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01. WIN BUSTED'S GUITAR AND AMP
 Investigation teams in schools up and down the country are currently working their way through the forensic tests that will enable them to name the cunning culprit in the Planet Science Whodunit... But whether or not you're enrolled for the Whodunit, if you're into forensics, you should try your hand at the associated Super Sleuth Training Challenge. This is a 20 question quiz, which takes you through the stages of a forensic investigation, requiring you to demonstrate your knowledge of relevant procedures, acronyms and of course forensic science... If you live anywhere in the UK you're eligible to enter, but you can’t enter more than once, so you’ll need to be on your toes. And it's well worth entering because the prizes on offer are brilliant. The top prize is the guitar they're all talking about. A beautiful white Fender, signed by all the members of Busted, and complete with its own amp, leads, strap, plectrum and stickers. Oh and one more potentially crucial thing... a Teach Yourself Guitar book and CD! Runners up prizes include: 5 Family passes to the At-Bristol Whodunit? Exhibition - At-Bristol 12 copies of the all new 'Therapy' Game from Gibson Games 20 copies of 'Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective' interactive DVD from Infinite Ventures. 400 copies of the limited edition Busted 'Stolen!' poster. Fancy yourself as a super-sleuth? Go to THE PLANET SCIENCE WHODUNIT and click through where it says Sleuth School. Good luck.  |
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02. INTEL SEEING REASONING TOOL And if it's the deductive process you enjoy, you may be interested to know about a new, free, online resource for schools that Intel have just alerted us to... It's called the 'Seeing Reasoning Tool' and it's designed to help students with problem-solving by clarifying the logical cause-and-effect processes involved in complex situations. There's an example of a forensic project on the home site, as well as several others, and it's free to use - no strings of any sort. You'll find it on Intel's site here so don’t be unREASONable – have a look! |
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03. AVENTIS SCIENCE BOOK PRIZES The nominations have now been announced for the prestigious Aventis Science Book Prizes 2003... Not only does this provide a pointer to some excellent books with which to while away your summer holidays, but we have two groovy opportunities up our sleeves for you to take advantage of. But first a bit more about the Awards. They're managed by the Royal Society, and sponsored of course by Aventis, with the aim of honouring the very best in popular science writing. There's a Junior Prize, for the best book written for under-14s, and a General Prize for the best book written for a general audience. This year the judging panels are being chaired by Floella Benjamin and Margaret Drabble respectively, and competition in both cases is fierce... The books up for the GENERAL PRIZE are as follows: • 'Small World' by Mark Buchanan (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) • 'Reckoning With Risk' by Gerd Gigerenzer (Allen Lane) • 'The Extravagant Universe' by Robert P. Kirshner (Princeton University Press) • 'Right Hand, Left Hand' by Chris McManus (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) • 'The Blank Slate' by Steven Pinker (Allen Lane) • 'Where Is Everybody?' by Stephen Webb (Copernicus Books) Sounds interesting? Well, if you fancy winning a copy of each of those books, here's your chance. All you need to do is email us and tell us your nomination for the best science book ever, and we'll put your name in the hat for the draw. Just send an email to: anne@planet-science.com with the words 'AVENTIS SCIENCE BOOKS (GENERAL)' in the subject heading, a note of your name and address, and the name and author of what you consider to be the best science book you've ever read... We'll make the draw at 10am next Friday. As for the, JUNIOR PRIZE the nominations are: • 'Horrible Science: The Terrible Truth About Time' by Nick Arnold (Scholastic) • 'The DK Guide to the Oceans' by Dr Frances Dipper (Dorling Kindersley) • 'Get in Gear' by Sholly Fisch Age:8-12 (Innovative Kids) • 'Leap Through Time: Dinosaur' by Nicholas Harris Age:8-10 (Orpheus Books) • 'Why Can't I..?' Series by Sally Hewitt Under 8s (Belitha Press) • 'The Way Science Works' by Robin Kerrod & Dr Sharon Ann Holgate Age:8-10 (Dorling Kindersley) Again, we have a set of each of there on offer. So if you or a young friend fancies a shelf-ful of top quality science-related reading matter, just send an email, again to anne@planet-science.com 'AVENTIS SCIENCE BOOKS (JUNIOR)' in the title, with your name and address, and a note of your favourite children's science book. Meanwhile, for the second year running, the Awards have teamed up with SciZmic, the science discovery club network, and all next week (16-20 June), the authors of the shortlisted books in the Junior category will be answering questions posted on the SciZmic discussion board. Ros Mist of SciZmic says, "All website visitors can read the questions and answers, however only registered users may post questions. The board will be fully moderated during the week, but teachers may want to register and post pupils' questions themselves. The authors aim to have answered questions posted before 5pm by midday the following day." Full information can be found on the Awards website and the winners will be announced at a gala awards dinner at the Science Museum, London on Wednesday, 25 June 2003. |
