When Cupid strikes… kerpow! It’s proved impossible so far for science to replicate the ‘real’ thing (too tricky) but here’s the next best thing.

You will need:

• a saucer
• milk
• talcum powder
• strawberry milkshake powder (or cocoa or other coloured powder)
• washing up liquid
• cocktail stick
• cardboard
• pen
• scissors

What to do:

1. Pour enough milk on a saucer to cover the base.
2. On the cardboard draw a heart shape which is smaller than the saucer. This will form a heart shape template.
3. Make a hole in the middle of the heart shape and cut it out so that there is a heart shaped hole in the middle of the cardboard.
4. Gently sprinkle talcum powder on top of the milk to form a thin layer.
5. Make up a small amount of a solution of washing up liquid with a little water.
6. Place the cardboard template over the saucer of milk so that the heart shape is in the middle.
7. Sprinkle a little milkshake (or other) powder to form a heart on the surface of the talcum powder.
8. Quickly take a cocktail stick and dip it into the washing up liquid solution.
9. Plunge this ‘Cupid’s Arrow’ into the centre of the heart.  He got you!

What’s going on?

Initially the powders are held up by the surface tension of the milk. Water molecules stick to each other to form a ‘skin’ on the surface which is strong enough to support the thin layer of powder. When the washing up liquid solution is added it quickly spreads across the surface of milk in a thin layer. This detergent breaks up the closely-packed water molecules and reduces the surface tension allowing the powders to fall. As it spreads across the surface it drives the powders in front of it so the heart shape appears to explode outwards

How deep is your love? Is it:

a. pink

b. red

c. midnight black

When it comes to a romantic bouquet, black is the new multi-coloured. The most exotic and fashionable flowers to be had right now are darkest blue, darkest purple, darkest brown … or nearly, nearly black.

They’re being introduced to both bouquets and gardens, and this recent swell in their popularity is thanks in great part to the efforts of Karen Platt, one of the world’s leading authorities on dark plants. Karen’s been captivated by them for many years now; she set up the first-ever nursery specifically devoted to them, and is the author of a full-colour (if that’s the appropriate word) book on the subject called ‘Black Magic and Purple Passion’. She also founded the IBPS, the International Black Plant Society.

If you’re similarly intrigued by the subject, then we’ve got a great special offer for you this week.

We have two copies of ‘Black Magic and Purple Passion’ and two memberships of the IBPs to give away. We’ll bundle them up so that two winners get both a book and an IBPS membership. And all you need to do to get into the draw is send an email entitled THROUGH A VASE DARKLY to planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk with a note of your name and address. The draw will take place next Thursday (17th) at 5pm.

Meanwhile, there’s more information about the science of darkly-coloured flowers and plants on the Planet Science website in our new zone, ‘A Bouquet of Black’.

Have a look through the gallery of dusky beauties and find out more about the role (and trickiness) of black in nature … Then try your hand at breeding a black plant for yourself via our online gene machine. It’s bloomin’ hard, as you’ll discover!

Here’s the link:
http://www.planet-science.com/outthere/flowers/

Calling all teachers! If you’ve got any budding young writers in your class, here’s a way to help them, to help you, to help them … to help you. Win money. Of course, that’s not the only aim of the game, the idea is to inspire an appreciation of the achievements of science, and express that appreciation via the written word. But as a side effect, there could be £1000 in it for you – not to be sniffed at, right?

Got a pen? Here’s what we’ve been told:

‘The Dan David Prize for Students aims to support education within the UK and specifically to instil a sense of excitement among young people about achievement in Science. 

Young people aged between 16 – 18 yrs old in full-time secondary or further education across the UK are being asked to write a short feature (500 – 1,000 words) to nominate “their living hero” or even an organisation they feel is extraordinary, in the field of Science, Engineering and Technology. Our definition of Science is broad and stretches from Astronomy and Design to Palaeontology and Architecture. 

All you have to do is to motivate your students to write a piece and then send as many entries as you can inspire to The Royal Institution by the closing date of 29 April 2005.’

The first prize is £10,000, second prize is £3,000 and there are three prizes of £1000 … all prizes being split between student and school. The winning entries will all appear in the Independent too, both in the newspaper itself and online, so fame is all part of the game.

As an interesting extra twist though, the five schools that submit the highest number of entries will also win £1000 – even if none of those entries are winners. So make it their homework (sssshh – who said that?!)

To find out more, have a look at the competition website at:

http://www.rigb.org/ddp
Or email: ddprize@ri.ac.uk
Or phone: 020 7409 2992               

NB if students want to enter individually, they can do that too, you need have no part of it. Just let them know.

Wow – we’ve just heard about the National Space Centre’s Festival of Science and Culture which is taking place from 9th – 13th March, and it sounds magic. What’s more, there are free places still on offer …

The object of the festival is to celebrate the cultural diversity of scientific achievement, and the guest of honour will be Dr Bernard Harris, the first black astronaut to walk in space. It’s the 10th anniversary of his historic expedition, and it will be celebrated in festive style, with a carnival atmosphere over the public weekend (12th - 13th March) with live music and Caribbean cuisine. There will also be live performances, workshops and a variety of exciting activities throughout the event.

The organisers say, “We have free activity days before and after the Festival available to community groups: these include outreach workshops, missions in our Challenger Learning Centre and visits from our BT Stardome.

