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 Adjust your goggles, check your swimsuit is securely in place... it's time to dive headfirst into another overflowing vessel of science-related news and activities. Ready to make a splash? 01. New game: SWIM FOR IT! 02. Activity of the Week: CUTTING THE ICE 03. Re. Last week's activity: PRINGLES ANYONE? 04. MOUSES AT THE READY for Imax season tickets, London 05. Coastal dwellers wanted for a JELLYFISH SURVEY 06. HAMPSHIRE S.E.T. FAIR - you're invited 07. RWW: CAN YOU FACE IT? 08. AWKWARD QUESTION - and answer 09. WINNERS OF 'THE DEEP' TICKETS 10. JOKES OF THE WEEK Ready? Hold tight... |
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01. SWIM FOR IT! (AND LET US KNOW HOW YOU GET ON)
How good are you at swimming underwater? And how much do you know about the science of swimming and swimming pools? Even if your answer is 'minimal' to both of those questions, we have a new game we think you'll enjoy playing on the Planet Science website. It's called SWIM FOR IT! and the idea is to skillfully manipulate your alter-ego, the animated swimmer, as he dives into a succession of pools to collect not just information, but also coins (for extra life) and air (to enable a longer underwater swim). The pools range from fairly easy in the early stages, to fiendishly tricky later on. Luckily, our swimmer (possible name Ian Thewater?) has clearly been training hard, as he's very good at what he does. But he does need a skillful operator... and that's the challenge for YOU. Once you/Ian have collected your information from the pool, you can get out of the pool and climb up to the water slide - but only after you've answered the life guard's three questions about your information. Then you can gracefully execute a swooping dive, to collect yet more points in the air. *** Extra exciting, this is an EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW, only for newsletter readers. What we'd love, is for you to try it out, and let us know what you think. Could it be improved in any way? Or did you find any strange bugs in there? (Or perhaps find something unusual as you swam around??!) All comments please to katie.walsh@nesta.org.uk . NB The creators of the game (who are boys) have programmed a male swimmer and lifeguard - and there's no money left in the budget for adding in female equivalents. However, they promise there will be a female protagonist in our next game, just to keep things even. To have a swim, click here  |
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| 02. ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK: CUTTING THE ICE Many thanks to Sophie Duncan, science activities queen, and co-author of our 'Little Book of Experiments' for the following activity which will brighten up any summer party! You will need: * A thin-necked glass bottle * A cork * An ice cube * A piece of thin wire, 30cm long * A couple of heavyish objects that can be attached to either end of the wire (eg. a hammer and spanner from your toolbox) * A cool room What to do: 1. Place the cork on top of the neck of the bottle, and balance the ice cube on top of that. 2. Lie the wire over the ice cube, and attach your heavyish objects to either end, so that the wire hangs down either side of the bottle. 3. Wait. The wire will cut through the ice, and as it does so the ice will refreeze over the top. Eventually the wire will have passed through the whole ice cube, which will appear unscathed... What's going on? Water has a peculiar property of taking up more space when it is frozen. The pressure exerted by the wire causes the ice to melt, and once the pressure has been removed the ice refreezes. The process happens continually as the wire passes through the ice. This was an old favourite experiment from school, and in recent years people have questioned the explanation. It has been suggested that the localised pressure effect is not great enough to cause the ice to melt and that the effect is instead cause by heat being conducted through the wire. If you want to explore this controversy further why not make this part of your exploration. Does it work if the whole experiment is carried out in a fridge, for example? Let us know how you get on! |
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| 03. RE: LAST WEEK'S ACTIVITY : PRINGLES ANYONE? If you've been thinking about making a pinhole camera, as per last week's instructions - hold it right there! Sue Connor, from Fawkham Primary School, has been in touch with a hint that could save you a lot of effort. And turn every picnic into a science adventure! She says, "Following on from your idea for making pin-hole cameras, I must share with you that I've found that the ideal object for making them (much easier than fussing with boxes and tracing paper) - is the sort of tubes that crisps come in these days. The translucent cap is a ready-made screen, all you have to do is punch a small hole in the opposite end. I also wrap a piece of black paper around the screen end, just to ensure it is in darkness so the image is clearer if viewing in a brightly lit room." Thanks very much for the top tip, Sue. (As if there weren't enough reasons to eat Pringles already... oh dear). |
