SCIENCE YEAR NEWSLETTER - ISSUE 56 Week ending Friday, 1st March 2002 Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it's ... oh right enough, it IS a bird - and hey, it's holding a bundle of scientific events, ideas and resources in its beak! Yes - this week's Science Year newsletter take to the air with an ornithological theme. So if you've ever wondered how birds fly, which types are in your garden, or how homing pigeons know where they're going, you've come to the right place. And keep tuned too for details on how to make your mobile phone sing like a canary. Or an Arctic Tern. Or perhaps a Black-throated Diver... But first, here's the pecking order: • WALES CELEBRATE SCIENCE YEAR • Desperately seeking SCIENCE FACTOIDS • SONGTHRUSH SURVEY • ASDA launches 'BIG SCIENCE' • M&S launch 'ARE YOU WHAT YOU EAT?' • 4 X DNA EVENTS coming up • MICROSCOPES micro-delay (sorry) • Science CAREERS VIDEO available • BRISTOL Science Year Lecture • ASSEMBLY idea • FACTORY VISITS ideas for schools • COLOUR, TIMING and WHERE IN THE WORLD investigations • WIN AN XBOX! • RECOMMENDED WEBSITES OF THE WEEK • BIRDY RINGTONES • For your eyes owly – SCIENCE LINE QUESTION OF THE WEEK • JOKES • ANY OTHER BUSINESS WALES SCIENCE YEAR First of all, happy St David's Day to everyone in Wales - and it's been a big week there. Tuesday night saw a gathering of the great, the good and the scientifically gifted at Techniquest in Cardiff, as Wales' Science Year hosted an evening of celebration - and one or two new developments. Displays and demonstrations of projects-in-progress nestled in amongst the resident hands-on installations, so there was plenty for visitors to do and see. And many smiling faces to go up and chat to over a canape or three. Jane Davidson AM, Minister for Education and Life-long Learning took the opportunity to explore everything on show. In her speech she praised all that had been done so far - and announced a second raft of funding for the Year in Wales. > top DESPERATELY SEEKING SCIENCE FACTOIDS Meanwhile, also at the event in Cardiff, word reached our ears of another Welsh plan which you may be able to help with if you're good on your scientific nuggets and nano-facts. Wrexham Science Festival, as you may know, is one of the biggest annual science events in the UK (running from 18th - 24th March). And this year, Director Clive Cornford has a challenge for you. He's been asked to come up with 1000 interesting facts and figures about science to be incorporated into a giant model of a planet, which will be placed outside the Town Hall in Wrexham during the festival. The planet will be covered with craters ... and inside each crater, there will be a science factoid waiting to be discovered ... Please send any factoids you have to Clive on c.cornford@newi.ac.uk He's standing by for a deluge, but promises that as many factoids will be acknowledged as is humanly possible... (For full details on the Festival, go to http://www.wrexhamsf.com) > top SONG THRUSH SURVEY Meanwhile, if you're in or around Wrexham, why not get involved in a survey of the local song thrush population, which is being carried out in association with the Festival. Song thrushes have been in sharp decline since the 1970s, and Wrexham Biodiversity Group are keen to monitor the current situation. If you'd like to be involved, they ask that you send your sightings, or requests for more information to Emily Meilleur of the Wrexham Biodiversity Group. Her email is: emily.meilleur@wrexham.gov.uk . (Don't know what a song thrush either looks like or sounds like?! No problem - we have the perfect website for you - just click here to scroll down to our Recommended Websites of the Week. > top ASDA BIG SCIENCE Supermarket Sweep meets the National Curriculum, as ASDA unveiled their 'Big Science' year-long initiative this week... Estelle Morris officially launched the project at ASDA's Charlton store on Monday, and oversaw the first of the schools' activities taking place. Every year, ASDA devotes time and money to finding educational and interactive ways to link classroom-based learning and real life skills. This year, the subject they've picked is Science. And they've done us proud! Check out their website at http://www.asda.com and click through on Big Science to read all about it. As you'll see they've devised science 'trails' around their stores based on four themes: Clothing and Washing; Hair and Beauty; Micro-Organisms; Fruit and Vegetables. These have been divided into levels, for various age groups and SEN pupils. There are also teachers' notes, and they've even prepared a parental leaflet for participating schools - because noone wants to be educationally left behind their 11 year old, right?! Online you'll also find experiments and curriculum resources tailored to suit both the Scottish and England/Wales curricula. Getting the shopping in will never be the same again... > top MARKS & SPENCER CATCH THE SCIENCE WAVE TOO... Science is clearly a hot ticket in the high street this season, as M&S are also jumping in with a free consumer/science project for you. 