Planet Science News Issue: 313


	STARDATE 313 \| Friday 8th May 2009 Boy oh boy there’s nothing like a Bank Holiday for recharging the system eh? Better still we’re heading into BRITISH SANDWICH WEEK 10 - 16 May 2009. So look out for the launch of a special British sandwich for the occasion - The Great British Hammie - a triple pack selection of ham sandwiches made entirely from home grown ingredients. So if we want two - would that make it a double W-Hammie? The line-up this week: Planet Pick of the Week – Get Outside Creature Feature – Aye-Aye Planet Super Powers – Eco-batteries Stump the Scientist – Kicking off Activity of the Week – Sedimentary Sandwich Mouses at the Ready – Team Qinetiq & Ben Fogle Noticeboard – FYI The Winners’ Enclosure Joke of the Week Back to Top


	1. Planet Pick of the Week Well the weather is definitely getting better, we’ve another school holiday within grasping distance and what better then the Get Outside feature on the Planet Science website. Get Outside!s are interactive animated features to enjoy and there are also notes for grown ups and other fun sheets to help extend the experience. Get Outside!s are aimed at small children, and anyone else who likes to get outside and discover the world. Beach - sand, sea, surf and seagulls starts with a lovely animation - get it up on the biggest interactive whiteboard available, we say. Make up for the lack of holiday this year for the well and truly credit-crunched of us. (Who are we kidding?). Plus there are some fantastic drawings of lighthouses to download. If animals and habitats are your thing then look no further than Camouflage - where...Oh there!, and don’t forget your scissors. Back to Top


	2. Creature Feature Hey we haven’t had one of these for yonks, have we? The Aye-aye - Daubentonia madagascariensis Sounds a bit Monty Pythonish, doesn’t it? However we can assure you we’re not making it up. This strange critter is a lemur (remember King Julien from the film Madagascar?) but there the similarity ends. Unlike other lemurs the Aye-aye looks like a strange hybrid of a number of other animals. Imagine a cat’s body with beaver teeth, bush baby eyes, bat ears and a long thin twig-like middle finger. Weird eh? The Aye-aye is the only primate thought to use echolocation - that must be the bat ears then. So the long middle finger? Well Aye-ayes are particularly adept at finding wood-boring larvae. They tap on wood with their middle finger, listening for hollow spaces. They then extract the larvae with their specially-adapted thin finger. They are thought to be the most endangered of all mammals in Madagascar. Locals believe they are a bad omen, and often kill them. Must be that skinny middle finger thing - no one likes to be pointed at, do they? For more details about the Aye-aye follow these handy links... www.bbc.co.uk/lastchancetosee/sites/animals/ayeaye www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/327.shtml Back to Top

News Alert

Only on Planet Science - test your science and super skills in the new game 'Battle for Planet Science' which will be released in episodes - starting next week.

HUH?! Who dun it? All is revealed in the last episode of Battle for Planet Science.

A-HA! The idea was to manufacture eco-batteries using biotechnology to make the chemicals and a new engineering process to produce and run super efficient eco-cars.

The Unkown was picked to change the chemical reaction and produce the chemicals for the battery by introducing bioengineered cells, but instead put more of the catalyst in and the reactor blew.

Super Egg Man was selected to adapt the roads (to put in a super cooling system) to allow the cars with the new batteries to run on the road, but ended up destroying the power station.

Cyber was chosen to change the engineering process in the automated manufacturing facility to produce the new batteries and fit them to the cars. But it all went horribly wrong...

Talking of eco-cars... Warwick University have built a Formula 3 racing car powered by chocolate, made from potatoes and steered by carrots!

Build an Air Powered Car or if you fancy your own edible car why not replace the Styrofoam wheels with polo mints, the straws with peppermint candy sticks, the card with a slab of chocolate and the Blu-tack with soft gummy sweets. Then lick and stick or melt to put it all together!

Next time on Planet Super Powers! ...OH-NO! There is no next time, but look out for the new superhero game 'Battle for Planet Science'. Can you save Planet Science?

Thanks Elsa!


	4. Stump the Scientist Kicking off Remember last time when Steve Saunders asked “I wonder if you could help. I'm interested in the breaking strength of materials and more specifically, the force necessary to break those materials. I'm currently looking at a persons 'kicking strength' and wonder if you have any figures for the maximum force recorded for a kick. I know that many materials have an impact resistance measured via the Charpy test with results in kJ/m2 and would be interested in any results you have that could compare Vs these materials?” Well we haven’t really got an answer as such but Dan Hannard wrote in “As a physics teacher with a black sash in Lau Gar Kung Fu, I too was interested in exploring "breaking forces" with my classes, especially after performing breaks in my training. I did a lesson with my A-level group where we measured the energy needed to break a board by dropping masses onto it from different heights (loss of GPE = gain in KE). We then estimated the KE of our punching by measuring punch speed using a echo-sensor and datalogger, and estimating the mass of our fists as about 5% of total body mass. It turned out that, theoretically, every member of the class would be able to break the board (although I didn't let the students try, in the interest of Health & Safety, and not getting fired). The students loved it! Besides, what is Kung Fu if not physics?” What indeed? Anyone else care to comment? If you can help or have a burning question of your own then send us an email with STUMP THE SCIENTIST in the subject line to planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk Back to Top


