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01. OH PLEASE!
They've got a lot to be proud of, the denizens of Fame-ville, with their supertoned and bronzed bodies, their perfect teeth, glossy locks, and apparent ability to defy the normal forces of ageing, gravity, jetlag and temptation in the face of Chocolate Hob Nobs . But this week their lifestyles and their understanding of basic science go under the microscope in a new feature on the Planet Science website. It's called OH PLEASE, and as the name suggests, our tireless researchers have discovered that when it comes to celebrities, things may not always be as they appear. OK, so you knew that already. But do you REALLY know what's involved in de-toxification, tooth-whitening, crash diets, rehab, colonic irrigation, liposuction or the other multitudinous processes involved in making our starlets so ..er... starry? There are three issues of OH PLEASE coming up all together, and the first one's out today. Yes TODAY, free from your local Planet Science website: Click here. Be patient - it takes a while to download (time to make yourself a cup of herbal tea or execute a quick exfoliation, perhaps?) It's well worth the wait though. In fact it looks as good as a freshly air-brushed celebrity pull-out (and it's very funny too). Darling, you've simply GOT to try it. It changed my life, it honestly did.  |
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| 02. ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK: CLOUDS IN YOUR COFFEE ... or ON your coffee to be more precise. Either way, do not drink the results! This is a bit of a mouldy old activity, but should prove a winner with yuk-fans of all ages. You will need: * three cups containing some leftover filter coffee (or leftover food) * cling film * a magnifying glass What to do: 1. Cover each cup with cling film. 2. Put one cup with coffee or leftover food on a sunny windowsill, one in the fridge and one in a dark cupboard. 3. Look inside the cups every day for several days and write down what you see. Your magnifying glass will help. (It may take a few days for the mould to start growing.) 4. Does temperature affect the mould's growth? See if the cup on the windowsill grows mould more slowly, more quickly or at the same rate as the one in the fridge. 5. Does light affect the growth of the mould? Does the cup on the windowsill grow mould at the same rate as the one in the dark cupboard? 6. ... and if you're feeling particularly mould-mad, look around for others growing elsewhere (not saying your house is dirty or anything) and compare the colours and forms. What's going on with our fuzzy friends: Unlike green plants, moulds can't make their own food from sunlight. Instead, they live directly off what they're growing on. As you probably know from your own fridge, moulds can be a nuisance when they settle on our food or possessions. But they can also be useful - remember the story of Alexander Fleming and the penicillin? That's the green mould you'll see for example growing on old oranges. It doesn't look much does it, but it changed medical science and has saved millions and millions of lives... |
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| 03. MOUSES AT THE READY Our last Horrible Science giveaway was ridiculously popular and caused a great amount of extra effort to be expended in the Planet Science offices the following week. but all the same it's with great pleasure that we can announce that the very kind people at Scholastic Books who publish all those horrible horrible things have given us five copies of their new 2-volume hardback editions to giveaway. There are two titles available, and frankly they both sound gross. FRIGHTENING LIGHT & SOUNDS DREADFUL * Frightening Light puts some illuminating facts under the spotlight. Discover how eclipses turn day into night and why rattlesnakes could still find you in the dark... * Meanwhile, Sounds Dreadful will leave you shouting for more. Find out how sound waves make your ear drums tremble and why you might get a nose bleed listening to church bells! BULGING BRAINS & DISGUSTING DIGESTION * Bulging Brains lifts the lid on what goes on inside that head of yours. Learn how to perform brain surgery with our beginner's guide, find out what the heck an 'electroencephalograph' is and whether you're left or right-eyed! * And for afters, Disgusting Digestion dishes up the dirt on your innards. Discover which part of your digestive system has absolutely no use at all, why some poos float and how vital vitamins stop your hair falling out. Put you off your food yet?! Good, good. To get into the draw to win one the voluminous volumes, all you need to do is send an email to anne@planet-science.com with the words OOH YOU ARE HORRIBLE BUT I LIKE YOU as the title, and a note of your name and postal address in case you're a winner. The draw will take place at 5pm on Thursday 11th September... THE MET OFFICE EDUCATION site is packed with information and resources for teachers and pupils alike - or for anyone really - who wants to look up weather reports, read about historically important weather events, find out more about how the Met Office came to be and what they get up to all day there. There are links to all sorts of value-added resources, and if all this weathery talk REALLY takes your fancy, they've got careers pointers too for wannabe meteorologists... Here's the link: http://www.met-office.gov.uk/education/index And finally, if you like your horse-racing, you'll know that September features both the St Leger and the Ayr Gold Cup ... and here's a science site we found that investigates what makes a top horse. It's called ENGINEERING THE PERFECT RACEHORSE and it's part of the brilliant 'Why Files' site. Find it here: http://whyfiles.org/shorties/135racehorse/index.html . And please note that Planet Science does not condone gambling - this is SPORT SCIENCE in action, and there's not a whisker of John McCririck anywhere! |