'Are you what you eat?' is the name, and it's a new science project for secondary schools on the subject of food and health. It takes the form of a survey, and there's a free resource pack available, which includes activity cards, information sheets, teachers notes, posters and of course the 'Are you what you eat?' questionaire. You can order the pack by calling their helpline on 01634 729833 or by visiting the website at http://www.marksandspencer.com/schoolsciencesurvey . > top DNA GOES DOOLALLY! March looks set to be a huge month for Science Year, with all sorts of events, programmes and activities planned both in and around National Science Week. We've noticed a preponderance of events relating to the human body and genetics - which is timely and necessary, we think, given the amount of airspace being devoted to issues like designer babies and cloning. Here's a brief round-up of some of the treats in store... 1. DNA DAY Put this event in your diaries and pop on over to Stoke-on-Trent where, on March 9th, the world's largest-ever DNA model will be being constructed. Throughout the day the record-breaking model will grow to over 10m in height, featuring molecular 'base pairs' being put together by children from all over the region. A number of starry names are also lending their support to this awesome Science Year project, with sections of the model being contributed by luminaries such as Dr Francis Crick, famed for discovering the structure of DNA; Dr Paul Nurse, recent winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine; art-science sisters Helen and Kate Storey; and entertainer Johnny Ball - to name but a few. Their letters of inspiration and models will be on show and the Science Year team will be on hand to distribute stickers, posters and other goodies - who could ask for more?! For further details, contact Dr Graeme Jones at the University of Keele. Email him on g.r.jones@keele.ac.uk or phone him on 01782 584 173. 2. 'HUMAN GENOME' HITS THE STANDS On Thursday 7th March, Dorling Kindersley will release a new book in their Essential Science series, edited by well-known science communicator John Gribbin. 'The Human Genome' will discuss one of the great achievements of the age, namely the sequencing of the human genome, and explore some of the implications it has for our future. 'The Human Genome' is packed full of fascinating facts and lively discussion about our genetic future To celebrate the book’s launch, we have 10 copies to give away. And they’ll be in the post to the first ten people to email in and tell us their opinion on gene technology: emails should come to ideas@scienceyear.com. 3. TAKE A JOURNEY INTO GENETICS In March the BA brings you an innovative new piece of science theatre which will introduce Key Stage 3 students to the world of genetics. Entitled 'Footprints', the play tells the story of Anna, a 14-year-old who discovers the world of genetics after police investigating a crime in her building come around to collect DNA samples. 'Footprints' looks at the past, present and future of genetics, and encourages people to take a critical view of the issues raised. They play will premiere on 4th March at the National Portrait Gallery in London and will visit a range of venues around the UK including the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, the Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire and ThinkTank Theatre in Birmingham. For more information call the BA on 0207 973 3052 or check out the booking details listed at http://www.the-ba.net 4. DNA and MOTHER'S DAY Mother's Day is of course on 10th March - and you won't need a biology degree to figure out that this is a DNA-related issue! The University of Nottingham Institute of Genetics, sponsored by the BBSRC, are holding a "Genes in The Park" day on Sunday March 10th 11am-3.30pm in Wollaton Hall & Park, Nottingham. The day will include craft and drawing activities for children on a chromosome theme, demonstrations of modern genetic research, explanations of genomics and advice for anyone wanting to become a geneticist. There will also be posters explaining