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01. ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK: WARM HEARTS
From the Planet Science Diner, here's an science activity that's a dessert as well. What a top combination! You will need: * A carton of ice cream (not soft scoop) * Some of your favourite jam * A microwave oven * A freezer or freezer compartment in the fridge * A knife and spoons of various sizes What to do: 1. Wash your hands. Then, carve an ice cream ball out of your block a few inches in diameter. With the knife, cut it in half and hollow out the centre. (Be careful not to hurt your fingers by freezing them if you touch the ice cream.) 2. Place a spoonful of jam in the hollow. Reform the ball by attaching the two halves together again. Make as many balls as you need. 3. Place them on a plate and pop them into the freezer for at least half an hour or so. They will need to be rock solid for the next step. 4. When you are ready to serve them, remove them from the freezer and microwave each one individually on full power for about 10-15 seconds. You'll be able to see exactly how much time is right in the microwave by trial and error on the first couple of balls. (Do not be tempted to try and microwave them all at once.) 5. Serve immediately. The icecream should be deliciously cold - but the jam may become very hot so warn your guests not to burn their tongues. What's going on? Microwave ovens work by heating (or 'exciting') the water molecules in the food you put in there. But because water in the form of ice is not easily excited by the microwave energy, the ice cream does not melt immediately. However, the jam in the centre of the ice cream is made up of mostly liquid water and sugar molecules. These do absorb the energy quickly, and as the microwaves penetrate through the food to a depth of a few centimetres, the waves can reach the jam and warm it faster than the ice cream can melt. So although it's cold on the outside it has a warm heart. Awwww. NB Nothing wrong with using classic vanilla ice cream and raspberry jam, but you might also like to branch out and invent your own combos (eg. chocolate ice cream with black cherry jam centres, mmmm...) For loads more fun recipes you can make in the microwave, have a look in our online larder here. And if you want to play with our interactive microwave oven and find out a bit more about how it works (and what you can and can't cook in it) click through to the 'Microwhizz Oven' here.  |
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| 02. TRICK ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK If you've been impressing your friends, family, colleagues and pupils with your scientific demonstrations over the last few weeks and months ... then you're in the perfect position to play a joke on them now! Sue Driver has written in to describe an activity which she says works a treat. Here's what you do: Hit two coins together and put them to your ears. Tell your friend that you can hear a sound like a football being kicked. Invite them to have ago. When they can hear nothing the first time, tell them to do it again harder. When they tell you the second time that they can hear nothing, say, "It must be half-time!" Sue says, "I have had Physics teachers putting forward theories when I do my initial demonstration!!" Fantastic, thank you Sue! |
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| 03. FANCY A NAP IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE? Thinktank, Birmingham's ever-groovy museum of science and discovery, have been in touch this week to let you know that they are looking for up to 180 volunteers to explore their inner dreamworld, help push back the frontiers of science, and have a really memorable night at the museum at the same time. The experiment is all about the effect of music on the sleeping brain, and is being run by the artist Luke Jerram and the composer Dan Jones. It takes place on the night of 28th/29th May, and the only criterion is that you have to be 18 or over to take part. The evening begins with all sorts of entertainment, a tour of the galleries, and a chance to chat to the guys running the experiment to find out more about it. Here’s what we’ve been told about what happens next… "At 1.15am the guests will be gently lulled to sleep using sounds and silence in what is billed as 'Lullaby - a Dream Concert'. During the night the sleeping guests will be played short samples of sounds and music - composed by Dan - in a bid to affect their dreams. The musical content is being developed specifically for this event, in consultation with sleep psychologists. Guests will be asked to log their dreams and sleeping experiences from the night's event. The music is designed to take people in and out of consciousness and will be played again before waking them fully at dawn." Dan Jones, the composer, has written music for films such as the Oscar-nominated "Shadow of the Vampire', and for tv such as David Attenborough's 'Life of Mammals', and he reckons there's a connection between the film-music and dreams. "I hope," he says, "that, rather like scoring a film, the music and sound has a positive effect on the richness of people's dreams, but there's only one way to find out!" It's reportedly been shown that 70% of dreams are anxiety-based, so one of the aims is to see whether, through the medium of music, they can change that for the better. Replacing perhaps those frenetic car-chase scenes with snuggly happy-ever-after ones... The experiment starts at 10.00pm on Friday 28 May and finishes at 9.00am the next day. It’s free, and what's more, you'll be served breakfast on Saturday. If you'd like to get involved, email your name, address and telephone number to sleep@thinktank.ac or call the Thinktank box office on 0121 202 2222. |
