SCIENCE YEAR NEWSLETTER - ISSUE 83 Week ending Friday, 6th September 2002 Remember the Giant Jump? That was a year ago tomorrow! WHAT?? Anyway, thanks for sticking with us - and here's the round up of this week's hot 'n chilli pepperoni news nuggets ... • SCOTLAND GETS EXTENDED - whay hey good news • BA FESTIVAL - look out Leicester! • SWAP A BOOK - and get reading • ONLY CONNECT - CDRoms for schools • ROYAL SOCIETY - Grants and Astro-evening • GIANT JUMP PHOTO WINNER • ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK - levitation for beginners • SCIENCE LINE QUESTION OF THE WEEK – a chip off the old choc-block • RWW - SCIENCE WORLDS • COMEDY CREATIVITY CHALLENGE • JOKE OF THE WEEK • AOB SCOTLAND GETS EXTENDED No, not in terms of reclaiming the North Sea - we're talking about Science Year. The Scottish Executive Education Department has decided that SY in Scotland will continue until the end of this calendar year and at the same time has made funds available for a second Small Grants Scheme. Schools and community organisations throughout Scotland are eligible to apply, and you can access all the details and applications forms on the Science Year in Scotland website at http://www.setpointscotland.org.uk. (And information on some other educational grants is coming up later.) >top ALL ROADS LEAD TO LEICESTER... Meanwhile further south, the 'BA Festival of Science' - the British Association for the Advancement of Science's annual mega-sci-bonanza is under starters orders right now. The event runs from the 9th - 13th September and as ever features a packed calendar of talks, activities, seminars, demonstrations and general high-octane accessible science - everything from the psychology of deception, to life in space, to the high-tech archaeological investigation into the alcoholic beverages and Scooby-snacks of our ancient ancestors ... This year, the Festival is being held at Leicester University, so if that's near you, get your diary out, and book yourself in for some engrossing events... Full details are on the BA's website at http://www.the-ba.net. Go into 'quick find' and look for 'Festival of Science'. Keep your eyes peeled for press coverage of Science Year's day-long conference event, 'Learning About Science in Society'. And if you're at the Festival on Tuesday - see you around! The Science Year team will be there for a verrrrry special announcement. Mum's the word, and Bob may very well soon be your uncle... Watch this space! >top GET READING, GET SWAPING Did you know that today is SWAP A BOOK DAY? This is a fun-yet-serious campaign being run by the National Literacy Trust to encourage the nation to get its collective noses stuck into a book more often. Swapping books is of course a no-cost way of getting your hands on new reading material, but there's more to it than that. To pick up a book, you need to want to read it, and not surprisingly a rave review from a friend is one of the best inspirers there is. Recent findings back this up - the National Reading Campaign have just run a survey which found that 40% of adults are encouraged into reading books because of tips from friends, and 16% of people said they act on recommendations from work colleagues. Naturally we reckon science-related books would be ideal to give to people who think they 'don't like science' because if you've picked the right book, they may have their minds changed forever - or at least start the process! Obviously you can get into book-swapping any time. So how about next week as 'I'm a Celebrity - Get Me Out of Here!' finishes on Sunday so many people will soon find an hour of their time freed up...? The NLT have a lots of suggestions for how to get swapping and other related bookish activities, including literary pub quizzes, setting up workplace libraries, and even, they say, ideas for 'book dating to add a bit of romantic spice'. They also suggest you could set up a 'Mr and Mrs' type-quiz to see how well couples know each others taste in books... bless. Lots and lots of ideas. Check it all out at http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/campaign/index.html >top 'ONLY CONNECT' The fourth ASE CDRom for teachers of secondary science is on its way to registered schools across England. The CD, entitled 'Only Connect?', includes six main resources to liven up existing areas of the science curriculum. These include 'Good to Eat' - an interactive resource that introduces nutrition and offers pupils the chance to have their say on healthy eating, and 'Graph Shots' - an interactive footie-based game tackling (get it?!) the interpretation of distance/time graphs in the context of a football match. With real footage of goal-scoring too. School science has never been more over the moon Brian! For more information on all the ASE CDRoms, visit the specially created website at http://www.sycd.co.uk. >top ROYAL SOCIETY - GRANTS + MEET AN ASTRONAUT The Royal Society have been in touch with the following reminder about their Partnership Grants. They say: "The next closing date for the Royal Society's Partnership Grants scheme is coming