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1. August Quiz: Whatever’s Left
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 What do Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey, Matt Groening and Emma Thompson have in common?
Well, for one thing they’d all have trouble with an old-fashioned corkscrew on a picnic...
The reason is they’re all left-handed. As is an estimated 15% of the world’s human population, some of its animals, and even some of its molecules.
This mirror-image-ness is the subject of the brand new quiz on the Planet Science website. You’ll find it at: www.planet-science.com/quiz and the prize on offer is a left-handers fun pack, containing lefty-suited games, stationery, and promotional items celebrating the glory of being ‘gauche’.
As ever there are ten questions, some easy, some less so – and at least one total piece of cake as we’ve already given you the answer (hint: Q.2).
You have the month of August to complete your entry...
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2. The Flipside Award 2005
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 On the other hand …
The closing date for the Flipside Award 2005 is imminent. Like, a week today.
The Flipside Award, in case you’re scratching your head, is the brainchild of Flipside magazine and the Institution of Electrical Engineers, and what they’re looking for is basically the next awesomely talented young Einstein/Curie/Brunel/Hawking/Dawkins/Rothwell/Gates/da Vinci type scientist/technologist/engineer …
Well, they’re out there somewhere.
Nominations of junior geniuses are invited from school staff, science club organisers, parents, even babysitters (well, you do hear of 4 year old prodigies, don’t you?) The winner will receive a Sony Vaio laptop – and a leg-up onto the road to potential international success and glory.
More details and a form can be found following this link.
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3. Activity of the Week: The Hanging Carrot Gardens of Babylon
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 As Bugs Bunny would say, “What’s up doc? My carrot’s acting strangely.” Could this be the long-forgotten Eighth Wonder of the World?
You will need:
- one large carrot
- vegetable knife
- pair of scissors
- string
- 4 cocktail sticks
What to do:
- Cut the top 5cm off the carrot making sure that the green leaves are still attached.
- Hollow out a small bowl in the cut end of the carrot.
- Push the four cocktail sticks in the end of the carrot so that they form a cross. Tie string to each cocktail stick and tie them together at the top so that the carrot can be suspended and the green shoots hang downwards.
- Pour water into the bowl of the carrot and suspend the carrotgarden in a light, sheltered, indoor spot.
- Observe the carrotgarden daily and fill the bowl up as required. See how the shoots start to curl upwards? Wow! It’s a hanging carrot basket!
What’s going on?
Plants don’t just sit there – they’re very sensitive to environmental conditions like gravity, moisture and light. They also contain growth substances called auxins that can make some parts of a plant grow faster than others, with the result that sometimes the plant will bend towards or away from a stimulus.
Even though you’ve hung the carrot upside down, its shoots will grow upwards, away from the force of gravity. This is known as negative geotropism.Shoots also grow up towards the light, which is known as geotropism.
You may have seen this with houseplants on a windowsill: they grow toward the window and turn their leaves towards the light. They do this because light coming from the window-side of the plant destroys the auxin in the shoots and leaves on that side, so that growth on this side slows down. On the shaded side of the plant there is more auxin, so growth on this side speeds up.
The result is that the shoots and leaves are turned towards the light - maximising photosynthesis. This is an example of positive phototropism.The shoots on our carrot garden will do the same thing, and grow towards the light (ie upwards).
For more information on factors affecting the growth of green plants
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/
biology/greenplantsasorganisms/2plantgrowthrev2.shtml
For more crazy carrot experiments:
http://website.lineone.net/~stolarczyk/experiment.html
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4. Mouses at the Ready for: Biodiversity at the Glasgow Science Centre
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 Look out - life in all its many forms is at large on the banks of the Clyde RIGHT NOW!
The venue in question is the famous giant titanium dome known as the Glasgow Science Centre where they’re currently hosting the touring exhibition, ‘Biodiversity: What On Earth is It?’.
This is a colourful, interactive display that explores not just the ‘web of life’ that surrounds us, but also its relationship with other parts of our environment, such as our air and water. Guess how much it would cost us if we had to provide our own clean air and water? Guess again … You’ll have to visit the exhibition to find out the correct answer!
We have two family passes to the G.S.C. on offer this week, and they’ll let you in, not just to the Biodiversity exhibition but to the whole of the Science Mall, the Planetarium and even the IMAX cinema – in other words an entire dayful of hands-on science and adventure in one spot.
