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 You were out when the postman called - but guess what? Yet AGAIN we've taken delivery of a bumper parcel of freebies, activities, jokes and potentially money-stuffed envelopes for you. Here's what's inside: 01. SLEDGE YOUR BETS - you've got to be in to win! 02. ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK - SEASONAL SHENANIGANS: Part 1 03. Mouses at the ready for: 'WHAT MAKES ME ME?' 04. ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK - SEASONAL SHENANIGANS: Part 2 05. VIENNESE WHIRL ON OFFER - Earth Science teaching trip 06. ACTIVITY REPRISE: BALANCING FORKS for advanced users 07. ROYAL SOCIETY PARTNERSHIP GRANTS SCHEME 08. Royal Society A.O.B. and Alec Jeffreys 09. UNSUNG HEROES: the father of fibre optics 10. RECOMMENDED WEBSITE OF THE WEEK 11. WINNERS OF DR BUNHEAD TICKETS 12. KNOCK KNOCK! Who won the COMEDY CREATIVITY CHALLENGE? 13. JOKES OF THE WEEK Ready? Here we go... |
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01. SLEDGE YOUR BETS
It's become slightly harder to move in the Planet Science office this week, as six brand new Rudolph-red sledges have arrived ... They are the prizes for the aforementioned Winter Whites quiz - and you've still got time to enter. More to the point, we've had a technical glitch which has caused some earlier entries to go into a black hole in cyberspace, so if you've entered once, please do so again. You know the form: 10 multiple choice questions, three possible answers. Some easy ones, and just a few harder ones to separate the sheep from the sheepdogs ... Here's where you'll find it: Good luck!  |
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| 02. ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK 1: A TOWERING SUCCESS? Stand well back for our second weekly instalment of festive digestive tabletop fun and games ... Because who said cheese, marshmallows and jelly babies had to be just for eating? Any engineer will tell you that they can be transformed into the best building game since Jenga was a junior... You will need: * A box of cocktail sticks * Cheese cubes or marshmallows or jelly sweets - or a combination What to do: The idea is to build a stable structure - but which shapes are best? Here's a quick rundown onthe basics: Squares and Cubes 1. Start with 4 cocktail sticks and 4 sweets. Poke the cocktail sticks into the sweets to make a square with a sweet at each corner. 2. Poke another cocktail stick into the top of each sweet. Put a sweet on the top of each cocktail stick. Connect the sweets with cocktail sticks to make a cube. (A cube has a square on each side. It takes 8 sweets and 12 cocktail sticks.) Triangles and Pyramids 1. Start with 3 sweets and 3 cocktail sticks. Poke the cocktail sticks into the sweets to make a triangle with a sweet at each point. 2. Poke another cocktail stick into the top of each sweet. Bend those 3 cocktail sticks in toward the centre. Poke all 3 cocktail sticks into one sweet to make a 3-sided pyramid. (A 3-sided pyramid has a triangle on each side. It takes 4 sweets and 6 cocktail sticks.) 3. For a 4-sided pyramid, you need a square on the bottom and triangles on all 4 sides. Build a square, and then poke a cocktail stick into the top of each corner. Bend all 4 cocktail sticks into the centre and connect them with one sweet, to make a 4-sided pyramid. When you make a structure that uses both triangles and squares, you can make big structures that are less wiggly. OK, so now you've got the idea, it's time to set the rules and get creative. 1. Set the rules: limit the number of sweets and cocktail sticks available per person and decide on the criteria for winning. It could be a) the tallest structure or b) the structure that can bear the most weight or even c) the one that most resembles a famous building. You can set a time limit if you want to be particularly strict. The inside story: Even though the sweet structures are standing absolutely still, their parts are always pulling and pushing on each other. Structures remain standing because some parts are being pulled or stretched and other parts are being pushed or squashed. The parts that are being pulled are in tension. The parts that are being squashed are in compression. Some materials, like bricks, don't squash easily; they are strong in compression. Others, like steel cables or rubber bands, don't break when you stretch them; they are strong under tension. Still others like steel bars or wooden cocktail sticks are strong under both compression and tension. What's the big deal about triangles? Well, squares collapse easily under compression. Four cocktail sticks joined in a square tend to collapse by giving way at their joints, their weakest points. A square can fold into a diamond - but it's different for triangles. The only way to change the angles of the triangle is by shortening one of the sides. So to make the triangle collapse you would have to push hard enough to break one of the cocktail sticks. We've got another activity coming up in a moment - but hold on a moment, who's that moustachioed medical man coming up the garden path? |
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| 03. MOUSES AT THE READY FOR 'WHAT MAKES ME ME?' Aha - it's Robert Winston, with five copies of his brilliant new book about how our genes and our environment meld together to create the unique and wonderful being you probably know best as "me"! Have you got hairy fingers? Hairy ears? Hairy armpits? Are you frightened of spiders? Quick to fly off the handle? A bit of a daydreamer? And can you crack your knuckles, or bend your thumb back further than looks aesthetically pleasing? Each human being is a one-off masterpiece as we all know, and in 'What Makes Me Me?', Professor Winston takes his readers on a tour through the human mind and body to discover what genes and chromosomes do, and why there's nobody quite like you. Tests and quizzes will keep you on your toes and enable you to find out that little bit more about yourself and how you compare to the World At Large. WHAT MAKES ME ME? is published by Dorling Kindersley, and costs £9.99 in the shops. However, Santa-style, we've been given five complimentary copies to distribute to worthy newsletter readers. To get in the draw, all you need to do is send an email entitled 'ME ME!' to planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk. The draw will take place next Friday at 10am. Good luck! |
