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1. Sci-teach – Winning Ways with Whiteboards
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 If you think you may have missed out on some of our past Winning Ways with Whiteboards, think again! You’ll find the whole archive in Sci-teach…
http://www.planet-science.com/sciteach/whiteboard
ICT Guru Roger Frost will show you the very best sites to load up on your interactive whiteboard, from tours of the solar system to tours of your internal organs… it will keep you and your class occupied for ages!
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2. 90% of the Universe is missing!
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On 15th October, The Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester launched a new interactive touring exhibition - Move over Einstein: the next generation is here! - as one of many activities taking place during Einstein Year.
The Universe’s missing matter is just one of the questions facing scientists today. The hands-on exhibition takes visitors on some of the latest projects facing Einstein’s successors, from an electronic supernose to wobbly stars and alien life.
The main exhibit - ‘Thinking Einstein’ - is a replica of Einstein’s bicycle which will allow children to pedal, brake and steer their way through an interactive journey of Einstein’s great mind, with a backdrop of star-filled skies, time tunnels and black holes.
In addition to the exhibits are online education resources for teachers and families to enhance their visit. Resources can be downloaded at www.moveovereinstein.org.
Move Over Einstein is free and specially of interest to 11–14 year olds, and will be open until 20th November!
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3. Venus Express
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 Which planet is about the same size as Earth, is made of very similar materials but is completely covered in acid clouds? Well, the clue is in the title! Venus is a bit of a mystery – how could a planet so similar to Earth evolve so differently? This is a puzzle that Europe’s first mission to Venus hopes to untangle.
ESA’s Venus Express is due to launch next Wednesday, 26th October, and it should take about 6 months to reach its target. After that it will orbit the planet for another 2 years examining its clouds and atmosphere. For more about the mission have a look at the ESA website, www.esa.int/venus
If you want to get your class involved, PPARC have just produced some free resources based on the mission. There is an A1 cartoon-style poster with teachers' notes, suggested learning activities and 4 worksheets suitable for ages 9-16. Teachers can also order a class set of A3 size copies for class use. All free!
You’ll be able to place your order, find out more information and download pdf versions of the poster and worksheets from www.pparc.ac.uk/venus, or email pr.pus@pparc.ac.uk
And if you want to find more complementary (and complimentary!) lesson plans, the British National Space Centre have produced some which are downloadable from http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/learningzone.aspx?nid=5383
Image courtesy of ESA
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4. Activity: An Edible Solar System
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 Here’s one we made earlier… but if you missed it here is your chance to get all space age in the kitchen. What could be nicer now it is getting wintry than a hot chocolate and a solar system biscuit!
You will need:
- 175g plain flour
- 100g butter or margarine
- 50g caster sugar
- Four different sized biscuit cutters
- Items to decorate – coloured icing, hundreds and thousands and liquorice.
What to do:
- Pre-heat the oven to 150°C/300°F Gas 2
- Cream the butter or margarine and caster sugar together until they are light and fluffy. Stir in the flour and, once mixed, knead the dough together until it forms a ball. Add a sprinkle of flour if the dough is sticky.
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is about 5mm thick.
- Use the smallest biscuit cutter to cut three biscuits from the dough (Pluto, Mercury and Mars). Use the next-size-up biscuit cutter to make two biscuits (Venus and Earth).
- Use the next larger biscuit cutter to make another two biscuits (Neptune and Uranus).
- Use the largest biscuit cutter to cut the last two biscuits (Saturn and Jupiter).
- Place the biscuits on a baking tray and bake in the centre of the oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Let the biscuits cool before decorating. Keep track of the planets as you cut them out so you can decorate them correctly after they are cooked.
Now for the decoration:
Mercury has a rocky surface and is orange-red in colour, so use coloured icing and hundreds and thousands to decorate this biscuit.
Venus is covered with thick, yellow clouds so you will need yellow icing.
Earth is an obvious one! Decorate with green and blue icing and a sprinkle of icing sugar to resemble the clouds.
Decorate your Mars biscuit with red icing.
Jupiter is a giant ball of yellow, orange and red gas arranged in stripes. Use stripes of coloured icing decorate with a red sweet in the middle to resemble Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.
Saturn looks yellow because of its foggy atmosphere and is famous for its rings, so use yellow icing and lay a few pieces of liquorice on the biscuit to resemble its rings.
Uranus looks green so decorate with green icing.
Neptune is blue with faint stripes so decorate with blue icing and make faint stripes with sprinkles of icing sugar.
Finally for Pluto, sprinkle a little icing sugar on the top of the biscuit to resemble this icy, rocky planet.
Now all you have to do is arrange the biscuits in the correct planetary order, and serve!