the natural genetics behind the creatures of the park including Bambi, Rudolph and their mates! And as piece de resistance, they will be giving away X-chromosome badges for all mums! We have a sneak preview of the badge design here, as you can see. And you're not allowed to copy it - but if you have other ideas for a scientific Mother's Day design, let us know! More details of the whole day can be found at: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/genetics/gip. > top MICROSCOPES MICRO-DELAY On a slightly different note, namely the Science Year KitPot, please don't worry if you were expecting an Intel Digital Microscope to turn up at your school, but it hasn't yet. Due to delays at the warehouse, we now estimate that all microscopes should be sent by the end of March. If you still haven't received it by then, please ring the Intel Learning Direct Line on 01474 357 350. > top 'SCIENCE EQUALS TOP JOBS' CAREERS VIDEOS AVAILABLE Another Science Year resource which is being made available free to all seondary schools in England is a copy of our careers video, 'Science Equals Top Jobs'. "Where's the science in THAT?" is the question posed by lab-coated, loveable loonie Harry Hill, as he goes to meet three sci/tech professionals working in diverse but equally fascinating careers. Millie from 'Ruby & Millie' discusses the chemistry of cosmetics; Ivor Middleton, a 3D computer animator demonstrates his amazing work on films like 'Gladiator' and 'Tomb Raider'; and Caryl Becker explains what it takes to become an Olympic physiotherapist, as she is. If you'd like a copy, here are the details: Tel: 0845 60 222 60 Fax: 0845 60 333 60 Or write to: PO Box 5050 Sherwood Park Annesley Nottingham Nottinghamshire NG15 0DJ > top BRISTOL LECTURE for 11-14 year olds Another mention for our Science Year lecture, "Scientriffic: Understanding The Way the World Works." There are still a number of tickets available for this free lecture... so here are the details again. The lecture's taking place in Bristol, at the IMAX cinema, on the 13th March at 6.30pm. The lecturer is award-winning physics teacher Helen Reynolds, and in her talk she'll be describing how science holds the key to understanding and answering some of the world's biggest questions ever. The lecture will be peppered with live experiments and demonstrations, so it should be a highly enjoyable evening. If you'd like to book seats, email your details to: keynote@scienceyear.com And remember, we've already accumulated a huge bank of transcripts, information, book lists etc for all of the previous lectures. Speakers have included Robert Winston, Steve Jones and Alec Broers ie. premier league personnel all the way - so check out what we've got on the Science Year website by clicking here. > top ASSEMBLY IDEA Following our call for inspiring teachers' ideas for how to take a school assembly on a scientific theme, Ian McHale from St Georges High School in Blackpool has sent in a brilliant idea for an activity. It's a spin on the old 'balloon debate' idea, in that three scientists are brought back to life, and each have to make their case to the students as to the good they did while they were on Earth. But then ... the Grim Reaper appears, to counter their claims by explaining how their work has actually damaged human life. At the end of assembly, the students have to make their vote. Ian chose Alfred Nobel, Marie Curie and Fritz Haber as the three scientists for his school's assembly - and a fully-detailed explanation can be found on the Science Year website here. He says, "We ran it last week with 6 year 10 students. They performed to all years over 5 days then each year voted for who should be removed from history. Our school voted for Fritz Haber although I wasn't convinced." Ian wins a £25 book or CD voucher, and he says he'd love to hear from anyone who uses his assembly idea - so let us know if you do, and we'll pass the email on to him. If you have another great idea for a scientific assembly, please send it to anne.mcnaught@scienceyear.com and it'll go in the hat with any others we receive in the same week. > top FACTORY VISITS £25 vouchers are also currently being dispatched to two other inspired teachers who wrote in to tell us about their school trips to local factories. Factory visits can be a brilliant way of bringing science and technology to life for students, and they also serve to develop school links with industry, and introduce young people to 'real' scientists and let them see what they do all day... And - if play your cards right, you may end up with some free samples as