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01. ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK: FLYING TONIGHT...
This week, it's time to meet your (nocturnal) neighbours. You may have already inadvertently invited one or two into your home this summer, but here's a much bigger and better way to see what August's warm welcoming nights mean for your local flying insect population... But let's start with a joke heard on Radio 4 and sent in by Sekeeta Crowley: 'Doctor, doctor, I think I'm a moth.' 'Well, it's not me you should be seeing, you need a psychiatrist.' 'Yes, I know.' 'Why did you come then?' 'I saw your light on' Exactly. Many nocturnal insects including moths and beetles are attracted to bright lights. If you switch on an outside light at night you'll soon see a congregation of flying insects clustered near it. An easy way to study them is to use a LIGHT SHEET as the insects will rest on the sheet rather than continually fly around the light. Professional entomologists use ultraviolet 'blacklights' to attract the bugs, but even a normal light will be pretty appealing to them, especially if you do this on a dark moonless night. What to do... 1. Take a large white sheet and hang it up against a wall, between two trees or even on a washing line. You might like to let the bottom bit of the sheet sit on the ground so that any insects that fall off the sheet can also be easily spotted. NB. It is a good idea to ask the person who does the washing in your house before you borrow the sheet! 2. Take a strong light source such as a powerful torch or lantern and place it in front of the sheet. You may be able to run an electric lamp from the house if you have an extension cable. Make sure that the light isn't touching the sheet and take care not to trip over any trailing cables. 3. As the insects land on the sheet you can inspect them. Try capturing some in a jar so you can take a closer look at them... Want to know more about the UK's insect life? Have a look at UK SAFARI's CREEPY CRAWLIES directory. (And if you're in Scotland and don't fancy doing this week's activity because the midges are rampant where you are, here's something you may find of interest you can read instead) And way more activities to do in this week's Recommended Websites of the Week - keep scrolling... OK, back to our quest for the MOST WANTED. Janet Williams has stepped forward with these three amigos: WANTED $10,000 reward. Missing Link Last seen about 300 million years ago WANTED $10,000 reward. Viruses Dead? or Alive? WANTED $10,000 reward. Life on Mars Red or Dead Thank you Janet, great minds clearly think alike on no 2 there, but very good again. Clearly this hot weather is good for creativity!  |
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| 02. FANCY A BIT OF CHAOS IN YOUR LIFE? Sarah Crisp, the President of an organisation called 'CHaOS', has been in touch to invite you to some free summer science shows featuring plenty of hands-on hubbles, bubbles, yuk, slime and skeletons... All in the name of science. She says: CHaOS is Coming! Prepare to be wowed when a group of Cambridge University students, aptly known as CHaOS, descend on towns across the UK this summer. Cambridge Hands-On Science (CHaOS) will be bringing exciting hands-on experiments to ballrooms, bandstands, halls and leisure centres from the North East to the South West this summer. Armed with 100 kiwi fruit, a xylophone made from drainpipes and a skeleton named Boris, amongst other weird and wonderful things, they promise their own unique brand of fun science. By getting sticky with slime, blowing mysterious bubbles, building bridges galore and much more, the group not only explain some of science's intriguing puzzles but also encourage you to answer many for yourself. Last year the comments from show-goers included: "Cambridge students delightful and very good with children" and "Excellent for all our party. Explainers very good even with us not so clever adults. Thank-you." The first show is TOMORROW in Skegness, and from then they're going to Cleethorpes, Gloucester, Ross-on-Wye, Malvern, Kingsbridge, Ivybridge, Brixham, Exmouth, Swanage and Lyminton. To find out more about all the shows and what they do, check out their website at: http://www.chaosscience.org.uk or drop them an email on contact@chaosscience.org.uk. From Nigel Bowen, Head of Science at Pendeford High School in Wolverhampton, another MOST WANTED poster, this time spotted in ChemistryLand: Missing $10,000 reward One outer electron Contact Mr. C.L. Chlorine at Group 7 with any information Ooooh - nearly lost one of the judges there who's not so hot on chemistry, but her problem not yours, so again an excellent effort, thank you. |
