CRESTlets

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    • Cannibal blood cells: These could be key to easing the symptoms of gout.

    • Proven by Larry? Learn more about the role of scepticism in science in this video.

    • See-through brains: Scientists have come up with a way to make whole brains transparent, so they can be labelled with molecular markers and imaged using a light microscope. The technique, called CLARITY, enabled its creators to produce the detailed 3D visualisations you see in this video on how to make brains transparent.

    • Ectotherms: All animals that can change colour, such as chameleons and cuttlefish, are ectotherms. This means they cannot generate their own body heat as mammals and birds do.

    • How Your Blender Uses Physics to Make a Smoothie: Every time you throw food into a blender, you’re doing science. This seemingly mundane appliance is actually a chamber. Your blender transforms chunks of fruit or veggies into a smooth mixture, first by cutting them up into smaller pieces and then by bombarding the smaller morsels with tiny air bombs. As these bubbles collapse, shock waves break the bits of food up even further. This process is revealed in beautiful slow motion in the videos featured here. The short documentary of the rips and explosions that happen inside one of the most common kitchen gadgets is part of a new series of videos about the science of cooking produced by scientist-turned-chef Chris Young, Ryan Matthew Smith and Grant Crilly at ChefSteps.

    • Splat! Pupils investigate the relationship between the plasticity of clay and its water content by dropping a clay ball on to the floor and measuring its spread. Needless to say this is a very popular activity!!
    • Matariki :(the cluster of stars also known as the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters) usually appears in the sky just before dawn in the last days of May or in early June, and signals the Māori New Year. Explore this collection of links for suggested teaching approaches and activities, and resource material.
    • How particle physics improves your life: From MRIs to shrink wrap, particle physics technology improves the world we live in.
    • Why is there more matter than antimatter? :One of the experiments at CERN has observed D-mesons ‘flipping’ between matter and antimatter. Antimatter is identical to normal matter but with opposite charge, spin and other quantum numbers. Mesons are a type of particle made up of a quark and an antiquark. Quarks are the particles that make up the protons and neutrons found in atomic nuclei, and come in six ‘flavours’ – known as ‘up’, ‘down’, ‘strange’, ‘charm’, ‘bottom’ and ‘top’.
    • Geography in the News: Teaching resources.  Volcanoes, sinkholes, coastlines and much more… ( from the UK but there is a Global portal….)
    • A Boy and His Atom: The world’s smallest movie……IBM scientists have made a stop-motion animation using individual atoms of carbon… Researchers for technology giant IBM have taken film-making to a new level by using individual carbon atoms to make a short film. Being able to move single atoms is an important part of IBM’s research into  ‘atomic-scale memory’ which may lead to computers that are able to store huge amounts of data. In 2012, IBM scientists announced the creation of the world’s smallest magnetic memory bit, made of just 12 atoms, compared to the 1,000,000 or so atoms used for the same job today. But all work and no play makes for a dull nanophysicist, so the scientists moved atoms by using their scanning tunnelling microscope to make … a movie! It has now been verified by Guinness World Records™ as The World’s Smallest Stop-Motion Film. Watch the movie then visit IBM‘s Research Site to find out more.
    • Free teaching resources from the Royal Academy of Engineering(UK): Good for Y7-9 students  and/or Science clubs: As part of the Engineering Engagement Project the Royal Academy of Engineering and STEMNET have developed a suite of high quality engineering based resources for use in your class or STEM Club. Developed with teachers, the resources show quick, easy and inexpensive science and engineering sessions to help inspire future generations to follow careers in science and engineering. Each activity handy hints, engineer or company profiles and tips for further work. These new and exciting resources are free to download. Mix and match them, tailor them to suit your group and enjoy!
    • Invention Suspension:  Some Cracking Ideas come from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) – part of the UK Government. Their job is to protect the ideas that engineers, inventors and other hard-working innovators come up with – making sure that no-one tries to steal or copy them. The IPO have got together with Aardman Animations, the makers of Wallace and Gromit. The website has loads of free resources for pupils and teachers, all about the importance of protecting your ideas – and how great ideas can make money! There are also some great games like Invention Suspension. Check out our Intellectual Property Office New Zealand (IPONZ) and their Education resources.