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| 04. MOUSES AT THE READY : FOR SCIENCE MUSEUM 'IMAX CLUB' MEMBERSHIPS If you're a fan of IMAX films, and you're in London from time to time, here's an offer that will have you reaching for your popcorn... Our friends at the Science Museum have been in touch to tell us about their new 'IMAX Club', and to offer three free child memberships to newsletter readers. As an IMAX Club member, you can enjoy three free IMAX films and take a complimentary ride on the Museum's simulator. What's more, by flashing your membership card, you can also get 10% discount on other IMAX bookings for yourself and your friends, and make savings in the Science Museum Store and caf. As an extra perk, newsletters and invitations to exclusive preview screenings and events will plop onto your doormat from time to time too... Sounds ok, doesn't it? And there's plenty of choice in the films available. As present they include 'The Human Body' in 10m-high 2D, and 'Bugs!', 'Space Station' and 'T-Rex: Return to the Cretaceous' in even-more-awesome 3D. A colossal IMAX-sized version of 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' will be along shortly too. If you'd like to win one of the free memberships, all you have to do is answer a simple question - which will cunningly involve you visiting the Science Museum's website, at http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/imax Here's the question: What Hollywood movie will be showing at the Science Museum IMAX Cinema from 19th July? Answers please, along with your name and address to planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk - with the title IMAX CLUB DRAW. The draw will take place at 5pm next Thursday. IMPORTANT! Only people 16 and under can win the competition - so even if you're older than that, the person named MUST be in the correct age group. PS: If you want to join the IMAX Club anyway, you can find booking forms at http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/imax or give the Museum a ring on 0870 870 4771 to have a form sent to you. Good luck! |
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| 05. JELLYFISH SURVEY - PLEASE HELP If you live near the coast and are a regular beach-walking, diver, or sailor, the Marine Conservation Society would love you to help them with a survey they're currently carrying out. The aim of the survey is to find out more about the jellyfish population around the UK, because of the role that these jellyfish play in the diet of the critically endangered leatherback turtle. The organisers say, "These spectacular reptiles are seasonal visitors to UK seas, and are thought to migrate from their topical nesting beaches to feed on our jellyfish. "Analyses of stomach contents of dead leatherbacks stranded on UK shores have revealed that they feed on several species of British jellyfish. "By comparing the distribution of jellyfish with environmental factors such as sea temperature, plankton production and current flow, we hope to understand what influences the seasonal distribution of jellyfish and leatherbacks in UK waters." Identification of jellyfish stranded on the beach is not as easy as when they're floating in the sea, but the MCS have a free colour jellyfish ID guide they'll send you if you'd like one - and they stress that if you aren't sure of the species, it's fine to describe it as 'unidentified'. What the MCS are hoping is that you'll be able to observe the same area of water regularly over several weeks, so the form they provide is easy to photocopy (and keep in your back pocket at all times!). You'll find the survey form and further information on their website at: http://www.mcsuk.org/Turtles/mtcp/jellyfish.htm Or you can email to : peter@mcsuk.org |