well, as Judy Vincent from Hartest Primary School, near Bury St. Edmunds, discovered – check out her report in the Cool School Science area of the Science Year web site. Meanwhile - over in Cambridgeshire, Pat Firth has been in touch with one of their local industries... a fireworks factory. He says, "I contacted one of the parents of the school who is a chemist with a famous local firework company. He has experience of lecturing to Secondary Schools (and has been on the telly!) and is coming in to give a whole-school session on the chemistry of fireworks - in addition, I am hoping a group of Year Six children will be using the week for extended literacy and ICT with digital cameras, desktop publishing to report on our whole week's activities - their soundbite is "End Science Week with a bang!" - not literally, I hope... If we survive, it may inspire the chemists in the school!" Er... fingers crossed?! > top COLOUR, TIMING ... and WHERE IN THE WORLD? Meanwhile, the National Physical Laboratory has developed an online experiment to encourage schools, youth organisations and EVERYONE, in fact, to take part in practical science and at the same time help them with their research. Here's what they say. "There are three facets to the experiment, the first tests human reaction time, the second explores how we perceive colour and the third involves using a shadow stick to determine your position (latitude and longitude) on the Earth. "The results of the colour perception experiment will be fed directly into an NPL scientific paper and should you produce the most accurate determination of your position as part of the shadow stick experiment, you will win a cash prize of £500. There are runners up prizes of £350 and £150 too!" To take part, visit their site at http://www.npl.co.uk/scienceyear. The winners will be announced and the prizes presented on World Metrology Day, Monday 20th May. > top YOUR CHANCE TO WIN AN XBOX! Not content with just sending an intrepid WiredUp team out to review the new Microsoft XBox before its official launch, we now have another fab opportunity to announce. This time, it's the chance to get your hands on this wicked piece of kit on a for-keeps, in-your-own-home basis. The XBox hits the street on 14th March, and two lucky winners of our Creative Games Challenge will receive a brand new XBox complete with two new games and controllers. Not only that, but a member of the Science Year team will come and present it to you (second prize, two members?!) Seriously though, what a great opportunity. And winning an XBox would be pretty cool as well. Entrants must be aged 10-19 and living in the UK to enter - so spread the word to every eligible person you know who might have an interest in playing games! Here's what you have to do to enter. Just complete the following story: "It was a cold winter's day and I was sitting around twiddling my thumbs. I was just deciding what to do when suddenly ..." Your story must be no more than 100 words long, and incorporate these six special words: "sound" "spectacular" "fast" "XBox" "games" and "awesome" The words can be used in any order. The two entries judged most creative by the Science Year team will win, and their stories will also be published on the Science Year website, in the newsletter and in next month's WiredUp. Email your story along with your name, age, school's name and address to : ideas@scienceyear.com All entries must be received by 4pm on Friday, March 8, 2002. To check out the awesome capabilities of the XBox and download a fact sheet, visit http://www.xbox.com/uk. > top RECOMMENDED WEBSITES OF THE WEEK "The birds! The birds!" as Tippy Hedren used to say. Here's a starter pack of websites devoted to our feathered friends ... GARDEN BIRDS is a fantastically comprehensive site which not only has an illustration and fact file on every UK garden bird, but also features MP3 / Quicktime recordings of each of their songs (which make your colleagues wonder what in the world's going on in your office, just a quick warning in advance!) The site also contains information on all sorts of bird-related subjects including migration, feeders, what feathers are made of ... and cat deterrents. The url is: http://www.garden-birds.co.uk/ Yes, but how do birds FLY? If that's what you're wondering, just check out the THE K-8 AERONAUTICS INTERNET TEXTBOOK site (bird area). When you’ve finished there, scroll down to the bottom of the page for buttons to click through to other areas of the site. As you can see, this page is part of a much larger site all about aviation in its many forms - from