So what’s all the excitement?  Well it’s all about the Ashes. England last won them in 1986-87 in Australia. So what does it mean? The Ashes is the name given to any Test series involving England and Australia. The two nations meet every two years, with the winners claiming one of the most famous (and smallest) trophies in sport, The Ashes. The matches are held alternately in England and Australia. They consist of a series of five Test matches, each lasting up to five days.   But enough already! Let’s get on with the newsletter.

1. Planet Picks – Do you know your left from your right?
2. The Wire – Bowling cricket balls is a science!
3. Scinet – From cricket heroes to superheroes
4. Rib Busters – cricket gags.  You have been warned…
5. Gear for Grabs – win a Michael Vaughan ‘Hit 4 Six’ cricket set!

Yes really! Physics plays a huge part in why a ball curves the way it does and whereabouts on the bat is the best place to hit it.  It is all to do with something called the ‘sweet spot’ otherwise known as the Centre of Percussion. When a ball hits a wood bat away from the sweet spot the resulting bat vibrations consume energy that should have gone to the ball, and the ball does not go as far as when hit at the sweet spot. So there you have it! If you don’t hit the ball at the sweet spot then you experience the kind of juddering vibrations best seen on cartoons when a large metal object is mistakenly hit with a hammer.  Usually with an accompanying dddooiiinnng! If you want to know more then read this account of baseball bats
http://www.kettering.edu/~drussell/bats-new/crack-ping.html
It also tells you why a wooden bat will ‘crack’ whilst an aluminium bat will ‘ping’!

A cricket bat is designed to hit a ball in its lower middle section, between 10 to 30 cms (4 to 12 inches) from the bottom. In addition it is recommended that cricket bats be ‘knocked in’ to harden and knit the fibrous textures of the face of the bat before being exposed to a new cricket ball being bowled at 90 mph. And you thought that scientists spoke a different language? ‘Knocked in?’ ‘Sweet spot’? Not to mention ‘Googly’. What is that all about eh? For a fuller explanation of cricket terms click on:
http://www.icc-cricket.com/db/ABOUT_CRICKET/
EXPLANATION/CRICKET_TERMS.html>

That’s enough about the batting.  What about the bowling? Well have you heard of reverse swing? No it’s not a dance move.  Australia are studying the art of reverse swing in order to combat England's bowlers during the Ashes. But what is it?  Well when the ball is 50 overs old and the pitch is as flat as a pancake, this phenomenon is often a bowling side's saving grace. First mastered by the Pakistani bowlers of the 1980s and 1990s, it involves sideways movement of the ball through the air that is contrary to your average everyday laws of physics. If it sounds like rocket science, that’s because it is!  To get reverse swing with a new ball, smooth on both sides, experiments show that the bowler has to reach 80-90 mph to get appreciable movement. Find out more:
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/STUDENTS/jfoster/swing.html

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It gives you the low-down on all your favourite caped crusaders including Spiderman, Wonder-Woman and ol’ cabbage-chops himself – The Incredible Hulk.  Do NOT make me angry…  And it seems there may be a new hero on the block.  Spider-Goat.  I ‘kid’ you not! In an unlikely coupling, genetic engineers have now bred goats that have spider silk genes inside them. By doing this, they can harvest the silk proteins from the goat's milk (silky milk, anyone?). The silk gene was just one of 70,000 that make up the DNA blueprint for building a normal goat. In adult female goats, the silk gene is activated only while the animal is producing milk. One goat can produce about 7g of silk per day.

Why is the Oval cricket ground cool?
Because it's full of fans.

And if you think those are cheesy then be grateful we didn’t offer the alternative

What did the tree say when the treefeller asked the latest cricket score?
Nothing. It was completely stumped!

Well you were warned! Can you do better though?

Those nice people at Gunn & Moore have given us one of their fantastic Michael Vaughan ‘Hit 4 Six’ cricket sets as endorsed by Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan.

You could be in with a chance of winning this brilliant prize containing bat, ball, stumps and bails all in a nifty carry bag! All you have to do is send in your best cricket joke to: wired-up.news@nesta.org.uk with ‘OUT FOR A DUCK’ as the subject.  Make sure your entries are in by 5pm on Thursday 1 September 2005.