For this and other science activities have a look at Planet Science’s Little Book of Experiments. You’ll find teacher-friendly demonstrations, class activities and tasty treats like this to do in your own kitchen.
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5. E Numbers – Creating a creamy heaven!
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Nutritionist Simone Baroke guides us through the world of fatty food and how it stays so palatable!
 “E” for Emulsifier
Emulsification is one of the great marvels of kitchen science - it’s how you get oil and water to mix. Without it, your bowl of deliciously smooth chocolate ice cream would turn into globules of oil bobbing about in a murky liquid. An emulsifier is a molecule with one hydrophilic (water friendly) and one lipophilic (oil friendly) end, and this is what keeps the two opposing substances floating blissfully in a dreamy, creamy suspension.
Many natural substances can act as emulsifiers: phospholipids (combinations of lipophilic fatty acids and hydrophilic phosphate groups), proteins and complex carbohydrates. Milk, for example, is an emulsion, stabilised by its own protein content. One of the most powerful natural emulsifiers is the phospholipid lecithin, and you’ll find it on the ingredients labels of many foods as “E322”. Egg yolks are rich in natural lecithin, and this is why they are a chief constituent of mayonnaise, the poster child of all emulsions. For industrial purposes, lecithin is often extracted from soybeans or peanuts.
Other common emulsifiers are found in the E400 range. Some are synthetically produced mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids (e.g. E471), but many do come from natural sources. You may be surprised to discover that you have consumed several bucket and spadefuls of seaweed over the years. Seaweed constituents have unique emulsifying, stabilising, gelling and thickening properties, which the food industry cannot do without. Alginates (E400-E405), as the name suggests, are made from the cell walls of brown algae. Carrageenan (E407) and agar (E406) are obtained from red seaweeds. These E-numbers are typically found in desserts, yoghurt, sweets and sauces.
Don’t be spooked by lists of E-numbers on labels. Instead, consider your choice of food. Emulsifiers, like most E-numbers, are completely harmless in themselves, but the foods which contain them tend to be high in fat and low in nutrients.
Find food fascinating? Visit the Planet Science Diner! Over easy please…
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6. Mouses at the Ready for: Stargazing
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 Winter may be nearly here, but fingers crossed for perfect weather at 7.30, Monday 7th November when The Oxford Trust and the Hanwell Community Observatory are having a public Stargazing!
Thanks to their generosity we have a family ticket to give away (that’s for four people, and one must be an adult!). To get into the draw for the ticket you’ll need to send an email with your name and address to planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk. Put “Star Struck” in the subject and the winner will be picked at random at 5pm next Thursday 27th October.
If you aren’t lucky or want to get a place now you’ll have to book by calling 01865 811105 (£3 per ticket). The event is suitable from ages 7 and up and you can join skyguides at Oxford University Parks, meeting at the North Lodge entrance at the corner of Parks Road and Norham Gardens Road.
And if you are in the Oxford Area, The Oxford Trust has opened up a new science gallery ‘Hands-On’. They have loads of activities over half term (and beyond!), be perplexed by the puzzle challenge, float a train or distort your face on TV. For more information on the gallery have a look at: http://www.oxtrust.org.uk/handson/
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9. The Winners’ Enclosure
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Congratulations to our lucky winners this week!
Linda Holden from Weybridge has won Bacteria Growth Check Test Strips from Philip Harris.
And Lorna Thorne from Birmingham has won four tickets to see The Life of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht at The Birmingham Repertory Theatre.
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10. Joke of the week
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Thank you for your great response to my plea for jokes. Dave has sent in this one about Pythagoras; once read you’ll have trouble forgetting his famous law…
On a visit to America long ago, Pythagoras visits a Native American settlement, where he is introduced to the chief. He sees that with the chief are three women, each sat on an animal skin with their children, around the campfire. Pythagoras is intrigued by this, and asks the Chief to explain.
“These women are my wives” said the chief, “this wife has borne me two male children, and to honour her I killed a Buffalo so she may sit with our sons upon its skin by the fire. The next wife has borne me three male children, and to honour her I killed a Grizzly bear so that she may sit with our sons upon its skin by the fire. But my other wife has borne me five male children, and to honour this I killed a hippopotamus so she may sit with our sons upon its skin by the fire.”
Pythagoras thinks for a while, looked at the chief and says…
“So the sons of the squaw on the hippopotamus are equal to the sons of the squaws on the other two hides.”
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That’s all for another week! Thanks for reading and contributing and if you have know of any events, jokes, or activities please let us know at planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk
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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After Simone Baroke’s articles you may think you have a pretty good idea of what’s in your food – but how about analysing your own diet? ICT guru Roger Frost shows you how to use your interactive whiteboard to really inspect your diet. Time to break out the fruit and veg!
RSPCA Education Website