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04. ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK: CHEESY WAVES Here’s a quick demo you can do with your local friendly microwave oven that helps you visualise where the waves are… (We advise adult supervision for any kids wanting to try this one out.) Here’s the background: The microwaves in a microwave oven are the kind of waves that don't travel anywhere but just stay in one place. These are called standing waves*. In this experiment you can see standing waves by melting cheese in a microwave oven. You will need: • A microwave oven • Some slices of processed cheese • A (microwaveable) plastic tray What to do: 1. Remove the turntable from the microwave. 2. Lay strips of cheese on the tray and put it in the oven. 3. Either give it a quick blast (about 10 sec) on high power, or try leaving it in there for 1 min on a low setting like defrost. (This is better if your microwave timer doesn't have seconds on it). What you will see Take the tray out of the oven and look to see where the cheese has melted. The places where the cheese has melted show where the microwaves inside the oven are biggest (where the waves have maximum amplitude). In some parts of the oven, the waves have a high amplitude and the cheese gets hot and melts. In other parts, the amplitude is small or zero, and the cheese doesn't melt. This is why you need a turntable in a microwave oven. If the food isn't turned round it won’t get cooked evenly all over. * PS Want to know more about standing waves? Here's a site that can help: |
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05. SCIENCELIVE :UP-DATE ON A NEW SERVICE FOR TEACHERS AND YOUTH GROUP LEADERS You may remember us asking for your views on our plan to create a new searchable web-service for teachers and others who work with young people, and organisations that offer science shows, events and other presentations for 5 –18 year olds. Thank you to all those who responded. The service - called SCIENCELIVE - now exists in prototype form and we are looking for volunteer teachers, youth group leaders and science presenters to try it out and give us feedback on whether it works and will be a useful resource. You can find the prototype here. The first 15 people to submit their comments will receive a FREE copy of the Planet Science Little Book of Experiments. We are particularly interested to know whether you think it will be useful service to you as a potential user; whether it’s sufficiently quick and easy to use both from a design point of view and for ease of access; whether there are features that could be improved; and whether there are other features which we ought to include? ScienceLive is being developed by the BA and ScienceWorlds with funding from Planet Science. The site will be hosted by the BA and will have a distinct identity and direct web address, with hyperlinks established from appropriate other sites. As well as reviewing the prototype, we'd also like to hear from any science presenters interested in being featured on the site.Ê All comments and suggestions should be sent to Melanie Smallman on melanie.smallman@think-lab.co.uk by 19th June. |
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06. RECOMMENDED WEBSITE OF THE WEEK IThis week an upbeat guide to some ancient history… and a roll call of some of the last century’s key science shapers … HISTORY FOR KIDS is a big and bold site containing features on a number of key historical civilisations, from the Egyptians and Chinese, to Islam, India and the Middle Ages. As it’s primarily aimed at kids, it’s a quick and easy read for adults – and very enjoyable too. The Greek and Roman sections both contain specific information about that people’s achievements in science, but a click around the rest of the site, helps to send you back in time to see how the whole jigsaw fits together… ANCIENT GREECE ANCIENT ROME However, if you want to know more about recent scientific discoveries and personalities in the history of science, the American broadcaster PBS has compiled a database you may find useful. It’s A SCIENCE ODYSSEY: PEOPLE AND DISCOVERIES. Not only can you search by people and timelines, but you can also read a round-up of major discoveries by subject heading. It’s not a site that’s particularly exciting lookswise – but there’s an amazing amount of information in there… |
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07. SCIENCE BEHIND THE NEWS This week, Science Line are joining the rest of the world’s media in pondering the fate of the Beckham family, who would appear to be on their way to foreign shores... Which foreign shores in particular may not be settled yet, but if they end up in any non-English speaking country, learning the language will be important to settling in. Science Line have therefore been looking at why learning a foreign language is easier for little kids than it is for their parents… Read all about it at: www.sciencenet.org.uk |
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08. JOKE OF THE WEEK … here we go! Two geologists were on a field trip studying rock formations in Russia, and had arranged for a pilot to fly them into a remote far north to collect some specimens. They had identified six big rocks to take back to their lab for further analysis. The pilot returned, as arranged, to pick them up, and they started loading their gear into the plane. When he saw the rocks however, the pilot objected, explaining, "Those rocks are too heavy, the plane can only take four of them; you will have to leave two behind." The geologists argued with the pilot, telling him that the year before, they had collected six similar sized rocks and that pilot had allowed them to put all of them aboard. This plane was the exact same model and capacity. Reluctantly, the pilot finally permitted them to put the whole lot onboard. But when they attempted to take off and leave the valley, the little plane could not carry the load and they had to make an emergency landing in the wilderness. Climbing out of the wreckage, one geologist said to the other, "Do you know where we are?" "Yeah, I think so," replied his colleague. "Must be about the same place where we had to make the emergency landing last year!" Have a great week! |
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| 09. AOB That’s all for this week… If you have any contributions for next week’s bulletin, send them through to Anne McNaught on anne@planet-science.com Meanwhile: have a great week! |
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