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| 04. ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK: BALANCING FORKS Not had enough fun yet? What? OK, here's another dinnertime activity that'll bring all conversation to hush of impressed wonderment ... You'll need an adult for this, partly for safety reasons, and partly because you need the cork from a bottle of wine. Bottoms up! You will need: * 1 cork * 1 cocktail stick * 2 identical forks * A bottle What to do: 1. Break the cocktail stick in half 2. Push the blunt end of the cocktail stick into one end of the cork. Be sure to position it in the very centre of the circle. 3. Carefully push one fork into the side of the cork. This should be done by an adult. 4. Push the second fork into the opposite side of the cork directly across from the first cork. Try to make the cork-fork contraption as symmetrical as possible. 5. Try to balance the end of the cocktail stick on the tip of your index finger or in the top of a bottle. Don't be surprised if your science art balances in an unusual position (remember, you're trying to find the centre of gravity just below the balancing point). NB: The cocktail stick does not have to be positioned in the bottom of the cork. Try pushing the cocktail stick into the side of the cork at the bottom to discover a new centre of gravity. What's going on? The secret to this lies in the two concepts of 'centre of gravity' and 'stability'. The centre of gravity of any object is the point about which you can balance the object as if all the masses were concentrated or gathered at this point. In other words, it's the point at which the object balances from left to right, front and back and top and bottom. If you look closely at your balancing forks, you'll notice that the fork handles are positioned below the cocktail stick. This actually puts the centre of gravity directly below the point where the cocktail stick is balanced (called the pivot point). Here's where it gets really strange... the centre of gravity where the forks balance front and back, left and right, top and bottom is actually hanging in mid-air. Did you know... A circus tightrope walker often uses a long stick for balancing in the same way as the forks are used in this experiment. ******* Once you've mastered this trick, you'll be ready for the De-Luxe version - coming up in a moment, stay tuned ******* |
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| 05. FANCY A VIENNESE WHIRL? EARTH SCIENCE FOR TEACHERS ... "Please could you offer this early Christmas present to your readers?" That's what Phil Smith, Coordinator of the Teacher Scientist Network, said to us when he sent through the information about free places for teachers to travel to Vienna in April to enhance their teaching skills in earth sciences, widen their international social circles and learn more more more about the geological history of the Earth. The event is called the 'Geophysical Information for Teachers (GIFT) workshop' and it's a 2-day workshop intended primarily for secondary school teachers in Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Physics, Chemistry and Geography. Phil says, "The general theme for the workshop is 'The History of the Earth'. Leading scientists in their fields and sciences educators will give seminal talks on the major phases of the evolution of the Earth since its creation. Additionally, there will be ample time for teachers who wish to address their colleagues and speak about particular topics they have developed in their classroom. Presentations of small, illustrative classroom experiments are most welcome. "A full afternoon will be devoted to an experimental approach to Climate Change, with the study of marine sediments and the extraction and identification of foraminifera that are a most useful indicator for understanding the climate of the past. "The GIFT-2005 workshop is closely related to the Natural Risk Assessment (NaRAs) workshop, which will take place the day before GIFT starts. Teachers participating to GIFT are invited and most welcome to participate to NaRAs and vice versa." Where? The Austria Center Vienna (AVC) in Vienna When? Tuesday April 26 and Wednesday April 27, 2005. Registration to the General Assembly of European Geosciences Union (EGU) and to the GIFT workshop is free for teachers and travel/living grants of up to 300 Euros are available. And NB once again the conference is being held in not French, not German, not Esperanto ... but English! Interested teachers from the UK should contact Dr Phil Smith, Coordinator of the Teacher Scientist Network at: phil.smith@bbsrc.ac.uk Thanks Phil. |
