When you see the brilliant books we’ve got to give away in Mouses this week, your heartrate may well start racing, so here’s an activity that makes the most of that boom-boody-boom …

You will need:

What to do:

1. Take a piece of Blutack the size of 10p piece and knead it until it is soft and pliable.
2. Lay your willing volunteer on the floor and ask them to turn their head to the right.
3. Place your index and middle finger lightly on their throat, slightly to the left of their windpipe. Can you feel something thumping under the skin? This is known as a pulse. You might need to move your fingers around a bit and press slightly.  Not TOO much of course else your ‘willing’ volunteer might change their mind!
4. Find where the pulse is beating most strongly and place the Blutack on the pulse point.
5. Gently push the drinking straw vertically into the Blutack so that it stands up straight.
6. Now you – and anyone else around – should be able to see the straw jerking with every heartbeat.
7. Take your timer and count how many times the straw moves in one minute.  This is the heart rate. For an easier method you could count the times the straw moves in 15 seconds and multiply it by 4.
8. Ask your volunteer to run on the spot for one minute (or show him/her a copy of our prize book this week …).
9. Repeat your measurement.  What do you notice?

What’s going on?

The pulse in the neck is known as the ‘carotid’ pulse since it’s measured from the carotid artery. This is the main artery in the neck and supplies blood to the brain.

When your muscles are working hard, they need more oxygen for energy, so you breathe faster and your heart speeds up so it can pump more blood. When your body is relaxing, your muscles need less oxygen for energy so your heart doesn't need to pump as quickly.

If you’d like more information about how your heart works, here’s a good site:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/heart.htm

And of course your heartrate can also accelerate in response to emotion – as in the ‘fight or flight’ response, which is explained here:
http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa/mim/drugs/html/adrenaline_text.htm

And so to matters boggy.

Bogs, despite their unpromising name, are not only beautiful landscapes, but home to some of the UK’s most diverse wildlife. However, many of them are now under threat from us humans, hence International Bog Day on 31 July.

Read more about it at and organise your day out at:
http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/index.php?section=places:events Scroll down to the bottom of the page for International Bog Day called "For Pete's Sake"

He’s earned 3 Michelin Stars, he currently holds Restaurant Magazine’s ‘Best Restaurant in the World’ award, and he’s got a panful of Chef of the Year titles simmering on the hob … can you name this man?

No, it’s not Gordon, it’s not Jamie, it’s not even Ainsley.

The menu in question holds a few clues: snail porridge, bacon and egg ice cream, chocolate and blue cheese pudding … ring any bells?

“When I left school,” he says, “I had no scientific background whatsoever. I have taught myself slowly and with much difficulty, so this new initiative is music to my ears. I just wish it had happened a few years earlier.”

A free copy of the book is being sent out to every secondary school and college in the UK and the Republic of Ireland in time for the autumn term. In the meantime though, you can explore the material, sample a chapter free, and check out the contents of the accompanying CD-Rom, at:
www.chemsoc.org/kitchenchemistry <link>.

If you’d like your own copy however, the RSC have donated six for us to give away to newsletter readers. To get into the draw, send an email to planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk entitled Cooking Up a Treat, with a note of your name and address. The draw will take place on Thursday 28^th July.

And staying with the cookery theme …

The surprise is, the artichoke is in fact a flower. This week nutritionist Simone Baroke has been getting heart to heart (sorry – irresistible pun) with our succulent green friend, and here’s what she’s found out:

“Artichokes haven’t really received any high-level promotion since 1947, when a fresh-faced Hollywood starlet named Marilyn Monroe was crowned ‘Artichoke Queen of Castroville’, a town in California. This lack of attention is unfortunate, as the vegetable is unique in many ways …

Its high content of the bioactive phenolic compound “cynarin” stimulates bile production, and so aids digestion. Bile is a thick alkaline fluid made in the liver that works much like washing up liquid by emulsifying droplets of dietary fats, preparing them for digestion and absorption into the body. Cynarin has also been shown to lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels, which makes artichokes a particularly beneficial food for diabetics and people with cardiovascular disease. (It’s worth mentioning though that cynarin messes with your taste buds, and, for a short while, everything you eat after consuming artichokes will taste strangely sweet.)

For straightforward cooking instructions, have a look at: http://www.ehow.com/how_426_cook-artichokes.html

And if you want a selection of terrific artichoke recipes, visit http://www.ehow.com/how_2884_steam-artichokes.html or http://www.artichokes.org/recipes.html.

PS You can always cheat by buying marinated artichokes, they’re delicious eaten either straight out of the packet or tossed into a salad.”

Thanks Simone!

This week IT guru Roger Frost takes another leap into the world of whiteboard wizardy and this week he’s concerned with terminal velocity.

			Physics Online “Leaping from high into the sky is an impressive way to learn. According to ‘Terminal velocity’, a sharp looking teaching tool, you don’t keep speeding up. Instead you hurtle towards the earth at a steady velocity – an idea which is perhaps reassuring. Back in the classroom you could find this ‘model’ spot-on, not least because it plots velocity during a fall, and shows how a parachute affects the situation. Other tricks which make this site particularly suitable for whiteboard use include a plot of acceleration as you view a drop and a control for the size of the parachute. The quality is sky high so one can forgive the fact that it’s not free to use forever … To have a go, sign up for a free trial, then search for ‘terminal’ at Physics Online http://www.physics-online.com/

Thanks Roger!

Two holiday escapes... Pfizer Fun Zone Bright and colourful, this upbeat site allows kids to find out about the history of medicine, explore the world of the microscopic, and test their scientific word-knowledge. There are also instructions for a number of hands-on experiments, and case studies on four role model-esque young scientists working at Pfizer. Here’s where you’ll find it: http://www.pfizerfunzone.com/funzone/index.html

Planet Science Parents Fun Pack Meanwhile, if you need some child anti-boredom power to take with you on holiday (and on the journey), we have the answer. The Fun Pack is fully downloadable and print-offable, and includes games, quizzes, activities and Cor-that’s-amazing facts. Scroll down to the bottom, and there’s a second pack of goodies too – including Spotto!, everyone’s favourite car game – and loads more experiments. http://www.planet-science.com/ parents/fun_pack.html

That’s it for this week. As ever, we’re standing by to collate and compile any useful, interesting or fun contributions we’re sent during the week. So if you think of anything suitable, please send it straight through to Anne McNaught on anne.mcnaught@nesta.org.uk.

And have a great week!

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