STARDATE 323 | Friday 11th September 2009 We’re back! Did you know that 13 September is Roald Dahl Day. So do you know your BFG from your Esio Trot? That’s an anagram of Tortoise by the way, for those not in the know. Lesson ideas abound. Minibeasts in James and the Giant Peach, chemical reactions in George’s Marvellous Medicine. Any more ideas? The line-up this week: Gimme Five – Fascinating facts about wasps Confused Copy - What they really mean Planet SciCast - Friday 16th April 2010 Mouses at the Ready – Books Galore Planet Pick of the Week – No Time Toulouse Activity of the Week – How to Destroy a Melon Noticeboard – FYI Recommended websites of the week The Winners’ Enclosure Joke of the Week Planet Science Newsletters, Advanced Warning... Planet Science Website and Newsletter will be moving from NESTA to another organisation in the near future. Please be aware that we will be asking you to register for the newsletters again if you wish to continue receiving them. (We can’t legally hand over your data to another organisation, even if you might want us to!) Don’t try to sign up again yet or anything, look out for further instructions by special email and in the newsletters. Back to Top   1. Gimme Five Fascinating facts about wasps 1. There are two types of wasp commonly found in the UK, the Common Wasp and the German Wasp. Jawohl! 2. The queens hibernate during the winter and in the spring will build a nest in a hole in the ground, hollow tree or eaves of a house. 3. Nest construction starts in June and will usually reach its maximum in size in September. Nests are built with a papery material made by chewing small pieces of wood mixed with saliva. 4. Worker wasps will look for food up to 400 metres from the nest. They feed mainly on sugary materials such as nectar. 5. The size of wasp colonies will vary from year to year, but at its maximum nests may contain between five to ten thousand wasps. Yowch! Want to know more? Read about the Common Wasp here Have you got FIVE facts about anything/everything? Preferably science-based of course (we’re not called Planet Science for nothing y’know). If so, send it along to us at planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk with GIMME FIVE in the subject line. Back to Top   2. Confused Copy What they really mean Are you fed up with journalists using science vocabulary in the wrong context? It often ends up meaning something different, or even opposite to what they mean it to mean. Ian Francis (part time science teacher and PhD student) has had enough frankly! Here’s the first of his articles on the subject. Take it away Ian: They say: “Sherlee Airhead's career in TV has been meteoric”. What they mean: "Sherlee Airhead is doing really well in her TV career”. What Meteors really mean: Meteors are the streaks of light visible when (usually) pebble-sized chunks from space enter the earth's atmosphere. They're nearly all heading downwards and burn up en route, with perhaps a portion hitting the earth as a meteorite. A downhill career where you crash and burn probably isn't exactly what the writer meant to suggest about Ms Airhead's telly job. Thanks Ian. More next week. Back to Top   3. Planet SciCast Friday 16th April 2010 That's the date you have to remember. Behind the scenes, we're beavering away like fury working on a significant revamp of the SciCast website, the first stages of which you may have noticed. We'll have more to say about that next week, but rest assured, SciCast 2010 will be the biggest and best year yet. It's so big, in fact, that it doesn't fit into just one year. Rather than get everything stuck in the mess of Christmas, and rather than try to cram the Awards ceremony around National Science and Engineering Week, we're pushing the 2010 deadline back to **16th April**. We'll squeeze the Awards ceremony in shortly before the summer break. Meanwhile, we hear excited mutterings from science clubs up and down the country; we've much to say about regional events scattered around the place; and we'll eventually share our thoughts about what happens to SciCast after 2010. But all that has to wait for now, because the key thought is: Friday 16th April 2010. Film early. Film often. Back to Top   4. Mouses at the Ready On 15 September 2009 at the Royal Society, the winner of the Royal Society Prizes for Science Books 2009 will be announced at a special people’s press conference. The books are listed here To celebrate this auspicious occasion (that’s not easy to say, with or without your teeth...) we are giving away books from this year’s long list, plus a few books from last year’s long list AND a book of interviews by Adam Hart Davies. So whaddya say? Are you feeling lucky? We’re offering you the chance to win a book from the selection. It’s a book lucky dip. A booky dip as it were. We’ll just keep picking winners till all the books are gone. If you’d like to win a book then send your name and address and the words ‘BOOKY DIP’ in the subject line, to planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk. The draw will take place at 4pm on Wednesday 16 September. Back to Top   5. Planet Pick of the Week Sadly we are all too aware of the casualties of modern conflict. But imagine what it was like in the Napoleonic Wars when medics were lucky if they had a drop of laudanum and a hacksaw at their disposal. Ulp! Feeling a bit green around the gills at the thought. The fact that they managed