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01. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF FITNESS
It's about this time that New Year resolutions are broken, particularly thatone about exercising more. But with a little bit more effort, exercising stops becoming a chore and can even become an addiction. First the pain... When we exercise, it's usually because we want to improve our muscles, our heart and our lungs. But exercise can frequently be painful, especially at the beginning. 'Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness' is the official term for that feeling of sore, stiff muscles you may have experienced within a couple of days of overdoing exercise. This is caused by tiny tears in the muscle, which then swell and become inflamed. But pain in exercise isn't necessary. By stretching and warming up, the muscles become more elastic and won't tear as easily. So it's well worth taking those extra few minutes to warm up pro perly before launching in. Then the gain... Once we get going, exercise not only builds up muscle, it improves our heart and lungs. Exercise increases the amount of blood that can flow through the heart with each beat. It decreases our resting heart rate, which means the heart can double or triple its rate during intensive exercise. With increased fitness also comes increased lung capacity and the result is that our heart and lungs can cope easily when we need to run for the bus. The best bit about exercise is that the body rewards us for looking after it in the form of brain chemicals. These chemicals, endorphins, make us feel good and reduce stress. They're released in response to pain and during prolonged exercise - exercise actually makes you happy. So if all the health benefits don't keep you at the gym maybe the body's natural chemicals will. Of course endorphins are also released when we eat chocolate, but that's a different New Year's resolution... ahem! If you'd like to know more, have a look at these weblinks: Play the muscle interactive game... http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/body How do muscles work? http://health.howstuffworks.com/muscle.htm  |
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| 02. THE FOUR QUIZ Most personal trainers wdo advise you to rest between bouts of exercise, so here's an excuse for sitting on your bottom for a while before your next trip to the gym. The latest Planet Science online challenge is the FOUR QUIZ, devised in honour of our new 2004 year, featuring nothing but questions concerning matters of a "four-ish" nature. Do you know, for example what the four different types of human teeth are? Or which NASA spacecraft was sent to all four 'gas giant' planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune? If so, you could win a digital I-TOP - a high-tech spinning top which knows its own speed - and can challenge you and your friends to a spin-o-rama contest the likes of which will rarely have been seen before. (If you don't know the answers, have a go anyway, it's multiple-choice so even your pet monkey's in with a chance!) Click here to go to the quiz. |
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| 03. ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK: CAMELS V GOATS This week's activity hcomes from the Planet Science 'Little Book of Experiments', and involves creating model animals to investigate the benefits of having big flat feet... You will need: * two yogurt pots or margarine tubs * a felt pen that can write on plastic * scissors * blu-tak * playdough, plasticine, rice or sand (if you don't have any playdough you can make some out of flour, a bit of salt and some warm water.) What to do: 1. Place the yogurt pots or margarine tubs upside down. These are going to form the back and legs of your animals. (They're headless animals, in case you were wondering!) 2. Draw on the shape of the legs you're going to cut out. One will be your 'camel' and the other will be your goat. Give them similar shaped legs - but with the goat's legs narrowing towards the 'foot'. Now cut round your outlines. 3. Cut out two camel feet from the spare plastic. Use the blu-tack to fix them onto the legs of your camel, at right angles - so that they're flat on the ground. 4. Roll out your playdough so it is wide enough for your animals to stand on. 5. Press each animal down into the dough, then lift them up and look at the dough. Which footprints are the deepest? Why do you think that camels have very big flat feet? What's going on? Camels are very large, heavy animals, and their big flat feet help to spread out their weight on the sand. Goats are much lighter than camels and their little feet can help them to climb up mountains as they fit into small spaces or cracks in the rocks. A few extra variations: If you don't have any playdough and don't want to make your own, you could try using a baking tray with a layer of rice - which will act a little like sand under your camel-goat's feet. You could also try taking them outside to see how well they do in real sand or real rocky places. You could also make a duck and a pigeon - with clawed feet and webbed feet. To demonstrate the same point on a much larger scale, take a couple of chairs to your local sandpit. (Those chairs with the metal tube legs are the best to use if you can find any.) Get a volunteer to sit on one of the chairs and note how far the legs sink into the sand. Now try putting wellie boots on the chair legs, and get the same voluteer to take a seat. What's the difference? And... if it happens to be snowing in your area any time soon and you know anyone with a pair of snowshoes, now's the time to borrow them, and demonstrate a very practical human application of this principle. PS if you like camels, we have a camel joke coming up at the end. This activity is based on the 'Camel-Goat' demo in our Little Book of Experiments, a bulging database of activities you can peruse in full here. The 'Camel-Goat' originally came from the ASE and ICI SHIPS project by Joan Solomon and Janine Lee, with extra ideas contributed by Mark Langford or Carol Porter. Thank you all for your nimble-footed assistance in putting this activity together. |