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| 03. ON THIS DAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY Back to 'real' science... and what do beautifully graceful and cool water fountains have in common with yeowchingly hot clangy pressure cookers? There is a (human) link - and you can read all about it at: http://www.sciencenet.org.uk/onthisdayinscience/0803/2208.html PS take a moment to explore some of the other areas of the Science Line website while you're there, they've got all sorts - it's fascinating and good homework reading if you're a tv quiz-aholic! Time for some more posters (feeling dizzy yet?) WANTED: Someone who can abbreviate adenosine triphosphate. REWARD: 80p From: Nancy Dobson at Skipton Girls' High School Short and straight to the point, very nice, thank you! |
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| 04. RECOMMENDED WEBSITES OF THE WEEK More things to make and do this week, courtesy of two great websites. First of all, join Sam Sleuth in his microbiological investigations in MICROBE at http://www.microbe.org/. This is an easy to use and good-looking site all about those life-forms that the eye cannot see... There are plenty of beginners' explanations and examples of how microbes affect our world, and the whole site is swarrrrrrrming with demonstrations and activities to keep a whole class busy for a week. Also recommended are the activities on at site called LIGHTWAVE. 'Make yourself look like you've had a fight with a bus', 'bend the unbendable' or check your tv's real colours... There are online interactive demos as well as plenty to do in the privacy of your own kitchen or bathroom. Either way, no excuse for ever being at a loose end again... Meanwhile, back at the OK Corral, Chris Parry has two more posters for you: WANTED 1865 Mark 10,000 reward Kekule's Snake that hasn't completely swallowed its tail. Chemistry tetra valent carbon WANTED 1865 Schilling 10,000 reward Jar of Mendel's Peas preserved in Holy water. Biology two laws of inheritance. And Chris wowed the judges by adding in two other jokes for extra measure: 1. What exams do older horses take? 2. What exams do younger horses take? Answer: 1. Hay levels 2. GG CSEs or GG nvqs. Excellent! |
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| 05. G.P.S. NAVIGATOR: WINNER ANNOUNCED! Well done to everyone who took time to work out the answer to last week's competition to win a state of the art, handheld GPS navigator. In order south to north, the featured destinations went as follows: SWANSEA, ST ALBANS, IPSWICH, LEAMINGTON SPA, PORTMEIRION, WARRINGTON, BELFAST, BALLYCASTLE, KILMARNOCK and JOHN O'GROATS. Three quarters of entrants got the order correct, and the winner in the lucky draw of correctorinos was: Julia Dickinson of Great Bookham in Surrey. Congratulations - your GPS will find its way to you very shortly (get it?!) PS sorry - especially to anyone from Portmeirion about the mis-spelling of 'Portmeirion'. WANTED POSTERS: Katy Hewis on dynamic form as ever, has several suggestions. WANTED Lord Kelvin Fee for collection: Absolute zero WANTED Hydrogen and Oxygen Combined (Not really, I just wanted to see your reaction...) WANTED Atoms Fee for collection: No charge WANTED Leaky Valve No pressure WANTED New web-based laboratory Virtually unused WANTED Breath fresheners Mint condition Many thanks to everyone who's supplied Wanted posters and jokes for this week's newsletters. Book tokens will be dispatched to each of you next week in recognition of your quality work...! |
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| 06. JOKE OF THE WEEK One final joke from Dave Hart who works at the Institute of Food Research in Norwich (and has a part-time job: supplying jokes to Planet Science.) Here it comes: I watched my dog drinking the other day. It went in as H2O and come out as K9P !!! Thanks very much Dave! And that's it, the show's over for another week. Thanks to everyone who contributed, and as ever, please get it touch if you've got something you'd like to share with the others next week or any time thereafter... Send to: Anne McNaught on anne@planet-science.com. Bye for now... and have a great week! |
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