to save so many lives - and all without the wonders of modern medicine, antibiotics, CAT scans and the like. Hats off to them we say. Why not have a go yourself with our fab new game No Time Toulouse. This game will have you plunged into the aftermath of the Battle of Toulouse having to sort out the horribly injured from the malingerers, and the officers from the men - all very much against the clock. As you choose their treatments you will lose patience, and you will also definitely lose patients. Be prepared for the gravestones popping up, evidence of your medical incompetence! Good luck and Godspeed to you! Back to Top   6. Activity of the Week Just in case you were wondering what would be the result of a cannon ball injury to the bonce (see No Time Toulouse game above)... How to Destroy a Melon What you need 1. Two watermelons of the same size and weight. You could try other melons, but tougher skins might affect the results. 2. Two impaling devices - you can make them look beautiful if you have a lathe, but alternatively you could use some wooden battens (cut down to about 30cm long) from a DIY store. You'll need to cut or whittle the end of one to make it pointy; the longer the point the more successful it will be. 3. A large piece of cardboard, or wood, to attach your impaling devices to. 4. A measuring tape, and friend to hold it. What you do 1. Make sure you are working somewhere you don't mind being covered in melon. 2. Attach your impaling devices to the cardboard or wood, far enough apart so they won't interfere with each other. You could nail or glue them in place. They just need to hold upright long enough to drop the melons on them: you don't want to have your hands underneath holding them upright. 3. Hold your melon a metre (use the measuring tape) above the first, flat topped impaling device. 4. Drop the melon onto the impaling device, and observe how badly injured the melon is. 5. Now hold the second melon at the same height about the pointy impaling device - make sure the melon is held the same way - and drop it. 6. Observe the injuries of your second melon. You should find that the first melon survived better than the second. What's going on When a force is applied to something in the real world, it isn't just applied at just one spot. The force is spread over an area. The amount of force each tiny part of area experiences is called pressure. A high pressure means that each tiny section of area is experiencing a high force, and, depending on the material, this high force or high pressure can be damaging. Each melon has the same mass, and therefore the same weight. Weight is a force; it is the force which acts downwards due to gravity. If it were possible to just balance the melons on the impaling devices, the weight of the melons is actually not enough to make impale the melons. However, the melon balancing on the spike will be experiencing a greater pressure, as its entire weight is balanced on a much smaller area. The smaller the area, the greater the pressure. The melon balancing on the square topped impaling device is experiencing a smaller pressure because all its weight is being supported by a much greater area. But this does not explain why the melons are impaled. To get the melons to impale, they have to be dropped. Dropping the melons makes them accelerate, so they reach a reasonable velocity just before they touch the impaling devices. When they make the impact this velocity decreases to zero; there is a change in velocity, or deceleration. This is a rapid deceleration, and according to Newton's Second Law the melons must be feeling a decelerating force. If both melons are moving at the same velocity before they hit the impaling device, and we can assume (more or less) that they slow down at the same time, they must be experiencing the same decelerating force. This decelerating force is much higher than their weight (if it wasn't the melons wouldn't slow down) so the pressure that each melon feels when they hit each impaling device is higher than the pressure they feel when the melons are just balanced on them. Where the force is applied over a small area, as in the case of the spike, there is enough force on the melon skin cell to rip it apart. In the case of the square ended impaling device the force is spread over a much larger area (the pressure is lower), and so the force may not be enough to overcome the bonds holding the cells together, and so the melon is less likely to split. This activity came from the How to Destroy a Melon activity on the Planet SciCast site. Back to Top Institute of Physics' Public Engagement Grant Scheme 2010 Round 1 Do you have a fantastic idea for making physics accessible? Do you want to reach a wider audience? Do you need some support to make your outreach activity happen? Then why not apply for a Public Engagement Grant from the Institute of Physics? They are worth up to £1000 and aim to support physics-based public outreach activities throughout 2010. Application forms and guidelines for the grant scheme are available online at www.iop.org/activity/outreach/, or by e-mailing physics.society@iop.org. Closing date: 6 November 2009. How far can you go? The Shell Eco-Marathon Youth Challenge UK is an annual fuel economy competition organised by Shell Global Solutions. It’s an educational program that challenges competitors from schools and youth teams to design, construct and test a vehicle