SCIENCE YEAR NEWSLETTER - ISSUE 39 Week ending Friday, 19th October 2001 This week, a multitude of awards, free Science Year kits, audio illusions … and why electric eels don’t electrocute themselves. Surely that’s all the incentive anyone would need to enjoy this week's news and events from Science Year! ADVERTS + FREE SCIENCE YEAR KIT If you’ve had your eyes open over the last week, you may well have seen one of the TV, press or online adverts for Science Year. And if so, you may be aware that there’s now a free Science Kit and teacher’s pack available to order online or by phone on 0800 660 800. If you haven’t seen the ads … (where have you been?) There’s another week of TV adverts to go, and the print ads will be around until December in teen magazines such as Sugar, Match, Bliss, Shoot, J17 and N64. Either way, as a loyal newsletter reader you deserve one of our packs, so get dialing or surfing… you need to register to receive one! By the way, the website contains extra information and links relating to the packs, on subjects like the science of skateboarding, music and animal attraction. Check out our recommended website of the week to see one of the grooviest science websites we’ve ever come across! NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS And huge congratulations are due to this year’s British Nobel prizewinners, Dr Tim Hunt and Sir Paul Nurse of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. Along with their US collaborator Dr Leland Hartwell, they were honoured with the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine earlier this month. They worked on the mechanism that controls cell division in living organisms, which relates directly to our understanding of cancer- and their award comes after years of painstaking work. To read more about what they did, visit the Nobel website at www.nobel.se/medicine/laureates/2001/ and click through to the press release. CHEMISTRY WEEK Advance notice of next month’s Chemistry Week, so that you can put interesting events in your diary – or even volunteer to get involved. As you may know already, Chemistry Week is held every two years, and is organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry. The aim of it is to promote a positive image of chemistry and increase appreciation of the crucial role it plays in our lives. To this end they’ve come up with a packed schedule of events and activities, such as whizz-bang demonstrations, lectures, interactive science shows and ‘Chemistry Buses’ around the UK. Back by popular demand is their Name-an-Element competition, and as an example to get your chemical brain cells working, they suggest ‘Bondium – proton number 007, symbol Jb… it moves quickly even when under intense pressure and is often shaken but never stirred. Think you can do better? Well, write it down!! The Chemistry Week website can be found at www.rsc.org/chemistryweek and please note that all 22 electronic-only and online science journals, such as Lab on a Chip and Chemical Communications will be available free on the website during Chemistry Week. CHEMISTORY And if you’re between 9 and 19 and you fancy putting your chemistry knowledge and literary talents to the test, check out ‘Chemistory’ at www.4chemistry.co.uk It’s a chemistry story-writing competition, for essays of a minimum of 90 words. There will be four categories, primary and secondary schools, colleges and overseas entries, and prizes will include books, vouchers, ties, mouse mats, t-shirts and posters. Full details can be found on the site. THE PFIZER AWARD FOR INNOVATIVE SCIENCE, EUROPE We’d also like to congratulate Professor Steven Ley for his triumph in this week’s Pfizer Awards for Innovative Science, Europe. Professor Ley is an organic chemist, and he and his team in Cambridge are involved in the discovery and development of new and biologically useful products such as immune suppressants, an anti-tumour agent and an insect antifeedant. The award reflects Professor Ley's longstanding contribution to science and society in terms of innovative chemical methodologies and well-trained chemists. More award news coming up but first … SECRETS OF HIGH TECH LIVING REVEALED! Our future depends on science - the question is, what sort of future do you want it to be? To help you answer these questions (and also celebrate Science Year) The National Council of Women invites you to attend their High-tech Living Conference in Newcastle upon Tyne next weekend. The conference will look at the use of science and new technology in our homes and environment to improve our quality of life. Topics tackled will include energy consumption, obtaining clean water, air and soil, sustainable housing, innovations in design and presentations by local schools. Tickets are £12/£5 and you can get more information by phoning the NCW on 01429 275 105. FEMALE INVENTOR OF THE YEAR Think you could come up with some great innovations yourself? If you’re under 18, female and interested in inventing and inventions – here’s news of a competition that may be right up your street. The organisers of Young British Female Inventor of the Year 2001 are looking for your ideas. You’re invited to send in a design of an object or machine that you think will be invented in the future – plus an explanation as to why you think so. There are three age groups, and financially interesting prizes for the winners and runners up! They stress that the prizes are for ideas not for the slickness of the drawing and that ‘designs should be scientifically feasible and not break any laws of physics’. Fair enough! Go to http://www.bfiy.org for more information on the competition and details of how to enter, and to download the Junior entry form. FIRST THE CLOCKWORK RADIO, NOW … And the awards keep coming. A solar rechargeable lantern has been announced the overall winner of the Engineering Council’s prestigious Environment Award for Engineers 2001. The creators, Intermediate Technology Consultants in Rugby, have named their invention the ‘Glowstar Solar Lantern’. The lantern was developed for use in countries where access to conventional power sources is limited, and