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| 06. ACTIVITY REPRISE: BALANCING FORKS FOR ADVANCED USERS Right, back at the dinner table. The evening has become that bit more riotous, and you roll your sleeves back, claiming to have a demonstration to hand that will knock the spots off even the amazing dessert you've just eaten. It sounds impossible, or at least exceedingly improbable, but we're reassured by Katy Hewis, our purveyor of top science activities, that this really works - and boggles the mind of all who see it (bet she's a big hit at dinner parties!) NB This should only be attempted by an adult as it involves flames, glass and potentially flying forks! You will need: * 1 cork * 1 cocktail stick * 2 identical metal forks * 1 glass * Matches What to do: 1. Push the two forks symmetrically and firmly into the side of the cork so that the handles of the forks form about a 90-degree angle. 2. Push the cocktail stick carefully into the end cork; take care the cocktail stick does not break at the tip when you push it into the cork. 3. Now put the cocktail stick on your finger, and try to balance the above assembly on your finger. If the angle of the forks is suitable, you should find a point on the cocktail stick that you can balance the forks. Mark this point. 4. Now try to balance the assembly on the rim of the glass. It should balance at about the marked point on the cocktail stick - even though this seems highly unlikely, being such a top-heavy construction ... So, just to clarify, you've got part of the cocktail stick inside the rim of the glass, and everything else balancing on the outside. 5. Now for the even crazier bit. Light the cocktail stick at the end that's in the glass and watch it burn away. The burning will stop once it hits the glass rim, but the fork assembly will continued to be balanced at that point. 6. Accept the applause from your audience! What's going on? The 'centre of gravity' of any object is the point about which you can balance the object as if all the masses were concentrated or gathered at this point. In other words, the net torque of all the masses of the object about this point is zero, regardless the shape of the object. The centre of gravity does not have to be on the object, it can be in the open space. For instance, the centre of gravity of this fork assembly is in between the forks in the empty space. How do you make it stable? When you try to balance an object, if the point of support, the pivot point, is not at the centre of gravity then the object will rotate either clockwise or anti-clockwise depending on which side has more torque. However, if the pivot point is on the same vertical line as the centre of gravity, then the object, no matter what shape, is going to balance. It will be stable if the centre of gravity lies below the pivot point. The pivot point is where the cocktail stick rests on the rim of the glass. The actual centre of gravity must lie in the empty space between the two forks and below the pivot point to achieve stability. Consequently we can easily burn away the cocktail stick that extends into the glass because it is playing no part in the balancing act. |
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| 07. ROYAL SOCIETY PARTNERSHIP GRANTS SCHEME - CLOSING DATE AHOY If you have a great idea for science project in school, why not try and get the Royal Society to give you the money to make it happen? They want to help, but you'll need to hurry hurry hurry! Their Partnership Grants scheme is all about bringing imaginative hands-on science and engineering into the classroom by supporting teachers and scientists/engineers to work in partnership on creative investigations and projects. But They say: "The scheme offers up to £2500 for projects or activities involving students from 5 to 16 years old. Projects should give young people the opportunity to meet and work with scientists and engineers (above graduate level in university or with appropriate industrial experience) on topics that are exciting, imaginative and relevant to their lives. Any UK school can apply for a Partnership Grant, and the grant is awarded directly to the school involved, enabling the school to pay for any specialist equipment needed for the investigation, travel expenses and teacher supply cover." The closing date for this round is 11 February 2005. There's information, including case studies and examples of previous projects, on their website: http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/partnership and you can download application packs and guidelines there too. If you'd prefer to chat to a human being, or would like to sound them out on a potential project, give them a ring on 020 7451 2561 (or email education@royalsoc.ac.uk). |
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08. THE ROYAL SOCIETY - OUT ABOUT ABOUT |
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| 09. UNSUNG HEROES No 4: LARRY CURTISS Fibre optics are the backbone of our information-sending networks. But modern fibre optics owe their existence more to medics than I.T. geeks. Our in-house hero reporter Ian Francis shines light on the subject: Both Alexander Graham Bell (inventor of the telephone) and John Logie Baird (inventor of TV) had toyed with the idea of communication devices that used light. But the practical problems were just too great and using electrical impulses down copper cables always turned out better. The problem was guiding the light. A light 'guide' had to be transparent to let light pass down the middle, but not allow it to escape from the sides - because escaping light would mean that messages couldn't travel far intact. Some sort of outer covering was also needed to protect the fibres, to help them bend without snapping, and to prevent 'cross talk'- light leaking from one fibre into its neighbour. Lawrence (Larry) Curtiss was an undergraduate at the University of Michigan working on fibre optic endoscopes. These are devices used to see inside the body by surgeons, to examine stomach ulcers perhaps, or for use during 'key hole' surgery, and the earliest versions were pretty nasty things for patients. For a stomach examination, the patient would have to swallow a rigid tube containing angled mirrors. Flexible, thin glass fibres would be far less of an ordeal. Bundles of bare fibres were no good though, due to problems of light leakage, so Curtiss wondered about wrapping them in more glass, with