SCIENCE YEAR NEWSLETTER - ISSUE 63 Week ending Friday, 19th April 2002 This week’s newsletter is a GROWTH area by anyone’s standards and we’re biggin’ it up in every direction. Coming up we have the science of growing things, from crops to Venus Fly Traps; moneywise, there’s a call for increased pay for teachers; we have news for follically challenged men (‘maneless lions’ in an urban setting…?) … and bigger boobs mean bigger profits – if you’re a manufacturer of smart materials at least. Are you sitting comfortably? Good – right, here’s the scoop: • BUDGET SCIENCE • PAY RISES FOR SCIENCE TEACHERS • HANSON OFFER - visit a building site • LECTURES ROUND UP - Singh, Greenfield, Puttnam and the Storey sisters. • FREE SOFTWARE FROM PLATO • NEW FEATURE ON SY SITE - Primary age experiments • THE SKY TONIGHT - planetary alignment tonight • MANELESS MANEATERS - testosterone trouble • COMPETITION ROUND UP - get on a winning streak • LIGHT UP ASSEMBLY - another great assembly idea • SMART BRAS - the world of technical textiles • RECOMMENDED WEBSITES OF THE WEEK. • SCIENCE LINE QUESTION OF THE WEEK • JOKE OF THE WEEK • AOB Now, after Wednesday the question on everyone's lips is... WAS THERE ANY SCIENCE IN THE BUDGET? Though Mr Brown is known to be a science-friendly Chancellor, you had to look hard to find the evidence - but it's there. He's certainly keen to claim it was an anti-pollution budget and there's no doubting his fascination with the various possible ways of cleaning up what comes out of the back of our cars. There's no shortage of runners and riders in the 'Green Fuel Stakes' - low-carbon, hydrogen, compressed natural gas, biodiesel, low-sulphur, sulphur-free and ultra-low-sulphur (confusingly defined as having five times as much sulphur as sulphur-free. Reluctant to pick a winner, Gordon seems to have made a little 5p each-way bet on every one of them. Now the mathematicians and the compulsive gamblers amongst you will have spotted that backing every horse in a race is not necessarily a winning formula (very few bookies would still be in business if it was). But Gordon "Prudence' Brown didn't get his nickname for nothing. (He had to hire a very expensive team of P.R., Image and Naming consultants to dream that one up for him). Maybe within a year or two the research will show him which one to plump for. Our money's on H. (What, the guy in Steps? - I didn't even know he was a petrologist!) No not that H - good old hydrogen, sitting quietly confident at the top of the Periodic Table, ready to take on Europe and the rest of the world. It's the fuel of the future. Oh, and there's the NHS - there was a little bit in the budget about that too, wasn't there? Arguably the country's biggest employer of scientists (rivaled only by the Ministry of Defence), lots more money for the health Service means lots more jobs for scientists - great jobs too - saving lives, making people better, earning good money, spotting all the mistakes on "Casualty" - what a life! >top SCIENCE TEACHERS PAY RISES – MOVES AFOOT As there's no need to explain here, the future economic health of the Nation will rely heavily on health in the science and engineering sectors. I n order to promote this, it is being mooted by Sir Gareth Roberts of Wolfson College Oxford that more money should come the way of science teachers to boost this area of school staffing. Curious? Here's the full monty: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4394739,00.html >top MAKING US A HANSON OFFER The buildings material giant Hanson like being visited by school groups, and they have issued positive encouragement through Science Year to anyone who'd like to visit a Hanson site to find out more about the materials, aggregates and bricks they produce and the uses to which they can be put. Already very popular (you have to book in advance) Science Year would like to send one lucky school on an all expenses trip to review the visit. We are not fooling around; this is a concrete proposal! (groan - sorry - couldn't resist). If you would like to know more about Hanson go to http://www.hansonplc.com/inside.htm or to see the kids feedback from previous visits http://www.hansonplc.com/education/education_fset.htm and if you fancy yourself in a hard hat after that, mail our Sophie at sophie.duncan@scienceyear.com >top LECTURES ROUND UP SIMON SINGH "The Mathematics of Chance - Probability, Statistics, Risk, Maths and Society" FREE lecture at Soho Theatre, London W1 5pm on Wednesday 24th April 2002 A few tickets left for this