Planet Science brings you the new October Quiz - October octopus. Although October is the tenth month, it used to be the eighth, but those pesky Romans jiggled the calendar around and put two new months at the beginning of the year. Anyway…to celebrate eightness we’re concentrating on the Octopus and their evolutionary relations for this quiz, so pulse ahead to see how much you know about this clever creature. If you’re a lucky winner we’ll send you a cuddly octopus, and we’ll even throw in a few squid! Geddit – Squid?

Click here for the quiz
http://www.planet-science.com/quiz/

Not so much an experiment, more an edible investigation…

Octopus sandwiches

You will need:

• Hot Dogs
• Hamburger Buns

What to do:

1. Cut a hot dog down the middle (length wise) to the centre. 
2. Then cut each of the "legs" into 4 pieces. That makes 8 floppy legs coming out of the top half of the hotdog. 
3. When you boil them the legs curl up. 
4. Put it on a hamburger bun bottom and that's it!

The legs curl because the innards of the sausage expand slightly but the skin doesn't.

Who likes playing conkers?  Who likes ice cream? As if we need to ask! But hey - look what’s happening! Ben & Jerry’s World Conker Championships are being held at Ashton, near Oundle, Peterborough on Sunday October 9th. Competitors from all around the world play on ten white podiums on the village green and go through rounds until the winner emerges and is lead to the King Conker Throne and crowned with conkers! The event will see a new Conker King or Queen knighted along with two junior champions. Not to mention all the ice cream available!

The World Conker Championships came under threat in 2004 as fears over safety turned into a national debate. This was sparked by a teacher in Cumbria who issued his pupils with safety glasses when playing conkers at school. Two years ago global warming caused conkers to fall too early for the Championships, urgent requests for conkers from other parts of the country were sent out. In 2004 the leaf-mining moth, Cameraria Ohridella, was slowly munching its way through the conker trees in Europe and the UK, again threatening the popular sport.

Find out how to enter plus practise your skills with a virtual game of conkers by clicking here http://www.benjerry.co.uk/conkers/

Get ready to chant the traditional opening battle cry of ‘iddley iddley ack, my first smack’ and get those nuts cracking!

• Conkers are the seeds of the horse chestnut tree.
• The tree was only introduced into Britain in the 1600s
•  The first recorded instance of a game of conkers being played was in  1848.
• The tree can live for 150 years and grow to a height of 25m.
• The wood of the horse chestnut tree used to be used to make artificial limbs, because it was light and easy to shape.

For more information on the horse chestnut tree
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A608717

Searching for the ‘William the Conker-or’ amongst conkers? Maybe you might have to resort to some fiendish methods of making your conker invincible.

Top five tips for hardening your conkers

Note: Do not attempt these without adult supervision!

• Soak in vinegar
• Bake in the oven
• Freeze them overnight
• Paint with nail varnish (pink conkers anyone?)
• Wrap in newspaper and store in a drawer for a year

And remember, even if you don’t win – Don’t go bonkers, it’s only conkers!

Remember issue no. 27?  We offered 5 lucky readers the chance to win a copy of the latest edition of Flipside magazine – aimed at 11-15 year olds with an interest in science and technology, music and films, and sport and adventure. You can’t buy Flipside in the shops so this was a top giveaway and here are the lucky winners:

Catriona Mill from Inverness, William Jones (age 10) from Caerphilly, Sebi Higgins from Malvern, Lindi Konoso from Inverness, Teddy Turner (age 10) from Worcestershire.

Congratulations and happy reading!