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1. The Skeletal Scrutiniser
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 Time to bone up on your skeleton facts and you could be in with a chance of winning a brilliant skeleton game, glowing skeleton balloons, glowing rubber skeletons, and jelly skeletons. Yes, it’s time for a new Planet Science quiz and with Halloween rearing up (how much merchandise can the supermarkets push by the way? Isn’t it getting a little out of hand?) you’ve no time to lose. By the way, don’t ask a skeleton to go skydiving – he hasn’t got the guts…
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2. Stump the Scientist
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This week’s question is from Alison Penwell from AstraZeneca who asks:
Why do plates leave the hot dishwasher dry but plastic dishes stay damp with droplets on? This has caused some heated debate in our house between the surface tension/thermal properties supporters clubs.
Anyone know? We also note it happening on the surface of some types of pans too. Who said ‘You want to get out more’?
If you can help or if you have a burning question of your own then send us an email with STUMP THE SCIENTIST in the subject line to planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk
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3. Activity of the Week
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 Spinning Juice
Finished your drink of juice? Great! No don’t throw away the empty carton! Here’s something fascinating….
Adult supervision required.
You will need:
- empty 1 litre fruit juice carton
- piece of string
- pair of scissors
- washing up bowl
- water
What to do:
- Poke a hole in the bottom left hand corner of each of the four faces of a 1 litre juice carton. (children should be helped with this bit by adults)
- Poke an extra hole in the top flap of the carton and tie a string through it.
- Hang the carton from the string.
- Pour some water into the washing up bowl so that it is about one quarter full.
- Place the carton into the bowl of water.
- Pour water into the carton until it is full to the top.
- Now lift the carton out of the water by the string and watch what happens!
What’s going on?
Newton's Third Law states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Water shoots out the holes, and pushes back on the carton with equal force. A turbine is formed as the energy of the moving liquid is converted into rotational energy. Consequently the carton spins. This effect was first noted by Hero of Alexandria.
Hero (or Heron) of Alexandria (roughly A.D. 10 to roughly A.D. 70) was a Greek engineer and geometer. His most famous invention was the first documented steam engine, the aeolipile. Steam was generated in a separate boiler and fed into a sphere through a hollow spindle. The steam left the sphere via two narrow, angled nozzles and the reaction to the jets of steam leaving these nozzles made the sphere spin.
To see an animation of Hero’s Aeolipile click here.
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4. Mouses at the Ready
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 Do you groan when someone suggests a game of Trivial Pursuit? Yawn at the mention of Monopoly or Scrabble? Well what you need is Polarity! This new game, based on the concept of magnetism, has won first prize in a contest for science toys, the Smart Toy Awards. Polarity requires players to balance playing pieces in magnetic fields. Sounds intriguing doesn’t it? So much so that Planet Science hotfooted it down to the local toy emporium where Polarity is selling out fast. We elbowed our way to the front and managed to grab the last one.
So if you’d like to win the latest must-have game then send an email with your name and address, and the words SHEER MAGNETISM in the subject line, to planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk.
The draw will take place at 5pm on Wednesday 4th October.
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Horrible Science Competition
Answer three ‘horrible’ questions correctly and go into the prize draw for one of 10 brilliant science kits or one of 15 Measly Medicine Horrible Science Books.
Click here.
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Teachers: Be Part of the UK’s Leading Innovation Event.
Planet Science’s mothership, NESTA, would like to invite you to ‘Making Innovation Flourish’, an event fusing science, technology and the arts.
We’d love to have teachers there, especially for a workshop session where the new NESTA team ‘Future Innovators’ will identify the attitudes and skills that young people need in order to develop into innovators, science or otherwise.
Tom Hadfield, a teenage entrepreneur, will stimulate the debate by assessing the extent to which the education system did (or didn't!) support his development.
There’ll be many other stunning speakers, plus a showcase of the latest innovations in science and technology, including our own SciCast project.
