Ever get bored with those people who go on about how they can tell the difference between diet cola and the ‘full fat’ version? Here’s how you can get one up on them, by showing that you can tell the difference too, WITHOUT EVEN TASTING THE STUFF ….

You will need:

• 1 can of cola
• 1 can of diet cola
• 1 large glass bowl or bucket
• Water

What to do

1. Fill the bowl with water and put both of the cans in.
2. One can will float and the other will sink.
3. Look at the ingredients on the cans – any clues?

What’s going on?

As you can see from the can the volume of drink is the same. So what’s different? The can of diet cola contains artificial sweetener (possibly aspartame). Artificial sweetener is much sweeter than sugar so less is used. Consequently the mass of cola is less in the diet cola can than in the regular cola. Density is the measure of mass divided by volume. So diet cola is less dense than regular cola and hence the can floats. So there you go – easy, huh? Mind you, this might be bit tricky to do in the middle of a crowded restaurant – perhaps it would be quicker to ask the waiter which one is which!

Look out – there’s a new glossy magazine about.

It’s called ‘Flipside’, it’s aimed at 11-15 year old boys and it is truly fab and funky. If you’re a teacher, this is officially ‘not for you’ – but all the same if you do get a copy, you’ll (secretly) thoroughly enjoy it we bet …

The cover of the first edition features Will Smith, the star of ‘I, Robot’ because there’s a feature on the film’s SFX inside. It also promises ‘filthy pictures’ (of dirt up close, that is), 25 weird ways to use a mobile phone, and extreme X-ray images of objects you never even knew could be X-rayed. Beyonce, killer whales, extreme kayaking and things that go bump in the night lurk between the covers …

The style of the whole magazine is picture-led, so every single page is vibrantly colourful – and it’s written in a way that should score a direct hit with the intended audience. If you read it on the train, your neighbour may well be looking over your shoulder thinking ‘wow – what a cool magazine …’ and drop their ticket in an attempt to get a look at the title on the cover.

Congratulations to the Institute of Electrical Engineers who brewed up the idea for Flipside, and to editor Dickon Ross, formerly of Focus magazine, whose vision lies behind every single gory, incredible, techno-wow word of it!

Want a copy for your self or a young friend? We have 10 to give away and if you’d like to get in the draw, just send a note of your name and address, in an email entitled ‘FLIPPIN’ GREAT!’ to planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk.

The draw will take place a week on Monday.

If you’re involved in working with young people, and are interested in exploring scientific subjects through artistic media such as dance, drama, visual arts, music or film, here’s news of an initiative that could be just what you’re looking for.

It’s called ‘Pulse’ and it’s run by the Wellcome Trust. If it sounds familiar, that’s because this is the second time they’re running it – the results of the first one having been universally declared a huge success.

Here’s what they say:

“These awards provide funding for arts projects that:

• engage with biomedical science
• encourage debate about issues raised by scientific developments
• interact imaginatively with young people (up to 22 years old)

“All projects must be in the area of biomedical science and we are keen to encourage projects that tackle historical, social, ethical, cultural or contemporary issues arising from science.

Pulse 2 is inviting applications to work in any art form or combination of art forms. This could include dance, drama, live arts, visual arts, music, film, craft, photography, creative writing or new media.”

You can find more information on their website at: http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/pulse. To request a copy of the free booklet and DVD about Pulse 1, email pulse@wellcome.ac.uk with your full postal address.

The ancient Chinese are credited for a wide range of ideas and inventions, such as gunpowder and fireworks, the compass, India ink and the first ever cup of tea. It’s rare though for a particular individual to get a mention, but as Ian Francis has been finding out, the Chinese mathematician and astronomer Chongzhi Zu’s name still lurks in the history books – and his achievements are impressive.

Zu was born in 429, into a family of astronomers responsible for calendar-making in the emperor’s court. This job was extremely important to the Chinese as they believed the emperor had divine status and the calendar linked him with what was going on with the sun and moon in the heavens. Each time there was a new emperor a new calendar was devised.

