Science 3-18 Blog

Friday saw the official launch of the Science3-18.org website at the SSERC Conference and AGM in the Carnegie Conference Centre in Dunfermline. In a successful and enjoyable program the conference keynote address on the subject of “The Role of Web-based Resources in Science & Technology Education” was delivered by  Ollie Bray, National Adviser for Emerging Technologies in Learning at LT Scotland. In a witty and informative session Ollie encouraged the teaching profession to embrace the technology which younger people already use in a social way.  To read more about what he said, go and have a look at Ollie’s Blog post or Twitter him with your comments. Pixton – diy comics. Wordle.

Ian Birrell, Network Designer at SSERC updated delegates on the progress that the Science3-18.org website had made in the last year. The Experiences & Outcomes for all science & technology-related CfE subject areas and SCQF learning outcomes up to Level 7 are included in one, easily searchable place. An increasingly large number of exemplar articles will continue to be added to all subject areas. The site also gives up-to-date news and resources from the highly successful round of CPD courses recently run by SSERC. The continued support of the Scottish Government through cooperation with Learning & Teaching Scotland has seen all Glow users have the necessary permissions to log on to the new site as registered users. For more information contact ian.birrell@sserc.org.uk or check out the site at www.science3-18.org

Just when you thought we knew everything there was to know about Saturn and its rings, scientists have been telling the journal Nature that it actually has another which is 240,000 km in diameter.

You may well ask why we can’t see it from Earth if it is that big. Consisting mainly of tiny particles of dust from the Saturn’s moon Phoebe getting whacked by space debris, it was detected by the Spitzer Space Telescope picking up infra-red radiation from them.

See more on the BBC article – New ring detected round Saturn.

And, in a similar vein, just today we hear that NASA are going to lob their own bit of space debris (2200 kg of rocket) at the South Pole of the Moon. Another unmanned (surprise, surprise!) spacecraft will have a look at the 350000 kg of Moon material which is going to be thrown up after the impact. Why are they doing this? Water is what they are looking for. Why is this substance so important for space exploration? Apart from the obvious, think about what can be derived from its consituent elements and how they may be used to further our exploration of space.

Find out more at US spacecraft set for moon crash – BBC News item

Hi all,

Just a quick note to let you know that, in addition to the Sciences outcomes, I’ve added Health & wellbeing, Technologies and Social Studies learning outcomes to the site :-

http://www.science3-18.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=657&Itemid=16

The CPD menu has been tidied up and there’s now exemplar materials being added. At the moment this material can only be viewed by registered users. We will be letting you know how to register at some point nearer the launch date in November.

Monday 8th June was World Oceans Day as officially declared by the United Nations.

The world’s oceans :-

Generate most of the oxygen we breathe

Help feed us

Regulate our climate

Clean the water we drink

Offer us a vast source of potential medicines

Provide limitless inspiration!

Has human society has taken the world’s ocean for granted?

Now we can give back! Take part in World Oceans Day events and activities this year and help protect our ocean for the future!

It’s up to each one of us to help ensure that our ocean is protected and conserved for future generations. World Oceans Day can allow us to:

Change perspective – encourage individuals to think about what the ocean means to them and what it has to offer all of us with hopes of conserving it for present and the future generations.

Learn – discover the wealth of diverse and beautiful ocean creatures and habitats, how our daily actions affect them, and how we are all interconnected.

Change our ways – we are all connected to the ocean! By taking care of your backyard, you are acting as a caretaker of our ocean. Making small modifications to your everyday habits will greatly benefit our blue planet.

Celebrate – whether you live inland or on the coast we are all connected to the ocean; take the time to think about how the ocean affects you, and how you affect the ocean, and then organise or participate in activities that celebrate our world ocean.

South Pacific – watch this stunning series on the BBC iPlayer.
Robot sub reaches deepest ocean – BBC News article – 3 June 2009
Is it time to take tuna off the menu? – BBC News Magazine article – 9 June 2009

The End of the Line – The world’s first major documentary about the devastating effect of overfishing premiered at Sundance Film Festival.

Imagine an ocean without fish. Imagine your meals without seafood. Imagine the global consequences. This may be the future if we do not stop, think and act.

It’s been a bumper day today for fans of ornithology, innuendo and double entendres.

Searching on the new Bing search engine (Microsoft’s answer to Google) for a burdie story I had heard on the news this morning I came across this wee gem about the re-introduction of the Great Bustard bird to Great Britain after it has been extinct here since 1840. Copy writers up and down the country will be hoping that their automatic spellcheckers don’t mess around with the mentions of the wee bustards (chicks) as the BBC story says :-

“Mr Waters, a former policeman who founded the Great Bustard Group …..”

We also find out that the head honcho at the RSPB goes by the name of Dr. Avery – let them fly free I say.

The story continues wth the news from another BBC article where the headline comforts us with the news that “Great tits cope well with warming” – the Global sort of course and them big wee birds.

Meanwhile, back to the original story, I had to revert to Google to find the BBC news item that tells us male Great Tits from the cities sing at a different pitch compared to their country cousins. Thankfully the scientists chose to study the male birds as “Scientists at Aberystwyth University found male great tits in 20 UK towns and cities …..”. Apparently the birds have adapted to their noisy environment in order to attract a mate. We gain a fascinating insight into the scientific method and the slavish attention to ornithogical technique with the revelations :-

Project leader Dr Rupert Marshall explained how the city bird song was captured.

He said: “We just stood there and pointed a microphone at them (the great tits).” Furthermore “They do occassionally peck the speaker, but we didn’t measure that”.

What will they do next to continue this research? The answer comes from PhD student Ms Mockford who said: “The next step is to find out what the females make of these different songs – will they want to mate with a guy who sings too high or too low?”

Stop it – I can’t take any more!

We hear all the time about overbearing ‘nanny state’ laws and over-fussy councils. However, sometimes, just sometimes, it may be advisable to stop and think before you do something!

For more on the “Safe use of fixed workshop machinery” see SSERC Bulletin 224 (members only).

Not exactly the incredible Hulks!

In the latest edition of the nature magazine there comes news that Japanese researchers have genetically engineered marmoset monkeys which have a gene which makes their skin and blood glow green in ultraviolet light. The new thing about this research is that this gene can be passed on to their offspring. Scientists think that such monkeys can help in the study of currently incurable diseases.

What do you think? Is this fair on the animals? Shouldn’t we try any means possible to help humankind?

Read the following links :-

http://www.nature.com/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8070252.stm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1189029/Glowing-monkeys-spark-genetical-engineering-debate.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE54Q4A520090528?feedType=RSS&feedName=scienceNews

Remember the 1998 Bruce Willis film, Armageddon. During a mission the space shuttle Atlantis is suddenly destroyed and an explosive meteor shower hits New York. Is there a link between these? The American space agency NASA spots as asteroid the size of Texas is hurtling towards planet Earth. As they have a short time before impact, how can they save the Earth from Armageddon? See film trailer.

Meanwhile, back in real life, two new telescopes will soon be looking for asteroids and mapping the galaxy. Could the PAN-STARRS telescope save the planet from extinction? Spotting the asteroids is only half the battle. How could we deflect a lump of space debris more than 300 metres in diameter? See Science News article.