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| 04. MOUSES AT THE READY: FOR THE CATALYST CENTRE IN CHESHIRE Roll up, roll up for another fantastic free draw this week. The venue is 'Catalyst', the interactive science centre and museum in Widnes, and we have four x 4-person passes on offer... Catalyst is the only science centre in the UK whose prime focus is chemistry, and from their rooftop observatory to their 100+ interactive displays on the ground floor, they certainly do want to speed up a great reaction in all participants (yeowch)! The centre has four galleries, including 'Chemicals for Life', which explores the role that chemistry plays in all areas of modern life, such as in our health, our leisure pursuits, our homes and in telecommunications; and a historical voyage through the development of chemistry over the centuries, in the gallery named 'Birth of an Industry'. But the one the kids will no doubt be rushing past you to get to is 'Scientriffic', the home of most of the hands-on demonstrations and experiments. However, once they discover that there's an all-glass lift up the outside of the building, that may provide even more fascination. At least for the first six or seven trips. During half-term (31st May to 4th June), the centre are running a special themed programme of events called 'Electric Fruit and Veg'. The name of the game is finding out about electricity and what it is, and learning how small amounts of it at least can be created from simple objects found in every kitchen. Participants will be challenged to push their fruit and veg to the limits, so if you think you know your onions, this could be a good event for you... Fancy a family pass? Then send an email to planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk with the words CATALYST TICKETS PLEASE! in the subject field, along with a note of your name and address. The draw will take place next Thursday at 5pm. PS if you'd like to know more about Catalyst, have a look at their website at http://www.catalyst.org.uk. |
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| 05. AVENTIS PRIZE - SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED Three weeks ago, the shortlist for the Junior section of the Aventis Prizes for Science Books was announced, and this week the one for the General Prize unveiled. If you haven't already seen it in the press, we thought you might be interested in seeing the full list, and maybe even checking out a few in the library or in your local bookshop... · 'In the Beginning Was the Worm' by Andrew Brown (Simon & Schuster) · 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' by Bill Bryson (Doubleday/Transworld) · 'Magic Universe' by Nigel Calder (Oxford University Press) · 'Mutants' by Armand Marie Leroi (Penguin: Viking USA) · 'Nature via Nurture' by Matt Ridley (Fourth Estate) · 'Backroom Boys' by Francis Spufford (Faber & Faber) Professor Robert Winston was the chairman of the judging panel, and he's quoted as saying, "The books on the final shortlist this year are highly readable and immediately accessible to a wide audience. We were pleased that some of the authors are making their debut and that others are long-established. Without exception, the calibre of the shortlisted books is particularly high..." |
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| 06. RECOMMENDED WEBSITES OF THE WEEK As promised, to celebrate that cultural meeting of minds and music they call the Eurovision Song Contest (good luck James) we have for you: SCIENCE GROOVE, the official website of the SCIENCE SONGWRITERS ASSOCIATION. This is indeed a cheery site, and there's no doubt that the people behind it have had a lot of fun compiling it, but its mission is a serious one: to promote science through song, because as they note, music is a great vehicle for memorising words. Here's just one example of the lyrics of one of their songs - you can listen to a sound clip online, after which you'll never, ever, ever be able to get it out of your head. (When you’re ready, adopt grizzled rock-dinosaur stance and facial expression, grab onto mic stand as though it alone is propping you up, and give it all you’ve got…) The subject in this case is geology, and it’s a little song they like to call ROCK CYCLE. I've been pounded and ground and smashed around in the cycle... (backing singers: Rock Cycle!) I've been thrown and blown up to the ozone in the cycle... I've been eroded, corroded and motherloded Melted and pelted and ore smelted I've been chipped and dipped and stripped and skipped in the cycle... Etc or if you'd prefer: J'ai été concassée, broyée et pulvérisée dans le cycle... (dans le cycle) On m'a fait sauter et projetée jusqu'à l'ozone dans le cycle... J'ai été érodée, corrodée et veinée Liquéfiée, criblée et fusionnée J'ai croustillé, ricoché et j'ai été dépouillée dans le cycle... You want more? Of course you do, and here’s where you’ll find it: http://www.science-groove.org/SSA Click though as indicated to: http://www.science-groove.org/MASSIVE/ and get searching. (There are hundreds and hundreds of songs in there, but if you find a particular ten-star goodie you'd like to share with the others, please let us know!) |
