It’s a strange old week.  Planet Science was at the 21^st World Scout Jamboree where the cornflour and water mixture was flowing thick and fast.  Meanwhile a man was arrested at LaGuardia airport in New York for smuggling a monkey in from Florida under his hat.  Good job it wasn’t an elephant, imagine the size of the hat – everyone would be staring at it. Tsk tsk.  Really give the game away. Plus French scientists think that coffee might help ward off dementia in older women and Hong Kong doctors say that Mahjong can cause epilepsy. Perhaps we’ll stick to Scrabble. Skinny lattes all round, everyone?

The line-up this week:

1. International Left-handers Day 2007
2. Stump the Scientist – how do bees make honey?
3. Activity of the Week: Custard Gone Crazy (dedicated to the Scouts)
4. Mouses at the Ready:  New Theories of Everything book
5. Apology
6. Noticeboard: FYI
7. Recommended websites of the week
8. The Winners’ Enclosure
9. Joke of the Week

What have Prince William, Einstein, George Bush, Marie Curie and Bart Simpson all got in common? They are all left-handed. Oh.  Were you going to suggest something else?

Left-Handers’ Day 2007 falls on Monday 13 August.  On this special day, it’s your chance to GET YOUR OWN BACK on your right-handed friends, colleagues and family, by designating your personal space as a LEFTY ZONE where everything must be done left-handed! Download free Lefty Zone posters for prominent display, re-arrange the room for your convenience, and settle down with a smug, yet superior, smirk. Each year the Left-Handers’ Club aims to raise awareness of a major issue affecting left-handers around the world and for 2007 they are looking at career and other choices in a survey to see whether they are influenced by being left-handed. If you want to join this survey then click here.

Apparently left handed people are often more creative / artistic / intelligent /  since these traits are associated with the right side of the brain which is dominant in left-handers. A musical south-paw penned this little ditty The Lefty Lament Song.

Did you know?

A left-handed person finds it easier to open a jar than a right-handed person. This is because a left-handed person can supply a stronger anticlockwise turning force than a right-handed person. However a right-handed person will find it easier to tighten the jar up afterwards.

John McIntyre writes

From my 3 year old, so 3 year old answers please!

"How do bees make honey from nectar?"

Plus no answers yet for Robert age 6 who asked

“Why does the sea have waves?”

Could it be true that the scientists are stumped by wee bairns?  The shame of it. Pur-leese someone help these poor laddies in their quest for scientific knowledge.

Did you know?

The official Boy Scout handshake actually uses the left hand, not the right. The founder of the Scouts was ambidextrous, but he chose the left hand because it is closer to the heart. For more left handed trivia.

Talking of Scouts, we are repeating this well-known activity which we dedicate to the 40,000 scouts at the World Jamboree.  You know who you are.

Custard Gone Crazy

Is it a solid? Is it a liquid? No, it’s Planet Science’s favourite trick.

You will need:

• Custard powder (or cornflour – but not instant custard powder)
• Water
• Eggcup
• Bowl
• Spoon
• Food colouring (optional)

What to do:

1. Put 8 eggcups of custard powder or cornflour into a bowl.
2. Slowly add 3 eggcups of water, gently stirring the mixture as you add the water to make sure you don't get any lumps. (Still too dry? Add a little bit more water.)
3. The result is a strange yellow substance that can act like a solid (if you punch it quickly or roll it into a ball) and also acts like liquid (if you touch it gently). Weird.
4. If you increase the amounts of custard powder and water, you could in theory fill a paddling pool with the mixture, and run across the top without falling in. (If you do this you can jump up and down, but when you stop jumping you sink into the mixture. To remove your feet pull gently or you may be stuck there for good!)

What’s going on?

When you move the custard mix around slowly the custard powder particles can move around in the water quite freely, and so it acts as a liquid. When you move the mix faster or hold it in your hand tightly, the solid particles rub against each other causing friction. This makes them stick together and act like a solid.

A solid-liquid mixture that behaves in this way is called dilatant.

Another dilatant mixture is quicksand – a mixture of sand and water. If you are ever stuck in a patch of quicksand, don’t start to thrash about wildly! The sand particles stick together and it will be harder to get out. But if you move very slowly, the quicksand behaves like a liquid and you can get out, or just lie back and float on it if you prefer.

This activity comes from Planet Science’s Little Book of Experiments.

This week we have a fantastic book to give away. ‘New Theories of Everything’ by John D. Barrow (Oxford University Press).  Will we ever discover a single scientific theory that explains everything that has ever happened and everything that will happen  - a key that unlocks the mathematical secret at the heart of the Universe?

Our thanks go to Roy Lowry who pointed out to us

“One doesn't want to appear a complete geek, but in the interests of scientific accuracy  . . . .

In "Live lemons", you state: "One lemon produces a very small electrical current - perhaps, at best, only one volt".  Unfortunately, current is measured in amps and the volt is used as the unit of eerrrr . .  voltage.  Voltage is the ability of a device to "push" electrons around a circuit.  Current is essentially the number of electrons to pass a point per second.  To use a plumbing analogy, the voltage is the pressure used to pump water through the radiators, the current the flow of water in litres per second.

Even more pickily, a lemon and two wires will make a single electrochemical cell.  A series of these can be connected to make a battery (in the same way as you have an series of artillery in a battery, or indeed, lots of hens).  However, this one is forgivable as people commonly say they are going to buy a 1.5V battery.  In fact, the standard cell is 1.5V.  Hence, batteries are available at 3V, 4.5V, 6V, etc.’

Sincere apologies all round. Note to ourselves: Must try harder.

Planet Science is no stranger to the quandary of the left-handers.  Try out the Whatever is left quiz.

Have you heard about the Instructables site? It has masses of ideas for things to make and instructions on how to do it. Currently they have a competition sponsored by Amazon with thousands of pounds-worth of prizes, and it's free to enter.

Thanks to Mark (aka Kiteman) for that.