1. PLANET PICKS – tell your pals to join the Hay-Wire Club!

We can’t stop plugging Wired-Up’s very own Mini-Me newsletter. It’s called Hay-Wire and it’s for kids aged 11 and under. So if you have a brother, sister, niece, nephew, cousin or friend who would like to join the Hay-Wire Club then tell them to visit this link and to follow the online instructions:

http://www.planet-science.com/wired/Hay-Wire/

Hay-Wire Club members receive their very own newsletter each week that’s full of Planet Science fun, facts and freebies AND the first 500 subscribers will also receive a fantastic free Frisbee in the post!

Members of the Hay-Wire club will be sent a top secret password to access to the Hay-Wire Clubhouse on the Planet Science website. So far the Clubhouse contains a cool game and a scientific survey that members can get involved in, and some magnetically good factoids!

2. THE WIRE – counting bugs to fictional scientists.

First up is news from the RSPCB. Last month Wired-Up brought you news of a splat test, called the Big Bug Count. The test involved counting splattered bugs on car number plates. So why is the RSPCB so interested in insects? Well, many species of birds depend on insects for breakfast, dinner and tea so a shortage of tasty little bugs could cause big problems for birds.

The sad news is that there are less insects in the UK than estimated so if you took part in the survey or you just want more information then you can check out the results here:

Onto other news – were you lucky enough to visit the BA Festival in Exeter? If so, then you will have heard the announcement of the nation’s top screen scientist on Monday. The winners were Dr Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant Beaker from The Muppet Show.

Find them, along with the rest of the top ten fictional scientists, on the BBC cult television site, here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/scientists/

And for details of the BA Festival, click here:
http://www.the-ba.net/the-ba/Events/FestivalofScience/

3. TRY THIS! – how to be cold and calculating...

Try this experiment out on your mates and they’ll think it’s way too cool!

You Will Need:

• Fridge
• Watch for timing
• Metal spoon
• Wooden spoon
• Understanding friend

What To Do:

1. Put the metal spoon and the wooden spoon in the fridge for exactly four minutes.
2. Ask your friend to close their eyes and to hold out their wrists with their palms facing upwards.
3. Place one spoon on their wrist and then the other spoon on their other wrist.
4. Ask them if they can tell which spoon is which.

What’s Going On? The fridge is at a constant temperature yet your friend will be able to guess which spoon is the metal spoon because it will feel colder. The arrangement of atoms in the metal loses heat energy more quickly in the fridge than wood. The result is the metal feels cooler. When you touch the metal spoon on your friend’s wrist, it also takes heat energy from your friend much more quickly than the wooden spoon, making it feel even colder still. This is because metal is a good conductor of heat and wood is a poor conductor of heat.

4. GEAR FOR GRABS – dare you enter the spooky competition?

If that experiment didn’t spook you out then dare you enter our competition to visit the Haunted Castle? The Science Museum IMAX Cinema is now showing the fright-filled 3D adventure, Haunted Castle 3D, and Wired-Up has 2 pairs of tickets to give away to see it.

With a screen higher than four double-decker buses, the Science Museum IMAX Cinema will transport our daring winners to the centre of the action to come face to face with 3D ghouls and ghosts in this paranormal extravaganza. Winners will find themselves accompanying musician Johnny, as he visits the castle left to him by his late mother. When Johnny arrives he is faced with an evil presence who tries to tempt him to exchange his soul for unparalleled fame. Which will he choose?

To win tickets just answer this question:

How many double-decker buses is the Science Museum IMAX Cinema screen higher than?

If you’d like to enter the competition then please send the correct answer, along with your name and address, to: randomised.news@nesta.org.uk with ‘SPOOKY’ in the subject box. The draw will take place next Thursday at 5pm.

For more information about the IMAX cinema then visit: www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/imax

5. RIB BUSTERS – funny ha ha AND sometimes funny weird!

Thanks for all the jokes you sent in this week. Here are the top two:

Q) What did the rock fragment tell the mineral grain to take for his bad breath?

A) He sediment!

Stuart Pearce, Halifax

Q) Have you heard the one about the chemist who was reading a book about helium?

A) He just couldn’t put it down!

Carmel Twain, Nottingham

Please keep them coming in!

6. WIRED BYTES - it's over to you the readers!

We want to hear from you! This is your corner of the Wired-Up e-zine so write in with your science questions and comments and they will be featured here.

For example, have you ever wondered why dogs bark or why your fingers get wrinkly in the bath?

Or do you want to tell us about an exciting experiment you have just tried or do you simply have something to say?

If the answer is yes, yes and YES then send an email to:

randomised.news@nesta.org.uk and look out for your name in future issues.

Got Wired-Up? Got clued up!

See you in seven...

In the meantime, please send any questions, comments, jokes or experiment ideas to: randomised.news@nesta.org.uk

P.S. If you wish to unsubscribe from Wired-Up then reply to this email with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line.