    • Free teaching resources for science, design and technology, engineering and maths: Classroom activities for students aged 11-19 years with film clips, online games, posters, careers resources and STEM activity days. 
    • Moon mystery: A new study of Apollo 11 lunar rocks has revealed that the Moon’s magnetic field lasted some 160 million years longer than previously thought.
    • Frog fungus: The fungus suspected of killing off many of the world’s frogs is from an ancient strain that has just recently escaped its niche thanks to globalisation, suggests new research.. Have a look at Alpha Issue 125: Frogs at Risk , which traces the change in attitude towards frogs from the 18th Century to today. But will they survive the 21st century?
    • Online submission of moderation materials: Departments/Faculties in schools are invited to submit materials for standards selected for moderation through an online submission process as an alternative to the current courier bag system.( though you  need to be careful how it is submitted- i.e. cd’s are ok but they are not pen drives.) NZQA has at this stage tested My Portfolio and Google Docs and recommends these systems, as they will allow teachers to gather the required assessment materials, along with student evidence, and submit these for moderation via a single link (secret url).  My Portfolio users can access instructions specifically set up for moderation submission at MyPortfolio.
    • Science 101  Understanding Science has a new look and new tools available!  Now it’s even easier to find the resources you need for teaching and learning about the nature and process of science. 
    • Forget talking to your plants – they can talk to each other! Scientists from the University of Western Australia have been studying how seedling growth is affected by neighbouring plants. The study, which focused on chilli plants, showed that seedlings put next to so-called ‘friendly’ plants, grew stronger, although being planted next to other crops such as fennel, could hinder their development. The ‘neighbour’ plants tested were already known to have positive or negative impacts on neighbouring plants due to chemical emissions. For example, fennel is known to give off chemicals that stunt the growth of rival plants, in contrast, basil tends to have a positive impact on neighbouring plants as it emits natural insecticides and repels weeds. However, it seems that these chemicals may be only part of the story…..
    • NZ International Biology Olympiad Registration, Now Open!: On-line registration for the 2014 NZIBO programme is now open at  www.nzibo.org  . For students whose schools have never participated in NZIBO, the fee is $15 per student, while the cost for students from schools that have been involved is $30. To check whether your school has participated in the NZIBO programme please check the list on the registration webpage. All Year 11 and Year 12 biology students are encouraged to enroll. Registrations close on 9 August 2013
    • ChemEd 2013: The biennial conference for chemistry teachers is being held in Dunedin this year (14-17 July 2013). This is a great chance to network with other chemists and learn about the new standards. Some great workshops and keynote speakers are already organised. Some help with costs is available.   Early bird rates until 31 May. Check out the website.
    • Interactive infographics: A great way to explore how people compare throughout the world.  Check out the Statistics New Zealand website. Lots of information and tools to present that  information.

    • Currant Benefit: A study by Plant & Food Research has shown that an extract of New Zealand blackcurrants enriched in anthocyanins can help people stay more alert, reduce mental fatigue and work with greater accuracy whilst under significant mental stress.

    • Monkeys ape the behaviour of their group: Monkeying around: When in Rome…If you teach a group of monkeys that blue corn tastes yucky, they switch to pink corn. What happens when a monkey raised to detest pink corn enters the group? You might be surprised! A field experiment in South Africa finds that vervet monkeys change their taste in food when they join a new group, providing further evidence for “social learning” in animals. When the experiment started, monkeys were fed blue or pink corn. One colour had the usual taste, but the other was politely described as “highly distasteful.”

    • Career advice: Are you an optimist?

    • Palaeontology: Learn more about palaeontology, the study of ancient life, in this interactive display.