up on Friday 18th October. Grants of up to £2500 are available for teachers and scientists or engineers to work together on creative investigations involving 5 -16 year olds. For successful applicants, the grant is awarded directly to the school involved, enabling the school to pay for any specialist equipment needed for the investigation, travel expenses for the scientist/engineer and/or the school group and possibly teacher supply cover." For more information and application forms on the website or contact Kirsty Brown: email kirsty.brown@royalsoc.ac.uk telephone: 020 7451 2561 and check their website at http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/education/partnership.htm . On a slightly different note, the RS would also like to invite you to a free evening of space talk. Three fascinating astro-experts are being brought together in conversation with the BBC's Science Correspondent Palab Ghosh entitled 'To boldly go: the future of space exploration' on 9th October at 6.30pm at the Royal Society, London SW1. The guests are: David Scott, Commander of the 1971 Apollo 15 mission to the Moon; Colin Pillinger FRS, leader of the Beagle 2 Project - a public-private partnership to land a spacecraft on Mars; and David Southwood, Director of Science at the European Space Agency. Tickets for this event are free so if you'd like to attend please email events@royalsoc.ac.uk or write to The Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG More details on the RS website at http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk . >top GIANT JUMP PHOTO WINNER So this is the last newletter of Science Year, and it all started a year ago with that earth-shaking mega-experiment, the Giant Jump. Before we draw a line under the year we wanted to show you the winner of the Giant Jump photo competition. You may have forgotten this competition, but lots of schools entered, and we had great fun looking at all your photos. Highfields school had a great day jumping, and they took some wonderful photographs... The school won a digital camera and a framed certificate, and even got a special visit from one of the SY team and a custard demo - need we say more! Well done Highfields, and we hope that you will join in with our next year of events. >top ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK And now for something completely different... It's easy, it's fun - and it's slightly spooky. What is it? ARM LEVITATION! What to do: Stand in a narrowish doorway with your arms at your sides. Now lift your arms up slightly so that you're touching the doorframe on either side. And now exert some effort! Press the back of each hand/forearm into the doorframe as hard as you can for 40 seconds. Imagine you're trying to widen the doorway from within it! Push... push ... push... the harder you push, the better the effect! OK - now step away from the doorway and relax. What happens? Your arms will float up without any effort from you.... which is a bit of a strange feeling! (NB the effect only lasts for a short time, so don't worry you won't need to walk around like a penguin forever.) Why does this happen? Science Line has the answer. And it's all to do with what's happening inside your body's electronic wiring... When an electrical signal from a nerve cell (ie. a command to move) arrives at a muscle, it starts a series of events that result in the contraction of that muscle. The main event is the release of calcium ions into the muscle cells, from the muscle's calcium store or 'sarcoplasmic reticulum'. This increase in calcium triggers the contraction of the muscle. When the nervous signal has passed (ie. the command to move stops), the sarcoplasmic reticulum reclaims the calcium ions and allows the muscle to relax. In the case of 'Arm Levitation': usually to lift your arm from your side you use two muscles in your shoulder, the deltoid and supraspinatus muscles. By pressing your arm against the doorway you are sending a command to these muscles to move - but they can't because the doorframe's in the way. Meanwhile a stream of electrical signals arrives at the nerve endings in these muscles, causing lots of calcium to be released into the muscle cells. This prolonged activation doesn't allow the calcium ions to be completely cleared back into the sarcoplasmic reticulum. When you move away from the wall, there is still a high enough concentration of calcium ions in your muscles to trigger contraction. So even though the command from your nerves has stopped, your arm will lift itself away from your side! For advanced levitators: you can also do LEG levitation, as the principle is the same. Just don't do it in front of anyone you fancy unless you know what you're getting into :) >top SCIENCE LINE QUESTION OF THE WEEK This week, something rather serious. "Why doesn't the chocolate in chocolate chip cookies melt when they're being cooked?" To all intents and purposes, the chocolate does melt, but is held in place by the biscuit dough around it. The chocolate doesn't melt as much as ordinary chocolate would however because it has been