dragon flies, to Daedalus, to commercial airlines, you name it. It's brilliant! But whatever you do, do NOT check out their sport science section because we want to keep that up our sleeves for later when the World Cup/Commonwealth Games are on. Oh ok then if you insist ... http://wings.avkids.com/Book/Sports/beginner/index.html HOW DO HOMING PIGEONS FIND THEIR WAY? This site round up what they do, the facts as we know them, and the various explanatory theories currently in the frame. Here's the url: http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20010516.html And if all that cyberactivity has left you a bit peckish (sorry that pun was asking for it) - anyway - how about building a bird table to help your local birds get through the winter and avoid as many cats as possible? Here's a small but perfectly formed page with all the info you need: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ukwild/birds/birdtable.shtml > top BIRDY RINGTONES And - we just had to draw your attention to the following offer from the RSPB. Birdsong mobile phone ringtones! For minimal cost you can replace your electronic Toccata or Take-That-And-Party theme with the gentle sound of a lesser whitethroat, an oystercatcher or a nightingale. For a full list and instructions, all you need to do is go to http://rspb.mobileavenue.net/ (link now dead although check these birdy ringtone links out) Quite what the person on the bus next to you will think on hearing the sound of a muffled chaffinch cheeping from inside your bag is another question, but hey you may make some new friends? > top SCIENCE LINE QUESTION OF THE WEEK Still on a birdy theme, our question from the Science Line files this week is: 'Can owls really turn their heads all the way round?' And the answer can be found by clicking to http://www.sciencenet.org.uk/database/Biology/0104/b00923d.html And if any other sciencey questions cross your mind while you're there, you can post your question to them on the website. Or you can call them on 0800 800 4000. The lines are open from 1pm to 7pm Monday to Saturday, and their main web address is: http://www.sciencenet.org.uk And it’s FREE. Have we mentioned that often enough?! > top JOKES TO MAKE YOU CROAK ... Bird-related ones, naturellement. Here we go: A few fraternity brothers needed to fill a science requirement in order to graduate, so they spent weeks studying for the final. The day of the exam arrived and they were more than ready for the test. The teacher pulled out a chart, and on it were different pictures of bird's legs. The teacher said, "This is your exam. Name these birds by their legs." After ten minutes one boy stood up, absolutely furious, and slammed the paper down on the teachers desk. "Dammit!" he hollered. "You knew I needed to pass this exam to graduate. How could you do this to me?" The guy begins to leave the room and the teacher yells at him, "Hey you, boy, what's your name?" The student pulls up his pants, revealing his legs, and says, "I don't know sir. You tell me." * * * * * * * * * * ... and if you were thinking hey that was really quite funny - here's another that'll wipe the smile off your face and replace it with look of Friday afternoon despair! Ready? A pair of chickens walk up to the reception desk at a public library and say, 'Buk Buk BUK.' The librarian decides that the chickens desire three books, and gives them to them...and the chickens leave shortly thereafter. Around midday, the two chickens return to the circulation desk quite vexed and say,' Buk Buk BuKKOOK!' The librarian decides that the chickens desire another three books and gives it to them. The chickens leave as before. The two chickens return to the library in the early afternoon, approach the librarian, looking very annoyed and say, 'Buk Buk Buk Buk Bukkooook!' The librarian is now a little suspicious of these chickens. She gives them what they request, and decides to follow them. She follows them out of the library, out of the town, and to a park. At this point, she hides behind a tree, not wanting to be seen. She sees the two chickens throwing the books at a frog in a pond. To which the frog keeps saying, "Rrredit Rrredit Rrredit..." And finally: Q. Why don’t owls take their girlfriends out in the rain? A. Because it’s too wet to woo! The old ones are the best eh. > top ANY OTHER BUSINESS Just to say, thank you to everyone who's been in touch. Hope you've enjoyed this week's newsletter and if you have any contributions or ideas for future issues let us know. Send all such emails to: anne.mcnaught@scienceyear.com And - have a great week! > top