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| 04. DESIGN YOUR OWN LAB If you're at a secondary school or college and have plans to redevelop your laboratory facilities, here's news of a new piece of FREE Planet Science software which should be able to help you greatly... It's the 'Laboratory Design for Teaching and Learning' tool, and it was officially launched last week. What is it? The LDTL is interactive design tool that's been specifically created to help you work out the optimal laboratory classroom lay-out for your school - without you having to humph a single bit of furniture around to help you decide. (If you've ever had your kitchen 'redesigned' on a 3D computer model by the sales assistant in one of those well known furniture showrooms, then you'll be right at home with the technology - this is the school-lab design version.) Using the software, teachers and technicians can create, and indeed play around with, both 2D and 3D images of their science laboratories and prep rooms, to work out the best use of space and resources. You begin by defining the shape and dimensions of your room, and inserting doors, windows etc. You can then specify certain crucial variables, like the number of students, tables, sinks etc, add in other lab furniture and equipment, and maybe move a few things around. Not happy with that design? No problem, just zap in a new set of variables and try again. The software also includes case studies and vignettes, and all the current national guidance on building and fitting out laboratories and prep rooms will be made available through a website and CD. The aim of the software is not just to allow you to design your new lab layout swiftly, but also to help all the interested parties, like science departments, architects and designers, share ideas and communicate in a quick and effective way, thus reducing the likelihood of misunderstandings. So no more scribbling on the back of envelopes (unless you want to!) The software was developed by 3T Productions, managed by The Association for Science Education and funded by Planet Science and the Royal Society. It's available to download from the ASE website at http://www.ase.org.uk/ldtl/ and will be distributed on CD-ROM to every secondary school. |
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| 05. MOUSES AT THE READY? "What's the link between baked beans and the bright lights of Vegas?" That's a question currently being posed by Birmingham's ThinkTank science centre... The answer can be found in the molecular world, as revealed by their new exhibition, 'Visual Elements'. This is a highly groovy interactive exploration of the 110 elements featured in the Periodic Table - those very same building blocks which have been combined, permutated, heated, cooled, shaken and stirred by the forces of nature to produce everything in the world as we know it, from trees, bees, air and sultanas to T-shirts that glow in the dark and fake diamante jewellery... The exhibition has been put together in collaboration with the Royal Society of Chemistry, and Glasgow-based artist Murray Robertson. All sorts of images, film clips and music have been melded together to create a visual feast of a display - with a funky backbeat! The exhibition itself is free to visitors, and you are cordially invited to go along and visit the show any time from now until the 29th February - it's at The Hub, at Millennium Point. However, we have ALSO secured five family passes to the main ThinkTank centre. If you've been before, you'll know that there's more than enough to see, try, do and explore for full day out at ThinkTank. If you've not been - check out their website at http://www.thinktank.ac/ . Fancy some tickets? Then send an email with THINKTANK TIX PLEASE! in the subject field and a note of your name and address, to anne@planet-science.com . The draw will be made on Thursday 22nd January at 5pm. |
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| 06. ROYAL SOCIETY PARTNERSHIP GRANTS - NEXT CLOSING DATE - FRIDAY 13 FEBRUARY Ever keen to make sure that schools don't miss out on any possible funding available to them, The Royal Society have been in touch to remind you thatthe closing date for their current Partnership Grants scheme is coming upsoon, on 13th February. The Partnership Grants are being made available to help schools to getinvolved in working closely with practising scientists and engineers. Already, the Royal Society has awarded over £360,000 to schools across theUK for this purpose, and if you have an idea for a creative project or investigation for your school that fits the brief, you could be one of the next batch of recipients. They say, "The scheme offers grants of up to £2500 for teachers and scientists or engineers (above graduate level in university or with appropriate industrial experience) to work together on exciting projects and activities involving students from 5 to 16 years old. "The application process is simple and there are two rounds a year. We have a team of people who are able to offer guidance and support throughout the application process and, if successful, during the project being funded. The grant is awarded directly to the school involved, enabling the school to pay for any specialist equipment needed for the investigation, travel expenses for the scientist/engineer and/or the school group, and possibly teacher supply cover." If you would like to find out more, or to request an application pack, please contact Laura Fenton, Education Officer at The Royal Society. Address: Partnership Grants, The Royal Society, 6 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG. Email: laura.fenton@royalsoc.ac.uk Website: www.royalsoc.ac.uk/education/partnership.htm |