When: Tuesday 24th October 2006
Where: Business Design Centre, Islington, London
Why: Why not!
For all the info and to book, click on.
First come… first served!!
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Enter the debate on Genetic Screening - Manchester
Nowgen (the North West Genetics Knowledge Park) invites you to find out more about Genetic Screening. The choice of tests for newborn babies is being extended this year. This is an opportunity to find out why this is being done and what other tests may follow. The audience will be using interactive voting pads in order to have their say. Come along and join the debate.
12 October 2006
5.45pm until 8pm
Central Manchester Hospital site
Call 0161 276 5956 to reserve your free place, or email: bookings@nowgen.org.uk
For further information see here.
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ASE job
Our friends the Association for Science Education (ASE) are looking for a Curriculum Development Manager. You'd have responsibility for the curriculum development activities and the initiation and management of projects, including new resources to support science teaching and learning. To find out more about the job, salary, etc go here
Deadline for applications Monday 9th. October
Interviews on Monday 30th. October.
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National Science and Engineering Week
In March 2007, the BA will be expanding the UK's National Science Week programme to become "National Science and Engineering Week".
The BA is working in partnership with the Engineering and Technology Board (ETB) to broaden the scale and scope of the programme. There will be more engineering-related activities, with the addition of an extra 500 engineering-focused events. Great news! And loads more options for fun, exciting, hands-on activities.
For further information on National Science and Engineering Week and how to get involved, please visit this link
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This time in the Winners’ Enclosure there’s just the one noble steed. And it’s Daniel Galley of Newport who has romped home with the family pass for the National Space Centre! Well done Daniel, a hot bran mash for you, no doubt!
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8. Joke of the Week
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Antigravity: The Feline Butterology Theory
We found this argument on the OXymoron Humour Archive (now defunct - 2009) and thought it might appeal to Planet Science readers. Please don’t inundate us with irate emails, cat-lovers!
Question:
If you drop a buttered piece of bread, it will fall on the floor butter-side down. If a cat is dropped from a window or other high and towering place, it will land on its feet. But what if you attach a buttered piece of bread, butter-side up to a cat's back and toss them both out the window? Will the cat land on its feet? Or will the butter splat on the ground?
Answer:
Even if you are too lazy to do the experiment yourself you should be able to deduce the obvious result. The laws of butterology demand that the butter must hit the ground, and the equally strict laws of feline aerodynamics demand that the cat cannot smash its furry back. If the combined construct were to land, nature would have no way to resolve this paradox. Therefore it simply does not fall.
That's right, you clever mortal (well, as clever as a mortal can get), you have discovered the secret of antigravity! A buttered cat will, when released, quickly move to a height where the forces of cat-twisting and butter repulsion are in equilibrium. This equilibrium point can be modified by scraping off some of the butter, providing lift, or removing some of the cat's limbs, allowing descent.
Most of the civilized species of the Universe already use this principle to drive their ships while within a planetary system. The loud humming heard by most sighters of UFOs is, in fact, the purring of several hundred tabbies. The one obvious danger is, of course, if the cats manage to eat the bread off their backs they will instantly plummet. Of course the cats will land on their feet, but this usually doesn't do them much good, since right after they make their graceful landing, several tons of red-hot starship and cheesed-off aliens crash on top of them.
Please note that no cats were harmed in the course of this investigation…
For the science of buttery toast falling, take a look at newsletter 189.
Read anything funny you’d like to share? You know where we are: planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk Don’t forget to put JOKES in the subject line.
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If art is more your thing then take a look at the beautiful images created by Martin Waugh. Using high-speed photography and varying the size, speed and position of drops, the most amazing images are created. Isn’t science beautiful? Sigh…
The Shark Trust Activity Zone has all sorts of fun and exciting shark activities, games and downloads. How about making a Sharkometer or a Giant Eggcase? You’ve already got one? Well send us a photo then.