portable light after dark is still an expensive luxury. The key component is its solar-charged battery which, once charged, can provide four hours of light. It's claimed to require zero maintenance in addition to having low environmental impact… and orders have already been received from 25 countries. Congratulations! WE’RE LOOKING FOR REVIEWERS… Read any good science-related books recently? Seen any good films? Or been to any interesting places? Science Year is looking for a team of reviewers to review museums, books, events and films. If you fancy offering your opinion – and possibly being on the receiving end of advance copies of books, cinema tickets and other reviewers’ perks – please email us, telling us in less than 70 words why we should listen to your view. (Don’t worry we’re not that scary, just want to know a bit more about you!). Then when we have opportunities, we will select appropriate people and send them forth to view and review … PS we need a good name for our crack team of reviewers, so any ideas for that gratefully received too. USING ART TO TEACH SCIENCE Starting next week, art will be put to a new use - teaching science students to think about the interdisciplinary nature of their work. At King's College in London a fashion collection will be used as a point of discussion and focus for teaching, where academics at the college are being encouraged to involve a visit to the exhibition in their classes, while local teachers are invited to use it as an inspiration for presenting science in exciting new ways. So what is it? Well, the collection is Primitive Streak, a selection of dresses designed by artist Helen Storey in collaboration with her sister and developmental biologist Dr Kate Storey. The dresses chronicle key events in the first 1000 hours of human embryonic development, and are both beautiful and thought-provoking. Why would a university do something like this, I hear you ask? Well, as engineering lecturer Dr Mark Miodownik says "Good science is about asking interesting questions, and we're not teaching that. Getting art into the curriculum fosters imagination and encourages playfulness and inquisitiveness- which is what science needs". This is just the beginning of a great Science Year effort at King's, which will see them running workshops and science days and addressing some of the key issues in post-16 education. For more information contact Katherine Rabson, King's College Business Development Manager at:katherine.rabson@kcl.ac.uk STUDY THE STARS… PEER AT THE PLANETS And to stretch your mind further, Friday night is astronomy night from now until March, if you’re in Edinburgh. The Royal Observatory on Blackford Hill is running a series of rooftop viewing evenings (almost) every Friday night until March – and all you have to do is wrap up warm and ‘prepare to be amazed’… It’s suitable for all the family – and if it’s a cloudy night, they promise to provide top quality alternative activities instead. The viewings take place from 7pm to 9pm – every week except over the Christmas/New Year period. And alongside these Friday events, they’re also running a series of Tuesday night lectures for adults, the next one being an exploration of the phenomenon known as "occultation" in Russell Eberst’s talk ‘Hidden Revelations’. Want to know what occultation is? Well, we won't give away all the details but here's a clue: to occult means, literally, to hide…and you can find out more on the web at http://www.roe.ac.uk/info or by calling them on 0131 668 8405. SCIENCE LINE QUESTION So as to incrementally increase the science knowledge of all newsletter readers and alert them to the wonders of Science Line, we’re continuing with our series of questions and answers dealt with by the Science Line team over the last few days. This week’s question is ‘Why don't electric eels electrocute themselves?’ Em … because they forgot to pay their bill? No of course not – check out the correct answer at: www.sciencenet.org.uk/database/Biology/0104/b00906d.html And remember if you have any science-related questions of your own, visit their website at www.sciencenet.org.uk. Or give them a ring on 0808 800 4000, open 1pm - 7pm Monday to Saturday. It’s free, free, free, with no strings attached. Don’t say they’re not good to you! RECOMMENDED WEBSITE OF THE WEEK Researching weblinks over the past couple of weeks to complement the newly available Science Year kit has brought us into contact with a host of science-related sites we’d never encountered before, here are two we’d like to share with you right away, for fun and intrigue..... The first is called ‘The Physics of Breakdancing’ and needs no further introduction – except prepare yourself for a highly animated site! www.kent.wednet.edu/staff/trobinso/physicspages/PhysOf99/Break-JLee/ The second one features audio illusions (as opposed to optical ones) and comes from Canada’s long-running science programme ‘Quirks and Quarks’. It’s called ‘You Must Be Hearing Things’ – and you’ll need a soundcard to enjoy this to the max. http://www.radio.cbc.ca/programs/quirks/test/audill.html JOKE OF THE WEEK Inundated we were last week. Well, sort of! Anyway see what you think of these: From Mark Langford, a Suffolk Science Teacher: Q: What do you call an opera singer who doesn't actually do anything? A: Placebo Domingo (bum bum!) (We like that one) Plus… a different kind of joke ... or should we say a differential kind of joke? Q: What do Australian mathematical physicists drink? A: Castlemaine d/dx 2x squared +c Jeremy Renals sent that one in from Oxford. It certainly separated the mathematical sheep from the goats in the Science Year office but (I’m) assured it’s very funny! ANY OTHER BUSINESS The next newsletter will be along in a week's time. Meanwhile, please get in touch if you have any questions or contributions for us. If you’d like to know more about the Kit Pot, digital microscopes etc, please visit Sci-Teach Any teachers' enquiries should be sent to:sci.teach@scienceyear.com Any other business, contributions for the newsletter, jokes or web-related ideas to: anne.mcnaught@scienceyear.com Return to archive