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| 07. AWKWARD QUESTION OF THE WEEK Last week, we left Mr T in a state of transfixed confusion. Remember? Here's the question that was posed: Mr T is receiving hypnotism for his fear of flying. The hypnotist starts by dangling a pendant on a chain in front of his eyes and swings it right and left like a pendulum. The hypnotist and her hand remain completely still, but the pendulum suddenly swings backwards. Why is this? ... did you work out the answer? Here it comes: The answer is that Mr T is already on the plane (perhaps it was cleverly disguised as a caravan) and it's just begun taxi-ing down the runway ready to take off... This scenario is all about what's known as 'inertia', as described by Isaac Newton in his grandly titled First Law of Motion. If you've ever tried to push-start a car with a flat battery, you'll have experience inertia for yourself - in both of its forms. At first, the car is reluctant to get moving when you push, but once the wheels are turning, it's not such sweaty work any more. That's because inertia is the tendency for an object to keep-on-doing-what-it's-doing, until forced to something else, and it applies both to objects at rest (eg. Mr T and his hypnotist) and objects already moving (such as the right-left swinging pendulum bob). When the caravan/plane starts to move, all of them are affected, but as the pendulum is only held to the rest of the scene by a dangly piece of chain, it's "easier" for the pendulum to continue on it's right-left path, while the rest of the caravan/plane moves around it. As Mr T isn't aware that he and the caravan/plane are moving at all, it looks to him like everything else is stationary, and the pendulum just mysteriously swung backwards. (Later on, when they're in the air, he realises his world hasn't come to an end despite his fear, and he settles down to enjoy the in-flight moving: Charlies Angels 2...) This week's question is set in a grimy student flat... Three students living in their student flat were griping about the state of the fridge. "The thermostat's gone," said the physics student, "we need to get the landlord to get us a new fridge." "Never mind the thermostat," barked the law student, "who keeps nicking my stuff?" And with that he marked a thick black line around his milk bottle to indicate the level. The next day the law student took out the bottle of milk and saw that the level of milk had dropped. "Which one of you low-life has had my milk?" he snarled. "No-one," sighed the chemistry student looking up from her newspaper, "but I can tell you what HAS happened." Answer next week! |
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| 08. WINNERS OF 'RIOTOUS ROBOTS' Last week we had 10 copies of the book 'Riotous Robots' to give away, and we can now announce the winners. They are: Jay Airey from Birmingham; Maggie Nock of Penn Hall School in Wolverhampton; Heather Janes from Bridgenorth in Shropshire; Sue Roberts of Drighlington Junior School in Bradford; Charlie Harber from St Albans; Jill Lock Of Richard Wakefield School in Tutbury, Staffs; Judith Willis of St Paul's CE Primary School in Stalybridge, Cheshire; Wendi Brydon from Preston; Liz Shaw of Warrington and Sara Harris of Wolverhampton. Congratulations to all of you - your books were posted out yesterday. |
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| 09. JOKE OF THE WEEK Here it comes, weak and old, just the way you like them! Some race horses are staying in a stable. One of them starts to boast about his track record, "I've won eight of my last 15 races!" Another horse breaks in, "Well, in my last 27 races, I won 19!!" "Oh that's good, but I must just interject," says another, flicking his tail casually, "that out of my last 36 races, I won 28..." At this point, they notice that a greyhound dog has been sitting in the corner listening to them. "Well, I couldn't help overhearing," he says, "and I don't mean to boast, but out of my last 90 races, I won 88!" The horses are clearly amazed. "Wow!" says one, after a hushed silence. "A talking dog!"  And that's all for this week but another Planet Science missive will be hurtling your way at the same time next week. Please send any contributions for future newsletters to Anne McNaught on the NEW email address, Anne McNaught on planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk Have a great week, and remember: if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate! |
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