that will complete a circuit using as little fuel as possible. Each year the teams demonstrate creativity and innovation to try and get as many miles to the gallon as possible. Schools new to the scheme can benefit from the schools initiative, which is supported by the Government's Government’s Learning Grid and The Royal Academy of Engineering. This includes a 4-stroke GX-35 engine, a design and build manual and an introduction to a locally based engineering company who will assist and mentor the project. If you wish to find out more, please email ecomarathon@shell.com or watch the video from this year’s event   SCIENCE DEMONSTRATION VIDEOS Science Teacher Alom Shaha is about to film some science demonstration videos and would like to hear from other teachers about what would be most useful to them. Once completed, the videos will be made widely and freely available to teachers. Are there some demos that are too difficult, expensive or time-consuming which you’d like to see? Or are there things which you do in class but which you’d like to see in slow motion or in extreme close-up? Whatever the case, if you’ve got a demo you’d like to have on video, please get in touch with Alom via www.alomshaha.com Of course while you’re thinking about demos and filming, think about SciCast too. See above.   GCSEPod - Newsletter Discount Launched in October 2008, GCSEPod offers educational podcasts for GCSE students. The Enhanced Podcasts are equipped with text and images for personalised learning. Covering the entire exam board curriculums for GCSE Biology, Chemistry and Physics, GCSEPod provides an excellent Science resource. The content is teacher-written, professionally narrated and expertly produced. GCSEPod has just brought out two products for school: Library Subscription - Update your school library and loan iPods as you do books. Excess of 300 titles with continual updates via RSS throughout the year. School Streaming Subscription - On demand, directly to school computers, via ‘site license’. Check it out yourself with this Voucher Code: NESTA001 offering a discount of 30% on Topic and Title purchases until the end of September. Find out more at www.GCSEPod.co.uk Planet Science Feedback Panel As Planet Science prepares to move to a new home (more about that when it’s all completely in the bag) we’d like to add to our esteemed Planet Science Feedback Panel. It’s incredibly useful to have a pool of people who care about the site on an email list, who can be there to bounce ideas off a few times a term, to make sure we are continuing to engage and inspire. The panel list needs to be big because not everyone has the time to reply to emails all the time. Your email address won’t be shared with the list. If you’d like to be added to the panel please write to PS Editor Katie Walsh katie.walsh@nesta.org.uk with PANEL in the subject line and please write a few words about yourself. Many thanks if you’d like to join the list, we welcome all and any subscribers or visitors including young people if they’d like to join.   9. Recommended websites of the week This week we have a great Recommended Website from Ashton Community College: “As part of our Rolls-Royce Science Prize bid for 2009, we at Ashton Community Science College in Preston have created our ‘realscience’ website. It links science learned in the classroom to the outside world in several ways: we have a curriculum area containing animations and class and homework activities; there is a ‘world of work’ area that illustrates how science is used everyday in real life and a comprehensive GCSE revision area. The site is free to use and we hope to make as many other schools aware of it as possible. The home page is: www.realscience.lancsngfl.ac.uk Thanks for that and good luck in the final! To tell us about your favourite science websites - drop us an email with the words ‘RWW’ in the subject line, to: planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk”. Back to Top Remember last time when we were giving a piece of aerogel? The lucky winner is David Vincent from Hucknall. Well done. Fascinating material isn’t it? We were also giving away TEN copies of Flipsides. The winners are Radhika Majithia from Leicester, Lynne Dyas Wolff from Liverpool, Pete Osborn from Staffs, Patrick Bowen from Telford, Berni Wynne of North Lincs, Andrew Harmsworth of Cambridge, Jason Pegg from Kent, Julie Rotherham from Milton Keynes , The Viponds of Pensford, Nathaniel Dodsworth from Tyne and Wear.   Back to Top   11. Joke of the week An archaeologist was digging in the Negev Desert in Israel and came upon a casket containing a mummy. After examining it, he called the curator of a prestigious natural history museum. “I've just discovered a 3,000 year old mummy of a man who died of heart failure!” the excited scientist exclaimed. To which the curator replied, “Bring him in. We'll check it out.” A week later, the amazed curator called the archaeologist. “You were right about the mummy's age and cause of death. How in the world did you know?” “Easy. There was a piece of paper in his hand that said, '10,000 Shekels on Goliath'.” And if you think that’s bad, you should see the rest of the jokes in the Planet Science joke collection 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. PPS Sorry if you've been having problems with the Planet Science site today - there is a server hardware problem which should be fixed shortly. Back to Top