This week it’s announced that a new IVF test may double success rates. IVF can often fail because the eggs used don’t contain the correct number of chromosomes to produce viable embryos. Now researchers have developed a way of mapping the number of chromosomes in an unfertilised egg. Read more here. On the subject of eggs, this week we bring you the amazing see-through egg.  We’d say n*ked but we’d be spammed out of your inboxes faster than you can say deoxyribonucleic acid. Plus details of the Project Eggs Factor courtesy of Airbus and Young Engineers. Hope that Mr Nasty isn’t involved.  There’s a bad egg if ever there was one.

The line-up this week:

1. Maths-a-cise – exercises in maths (with a twist!)
2. Stump the Scientist: Is it me or is my paper getting thicker?
3. Activity of the Week: The See-though Egg
4. Mouses at the Ready for tickets to the IMAX
5. SciCast Corner
6. Noticeboard: FYI
7. Recommended websites of the week
8. The Winners’ Enclosure
9. Joke of the Week

Who’s at the door now?  Why it’s our good friend, the maths genius himself, Ian Francis! Nice to ‘sea’ you.

			What’s the biggest ocean in the world? Whether you define ‘big’ as widest, deepest, by area, or volume of water, it’s odds-on that the Pacific Ocean is the holder of the record. But wait! The coveted marine crown could one day be usurped by ‘our’ Atlantic Ocean. My calculation today will attempt to see how long we have to wait. I’m going to define ‘big’ by how wide the ocean is. The Atlantic could become the biggest if the Pacific shrinks enough, or if the Atlantic has a growth spurt. I happen to know that the Atlantic is getting wider by a process called sea floor spreading along the Mid Atlantic ridge. One effect of this is that volcanic mounts are produced, some of which poke above the surface. (Hello Iceland!) The other effect is that the sea floor to the west of the ridge is pushed west and the sea floor to the east is pushed east. Result: London and New York get a teensy bit further apart each year, by 2cm, give or take. My calculastic licence is that I’ve assumed that the Pacific is content to sit and wait to be overtaken (when in fact it’s highly geologically active…) Off to the data books to get figures for the width of each ocean… The Pacific is around 17,500km wide at its widest point, the Atlantic about 4,800km at its widest. Then to calculate how much wider the Pacific is at present, which is 17,500 – 4,800 = 12,700km. Then, out with the speed = distance / time equation. I know the distance the Atlantic needs to catch up. I know the speed it widens. So time in years = distance (in km) /speed (in km per year). I just need to change the 2cm into kilometres. 2cm a year is 0.02 metres a year, which is 0.00002km a year. Re-arranging the speed equation gives us time = distance / speed = 12700 / 0.00002 = 63,500,000 years. To put that into perspective, going backwards 63 ½ million years takes us back almost to the great extinction event that killed off most of the dinosaurs. So no need to swot up new pub quiz answers just yet.

You will need:

• Uncooked egg
• Vinegar
• Bowl
• Time, 2-3 days should be enough 

What to do:

1. Place the egg carefully in the bowl.
2. Fill the bowl with vinegar so that the egg is completely covered.
3. Leave it for 2 to 3 days.

What’s going on?

As soon as you pour the vinegar into the bowl, bubbles start appearing on the surface of the egg. The bubbles are carbon dioxide gas, and you’ll notice that lots more will appear with time. After about 2 to 3 days, most of the eggshell will have dissolved but the membrane of the egg remains. Gently lift the egg out of the bowl and wipe away any pieces of shell that are left.

Hold the egg up to a bright window. You can see the yolk as a dark blob inside. Turn the egg upside down. Can you see the yolk sinking to the bottom of the egg?

You have used science to remove the eggshell without breaking the egg. What an egg-cellent experiment! The vinegar and the calcium carbonate in the eggshell have reacted together just like vinegar and bicarbonate of soda react together in baking soda rocket experiments. 

Chalk also contains calcium carbonate. You should try placing a piece of chalk into a bowl of vinegar. What do you think happens to the chalk?

What a treat we have for you this week! Prepare yourselves for a gripping battle between an aging alpha male lion and his young rival in the African desert.  Lions 3D: Roar of the Kalahari will hit the Science Museum IMAX 3D Cinema from 10 February. The film follows a challenge to the lion king’s supremacy. At stake is a valuable waterhole deep in Botswana’s Kalahari desert, a precious pool of water in a stark and dry land. Here the lion king reigns with two lionesses and his litter of cubs, all of whose fate lies in the outcome of this titanic struggle between two Kalahari giants. From elephants to springboks Lions 3D uses stunning 3D visuals to bring audiences face to face with all of the animals who play a role in this drama. But who wins! Don’t leave us in suspense. We can’t take the strain…

Don’t despair – we have TWO pairs of tickets to give away. Don’t hang about. If you’d like to win one, send an email with your name and address, and the words LION BREATH in the subject line, to planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk.

The draw will take place at 5pm on Wednesday 7th February.

For visitor information visit www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/imax or call 0870 870 4771.

Our Planet SciCast project is hotting up! We had a great response to our call for schools in the Cheshire and Bristol areas for the prototype phase, and now it’s time to organise the next round of workshop visits.

A workshop visit means Jonathan (Jonathan Sanderson, TV professional) will descend with all his filming kit in your secondary school first thing and proceed to make four mini movies of four science demonstrations with 4 x 4/5 of your year 8 or up students in a day. We will firm up all the arrangements with you in due course but for now we need volunteer schools in the following areas. Filming dates will be worked out between the schools and SciCast. They would be between April and July.

Wales (likely to be in late April)
Northern Ireland
Devon
The North Lincolnshire/South Yorkshire area.

Please email Katie.walsh@nesta.org.uk with SCICAST WORKSHOP in your subject line, and please tell us your name, the name and address of your school, the best telephone number to get you on and a web link to your school’s site if you have one.

We won’t be able to say yes to everyone, but thanks very much in advance if you volunteer your school.