This is a historical tour through humanity’s freak-outs down the centuries. Enjoy! 3. HOW TO SURVIVE HORROR MOVIES http://www.goblinville.com/writings/misc/how-to-survive.htm Well, it is Halloween on Thursday and we wouldn’t want to lose you… 4. Oh and if you really would like to see a ghost before we next meet, here’s a site that claims it may be able to help you… WILLIARD LIBRARY GHOSTCAM http://www.courierpress.com/ghost/ Do NOT access this site on your own late at night. Not particularly because you might see a ghost – but because the audio is flippin’ scary on it own! Back to top JOKE OF THE WEEK Time for a good laugh then. Luckily, as all movie directors know, scared people will laugh like hyenas at the smallest, feeblest bit of light relief! So, 3 small and feebles coming right up. First of all: Q. How does a barber cut hair on the moon? A: Eclipse it. Of course he does. And meanwhile back on Earth: A surgeon is doing an operation. He's about to finish when, surprisingly, the patient wakes, sits up, and demands to know what's going on. "I'm about to close," says the surgeon. The patient grabs the surgeon's hand and says, "I'm not going to let you do that. I'll close my own incision." The surgeon hands him the thread and says, "Suture self." And finally … back to the frightening stuff: The scene: inside a taxi. The taxi passenger taps the driver on the shoulder to ask him a question. The driver screams, loses control of the car, nearly hits a bus, and swerves up onto the pavement, stopping centimeters from a shop window. For a second, everything goes quiet in the cab, then the driver whispers, "Don't ever do that again. You scared the daylights out of me…" The passenger apologises, saying he didn't realise that a little tap could scare someone so much. The driver replies, "Sorry mate, it's not really your fault. Today's my first day as a cab driver - I've been driving a hearse for the last 25 years." HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Back to top A.O.B. That's all for this week ... Please send any news items, ideas or jokes you'd like included in a forthcoming newsletter to Anne McNaught on anne@planet-science.com. And in the meantime... have a great week! Back to top