But calendar making was no simple matter – as astronomers in the West discovered too.

That’s because the Earth doesn’t take a whole number of days to do one complete orbit of the sun, and if you don’t account for the extra fractional day, the seasons get more and more out of step as the months and years go by. The West’s answer to this problem, the Julian calendar, was only a partial fix, and it had to be replaced by the Gregorian calendar, starting in 1582, as by then the calendar was 10 days adrift. For religious reasons it took almost 200 years for the whole of Europe to follow suit and by then 11 days were ‘lost’ in the changeover.

A thousand years earlier, Zu made extensive observations, measuring the length of shadows at the winter solstice (the shortest day). He came up with a year length of 365.2429 days, a figure a mere 50 seconds away from the present-day accepted value. His calendar of 462 (the ‘Calendar of Great Brightness’) was based on a 391 year cycle in which 144 years had an extra month.

For good measure, he also improved the accuracy of pi (the figure giving the ratio between the circumference of a circle and its diameter). Zu’s figure of 355/113 is about 3.1415929, which gave a degree of accuracy that also wasn’t improved upon for a thousand years. He also came up with the approximation of 22/7 for pi that’s still used when such great accuracy isn’t necessary.

Why isn’t Zu better known today? Some of the reason must be that distance, both geographically and in terms of time, makes him a somewhat remote figure. There may be an element too of the West not wanting to admit that an Oriental scientist was so far ahead of their thinking. Even in Zu’s time political machinations in the emperor’s court delayed the use of Zu’s calendar until after he died. His work wasn’t even passed by many teachers and scholars as it was so difficult, basically!

So we’d like to wish his memory a Happy New (Western) Year – his time for recognition has come!

This week’s recommendation is the EINSTEIN YEAR website. Yes, they’re back again!

This time though, it’s because of the very addictive game, the physics activities/tricks and the veritable Einstein-o-paedia, all of which deserve a thorough perusing …

Well ok, the game may be more suitable for, er, ‘younger’ visitors, but it’s fun all the same, and apparently even more fun for those who get beyond the first level (!)

It’s called TIME TWINS, and the aim is to fight off the evil aliens who have stolen your time machine before you lose grow old, lose all your lives and diiiiiiiiie. Just like in real life.

Are you ready to do battle? Ok then, here’s the direct link:
http://www.einsteinyear.org/games/EinsteinGame

Meanwhile, if you want to get away from your computer and impress your friends, family, and passing pedestrians, you need some PHYSICS TRICKS. There’s a downloadable pdf with instructions for 20 easy activities using everyday objects like coins, lemons and balloons. Not only are there tips on how to do them, but there’s advice on how to assemble a few of them into a proper little ‘show’ to spread the good word about physics.

Here’s the link straight to the tricks pdf:
http://www.einsteinyear.org/get_involved/
physicstogoresources/physicstogopdf/Physics Tricks.pdf

And finally, here’s where you’ll find everything you ever wanted to know about Albert Einstein and more links than you can shake a wormhole at:
http://www.einsteinyear.org/facts/biography

Oh no, not more doctor jokes …

Well, ok just one then:

Doctor: Have you had this before?
Patient: Yes
Doctor: Well, you've got it again.

It’s not just doctors who crack good jokes though, dentists do too:

Patient: Doctor, I have yellow teeth, what do I do?
Dentist: Wear a brown tie.

Patient: How will it cost me to have this tooth extracted?
Dentist: £90.00.
Patient: £90.00 for just a few minutes work???
Dentist: I can do it very slowly if you like.

- o - O - o -

And on that note, we must end this week’s round up. But if you have any contributions or ideas for future newsletters please send them to Anne McNaught on anne.mcnaught@nesta.org.uk.

Alison Begley will be editing the newsletter next week, so look out for a goodie.

Have a great week, and make sure you break all remaining resolutions!