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| 06. HAMPSHIRE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FAIR - YOU'RE INVITED If you're a teacher, and you can get to Winchester on Thursday 15th July, you're warmly invited to attend the Hampshire Science and Technology Fair. The event is taking place at INTECH, and it's completely free to visitors. The idea is to bring teachers into contact with a whole range of organisations who can be of benefit to school learning from Key Stage 2 upwards, and to provide advice and inspiration on funding opportunities, good venues for school trips, national projects and competitions you might want to get involved with once you hear about them. Exhibitors will be chatting, mingling and putting on demonstrations etc, and they range from Marwell Zoo, to the new Centres of Science Learning, the Army and... Planet Science! (Yes, we will be there - so please come along and say hello. We may even have our groovy new promotional kid-envy-promoting stickers to give away by then...) The event takes place between 1pm and 5.30pm, and you can drop in any time you like. For more information, contact Katie Askew at Solent Skill Quest on 02380 558222 or on katie.askew@solentskillquest.co.uk See you there? |
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| 07. RECOMMENDED WEBSITES OF THE WEEK Real-life science has often proved to be just a few paces behind science-fiction. Even so, there must be plenty of people who watched John Travolta and Nicolas Cage swapping identities in their 1997 film 'Face/Off', and laughed mercilessly at the outrageous plot in which medics were able to transplant human faces from one person to another... No jokes about laughing on the other side of your face allowed; the fact is, real-life facial transplantation is now technically possible, and the first landmark operation is surely around the next corner. This year's Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition included some of the pioneering scientists involved with this aspect of radical medical technology, and you can read a quick summary of the subject and current work at: http://www.sc1.ac.uk/discover/2004ex13.cfm This includes some digitally manipulated photos that give a sense of how faces would look if they were transplanted onto another person's bone structure, and makes the point that the operation would never be conducted for cosmetic reasons, because the results can sadly never look 'normal'. Instead what facial tansplantation may offer is an extreme solution available to certain patients with devastating facial disfigurements. The subject, however, is laced with ethical issues, including concerns over the psychological implications of such procedures on all concerned. To try to provide an overview of the science, the ethics, and the history of medical attempts to reconstruct parts of the face, have a look at the very clear, and very easy to read website of THE ENVISAGE TRUST: http://www.envisagetrust.com (Did YOU know that there have been 22 successful hand transplant operations already?) We couldn't get all of the links on the Envisage site to work, so in case you'd like to really explore this subject, here's a direct link to the downloadable version of the ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS' WORKING PARTY REPORT INTO FACIAL TRANSPLANTATION: http://www.rcseng.ac.uk/services/publications Food for thought. |
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08. AWKWARD QUESTION |
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| 09. WINNERS OF TICKETS TO 'THE DEEP' Loads of entries arrived in time for last week's draw for free family passes to 'The Deep' in Hull. The two drawn at random out of our e-hat were: Lynne West from Buckingham and Jay Airey from Selly Oak in Birmingham. Congratulations to both of you, your tickets will be sent out to you shortly. |
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| 10. JOKES OF THE WEEK Another week, another load of week jokes. Mark Langford has been in touch to ask: Q: Why did the spiritualist cross the road? A: (Cue spooky voice) To get to the other side... (Knock once for yes, twice for no.) Meanwhile, heard on the radio this week: Q: What do you get if you cross a dinosaur with a pig? A: Jurassic Pork. ... and finally a sorry tale: A policeman in a small town stopped a motorist who was speeding down the High Street at 110mph. "But office," the man stutters, "I can explain..." "Just be quiet," snaps the policeman, "You were 80mph over the speed limit. You can cool your heels in the cells until the Superintendent gets back." "But, office, I just wanted to say..." "I said keep quiet! I. Don't. Want. To. Hear. It. Understand?" A few hours later the officer looks in on his prisoner and says, "Lucky for you the Superintendent's at this daughter's wedding. He'll be in a good mood when he gets back." "Don't count on it," answers the motorist, "I'm the groom." * * * * * * That's all for this week's newsletter. If you have any contributions for next week's, please send them through to Anne McNaught on planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk Don't feel shy - we really do welcome your input and would value any comments you have about what you like, don't like, would enjoy seeing more of in the future. Looking forward to hearing from you... Have a great week! |
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