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| 04. DNA 50th SCHOOLS INITIATIVE If you're a science teacher, here's news of a series of biotechnology events for pupils which may be of interest if you're based in or around Bristol, Newcastle, Salford, Norwich, Wrexham, Belfast, Canterbury or Glasgow. They're heavily sponsored by great-and-good organisations and is therefore free - repeat FREE to teachers, pupils and technicians. But on a limited basis, so hurry hurry hurry. The events go by the name of Genetic Futures, and here's what the organisers say: The BBSRC, the DFES, the D of H, MRC, NESTA and the Royal Society are proud to present a series of workshops for 14 to 16 year old pupils to mark the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA. Eight workshops will take place across the United Kingdom throughout October and a National Forum will be held in London in November to bring together pupils and outcomes from the regional events. Each workshop will comprise three activities Gene Talk, Gene Play and Gene Dreams. Gene Talk - Students will be given a scenario and with the help of a panelof experts will decide what they consider to be the appropriate outcome. For example, 'Designer babies - should parents have the right to select an embryo on the basis that stem cells taken from that child's umbilical cord could be used to save the life of an existing child?' Gene Play - Students will have the opportunity to take part in a hands-on experiment 'Jumping Jellyfish' and explore the latest techniques in biotechnology. Gene Dreams - Students will travel 50 years into the future to the year 2053 and will discover the breakthroughs that advances in DNA technology is likely to bring . The eight regional events are as follows: Bristol, Friday 3 October The Life Centre, Newcastle, Tuesday 7 October Salford University, Thursday 9 or Friday 10 October The John Innes Centre, Norwich, Monday 13 October Techniquest, Wrexham, Friday 17 October Belfast, Monday 20 October University of Canterbury, Wednesday 22 October The Science Centre, Glasgow, Thursday 30 October There are 100 places at each event - and 10 schools will be able to nab places for 10 of their pupils, plus bring along a teacher and a technician if they wish. For more details, contact Julie Jordan on 0114 225 4880 or email GeneticFutures@shu.ac.uk . Fancy it? Then register your interest online at http://www.shu.ac.uk/cse/dnaevents . PS as a bit of a bonus, every school that attends the event will receive a free set of BioRad equipment to run their own practical workshop once they're back at school. |
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| 05. THIS WEEK IN SCIENCE HISTORY Is it a bird, is it a plane.? Or perhaps it could be a COMET? This week Science Line have been investigating the forthcoming anniversary of the first ever measurement of a comet's tail. Which, as you might imagine, was an achievement of some magnitude. Read all about it at: http://www.sciencenet.org.uk/onthisdayinscience/0903/1109.html and check out the other links to cometary information too. PS: on a slightly different note, here's NASA's very own instructions for creating an edible ice cream comet. http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/educ/IceCream02.html . Oh, and there's also a comet game on our first RWW if you just can't get enough. |
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| 06. RECOMMENDED WEBSITES OF THE WEEK The HUBBLESITE NEWCENTER is as its name suggests the part of the Hubble Telescope's own website where the latest images from deep space are posted for us Earthlings to marvel at. Right now you can check out their close-up images of Mars, plus far away galaxies, 'celestial fireworks' and the old known planet in our galaxy (13 billion years old - so double the age of our own youthful rock but hey still looking good!) Backtrack to the homepage at http://hubblesite.org and you can see the whole range of what they've got on offer - including a guide to the Telescope itself, activities, news stories and resources for teachers. Back here on Earth, have you noticed a recent increase in the number of scurrying spiders around your house? (Sorry, again not saying your house is dirty!) Anyway, UK SAFARI, a longtime favourite website with us at Planet Science, reminds us that it's currently mating time for the UK house spider and as a result you can often see them dashing about in search of lurve (or the spider equivalent). So don't give them grief, it's definitely not you they're after! Read more at: http://www.uksafari.com/housespiders.htm |
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| 07. JOKE OF THE WEEK Another week, another chuckle-challenge. This time the gauntlet has been thrown down by Nancy Dobson of Skipton Girls' High School. A stalwart joke-monger from previous editions, Nancy says, "Ok...how about some chicken crossing the road jokes?" And here are two she prepared earlier: Why did the volt cross the road? Because the other side had more potential. Why did the germ cross the microscope? To get to the other slide! Excellent. Right, YOUR TURN! All entries should be sent to anne@planet-science.com with the words I'M NO CHICKEN in the subject heading, with as ever, a note of your name and address. All winning entries (and let's face it we're hardly strict) will be sent a packet of birdseed and a bar of Fruit & Nut chocolate. That's all for this week. See you back here next week, for more deep-fried but low-fat nuggets of science nutrition. Meanwhile, please send any contributions to future newsletters to Anne McNaught on anne@planet-science.com . Have a great week! |
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