    • Exploring a volcano: When a monster volcano starts to wake, how do scientists respond?As molten rock gathers underground, a huge volcanic field in Chile is the fastest-rising land on Earth. The biggest eruptions at Laguna del Maule, if they happened today, would change our climate and planet. Scientists are racing to understand a strange unrest in a bizarre landscape. Check out our very own GNS site and find out about NZ volcanoes. Also, check out their Volcanoes educational material and learn how to use these to gain a GNS/Primary CREST award.

    • Dark matter: The matter we can’t see: The Greeks had a simple and elegant formula for the universe: just earth, fire, wind, and water. Turns out there’s more to it than that — a lot more. Visible matter (and that goes beyond the four Greek elements) comprises only 4% of the universe. CERN scientist James Gillies tells us what accounts for the remaining 96% (dark matter and dark energy) and how we might go about detecting it.

    • LEARNZ: Term 2 Talks Kids Restore the Kepler – returning birdsong to a Great Walk; Geospatial – the use of skills, tools and data by people in Canterbury; Wandering Whales – surveying migrating humpbacks in Cook Strait; Freshwater Ecology – investigating water quality and biodiversity around Lake Taupō.  Remember, CORE LEARNZ is free. If you’re not a registered teacher, you can  register now then enrol in 2013 trips and/or use any of the 150+ archived trips.

    • Beauty tips from ancient Egypt: Modern-day humans aren’t the only ones who care about their appearance. Egyptologists at the University of Manchester have discovered a gel-like substance, used to hold hair in elaborate styles, in mummies more than 3,000 years old. Archaeologists analysed hair samples from male and female mummies aged between 4 to 58 years. The bodies were retrieved from a burial site at the Dakhleh Oasis in Egypt.  Also, have a look at this Catalyst article about hydro gels which can be used for soft contact lenses, disposable nappies and hair gel

    • Jumping Dew! Cicada wings are cleaned by dew drops jumping off the wings’ water repelling surface taking any dirt with them, scientists have discovered. The discovery, made by a team of scientists offers new insights into the creation of surfaces. Also, check out: Pitcher plant inspires slippery surface, Nano-nickel makes cheap self-cleaning surface and Leaf secret inspires self-cleaning paint.

    • Drought in New Zealand: Farmers in New Zealand rejoiced in mid-April 2013 when rains started to break one of the worst droughts to hit the country in decades. Check out the  View Image Comparison tool!

    • Reducing rubbish by feeding the soil: Research has shown that everyday kitchen scraps and garden waste can be used to increase the production of farmers’ crops and reduce their need for conventional fertilisers. A trial by Plant & Food Research showed that adding compost to different farming scenarios increased the production of arable crops by up to 14% and forage crops by up to 50%. This compost, made from municipal garden and food waste, increases the health of soil, resulting in a better crop yield and reduced need for nitrogen fertilisers, as well as redirecting waste that may otherwise enter landfills.

    • Comvita 2013 Science Challenge/Team Bronze CREST Award: Students can enter the Comvita 2013 Science Challenge and earn a Team Bronze CREST award. Find out how!

    • Researchers Identify Genetics of van Gogh’s Sunflower :Plant biologists in Indiana identified the gene underlying the double-flowered mutation shown in Vincent van Gogh’s series of sunflower paintings. The information provides insight into the crop’s success and may be useful in finding strategies to control controlling weeds and pests.

    • Aerographite: It weighs less than air and is extremely strong, yet flexible enough to bounce back to its original shape, after being compressed.  It does not float away either, because a 10cm×10cm×10cm cube does not displace 1000 cubic centimetres of air, since a lot of air stays in the pores of the ‘sponge’, but best of all, it can absorb up to 250-500 times its own weight of oil at a rapid pace of 68.8 grams per second. This is not a material scientist’s dream, but a description of the most recent ‘lightest’ solid created by a research team from China’s Zheijang University.

 

 

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