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Friday 9th December 2005 Issue 37
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Deck the Inbox up to the ma-ax tra la la la lah, la la la la – Wired Up’s stuffed with science fa-acts tra la la la la la la la la. Yes December is here and the festive season is upon us! The temperature is dropping and ice and snow are on their way. Narnia is on the horizon and that’s not the only film you’ll want to see, look what we’ve got for grabs! So let’s snuggle up with a mug of hot chocolate (don’t forget the whipped cream and marshmallows) and read on…
(BTW, sorry Wired Up is looking so, well, sorry, today. This is because our normal design whizz Neelesh is off to sunnier climes to loll about on a house-boat til January, and it was this ‘non-designer’ version of Wired Up or nothing, and we thought ‘nothing’ just wasn’t good enough for you. Hope you don’t mind toooo much!)
- GEAR FOR GRABS – IMAX tickets for the Polar Express
- THE WIRE – What’s so interesting about polar bears?
- TRY THIS! – The blubber glove
- SCIENCE NIBBLE – New mammal? Is it possible?
- WIRED BYTES – Ning has his say on physics
Christmas dinner is good for your teeth! It’s official. The British Dental Health Foundation says cranberries can help stop tooth decay and gum disease.
The little red berries apparently stop harmful bacteria sticking to your teeth, stopping them causing problems. However, don’t eat too much because cranberry juice is quite acidic, and could harm your teeth.
It's thought cranberries have lots of benefits for your health, like fighting infections, ulcers, and they may even stop heart attacks. You’ll never look at a jar of cranberry sauce in the same way again.
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1. GEAR FOR GRABS – You’ve got to be in it to win it...
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You’ll never believe it! We’ve only gone and got you a pair of tickets to see The Polar Express 3D (U), which is now showing at the Science Museum IMAX 3D Cinema.
The Polar Express 3D is the first feature-length film to be converted into IMAX 3D, making it one of the most popular Christmas films around and one viewing on the giant IMAX screen is all it takes to see why. Using amazing effects steam appears to billow out of the screen, snowflakes fall into the audience and with nearly 12,000 watts of pure digital sound viewers can even feel the powerful roar of the Polar Express engine!
Don’t hang about though; entries need to be in by next week if you want to see it over the Christmas hols. It’s a great animation all about a little boy who isn’t sure whether he really believes in Santa Claus. Honestly! How much proof do you need? How else do all the presents get here for goodness sake? Anyway he has many adventures on the way and all ends happily leaving you full of festive cheer. Great stuff!
To win, all you have to do is send an email with your name, age and address to: wired-up.news@nesta.org.uk with ‘EXPRESS DELIVERY!’ as the subject. The winner will be picked at random at 5pm, on Thursday 15th December.
If you aren't lucky, want to book places or need more information visit www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/imax or call 0870 870 4771.
Good luck!
Talking of polar… bears in this case.
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2. THE WIRE – Science news straight to your Inbox…
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Here are five fascinating facts about polar bears:
- The polar bear is the world’s largest meat-eating land animal.
- Polar bear cubs are born blind and with only a thin layer of fur. Aaaah!
- Polar bear’s bodies are so well insulated that they cannot be seen on infrared photos.
- A polar bear’s sense of smell is 100 stronger than ours. Sniff! Sniff! Are those mince pies?
- They are the newest species of bear and are believed to have evolved from the brown bear 100,000 years ago.
For more info on the amazing polar bear click here
There’s a great Interactive Polar Bear activity on the CBBC Serious Arctic site plus games like ‘Arctic Ice’ and ‘Husky Racers Game’.
Is it me or is it getting chilly in here? Time to get some insulation. Pass me my hat, scarf and … what are THESE? BLUBBER gloves? What the…?
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3. TRY THIS! – Science experiments for you to try at home…
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Here's an activity that lets you find out for yourself how whales, seals and penguins all manage to stay warm in the cold. It's gross but it works...
Blubber glove
You will need:
- Four waterproof plastic bags, big enough to get your hand in, eg freezer bags.
- Parcel tape
- A big bowl of ice and water - good and ch-ch-chilly
- A few packs of solid vegetable fat, at room temperature
- A spoon (unless you really want to get your hands dirty!)
Instructions:
- Cut the tops off two of the plastic bags if they have any handles or flaps and place one inside the other.
- Start to fill the gap between the bags with vegetable fat. Mmmmm - nice!
- Once the gap is filled with about 2cm of fat all around, seal the gap between the bags with parcel tape leaving the inner bag open so you put your hand in it. You've now made your blubber glove.
- Put one hand inside the blubber glove. Squodge the fat around as necessary so as to cover your hand completely.
- Put your other hand inside the two other plastic bags. Now dip both hands into the icy water. Which one do you have to pull out first? Don't leave either in there too long, as they will start to hurt!
What’s going on?
You should notice that you can keep your blubber-gloved hand in the bowl of ice much longer than the hand protected only by the plastic bags. This is because the fat acts as an insulator; keeping the heat inside and not letting it pass through to the icy water. In the wild, many sea animals have a thick layer of blubber to protect them from the cold.
But what about animals that live in very warm conditions? Like Borneo for example?
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4. SCIENCE NIBBLES – Science facts to chew on…
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The WWF (World Wildlife Fund) has found what appears to be a new species of mammal. They caught two images of the animal, which is bigger than a domestic cat, dark red, and has a long muscular tail. Not Basil Brush surely?
Local people have not seen the species before, and researchers say it looks to be new.
The creature, believed to be carnivorous, was spotted in the Kayan Mentarang National Park in Borneo.
For more details click here
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5. WIRED BYTES – It’s Your Corner of Wired-Up…
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Remember the last issue of Wired Up where we asked you your opinion on physics? Well some of you were keen enough to send us your thoughts.
Ning Yu (13) from East Ham writes
“…No A level Physics! I love physics! My favourite is space and the solar system, the solar system is a little boring now, but I love space! I might even consider getting a degree in astrophysics - it's so interesting! “
Anyone else got anything to add? If so, let us know by sending us an email with your name and age to wired-up.news@nesta.org.uk with ‘Physics Feedback’ in the subject line.
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Got Wired-Up? Got clued up!
Don’t forget that Wired-Up will be hitting your inboxes every fortnight from now on, but in the meantime, send any questions, comments, jokes or experiment ideas to: wired-up.news@nesta.org.uk
If you would like to see any past Wired newsletters check out the archive page.
Until then, why not pay the Planet Science website a visit, by clicking here:
http://www.planet-science.com
P.S. If you wish to unsubscribe from Wired-Up then reply to this email with UNSUBSCRIBE as the subject.
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