“We also have fully funded tickets to the Festival to give away. Participating groups will see a Space Theatre show, take part in a 'Heroes' workshop and get to meet Dr Harris.”

Community groups particularly welcome are those that are focused on working with people from African Caribbean or dual heritage backgrounds, as well as Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Somali and Kenyan backgrounds, and other new arrival BME communities.

Tempted? Well: hurry, hurry, hurry!

All you need to know can be found at:
http://www.festivalofscienceandculture.co.uk

Meanwhile, if you’re based in the South East, here’s news of the two forthcoming packed days of science-based family events and talks known as the BRIGHTON SCIENCE FESTIVAL.

Like a banquet with more courses than they can print on the menu, the Festival schedule is bursting out all over …

Highlights include a beginner’s guide to quantum physics, the ‘essential’ difference between men and women, a tour through the chemicals of everyday life, a look at natural disasters and the strange tale of an 18th century French weaver who paved the way for modern computing technology. And that’s just on the Friday.

The following day is devoted to ‘Bright Sparks’: explosions, forensics, creepy crawlies, Moon rocks and steam engines for the whole family. Then between 6.00pm – 9.00pm it’s Einstein-a-Go-Go as time and space make way for an evening celebrating 100 years of Relativity Theory. Highlights include Julian Mayers’ ‘Dear Mr Einstein’, an insight into the great man’s mind through the letters he wrote to all sorts of curious correspondents throughout his life, including famous colleagues, politicians, family, lovers – and children who asked him about his scientific discoveries.

All the Festival events take place at City College, Brighton, and you can read more, and book your tickets at:
http://www.BrightonScience.com.

However, we’ve secured three pairs of free tickets for the Bright Sparks family event for Planet Science newsletter readers, and to get into the draw to win them, all you need to do is compose a short poem about either Einstein, or the other theme of the Festival, the invention of the tv remote control.

Just to get your creative juices flowing, here’s an oldie but goodie:

A rocket explorer named Wright
Once traveled much faster than light.
He sat out one day
In a relative way,
And returned on the previous night.

Think you can do better? Of course you can. But remember – we’re looking for an ORIGINAL work of genius!

Send all entries to planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk, entitled ‘SHORT & SWEET’. Judging will take place next Friday at 10am. Good luck.

This week’s scientific heroine began life as a schoolteacher in Dundee, then became a maid in a household in Boston – and ended up winning a place in astronomical history for her groundbreaking work in classifying the stars …

At the end of the 19th Century, astronomy was revolutionised with the introduction of exciting new photographic techniques. Before then, astronomers could only record the night sky in the moment they saw it, which made detailed observations and comparisons difficult – and daytime work obviously impossible. But the introduction of photography changed everything. Using photographic plates, huge expanses of the sky could be captured for later study, and a revolutionary technique called ‘spectrography’ was developed.

Spectrographs were photographs that had been taken using a prism in front of the lens, which had the effect of spreading out the light from each star into a spectrum. These spectra don’t look much to the untrained eye, but astronomers discovered that they could be read almost like a barcode, as they contain dark lines where some of the wavelengths of light have ‘gone missing’. This could be used to reveal the chemical composition of the star – hitherto a total mystery.

Harvard University had one of the leading observatories in the world, and its director, Edward Pickering could see that spectrography held the key to giant strides forward in astronomy. There was no shortage of photographic plates to examine, they were rolling in by the day. His problem was that there was a shortage of suitable staff to analyse them.

The men he hired were easily bored – and knew they could earn more elsewhere. One day in exasperation, Pickering is reputed to have exclaimed, “You know, my Scotch maid could do a better job than you’re doing!”. And he was right, she did.

Williamina Fleming was the woman in question, and in 1881 Pickering hired her to oversee the examination of the plates. Her meticulous work and endless patience impressed him, and inspired him to hire an entirely female workforce, later known as the Harvard Computers. This was radical, at a time when women didn’t even have the vote, but the work was initially thought to be routine and repetitive – and they were paid less than their formally qualified male counterparts.

Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming was Scottish and had emigrated to the USA following her marriage. Unfortunately her marriage broke down and with a child to support, she had to seek work to make ends meet, and this was when she met Pickering, and her life set off in a whole new direction.

By 1899 she had been appointed Curator of Astronomical Photographs, notable for being the first corporate appointment of a woman at Harvard. In her time there she discovered over 300 variable stars, and 10 of the 24 novae (exploding stars) then known, as well as 59 nebulae. She first discovered white dwarfs, which are stars believed to be in their dying days, being very hot and dense, and appearing white or bluish in colour.

She published a study on 222 stars that she had discovered. As most astronomers were happy to just discover one or a few stars, her record was described by another astronomer as ‘an achievement bordering on the marvellous’. The classification system for stars still used today owes much to her work, and the Computers who succeeded her moved the science on even further.

There’s not much to be found online about Williamina Fleming, but you can read more about one of the most famous Harvard Computers, Annie Jump Canon at:
http://cannon.sfsu.edu/~gmarcy/cswa/history/pick.html

Just a quick one this week – but it’s very cute.

Its aim is to explain, in very simple terms, chemical ‘chirality’. This is the existence of certain molecules in both a right-handed and left-handed form.

Your hosts are a couple of snails …
Find them at:
http://nobelprize.org/chemistry/educational/chiral/

Hit PLAY THE CHIRALITY GAME and have fun!