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| 07. ICT RESOURCES FROM THE A.S.E. Does ICT gives you the HeeBeeGBs? Or maybe just a general sense that there's more out there than you're currently taking advantage of? If you're a teacher, attempting to swim upstream in the digital flood known as Information and Communication Technology, the Association for Science Education have organised three initiatives they'd like you to know about. Here they are: SCIENCE 'ASK AN EXPERT' - online Running for the whole of January, you can put your specific questions regarding ICT in Science to a team of experts. Questions and answers will be posted on the Becta website - but don't let this put you off, since we are encouraging questions from those involved with science education, whatever their level of expertise. For more information or to ask a question, see http://www.ictadvice.org.uk/ 'ICT IN SCIENCE' ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER If you missed out on the December issue you can view this at http://www.ictadvice.org.uk/ and sign up for future editions. This bulletin brings together current developments, ideas, events, web reviews and news features all specific to ICT in Science. ICT IN SCIENCE NATIONAL CONFERENCE This will take place at King Edward VI School in Chelmsford, Essex on 20th March 2004. The programmme offers over 24 sessions relating to different aspects of ICT in Science. It promises to cater for everyone's' needs including realistic practical classroom suggestions and all the latest ICT developments. For further information contact adrianfenton@ase.org.uk or watch the ASE website at http://www.ase.org.uk for developments. |
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| 08. RECOMMENDED WEBSITES OF THE WEEK Chocolate-based selection boxes may be all over for a year, but this week's recommended website is even more varied, almost as engrossing, and you won't put on any weight even if you consume the whole lot in one sitting. It is: EUREKALERT at http://www.eurekalert.org. This is a news service from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a huge organisation which involves scientists from all areas of research in the States. It's designed to be a resource for journalists on the hunt for interesting stories - but it's a fascinating read for anyone with a general interest in science. Just today, the stories featured include a new theory as to why musical instruments, such as violins, from the late 17th and early 18th centuries are superior in tone to modern instruments. It could be due to the craftsmanship, or to special secret techniques or recipes for varnish OR. it could be to do with the climatic conditions at the time, say the researchers. Read all about it in the 'ARCHAEOLOGY' section. Another news release describes how researchers have found a place on Earth that is strikingly similar in terrestrial conditions to Mars. It's the Atacama Desert in Chile, and when researchers carried out microbial tests there last year, replicating the ones conducted on Mars by the Viking lander, they were unable to find ANY 'signs of life' despite extensive laboratory testing of the soil. This makes it a great place to test out space technology for the future, but also shows we may not know the half of what's on Mars. That one's in the EARTH SCIENCE' section. And there's more, more, more from all scientific disciplines - so get yourself a cup of tea, and check it out. PS http://www.newscientist.com is great for stories too, and is of course UK based - but we've recommended it a few times already so thought it was time to diversify a bit with this link to Eureka! |
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| 09. PLANETARIUM WINNERS The winners of last week's tickets to the South Downs Planetarium are Frances Mwale, Head of Science at Bletchingley in Surrey, and Gillian Brown from Crawley. Have a great visit! |
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| 10. JOKE OF THE WEEK First up, - from diligent Dave Hart at the Institute of Food Research in Norwich (thanks Dave!) Two mind readers meet on the street. One says to the other "Hello, you're fine thanks, how am I? And so to the afore-promised camel joke: A man's walking along a road into town with his camel. Along the way, another guy stops and asks if he needs a lift into town. The man says yes please. He hops in, and the driver says, "What about your camel?" The man replies, "Oh, he's ok, he knows his way to town." So the driver starts driving. He gets up to about 45mph, and he looks in his rearview mirror. He sees the camel right behind him. He says to the man, "Mate, do you realise your camel is right behind us?" The man says, "Yep it's ok, he knows his way to town, speed up a little." The driver speeds up to about 55mps. He dives along for a bit, then looks in the mirror and again sees the camel right behind him. He says to the man, "Your camel's still there." The man replies, "It's no problem, he's knows the way, speed up a little." So the driver speeds up to 65mp. He drives for a bit, and looks behind him. He looks at the man and says, "Look, your camel's looking pretty rough. His ears are folded back and his tongue's hanging out." The man replies, "His tongue's hanging out? To which side?" The driver says, "To the right." The man says, "Well, you'd better hold your course, he's about to overtake!" That's all for this week. Very many thanks to all our contributors, and to the effervescent Jo Edwards who edited the newsletter last week. If you'd like to send in any news, ideas, information or jokes for inclusion in future newsletters, send them to to Anne McNaught on anne@planet-science.com. Meanwhile, have a great week! |
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