	5. Activity of the Week Sedimentary Sandwich The Great British Hammie eh? Sounds like quite a sandwich. But we can make a better one, and learn all about rocks and the rock cycle at the same time. You will need: A plate A knife ...and any of the following: White bread Brown or granary bread Butter or margarine Salad Prawns Chicken or turkey Marmite Salt and vinegar crisps Jam Peanut butter Honey Mayonnaise Raisins Chopped egg Cheese What you do: 1. Before you start: Check for food allergies, particularly regarding peanut butter. Substitute any fillings if necessary (you can even substitute the bread with lettuce leaves if necessary). And feel free to get creative, it’s your sandwich! 2. Sedimentary layers are formed with the oldest layer at the bottom and the youngest layer at the top. So first of all we have to ‘date’ our layers. 3. Arrange your sandwich fillings in date order, for example: - chickens and turkeys are birds which are the closest thing to dinosaurs that walked the Earth between 200 and 100 million years ago. - salad represents vegetation that made coal 300 million years ago. - prawns are Arthropods like the trilobites that swam around in the sea 550 million years ago. - Marmite is a yeast extract and the first organisms were single-celled like yeast. 4. Alternatively, you could assign each of your fillings a different rock name, for example: - Jam with seeds, raisins, granary bread = conglomerate rock which contains rounded rocks (pebbles, boulders) cemented together in a matrix. - peanut butter, chopped egg in mayonnaise = porphory rock when jagged bits of rock are cemented together in a matrix. - white or brown bread = sandstone, a soft stone that is made when sand grains cement together. Sometimes the sandstone is deposited in layers of different coloured sand. - honey, smooth jam, cheese = shale i.e. clay that has been hardened and turned into rock. It often breaks apart in large flat sections. - prawns, chicken or turkey = limestone, a rock that contains many fossils and is made of calcium carbonate &/or microscopic shells. - salt and vinegar crisps = gypsum, common salt or Epsom salt found where seawater precipitates the salt as the water evaporates. 5. Make your sedimentary sandwich by alternating bread and butter with the filling of your choice. Make as many layers as you like - who’s counting? 6. Eat it! Or if you don’t fancy that, try bending it and see what happens to the layers... earthquaaaaaaaake!! What's going on? The layers in which sedimentary rocks are usually formed are called ‘strata’. These rocks are formed when layers of sand, small bits of rock, clay, plants, bones, and mud are piled on top of each other and eventually get compressed and harden into rock. They’re often formed in river bottoms and lakes since the water carries materials from other places that then settle to the bottom in layers. This process takes a long time (hundreds of thousands of years), with the oldest layers being formed first. Scientists can gain information about how climates and the environment have changed over time by looking at the changes in the rock layers. Some rock types may appear in several different layers - hence the alternate layers of bread and butter. More ideas What? Still hungry? If you fancy more geological science snacks try EDIBLE IGNEOUS ROCKS EDIBLE ROCK LAYERS To find out more about how rocks are formed, take a look at ROCKS FOR KIDS, but in the meantime, here’s now to make a culinary version. Be Safe Adhere to the guidelines for Food and Hygiene (Be Safe! 3rd edition section 6). This activity was taken from the Little Book of Experiments Back to Top


	6. Mouses at the Ready This week we have TWO Team Qinetiq drawstring sports bags each with a ball signed by none other than Ben Fogle himself! Remember Team QinetiQ - James Cracknell, Ben Fogle and Bristol based hospital doctor Ed Coats, raced to the South Pole earlier this year? Read all about it on the Team Qinetiq website. Plus there are plenty of resources and activities in the Learning Zone for 11 - 16 yrs. If you’d like to win one then send your name and address and the words ‘FOGLEBALL’ in the subject line, to planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk. The draw will take place at 4pm on Wednesday 13 May. Back to Top

The Great Plant Hunt Week (15-22 May 2009)

Primary school children across the UK will join scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew) in a mass observation study to provide a snapshot of natural Britain. From daisy and dandelion to garlic mustard and white campion, The Great Plant Hunt Week (15-22 May 2009) will see thousands of ‘young scientists’ go in search of ten species of plants, recording when and where they flower. Monitoring when plants flower each year helps scientists assess the effects of climate change.

The phenology study coincides with the run up to International Day for Biological Diversity (22 May 2009) with initiatives worldwide to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity.

To see details about the schools that are taking part in the project, visit www.greatplanthunt.org and click on ‘Look who’s plant hunting’. The Great Plant Hunt has been commissioned and funded by the Wellcome Trust.

Science Museum Clubs

Following a successful pilot run, the Science Museum has launched a unique and inspiring 'Science Museum Clubs' scheme. This national programme, for KS3 Science and STEM clubs, comprises:

1) a course giving club leaders engaging new activities to use with students of all abilities, and support with the practicalities of running an existing club, or setting up a new one;

2) a set of the Museum's brand new Science and Engineering Club Boxes worth 250;

3) a celebration event at the Museum next summer where club members will join students from other Science Museum Clubs for an action-packed day. Sign up now to secure your school's place!

Find out more here

After-School Science and Engineering Clubs Coordinator

Location: Home-based with frequent travel across England
Salary: Between £28,000 to £35,000 (dependent on experience)
The post will be offered on a contract basis until July 2011.

The purpose of the job is to support the delivery of the After-School Science and Engineering clubs (ASSECs) project in 500 secondary schools across England. The post-holder with work with a consortium of partners including STEMNET, the ASE, the Network of Regional Science Learning Centres, the Association for Science and Discovery Centres and the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust.

For more information and to apply, please visit here

Remember last time when we were giving away The Book of the Moon, by Rick Stroud? The lucky winner is Joe Carter from Oxford.

Enjoy!


	10. Joke of the week A ham sandwich goes into a pub and says, "Barman I need a drink"; and the barman says "Sorry, we don't serve food here" Have a great week! Back to Top


	Remember... If you would like to view the Planet Science Newsletter Archive click here. You can also read back issues of Randomised for younger teens here. Or you can read back issues of Hay-Wire for Under 10s. PS if you would like to unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time, just reply to this email with the word 'UNSUBSCRIBE' in the title. Back to Top