" Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne..."
Robert Burns 1788
As we wind up the year, here are some of the many science tales (including one tall tale amongst them!) of 2010 that were/are worth a mention in your Science lessons.
21st January
"Meet the creatures that live beyond the abyss. It is pitch black, icy cold and the pressure is phenomenal. The deepest parts of the ocean are some of the least hospitable places on Earth - yet footage from recent expeditions reveals that life in the oceanic trenches is thriving."
18th March
"The driver of a car filmed being shunted sideways along a motorway under the front bumper of a tanker lorry at 60mph telephoned the emergency services and yelled: "I'm going to die", she has recalled.The terrifying incident was filmed by a passenger in another car, and the footage has been watched by hundreds of thousands of people since it was uploaded on YouTube last week. Rona Williams, a 31-year-old vet from York, said she had joined the A1(M) near Leeds when her Renault Clio was clipped by the lorry and spun around, ending up lodged beneath the bumper. The truck driver, oblivious to what had happened, continued to drive at around 60mph."
19th March
"A compound of iron and nitrogen is about 18% more magnetic than the most magnetic material currently known, a team of materials scientists claims. If such magnets could be produced commercially, they could, for example, allow electronics manufacturers to equip computer hard drives with smaller "write heads" capable of being crammed with more information. A material's magnetism originates with its spinning electrons. Each electron acts like a little magnet with its field aligned with the axis of its spin, and when more electrons spin in one direction than in the opposite direction, the material becomes magnetic.
However, Jian-Ping Wang, a materials physicist at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and colleagues say that a compound of eight parts iron and one part nitrogen, Fe16N2, exceeds this limit by roughly 18%. The key to the material's extremely high magnetism lies in its complicated crystal structure."
"The dangers, uses and potential threats posed by this chemical, Dihydrogen monoxide, are widespread, and some feel, terrifying. Here is just a small taste of what Dihydrogen monoxide (DHM) is:
Some call Dihydrogen monoxide the "Invisible Killer"Others think Dihydrogen monoxide should be BannedDihydrogen monoxide is linked to gun violenceDihydrogen monoxide was found at every recent school shootingAthletes use Dihydrogen monoxide, or DHMO, to enhance performanceDihydrogen monoxide has been found in our rivers, lakes, oceans and streamsDihydrogen monoxide is a major component of acid rainThousands die each year after inhaling dihydrogen monoxideDihydrogen monoxide can be deadly
6th April
"Scientists have discovered a new heavy element. For the moment, the discovery will be known as ununseptium, a very unwhimsical Latinate placeholder that refers to the element’s atomic number, 117.
The team produced six atoms of the element by smashing together isotopes of calcium and a radioactive element called berkelium in a particle accelerator about 75 miles north of Moscow on the Volga River, according to a paper that has been accepted for publication at the journal Physical Review Letters."
"Yale University engineers have found that the defects in carbon nanotubes cause T cell antigens to cluster in the blood and stimulate the body's natural immune response. Their findings, which appear as the cover article of the April 20 issue of the journal Langmuir, could improve current adoptive immunotherapy, a treatment used to boost the body's ability to fight cancer."
A scanning electron microscope image shows a carbon nanotube bundle used to
cluster antigens and boost T cell production. Credit: Tarek Fahmy/Yale University
cluster antigens and boost T cell production. Credit: Tarek Fahmy/Yale University
15th May
"In May at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) in San Diego, California, Ham Smith and Clyde Hutchison team announced that it had built a 1-million-base-pair genome — the longest working piece of chemically synthesized DNA yet assembled — and used it to restart a bacterial cell. Although some scientists disagree on whether the resulting microorganism, called 'Synthia' in the popular press, is indeed 'synthetic' — the synthesized genome sequence was cribbed from a related bacterial species rather than being built to a novel design — few deny the technical skill demonstrated by such work. "The ability to synthesize and put together so many nucleotides without a mistake really requires guys on the level of Smith and Hutchison," says David Botstein, a geneticist at Princeton University in New Jersey who has worked with Smith. "I don't think many other people could have done it."
1st October
"A newfound Earth-sized planet discovered in the habitable zone of a nearby star looks very promising for the possibility of extraterrestrial life, but many unknowns remain.The planet, Gliese 581g, is one of two new worlds discovered orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 581, which now has a family of planets that totals six. [Tour the six Gliese 581 planets.]"
Veolia Wildlife photographer of the year was Bence Mate with A marvel of ants. Have a look at overall winners her at the National History Museum website or even better go and see the exhibition for yourself at the Museum in London until 11th March 2011.
March 24th 2009
"A video clip showing a Creme Egg being squashed by an elaborate home-made wrecking device has become an internet sensation on Youtube.The device, dubbed the 'Rube Goldberg Machine', uses a series of weights, balls, swings and wires which combine in a giant chain reaction to smash the Creme Egg. It was created as an entry for Cadbury's "Unleash The Goo" competition, in which entrants must find the most creative way to break a Creme Egg.New Zealander Joseph Herscher took six months to build the contraption using 30 sticks of hot glue, 480 pins and most importantly, according to the credits, the support of "the world's most tolerant flatmates". To date more than 700,000 people have watched the clip which took 3 days to film consisting of 200 takes."
for further science related news have a read of Nature news 2010: The year in which...
and now for best of the rest from 2010, expressed in the form of satirical cartoon snippets...
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