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01. SPRING HOME
 It's green, it's groovy, and it celebrates the coming of spring and the bounty of nature. It is of course the new front cover of the Planet Science website. If you haven't done so already, check it out here. Now make like a caterpillar and crawl across our leaf!  |
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02. THE SECRET OF LIFE And talking of living things... 50 years ago today, Francis Crick and James Watson became legends in their own lunchtime in a very literal way when they burst into the Eagle pub in Cambridge for a mid-day drinkie to celebrate solving, as they modestly put it, 'the secret of life'. What they'd done was elucidate the molecular structure of the DNA double helix - with a little help of course from co-researchers Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins. The discovery is and was one of the most important breakthroughs ever made in science, and is what's behind everything you'll read this year about 'DNA50' as it's becoming known, the 50th anniversary. Back to 1953: having announced their discovery, Crick began assembling the now-famous model of the double-helix structure on the following Wednesday and by Saturday morning (March 7) he'd finished the model - and went straight home to bed, exhausted. Not long after, a student photographer came by to take a few snaps of the model and its creators in case Time Magazine might want them... Time said no thanks, but the resulting images have since been used all over the world since, and have become iconic images for scientific discovery. This year, in honour of the anniversary, the Science Photo Library have produced a lush anniversary poster featuring the historic picture, with an explanation of how the DNA double helix structure works, a short history of the discovery of the DNA structure, and biographies of James Watson and Francis Crick. You can have a look at the poster by clicking through to the Science Photo Gallery site http://www.sciencephotogallery.co.uk. And if you're a teacher, and you fancy a copy for your classroom, you're in luck, Science Photo Gallery have 15 posters set aside for Planet Science patrons. You can of course also buy the poster and/or prints - full details are on the Science Photo Gallery site. To get into our prize draw, email info@sciencephotogallery.co.uk putting PLANET SCIENCE POSTER OFFER in the subject heading. Please include the details of who and where to send the free poster to. Only one poster per school please! The draw will take place on Friday 6th March, so hurry hurry hurry... |
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03. ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK: DNA EXTRACTION EDNA - or DN-eh? Here's a way to get up close and personal with some deoxyribonucleic acid for yourself. Courtesy of our hairy green friend, the kiwi fruit... (Quick word of caution - this activity involves surgical spirit, which is flamable so must be kept away from fire. It CANNOT be drunk - and you should wash your hands carefully after using it. We suggest a PG rating: no-one under 12 should handle the stuff unsupervised.) You will need: • 4 kiwis • a large bowl • salt • washing up liquid (cheap brands work best) • a funnel • coffee filter paper • a large plastic cup (transparent if possible) • surgical spirit What to do:
What's going on: DNA is found in the nucleus of every cell that makes up your body, and this applies to all animals and plants. To extract the DNA from your kiwi fruits, you need to first break the cell walls by chopping up the kiwis. You then have to get through the cell and nuclear membranes. These membranes are made of proteins and fats. Washing up liquid is good at this - in the context of your kitchen sink, it attracts fats from dirty plates when you do the washing up at home - it does the same with the fats in the cell membranes. It pulls out the fats so the membranes collapse. The DNA then floats around in the green kiwigunk water. The salt binds to the DNA to help us see it later. The filter paper is used to separate the DNA in the liquid from the cell gunk (bits of broken cell walls etc). Finally you add the surgical spirit. This is an alcohol, and DNA can't dissolve in alcohol so it precipitates and you see it in the form of fine white strands. (Why use kiwis? Because they're 'polyploid'. This means they've got more than two copies of their genome in each cell, so there's more DNA to see. Same goes for bananas, so you could try them too...) NOW WASH YOUR HANDS! (And get ready for a fruity joke in just a few paragraphs time.) |
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04. CALLING ALL COMMUNICATORS Science communicators that is... Planet Science is working with the BA and Science Worlds UK to build a web-based database of science communicators. The aim is to provide a service for schools who may be trying to find and book science communication professionals who do top quality science shows and presentations for pupils from KS1-4. And... we need your help. We're looking for both teachers and professional science communicators who do work in schools, to tell us what they would want from such a database, so as to help us plan and design the thing. Volunteers will be sent questionnaires designed to be quick and easy to answer - i.e. won't impact on your hometime! If you're interested please email Jill Nelson at the British Association, on jill.nelson@the-ba.net. We're also looking to link with other organisations that may provide similar web-based services, so if you think you can help with that aspect of the initiative, please contact Jill on the same email as above. |