entertaining, fun and interactive lecture. Mail keynote@scienceyear.com if you would like tickets Suitable for 15 + age group. Duration: 1 hour To find out more about the amazing Mr Singh click here. BARONESS GREENFIELD Lecture at the Royal Institution Thursday 16th May 2002 6.30pm – "The Brain of the Future" This lecture will review the possibilities and implications posed by the neuroscientific advances for the coming century namely: mapping the human genome, brain transplants, and implants, and the increased use of designer drugs both proscribed and prescribed. For tickets contact: schools@ri.ac.uk More about the prodigious Susan Greenfield, click here. LORD PUTTNAM Eden Project Lecture – Saturday 18 May 2002 3pm The tenth lecture in the Science Year lecture series entitled, "Science and Creativity – Two cultures become one." will be delivered at the Eden Project in Cornwall by Lord Puttnam, Chair of NESTA and Science Year. Tickets: keynote@scienceyear.com For more about our favourite Oscar winning movie producer, click here. PROFESSOR HELEN STOREY AND DR KATE STOREY Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre , Tuesday 23rd April 2002 Dr Kate Storey's talk will take you on a fascinating journey of how we develop in the womb. How some parts become bone, brains and others belly buttons! Professor Helen Storey will talk about how embryonic development inspired her "Primitive Streak" collection, in collaboration with her sister Kate. Dr Gill Samuels will guide an open discussion on how we understand scientific advances and the relationship between science and art. Free Tickets, mail to:scotland@scienceyear.com or Freephone 0800 7312773 For more details click here. >top FREE SOFTWARE Plato Learning are pleased to announce a special offer relating to their CyberEd science series for Key Stage 4 and Post 16 learning. Until June the 30th you can download their interactive resources for FREE. Go to: www.cybered.net KIT POT SPECIAL OFFER Plato are also giving Science Year a deal on their CD-Rom CyberEd science series for KS4 and Post 16. Until the 30th of June you can order any 3 CyberEd CD-Roms and receive the cheapest one for free. Go to www.cybered.net to see the full range. Click here for details and how to order. >top SCIENCE ACTIVITIES FOR THE YOUNG If you know any primary age kids tell them about our new feature, specially written experiments for younger children with oh such cute pictures! They also feature rollover animations of the experiments in action so they'll know what to look out for. Aprons all round! Click here to go straight there. >top THE SKY TONIGHT It's wellies on and into the garden tonight as five major planets line up like chorus girls and show themselves off. Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury are at the height of their alignment. Check here for more details and which direction to crick your neck in! >top MANELESS LIONS As bald blokes everywhere never cease to mention their lack of thatch is due to an abundance of testosterone coursing through their veins, and to bolster up this theory scientists have now investigated the famous maneless lions of Tsavo and found their slightly over aggressive (i.e. man-eating) tendencies can be explained by their similarly more-than-a-lion’s share of – yes you guessed it – our old chum testosterone. So – they’re not just over compensating for their hairlessness then! Those with over wide partings and the rest of us can find out more from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/ >top COMPETITION ROUND UP The npower Energy Initiative Competition has been extended to give you all the last chance to win a trip in the phenomenal npower hot air balloon. You could be up, up and awaaaay if you check it out here. Also - Calling all teachers and technicians! The Innovative Kit competition deadline has now been extended, and you still have a chance to submit any great ideas you might have for new classroom equipment or modifications to existing kit. Great prizes to be won- including cash and equipment from Philip Harris. So hop to it! More details here. Not forgetting the National Geographic’s amazing opportunity to win a family trip to Florida and all it’s major attractions. Click here for that one. >top LIGHT UP ASSEMBLY Huge thanks to Janice Jee of Englefield C E Primary School, Berkshire who sent a cracking contribution to our Cool School Assembly Collection. "Light the bulb".... as a quiz scenario. Quizmaster and contestants eg Mr Copper, Mrs Wood, Ms Plastic and so on, can this contestant