If you’d like to get your name into the draw, send an email entitled It’s Life Jim, with a note of your name and address, to planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk.
The draw will take place at 5pm next Thursday.
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5. Now that’s what I call a result: The Science of Streamlining
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This week we begin a new series of features about the science of sport. Over the next six weeks, Ian Francis will be looking at how the laws of physics, the workings of biology and the developments of sports technology underpin some of the world’s most popular sports.
In coming editions, he’ll be turning his attention to subjects like momentum, altitude and the boiiiiiing without which bungee jumping would very different, and a lot more dangerous. But first, we find him wriggling into his all-in-one Lycra catsuit to discuss: streamlining.
 “In virtually any sport where speed matters, some energy is wasted. This is because of the effort expended pushing air or water aside. It may not sound much, but with some races being settled by hundredths of a second, the sprinter with flappy vest, baggy shorts and sticky-out ears will be at a disadvantage. Most athletics events nowadays therefore resemble a Lycra-fest, the stretchy material helping make their wearers more streamlined.
Down in the pool you’ll see swimming caps and maybe bald heads and shaved bodies. Swimmers may wear a sharkskin-like Speedo costume with tiny protrusions called ‘denticles’ which aim to smooth the flow of water around the wearer and so reduce drag. Less energy-sapping drag means you can move at a higher speed for the same effort.
Another cunning technique in the battle for streamlining is to let someone else take the strain. Tour de France cyclists spend a lot of time crouched down over their handlebars and are more than happy to ride in the slipstream of the rider ahead, letting the leader do most of the work in pushing the air out of the way. Ice speedskaters use the same technique and often appear to be part of a human chain, connected nose to derriere. Even marathon runners get in on the act; although at their speeds aerodynamic drag is comparatively small, the tiny extra effort expended by the pace setter makes their 2+ hours’ work that little bit harder than the freeloader on their shoulder who therefore can keep a bit more in reserve for the sprint finish.
Perhaps the ultimate streamliners are lugers, who hurtle down ice tracks on a tiny sled resembling a skateboard. They lie on their backs, and pelt down feet-first for aerodynamic advantage. To further smooth their form, they wear an all-in-one body-hugging latex suit and can attain speeds approaching 140 km/hour.”
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6. Winning Ways with Whiteboards
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 How are you getting on with that interactive whiteboard of yours?
We continue our quest for the world’s best whiteboard sites with another recommendation from IT guru Roger Frost.
This week, who needs a microscope when you’ve got …
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Thanks Roger!
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6. Recommended Websites of the Week
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This week, two top tips from Planet Science’s very own webstress, Katie Walsh:
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8. The Winners’ Enclosure
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Well we were inundated with entries for Heston Blumenthal/The Royal Society of Chemistry’s phenomenal schools’ activity book: ‘Kitchen Chemistry’.
The draw has now taken place, and the winners are … <drumroll>
Keith Walton, PhD Student at the Fisheries Research Services, Aberdeen
Mrs H Alcock from Frodsham
Cheryl Canosa from Swindon in Wilts
Mrs M Vincent from Saltash in Cornwall
Jane Collins from Chorley in Lancs
Sarah Loftus from Hydestile
A second draw has just taken place for the July Roman-themed Quizzius Maximum. And the laurels go to:
Ellie Pearson of London
Karen Green of Gravesend
Ann Cassell of ‘BN’postcode!
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9. Jokes of the Week
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 Q. How do you keep flies out of the kitchen?
A. Put a load of manure in the dining room!
Q. What did the Pink Panther say when he trod on an ant?
A. “Dead ant. Dead ant. Dead ant, dead ant, dead ant …”
Q. What were Tarzan’s last words?
A. Hey - who put grease on this vine?!
And finally …
Q. Why did the French farmer only keep the one chicken?
A. Because in France, one egg is un oeuf!
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And that’s clearly quite un oeuf for this week too.
Next week, and for the next several months in fact, Alison Begley will be writing the newsletter, so please keep her mailbag full by sending her plenty of science-related news items, ideas, offers, activities and jokes you’d like to share via Planet Science. The address is planet-science.com@nesta.org.uk. Meanwhile it’s au revoir from me (Anne McN) but not before I’ve said thanks for all the very nice emails you keep sending on every science-related subject under the sun – what a groovy, lovely bunch the Planet Science web-community are.
PS if you would like to unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time, just reply to this email with the word 'UNSUBSCRIBE' in the title.
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Stunning Science