Just in case you missed this at the end of term, here's a little reminder of something you can do as teacher and technician together!

The NSLC, in association with the Royal Society, are running Discovery Days at the brand new National Science Learning Centre in York. There are physics, chemistry and biology days with guest lecturers such as Professor Steve Jones with his lecture, "Why creationism is wrong and evolution is right" and Professor Jocelyn Bell FRS with "In pursuit of pulsars". They run on 31st January, 7th February and 21st February.

The cost of a ticket for a day is £25, but Planet Science has negotiated a pair of freebies for each day, as long as they go to teacher and technician combos.

Check out the days in more detail and download an application form at http://www.nslc.org.uk/discovery/days. You'll have to be sure your pair want to go anyway, but mention this Planet Science offer on the form to go into the hat for the free pairs of tickets.

A new you for a new year? Time to get back on track after overdoing it during the holidays? A resolution to take better care of yourself? Whatever the reason, here is a lovely (and great smelling) way to relax and pamper yourself a little…

You will need:

* One egg yolk
* 10ml sweet almond oil
* 1 ripe banana

What to do:

1. Combine all the ingredients into a bowl and mash into a paste using a fork.

2. Apply the face pack to your face and wash your hands well.

3. Leave the face pack on for 10 minutes.

4. Carefully remove with clean water and gently dry your skin your skin with a soft towel

5. Go out and receive compliments from all your friends on your radiant complexion! The ingredients in this face pack are good for dry skin because they have a high lipid content.

What’s going on?

A lipid is a naturally occurring fat or oil, and all lipids have something in common - they are either completely or partly hydrophobic (they hate water). This aversion to water means that lipid molecules have a tendency to stick together in waterproof clumps or layers.

Our skin should have a protective barrier of lipids anyway, stopping water from getting out and nasty 'foreign' substances from getting in. But the top layer of our skin often gets damaged, and ends up feeling dry and flaky. Cold weather, hot weather, wind, air conditioning and central heating are some of the culprits.

When you smear the banana mixture over your face, the lipid molecules in the goo create a temporary waterproof layer over your face. This gives your face an opportunity to rebuild the moisture levels both in the skin cells and between them. So after this tasty treat your face should feel a lot softer.

You can make more face-packs with other kitchen ingredients. For example, oatmeal is good for skin prone to acne, as it is a gentle exfoliator. The oatmeal grains help to remove dead skins and dirt, preventing your pores from getting clogged. Strawberry face masks can also have an exfoliating effect because of the seeds. Cucumber is also meant to be cleansing and cooling, probably due to the high water content.

This experiment came out of Planet Science's Little Book of Experiments. You can find loads of other great activities here.

Got any pupils from Caribbean, Pakistani or Bangladeshi backgrounds? Would you like up to £10K over three years for a science project for them?
The Office of Science and Technology invite schools from across the UK to bid for this funding to support science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) activities relating to KS3, KS4 and/or Applied GCSEs for under-represented groups.

Proposals should be submitted no later than 31st January 2006 and the OST recommends that, where possible, schools should work with a STEM partner to develop the proposal. A decision on which projects will be funded will take place by the end of February 2006, with funding being released to schools in March 2006.

If you would like more details about the funding, or would like an application form, please contact Liz Willcocks, Project Manager, on stemaccess@setnet.org.uk or 020 7557 6422.

And keeping on the subject of primates, ICT Guru Roger Frost has an animal friendly way to experiment on monkeys!

Projectile Motion

For the first time since this search for interactive whiteboard tools began, I have been inundated by a letter. Its question may puzzle animal lovers: it asks for a risk assessment of the "Shoot the Monkey" experiment, where you fire your rifle at a monkey dropping from a tree. The aim we believe is to hit it.

This online gem should answer the question… somewhere this life skill can be practised in safety. You adjust things and fire (a ball) as the monkey drops so this is as safe as it gets.

Timing is of the essence as you are limited to 5 minutes. Register for a trial and you can shoot yourself happy.

Shoot the Monkey Gizmo by ExploreLearning

Score: 4 monkeys

8.1 Figure This! Maths Challenge

If you have a few spare brain cells and some time you might like to have a go at the Figure This! Maths Challenge. With 80 tricky maths questions which combine estimation, algebra and a little bit of general knowledge this great webpage will perk up your brain for the new year.

And if you click around the site you'll also find a handy teacher's section and parent's section with loads more challenges to get your kids involved in maths.

8.2 Spaced Penguin

If you didn't spend enough time over the holidays playing computer games here is a fab way to throw away a few days pinging some penguins about your computer screen. For those who need to be convinced by the scientific merit of such an activity, Spaced Penguin allows you to experiment with the gravitational field of different planets by pinging your penguin safely towards its spaceship. Too close to the planets and he gets pulled in - you can even send him into orbit.

And this first newsletter of the year wouldn't be complete without a few more primate references…

Q. What did the banana say to the monkey?
A. Nothing. Bananas don't talk!

Q. What do you call a monkey at the North Pole?
A. Very lost!

Q. What side of a monkey has more hair?
A. The outside

And of course Prof Robert Wilensky great comment…
"We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true."

Thanks for reading the newsletter… I hope you have enjoyed the last few months with me (Alison Begley) in the driver's seat! Katie Walsh will be taking over from here so please keep sending in your ideas, activities and jokes to planet-science.com@nesta.org.uk. It's been great fun, and thanks for all your contributions - they've kept me entertained and fascinated, frequently both at the same time!

Have a great week!