PLANET SCIENCE NEWSLETTER - ISSUE 16 Stardate: Friday 10th January 2003 Did you know you can choose to receive this weekly news update free by email? sign up here Happy New Year! Yes, it’s back…a freshly packed bulletin from the snow covered offices of Planet Science... Here's the lowdown: 01. LITTLE BOOK OF EXPERIMENTS - FREE Book and Online Resource 02. Girls Girls Girls….SUGAR MAGAZINE on our website! 03. Activity of the week: ROTTING EGGS & ROTTING TEETH 04. Science UPD8- FREE SCIENCE UPDATES txted to your mobile 05. At Bristol giveaway: FREE FAMILY TICKETS 06. Science behind the news – SAFE SURFING 07. RECOMMENDED WEBSITE OF THE WEEK 08. JOKE OF THE WEEK O1. THE LITTLE BOOK OF EXPERIMENTS The Planet Science team was out in force at the ASE Annual Meeting to launch The Little Book of Experiments as part of our Creative Classroom campaign. This book is packed full of engaging and innovative demonstrations and experiments for teachers of Key Stage 2 pupils and has been sent FREE to the head teachers of all maintained schools in England that teach these pupils. The experiments include teacher demonstrations, class activities and investigations donated by Science Centres, teachers and scientists. Teachers and pupils have tested each experiment and the CLEAPSS school service has also approved all the experiments. So would you like to get your hands on a copy? We have 10 books to give away to first 10 people to email lbe@planet-science.com with ‘free LBE copy’ in the subject box... All the experiments from The Littlebook of Experiments and more (for KS1-4) can also be found in our new searchable database of science experiments. You can search by Key Stage or section of the national curriculum to find an experiment to suit you. But don’t worry if you are not a teacher. Many of the experiments can be done at home. We are also launching a database of experiments specifically for non teachers by Easter 2003- so watch this space! P.S. We want these databases to grow so please send any of your ideas for new experiments to lbe@planet-science.com. As a little incentive for you, if your experiment ends up in one of our databases we'll send you a free copy of the book! Back to top 02. SUGAR MAGAZINE @ PS We've teamed up with Sugar Magazine to create a funky new section of our website dedicated to girls. Coolcall 100 is an interactive web 'phone' to call up 100 bite sized chunks of girl relevent science, boys (of course!) and science beauty tips. There are also science based activities that girls might like to try like face mask making, links to girl friendly science sites and to Planet Science’s careers section ‘Next Steps’. Click here to check it out. Back to top 03. ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK: Rotting Eggs & Rotten Teeth How can we test the effects of cola on teeth without actually damaging some in the process – cheat! This week’s experiment is a taster from The Little Book of Experiments. You will need: • Some egg-shell • A glass • A selection of soft-drinks (i.e. cola, squash, a juice drink or water) What to do: Hang a bit of egg-shell from a thread, and suspend it in a glass. Fill the glass with cola. Do the same in other glasses but with squash, juice-drink, fresh fruit juice and water. Leave for a week then remove the egg-shell fragments for comparison. The cola-shell will be soft to the touch, the squash and juice-drink will also be soft (although not necessary as much) and the juice and water ones should be undamaged. What’s going on: Certain drinks, like cola, are acidic. The eggshell is mostly made of calcium carbonate which reacts with the acid damaging the egg shell. Now for the ‘yuk’ bit – the experiment would have the same effect if you used human teeth instead of eggshells as calcium is the major ingredient in the enamel of your teeth. Sugar "feeds" the bacteria in your mouth and these produce acids which damage your teeth causing problems like cavities. Back to top 04. SCIENCE UPD8 - New ASE resource Science UPD8 is a free new service that lets you bring out the science behind the headlines- while it's fresh in students' minds. Every week they will alert you to curriculum-relevant stories with a 'weekly' menu, delivered by text to your mobile or by email. The menu will contain: NEWS - from life on Mars to the latest health research (ideal for lesson starters) ACTIVITY - a high quality, engaging lesson written by experienced developers and teachers HAPPENINGS - un-missable science TV programmes, events and exhibitions For mobile users, you can simply text back the item(s) you want, to get the story. You can also download the activity from the ASE website. Subscribe now - for the spring term pilot! To get your weekly menus by text message: Send a text with your name to 07764 793313 Or to get weekly menus by email: Send a message with your name, to upd8@ase.org.uk UPD8 is being run by ASE and Sheffield Hallam and is supported by Planet Science and IBM. Back to top 05. @ BRISTOL TICKET GIVEAWAY Explore-At-Bristol combines hands-on activities with the very latest multi-media techniques to bring science alive. The science centre has four themes: Your amazing brain: Three pounds of flesh and it’s in charge of everything you think, feel and do. Take a tour through the human brain and discover what makes your brain so special, what it looks like, what it feels like, and how it works. Move it: Celebrate the ingenious human inventions that have harnessed the power of nature. Curiosity zone: Investigate the forces of nature and experiment with light, sound and natural phenomena. Get connected: Enter the digital revolution and try out innovative technologies and new ideas. We have 4 FAMILY passes to giveaway to the first 4 people who email chloe@planet-science.com with ‘Explore’ in the subject box. The tickets also give you entrance to a special event: On the beach - Under the sea. This is a new exhibition on the seashore created especially for children under six that runs until 2 March 2003. Back to top 06. SCIENCE BEHIND THE NEWS This week has seen the latest government backed advertising campaign encouraging children and teenagers to be aware of the dangers of internet chat rooms. This is important, but Science Line has also discovered how science can help track down these criminals. Check it out their report here (Or give them a ring on 0808 800 4000, Mon-Sat, 1-7pm if you’ve got any other scientific questions you’d like answered – they’ll be happy to help, and it’s a FREE service so don’t hold back! You can also post questions on their website or have a very enjoyable click through hundreds of previously asked and answered enquiries. The url is: http://www.sciencenet.org.uk) Back to top 07. RECOMMENDED WEBSITE OF THE WEEK As part of Science Year, Pfizer and Bio-Rad gave teacher training colleges £10,000 worth of scientific equipment. After being trained in new techniques, teachers use the equipment in partnership schools during their teaching practice. Pfizer and Bio-Rad have now launched www.jellyfishgene.org a web site to support trainee teachers from these colleges. But there is lots of information for science teachers too… The website contains a showcase section where jellyfish gene members explain the biotechnology behind experiments they have been involved in and showcase experiments set up for the classroom laboratory. Educational uses of biotechnology are also explored through a mixture of focused and general discussion forums. There are also regular updates of the latest news within the biotechnology world, including diary dates of scheduled events. There is an array of support information available, including links to the National Curriculum, downloadable spreadsheets, guides and lesson plans. Finally the ‘gene-pool of knowledge’ section contains frequently asked questions and further beneficial information about the whole website. Back to top 08. JOKE OF THE WEEK A mathematician, a biologist and a physicist are sitting in a street cafe watching people going in and coming out of the house on the other side of the street. First they see two people going into the house. Time passes... After a while they notice three persons coming out of the house. The Physicist: "The measurement wasn't accurate." The Biologists conclusion: "They have reproduced" The Mathematician: "If now exactly 1 person enters the house then it will be empty again" Back to top A.O.B. Don’t forget to please email anne@planet-science.com with any news items you want to see in next week’s newsletter and have a great week! Back to top