tempered. Tempering is where chocolate is repeatedly heated and cooled until a crystal-like structure appears within it. This makes the chocolate more stable and gives it a glossy shine and crispy surface so that it cracks when you break it. This stops it melting as much as ordinary chocolate would." And according to information out there on the internet - Ruth Wakefield invented chocolate chip cookies in 1930 when she ran out of bakers’ chocolate. She broke up a bar of semi-sweet Nestles chocolate, she thought it would melt into the dough and create chocolately cookies – but no, those chips stayed chipped… So now you know. Mmmmmm - Boasters. Lovely. Science Line as ever are standing by to answer your questions, whatever you like so long as they’re science- or technology-related. The phone number is 0808 800 4000 (open 1pm - 7pm weekdays) and the website is http://www.sciencenet.org.uk. >top RECOMMENDED WEBSITE OF THE WEEK Is SCIENCEWORLDS.CO.UK . This is a new site which brings together information on all the science centres in the UK and allows you to search for exactly what you want. In other words – organising school visits and family trips just got a whole lot easier… The site provides access to more than 200 science centres and science related visitor attractions throughout the UK, enabling you to search for the centre that has the right facilities for your visit, to plan the day and access any resources available on the centre's own site. You can also sign up for the Scienceworlds newsletter which will mean that details of all the latest events and exhibitions will pop into your in-box as and when they occur. Here’s the address: http://www.scienceworlds.co.uk >top COMEDY CREATIVITY IS ALIVE AND WELL... Hats off to everyone who sent in suggestions to Dr Comedy last week in response to her challenge to create some science-related 'I'm In Business' jokes. In particular, Will Ryder-Davies, Katy Hewis, Jason Currie, Nola Langford, Peter Newell and Philip Whitehead. Here are a few goodies just to show how high the standard was: Person with idea for joke: "I'm in business!" Everyone else in unison: "What kind of business?" Person with idea for joke: "Making anodes" Everyone else in unison: "How's business?" Person with idea for joke: "It has its plus points!" Everyone else in unison: "What kind of business?" Person with idea for joke: "Producing hot air balloons" Everyone else in unison: "How's business?" Person with idea for joke: "On the up" Person with idea for joke: "I'm in business!" Everyone else in unison: "What kind of business?" Person with idea for joke: "Studying the laws of motion for new fair ground rides" Everyone else in unison: "How's business?" Person with idea for joke: "Swings and Roundabouts" And the winner of the funky filofax was Steve Nixon, Head of Science at Two Trees Community School in Manchester. Here’s his masterpiece: Person with idea for joke: "I'm in business!" Everyone else in unison: "What kind of business?" Person with idea for joke: "Cloning" Everyone else in unison: "How's business?" Person with idea for joke: "Same as ever" Dr Comedy’s analysis of this joke was as follows: "Like all classic jokes, this is very simple, yet absolutely right. That’s why it’s funny. And it’s topical too, and very accessible because everyone knows about cloning." Highly commended was the following runner-up. Dale Robinson Person with idea for joke: I'm in business!" Everyone else in unison: "What kind of business?" Person with idea for joke: "Designing Electronic harbour gates" Everyone else in unison: "How's business?" Person with idea for joke: "Into 'Receive A Ship ' " The good Doctor pronounces: "This joke gets a special mention because it follows the fomula of the basic joke but adds in a play on words in the final line. And Dale has even spannered-in some science there too!" Thanks again to everyone who entered the competition, and Dr Comedy will be back with another of her humorous head-scratchers for you next week. >top WAKE ME UP BEFORE YOU GLOW GLOW Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who emailed in for free glowing badges. We were inundated with requests – 277 to be precise. Unfortunately, this means that not everyone will receive badges. They’ll be sent out strictly according to who emailed first, and apologies to everyone who’s missed out. >top JOKE OF THE WEEK A woman comes running home one Saturday night... She's so excited and out of breath she can hardly speak, but finally she does manage to tell her husband what's just happened. "I've won the lottery!!!! All six balls and everything!!! Pack your bags!!!" "Wah!!!!" yells her husband and starts dancing around the house too. "OK, just tell me though, what should I pack??!! Golf things or fishing thing??" "Do whatever you like!" she whoops, "JUST DON’T COME BACK!!" >top AOB (And in case you were wondering, that was the cleaned-up version of that joke!) Anyway - please send all contributions for next week to anne.mcnaught@scienceyear.com . And may all of us win our own version of the Lottery this weekend... Have a great week! >top