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01. TIME FOR A NICE CUP OF TEA...
 What? What are you doing?! Don't just slam the kettle on and fling a teabag into the nearest cleanish cup... Oh honestly! You deserve so much better. In case you've managed to miss the sudden explosion in tea-science this week, we thought you might enjoy a peruse of the recipe for the perfect cup of tea, as given by the Royal Society of Chemistry. Who knows it could just change your life forever (even if Tony Benn does seem to have a point about putting the milk in last to get the colour just how you like it!) Here's where to download the instructions for the PERFECT CUP OF TEA. Delicious..  |
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02. MOUSES AT THE READY... FOR A REALLY WILD EXPERIENCE Warfare, poison, adrenaline, stealth, drama, death and survival of the fittest. No, not a particularly eventful day in the House of Commons, just business as usual in the wonderful world of the feral food chain... Hunting, hiding and killing strategies in the wild are the subjects of a new exhibition that's just opened at The Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester, fang-drippingly entitled PREDATORS. A giant animatronic funnel-web spider rears up to greet you at the door and it really doesn't get a lot friendlier than that! Colourful animatronic models, hands-on exhibits and real specimens are featured throughout the exhibition and information screens ensure you'll have learned a lot you didn't know before by the time you eventually head to the cafe, emotionally exhausted, to predate on a scone and a cup of tea for yourself. Well, slight exaggeration as the organisers assure us it's not tooooo scary - just a particularly eye-opening display of nature being red in tooth and claw. Amongst other things, the exhibition aims to demonstrate the acute senses that have been developed by certain species to aid them in their hunting. Experience for yourself the acute hearing of the Fennec Fox that inhabits the Sahara where food is extremely scarce. Or perhaps even more fun, have a try at being a giant chameleon. You think it's easy? First you've got to control the two independently-operating eyes ... then when you reckon you've got that delicious bug lined-up in your sights, whap out your giant tongue and see what happens! Camouflage and hiding techniques are also explored in the exhibition - and if you're interested in that aspect of things, don't miss the Recommended Website of the Week below. You can check out the exhibition on the Museum's own website. And if you're going to be in or around Manchester any time up until 7th September, why not get in our draw to win one of four family passes? All you have to do is send an email with I'M A PREDATOR, ME! in the subject field and a note of your name and address in the message. The draw will take place on Friday 4th July at 10am and winners will be announced next week. |
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03. AFRICA SCIENCE: NEW WAYS WITH AN OLD HARVEST The Royal Society have been in touch to let you know about a free event they're running at the Africa Centre in London on Monday 30th June. The impact of cutting edge food technology in the continent is the subject of the evening, and the guest speakers are Dr Gyebi Duodu of the University of Pretoria and Professor Peter Belton of the University of East Anglia. The organisers say, "Gyebi and Peter are experts in the increasingly important field of food engineering and have been using traditional and modern technologies to produce valuable products from the humble sorghum plant." In this specially organised Royal Society/Africa Centre event, Gyebi and Peter will discuss their research, how they came to work together and their vision for the future of science in Africa. The event is taking place on Monday 30 June at 6.30pm at the Africa Centre, 38 King Street, Covent Garden, London WC2. Tickets are FREE and if you'd like to go along, contact the Africa Centre box-office on : 020 7836 1973. More information about the Centre and its events can be found at: http://www.africacentre.org.uk |
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04. ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK: NOISY COAT HANGERS Investigate how sounds travel through different mediums with the simplest of science kit: 2 coat-hangers, a spoon and two pieces of string! What you need: • Take the wire coat-hanger and turn it upside down so that the hook is pointing towards the ground. • Tie a piece of string to each of the corners of the coat hanger now at the top. • Wrap about half of the strings around your index fingers so that the coat-hanger can hang down freely. • Sit on a chair and lean forward so the coat-hanger hangs down in front of you, not touching your body or the floor • Get a friend to hit the coat hanger with the spoon - notice you don't hear very much. • Now, with the string still wound around them, stick your index fingers in your ears. • Get your friend to hit the coat hanger with the spoon again. This time it should be much louder. What's happening: Sound waves travel through a substance (like air) by making its molecules vibrate. As one molecule receives the energy of the soundwave, it moves, bumping into a nearby molecule which then moves and bumps into another one and so on. The soundwave is passed through the substance by a long series of different collisions (like knocking the first domino to cause a chain reaction right along the line to the very last one... ) In gases (eg. in air), the molecules are spread out and they have to move fairly far before they can hit each other. They are also free to move in any direction so the soundwave can spread out in all direction. This uses up energy, so the sound can't travel very far before becoming very quiet. In solids (eg, in a metal), the molecules are all much closer together and the vibration can be passed from molecule to molecule very quickly. The molecules in solids can also only vibrate in certain directions, transferring the sound very efficiently. In this activity, when your fingers are in your ears, the soundwaves travel straight through the coat-hanger, straight up the string and straight into your ears. Less sound is lost and you hear a louder clang than when you were listening to the soundwave that had travelled though the air to reach your ears. |
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05. SCIENCE BEHIND THE SPORTS NEWS: WIMBLEDOLOGY This week, Science Line have gone undercover at the All England Club to find out more about what makes those balls bounce and why the green green grass courts can be full of little surprises... Here's where you'll find it! New balls please! |
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06. RECOMMENDED WEBSITES OF THE WEEK Back to creatures that can camouflage themselves from predators... For some great pictures and an explanation of some of the finer points of camouflage, have a look at HOW ANIMAL CAMOUFLAGE WORKS Younger kids will enjoy identifying which animals will be able to hide themselves in four diverse environments in the CAMOUFLAGE FIELD BOOK. Choose your environment, then click on likely animals ... and use the magnifying glass to read more information about the creature you've chosen. A small but perfectly formed activity site! |
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07. JOKE OF THE WEEK OK. Four students are studying organic chemistry at university. They do so well on all the coursework that year that each is predicted to get an 'A' overall. They’re so confident that even with an exam on Monday morning, they can’t resist driving down to the south coast for the weekend to party with some friends of theirs. They have a great time. However, after all the partying, they sleep all day Sunday and don't make it back to town until early Monday morning... They’re too late to take the exam, so decide to find their course leader after the exam and explain that they missed it because they'd all gone home to study intensively for the weekend, and on the way back they'd had a flat tyre, didn't have a spare, and couldn't get help for a long time. Hence, have only just got back. The course leader thinks it over and then agrees they can take the exam the following day. The four are elated and relieved. They study hard that night, all night, and go in the next day at the designated time. They’re each shown to separate rooms, handed a test booklet and told to begin. The first problem is worth 5%. It’s a simple question concerned free radical formation. 'Cool', thought each student in their separate exam rooms, 'this is going to be easy...' Each finishes the problem and turns to the next page. Where it says… Question 2 (for 95%): " Which tyre?. " |
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| 08. AOB That's all for this week, but if you have any contributions for next week's newsletter please email Anne McNaught on anne@planet-science.com Meanwhile: have a great week! |
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