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05. TAKE OUR DAUGHTERS TO WORK ‘Take Our Daughters to Work’ is a special scheme that involves girls aged between 10-25 spending a day in a workplace on Thursday 3rd April 2003. It's run by Girl Guiding UK with the aim of promoting expanding girls’ horizons as to what goes on in the workplace, and the huge diversity of interesting and satisfying jobs and careers out there... Naturally, Planet Science would like to see a the science sector well represented, so if you belong to a company that might fit the bill, and you think you'd like to get involved, check out the Girl Guiding site http://www.girlguiding.org.uk. Same goes if you're a teacher or a parent of one or more girls who'd like to take part. The girls don't have to be the daughters of company staff - or even Guides - it's for ALL girls! Here at Planet Science we're certainly keen throw open our doors and show a few girls what the joy of the workplace is all about. We are therefore looking for 2-3 girls aged 13-16 to spend the day in our offices in Westminster, London. The day will involve helping out our web, marketing/press and programme teams so if you are interested or know girls that are please contact chloe@planet-science.com. Now don't all rush at once! NB Take our Daughters to Work is sponsored by Women and Equality Unit and The Department of Trade and Industry. It is also endorsed by CBI, DfES, Department of Work and Pensions, Commission for Racial Equality, WISE and the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. |
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06. COME & MEET A NOBEL PRIZEWINNER Lovely Leeds Grammar School have been touch to invite you to a rather fancy event, featuring Sir John Sulston, this year's Nobel Prize winner for Medicine. Sir John, as you may already know, is largely responsible for the British contribution to the transcription of the human genome, and his talk ranges through the Human Genome Project, the struggle to keep that data public and why. He will also embrace issues of intellectual property as well as the genome story itself. The organisers say, the lecture is suitable for scientists and non-scientists alike. The talk will begin at 7pm, with refreshments served from 18:30 on 17th March at Leeds Grammar School (which is situated at Alwoodley Gates, on Harrogate Road in Alwoodley, Leeds). Please e-mail Rakesh Patel at 17441@thefreeinternet.co.uk for further information. |
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07. SCIENCE BEHIND THE NEWS It’s thirsty stuff, soap-watching – especially if you’ve been following the extrordinary events that have shaken the residents of Coronation Street in the past week. Following Monday’s double-bill, the National Grid experienced a massive surge in electricity, presumed to be at least party due to thousands and thousands of kettles throughout the land being simultaneously switched on. Get yourself a cup of tea and read Science Line’s investigation into electricity supplies and ‘demand forecasting’ at: http://www.sciencenet.org.uk/slup/CuttingEdge/Feb03/corrie.html |
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| 08. RECOMMENDED WEBSITES OF THE WEEK DNA 50 http://www.ncbe.reading.ac.uk/DNA50/menu.html  There are loads of good websites out there that explore the discovery of structure DNA – but not many that celebrate it to the extent of including instructions for a very groovy tri-coloured DNA cocktail, or indeed give the steps for you and your partner to have a twirl at the ‘Double Helix Dance’. The site you need for that level of DNA-activity is Reading University’s DNA 50 site. So get down, get DNA’d and party! On a different note, we’ve come across a modest-looking but lovely site called About Rainbows http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/staff/blynds/rnbw.html  What it lacks in flashy photos of rainbows it makes up for in information (did you know about ‘lunar’ rainbows, for example?) and links to demonstrations for both classroom or even home use. |
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09. JOKE OF THE WEEK A fruity one for you this week. Set in America. A woman goes along to a Florida lemon-grower and asks for a job. The owner says, “I’m sorry, but I think you may not be qualified for this job. I mean have you ever picked lemons before?” “I should say so,” she replies, “I’ve been divorced three times.” |
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| 10. AOB A quick mention for a thank-you email we received from Dale Robinson and his class at Hutton Rudby Primary School in response to the news that they’d won a digital microscope for their haiku. They say: A microscope won Fantastic for our studies Thank you from us all. Awwww. Many thanks back, and thanks also to Dean Madden for alerting us to the significance of today’s date in DNA terms. Please keep any other news or other items of interest coming our way. Send them to Anne McNaught at anne@planet-science.com Hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s newsletter. And have a great week! |
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