slightly different optical properties. His supervisors were sceptical, saying the glass covering would just crack ... One day in 1956 his bosses were away on a conference junket, so Curtiss had chance to play. He knew the glass tubing used in his lab had a slightly different density to the glass making optic fibres. The different density would act as a kind of wall, keeping the light inside the tube thanks to a process called total internal reflection (T.I.R). He melted the tubing around a rod and pulled out a glass fibre from the furnace. He walked down the hallway with it (some 40 or 50 feet, he later recalled), drawing out thin fibres, and could still see the light of the furnace through the fibres. This was easily enough distance to convey light into a patient's body, and each individual fibre was so thin that the bundle could also bend slightly. Within a couple of months his fibres were being used in endoscopes to look into patients' stomachs. The fibre optic Curtiss invented is essentially the one used today for Internet traffic, phone calls, cable TV and pretty twinkly Christmas decorations. He didn't get rich though, as the patent he held didn't apply to the next generation of fibre optics which were made in a different way and needed much purer glass in order to transmit the pulses of laser light. But he was still a vital worker in the development chain from a molten blob of glass to the means by which the Planet Science newsletter gets to your computer desktop each week. |
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| 10. RECOMMENDED WEBSITE OF THE WEEK Out this week ... the nominations for next year's BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards. Due to some no doubt technical oversight, http://www.planet-science.com has not made the shortlist this year ... but we're not bitter. Pah! In fact you might quite like the following website from BBC Schools, which is one of the nominations in the Children's Learning Category. It's called SCIENCE CLIPS and it can be found at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ It contains what seems like hundreds of short interactive experiences to illustrate all the points of the KS1 and 2 Science curriculum, and goes with the TV programme of the same name. From giving trucks a push to show how friction does its thing, to giving a lion the right set of teeth for him to eat a zebra, if you want to avoid real world chaos in the classroom (or your lounge at home) then set your 5 - 11 year old off on this. They look simple, and they are, but the more you play with them the more you'll find you get out of it. |
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| 11. WINNERS OF DR BUNHEAD TICKETS The two family tickets to see Dr Bunhead and his 'Recipes for Disaster' were: Cath Pountney of Colchester and Andy Rees of Shotton in Deeside Congratulations! |
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| 12. COMEDY CREATIVITY CHALLENGE And so to the results of last week's challenge. A knock knock style joke on the topic of festive visitors ... Dale Robinson and his daughter Sophie came up with the following: Dad and I were sitting round the log fire. There was a tap on the door ... we knew our plumber was useless! Sophie opened the door in her pyjamas ... which was a funny place to have a door. "Who is it Sophie?" "It's a man with a bill." "Are you sure it's not a duck with a hat on?" - - - - - - - - - - Meanwhile, Bryan Maddison sent in the following three rapid-fire entries: Knock knock Who's there? Aunty Aunty who? Aunty matter Knock knock Who's there? Penny Penny who? Penny Cillin Knock knock Who's there? Polly Polly Who? Polly Mer These were judged by Dr Comedy to score highly on science-content - but they were knocked off the top spot by Richie Byrne's contribution: Knock knock Who's there? Cook Cook who ? In December? that must be a record! Well done to all entrants - book tokens all round! |
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| 13. JOKES OF THE WEEK Richie - of Cuckoo joke fame, above - returns with another joke, this one particularly good for kids, although we found it worked surprisingly well on Planet Science team members too ... Knock knock Who's there? Interrupting cow Interrupti MOO! _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Meanwhile, a maths joke from Boaksey: Noah was told that of all the animals on the ark, only the adders refused to obey God's command and go forth and multiply. "Well," said Noah. "I'll have to ask the Lord what to do about that." And so he prayed to God and said, "These snakes won't go forth and multiply" And God said, "Don't worry. Find some the trees and saw them into logs and create a platform sitting upon four legs. Then put the snakes on the platform." "But how will that help the snakes?" asked Noah. "Easy," replied God, "Everyone knows even adders can multiply using a log table!" _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ And finally: I went to the doctors with a strawberry on my head - he said you'll be alright I've got some cream for that. I said to the doctor I've got trouble with my eyes, he said what job do you do, I said I'm a teacher, he said it'll be your pupils then! I said to the doctor I feel a bit depressed, she said I'll refer you to the cheeropodist then! Thanks to Phil White for those three. Anyone got any more for next week's end of term special? - o - O - o - Next week's newsletter will feature our annual Festive quiz, ideal for printing off and sticking to the back of the loo door for maximum family entertainment. Plus a few more activities and any more jokes we can scrape together. Meanwhile, if you have any contributions for next year's newsletters, send them through to Anne McNaught on anne.mcnaught@nesta.org.uk. Have a great week! |
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