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01. FOR AULD LANG SYNE MY DEAR
The New Year is a time to start a 'new you', but our bodies don't fit neatly into our calendar. We don't shed all our skin cells in one messy go and thankfully our hair doesn't all fall out at the same time. So how often can we expect to be a 'new person'? We are born with about 100 billion brain cells, and as these brain cells make connections with each other we collect memories. Until recently it was thought that the human brain couldn't grow new cells but today there is evidence that new brain cells are added every day. However, this doesn't mean that we will ever have a 'new' brain as we will still have most of the cells we are born with into old age. Skin and hair are very different from brain cells. Head hair can grow for up to five years before the follicle shuts down and the hair drops out. Eyebrows and eyelashes are replaced every few months. And we are constantly shedding skin cells - up to 4 kilograms a year. It takes about a month for a new skin cell to make it to the surface and then be rubbed off. So we can expect to have a brand new skin in a few months. Many of the other cells in the body are replaced over different time scales. A red blood cell may last 100 days while a white blood cell will last only a few hours. Eventually most cells in the body are replaced but we never become completely new people, not even at New Year.  |
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| 02. THE BETT AWARDS Over the years Planet Science has always been reluctant to blow its own trumpet, as it were, but its time to break with tradition and toot to the rooftops! It's the annual BETT Awards this week and this year Planet Science was chuffed to bits to be nominated for best Online Learning Resource 2004. The BETT Awards have been designed to recognise and reward the creativity, innovation and commitment of an organisation or company in developing high quality and effective educational ICT resources. For more information go to www.bettawards.co.uk. Unfortunately we didn't triumph this year but to show that there are no hard feelings we feature a couple of fellow nominees in our RWW this week. |
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| 03. WHERE'S OUR BEAGLE? Just a quick reminder that hope is still held out for the British designed Beagle 2 Lander. The European Space Agency's Mars Express was due to land on Wednesday and if we keep everything crossed then it may be able to hook up with Beagle 2 and then we can find out what the devil happened. For continuous updates you can go to http://www.beagle2.com/index.htm. And to show that we're not at all bitter about it (after all it did cost 10 times as much to make as ours!) make sure you check out the pictures sent back from NASA's Lander, Spirit, which did land safely. The pictures really are incredible and you can get the full dramatics of them by going to the BBC website at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3372015.stm and checking out their 360 degree views from the Lander. Oh and I'm positive that there's no truth in the rumour that the reason we can't find the Beagle is that Spirit landed directly on top of it! |
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| 04. MOUSES AT THE READY - TO INFINITY AND BEYOND This week we're here to tell you about a lovely planetarium on the South Coast and a very special show that's coming up for them. They say: "Last September, the remarkable Galileo spacecraft came to a fiery end as it burnt up in Jupiter's atmosphere. It was the end of an outstanding mission to unveil the mysteries of Jupiter, the largest planet. Join us in the SOUTH DOWNS PLANETARIUM for the epic story of the Galileo craft, as it looped around the giant world of swirling clouds and raging storms and explored Jupiter's incredible moons..." We have two free pairs of tickets to give away for this presentation but you'll have to be quick as it's on for a limited time only. Starting on Friday 9th Jan, it's showing at 7.30pm on three consecutive Fridays and at 3.30pm on three consecutive Sundays from the 11th January. Just e-mail joanna.edwards@nesta.org.uk with the words "Galileo Figaro, Magnifico-o-o-o" The South Downs Planetarium is situated in Chichester, West Sussex, and is a registered educational charity set up to promote science and technology in an interesting and exciting way. School visits are a speciality and can be discussed by calling 01243 774400. For more information go to www.southdowns.org.uk/sdpt. |
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| 05. RWW This week we show a healthy regard for the competition by directing you to some of the superb nominations for BETT Awards this year. All educational, all fun and appealing to kids, these are just a few personal favourites. First up it's the Big Bus at http://www.thebigbus.com. This site offers interactive, curriculum-based activities and is part of the National Grid for Learning. Its resources are available either through an online subscription or by CD-ROM and purchases can be made with E-Learning Credits. Next, it's Sunflower Learning who've been nominated for their software resources and in particular their chemistry pack. These look wonderful and seem to make real use of the technology available to demonstrate scientific phenomenon. Their newest CD-ROM, for example, is a biology pack and includes animated simulations of osmosis to show what happens at both the cellular and molecular level. Go to www.sunflowerlearning.com for more information and free previews and again, E-LC's can be used. Lastly, a quick big-up to Immersive Education whose Secondary software, Krucible, has proved to be a hit with students and teachers alike. Here's what George Cole from the TES had to say: "Krucible comes highly recommended. It does exactly what it says on the tin; engages students and makes it much easier for science teachers to explain difficult concepts." Go to http://www.kar2ouche.com/imed/ for more details. So, if you've still got E-LC's to spend (remember that this year's need to be spent before the end of March) then make sure they go on Science products!! |
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| 06. PLANETARY PLATES To get you in the mood for space watching, this week we bring you an activity called Planetary Plates. It's easy, hands-on and can be done just as easily at home as in the classroom. You will need: - Different sized plates, if you're at school then ask each child to bring one from home (with their parents permission of course) - Ruler - Tape measure What to do: 1. Get the pupils to measure the diameter of their plate, and write the measurement onto a wall chart. 2. Take the largest plate and mount it on the wall. (If it is really heavy you might need to make a card replica that you can stick on the wall instead). Draw a straight line on the floor in front of the plate, and ask each pupil to stand on the line holding his or her plate. 3. How far from the mounted plate do they need to stand in order to completely obscure it with their plate? Measure the distance between the two plates and write this measurement on a new column on the wall chart. That's the practical bit done. Can you see a relationship between the columns of numbers? How can this help us to understand eclipses? It's also worth using cotton to measure the circumference of the plate. Write this on your chart, and divide the circumference by the diameter. What do you notice? |
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| 07. JOKE OF THE WEEK Well what a treat we have for you today!!! In their wisdom, the powers that be at planet-science.com have decided it was about time we took all the wonderful jokes that have been collected over the last couple of years and put them in one place. Oh yes, there's no escaping it, the jokes have been collated, filtered (you may not believe this when you read them but the worst have been left out!) and have been handily grouped so whatever your science there's a joke to be found, just click here for a laugh. To whet your appetite here's a couple of spaced out attempts at humour......... Q. How does a barber cut hair on the moon? A. Eclipse it. And a classic from the 'long but worth it' school of jokes - Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are going camping. They pitch their tent under the stars and go to sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night Holmes wakes Watson up. "Watson," he says, "Look up at the stars, and tell me what you deduce." Watson replies, "I see millions of stars, and if there are millions of stars, and if even a few of those have planets, it's quite likely there are some planets like Earth, and if there are a few planets like Earth out there, there might also be life." Holmes says: "Watson, you idiot, somebody stole our tent!" That's all folks. Any news, ideas, comments can go to Anne McNaught as usual at anne@planet-science.com. I've been Joanna Edwards and it's been an absolute pleasure. Have a good week and remember, keep watching the skies............ |
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