light the bulb? The idea is to show electrical conductors and insulators done as an over the top quiz. It helps if you have an extrovert quizmaster, have an large picture of an unlit and lit bulb that the contestants hold up. Used to great effect!! Got any more cool school assembly ideas? Please send 'em on in to: anne.mcnaught@scienceyear.com >top SMARTER THAN THE AVERAGE BRA Okay – you are a medium sized German Textile Manufacturer – go with us on this one – and you have a choice of a) churning out loads of cheap clothes and hoping you are not thrashed by the even cheaper global competition? OR b) specializing in cutting edge fabrics and producing smaller quantities of top notch undies? Well, according to the Financial Times the latter is the increasingly successful option and this is helped by officially growing bust sizes. You see the bigger the bust, the bigger the bra and the more the wearer needs her comfort and Hi-tech properties. Boos Fabrics in Germany boast their smart elastic can increase sweat absorption, improve circulation, protect against the sun or even enhance tanning! If you are inspired to find out more about this growth industry go to http://www.tut.fi/units/ms/teva/projects/intelligenttextiles/ And for the full story from the financial times go to: http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html Its sister article is at: http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html >top RECOMMENDED WEBSITES OF THE WEEK Unnatural Growth http://www.malepregnancy.com/ Draw your own conclusions about this meticulous and remarkable site. One thing is for sure – it will be a great tool to stimulate discussion of the ethics of future medical knowhow! Click along the top bar to see the ‘science’ stuff. Time lapse Photography http://members.ozemail.com.au/~cumulus/lapse2.htm All, and that means ALL, you need to know about how to use your digital camera for time lapse photography. The site even includes a version written for pupils! There’s good links to helpful sites, and also time lapse footage of all the unpronounceable processes plants go through when they are doing their growin’ thang. Thorough doesn’t really di it justice, if Science Year gave out stars for sites, this would get a great big gold one! Agricultural Science Yes – and lest we forget that growing lots of things all together relies on science as much as the weather and farmers intuition here’s a site to remind us. http://www.inventionfactory.com/sciencetogo/growing_things/ From Nu Joisey (that’s how they say New Jersey in the U.S. of A), it is aimed at older primary age readers, and is a great introduction to the science of arable farming. It has experiments so you can get the flavour of cropping and points out that it takes as much research work to keep US agriculture productive as it does to run the space programme. And with the world’s population projected to out strip food production in the not too distant future it will need to go on doing this. Lord May mentioned this in his Science Year Lecture. >top SCIENCE LINE QUESTION OF THE WEEK Speaking of time lapse wouldn’t it be cool to watch a venus fly trap as it develops its spindly gnashers and large alluring stomach and deep gravelly voice (or was that the Little Shop of Horrors?…) anyway, luckily Science Line have done all the research for you and the answer to CAN YOU GROW A VENUS FLY TRAP AT HOME? Is a click away… http://www.sciencenet.org.uk/database/Biology/0108/b01007d.html As ever the Science Line team are like forlorn dateless teenagers, just waiting by the phone for your science question, which they will answer for free! Ring them on 0808 800 4000 or go to http://www.sciencenet.org.uk >top SCIENTIFIC JOKE OF THE WEEK … was this week very kindly supplied by Dave Hart of the Institute of Food Research in Norwich: A man was arrested after throwing a solution of sodium hypochlorite over a minister of the catholic church. He later appeared in, court charged with 'a bleach of the priest'. >top ANY OTHER BUSINESS Where would we be without you? Nowhere, that’s where. So please keep sending contributions to the newsletter – events, ideas, news, websites, jokes … whatever’s sciencey and will be of interest and will brighten everyone else’s day in some way. All you need to do, is stick it on an email to katie.walsh@scienceyear.com or anne.mcnaught@scienceyear.com and, space permitting, you’ll find yourself featured in a forthcoming newsletter faster than you can say ‘what, free publicity?’ Meanwhile have a great week! >top