Science Newsletter #15 - Bournemouth School for Girls

DIY Superheroes : find out about the science behind the comics!BSGJanuary/February 2013SCIENCEMAGAZINEDIVINGDEEP> How animals that liveunderwater are perfectlyadapted to their environ-mentTHE KING IN THECAR PARKWhy science has helped usfind and identify Richard IIIMATTER’S EVILTWINWhen science fiction be-comes science fact> Russian meteor > Are we still evolving? > Pandas

Welcome!SeCONTACT US:If you’d like your own copy of thismagazine, or would like to subscribeto it, please email us or tell your scienceteacher.DVasilkova@bsg.bournemouth.sch.ukEGreenslade@bsg.bournemouth.sch.ukThis month’s contributors:Mr Sims, Mrs Osborne, Mr Gibbs, Luao, Charli Phillips.Interested in becoming a contributor?Email us, we’d love to hear from you!ON THE COVER THIS MONTH:A ra’ of emperor penguins diving. ecausethey live and hunt in this water-filled environment,penguins have had to adapt to it.ou can read more about the adaptaons ofdiving mammals on page 2.As winter slowly turns into spring, we cantae a reater e weaters geng nicer, and te January exams are over, so even toug itsme to start tining aout te summer, we sould enoy te lull in te examinaon storm o elp icstartyour summer exam revision, were including our revisionps and lan ey word lists or you to use pages 4)is mont, weve got a ampaced issue or you all Iyou've ever wondered aout te science eind supereroes, ear not, air maidens, or pages 9 to 13 will answer all your uesonscienc topics ave een in te news recently, and youcan nd out aout te unexpected Russian meteor strieon page , and ow science as een used to idenyte last Plantagenet ing Ricard III on page 14 Alsorom te roners o science, u ao explores weterwe are sll evolving page ) and om explains te mysteries o anmaer page 1)n page , r ims explores te adaptaons o divinganimals tat we try to copy in our diving gear, and rssorne reports on te Pandas in Edinurg zoo on page4 is mont, we interviewed r Wood, and you cannd tis on page 18, and on page 19 we ave r Gisreport on te JE trip in ecemerFor a it o ligtearted reading, weve got a oes pageat te ac o te magazine! I you now a good scienceoe and would lie to see it in te arc/April issue,please email it to us and well eature it in te magazineo enoy te calm moment, and loo aead wit entusiasm to te uture!om, Erin and ia

ut te disadvantage is tat only 1/19 asmuc energy can e produced rom tesame amount o ood iving mammals aveeen ound to e more tolerant o lacc acid, te poisonous y product o anaeroicrespiraonRedistribuon of blood owe dive reflex is also associated wit a reducon in eart rate In order to maintainlood pressure, lood is sunted primarily tote eart, lungs and rain wit lile or nolood flowing to oter organs suc as teliver, idney and pancreasOxygen storesiving mammals avean increased aility tostore oxygen in watcan e tougt o as an‘internal scua tanconsisng o treecompartments, te stored in te lung, muscle and ssue emuscle and lood o diving verterates avegreater concentraons o te oxygen carrying pigments aemogloin and myogloinyogloin is a pigment wic acts as an oxygen store in muscle and occurs in concentraons 13 mes tat o terrestrial mammals Haemogloin is ound in red lood cellsand is increased y aving ot a largeramount o lood and a greater proporon ored lood cells in te lood iving mammalsave a lood volume o 1% o teir overall mass, compared wit 7% in umansHow do sciensts study diving mammals?nl recently, it was very dicult to studydirectly te eaviour o diving mammals inteir natural aitats and sciensts reliedeavily upon wor undertaen wit capvemammals erendipity also played its part:or example, it was nown tat a spermwale was ale to dive to 1134m ecause atransAtlanc cale was roen at tis dept,and wen te cale was taen up or repair,a dead wale ad its lower aw entangledwit te caleGLOSSARPysiology is aout te uncons o living organisms – ow tey eat, reate, and move aout, and wattey do ust to stay aliveRespiraon is te release o energy rom ood, it may e aeroic reuiring oxygen) or anaeroicRespiratory pigments are proteins wic are aly to reversily ind to oxygen, acng as a store unl teoxygen is needed or respiraonCBA stands or selcontained underwater reating apparatus and was invented y te legendaryFrenc marine iologist and lm maer Jacues Cousteau in te 194serendipity is a ‘lucy accident In our example one could answer tat wilst te sciensts were lucy tewale was less so! ere are many examples o serendipity is science, te most amous one eing tediscovery o penicillin y Alexander Fleming in 198

PandasBy rs sorneinEdinburghWen I was very young, I rememer going to ondon zoo, to see a panda called CiCi, at te me,tere were very ew pandas le in te world and tey ecame te symol or te WWF campaignWen CiCi died, se was preserved and is now in te Natural History useumIn more recent mes, te Cinese ave developed aprogram to enale te pandas to survive, and nowtere are , in te world, ut only 4 o tese areoutside o CinaIn ecemer 11, a pair o reeding pandas were lentto Edinurg zoo or a period o 1 years e idea istat tey would reed ut even ten te young will notelong to our zoo, tey will sll e owned y Cinae two pandas were ot orn in icuan province, inCina, in 3 e emale is called ianian, wic means sweee, ut according to er eeper, seis a it o a diva! e wole me we were tere, se ept er ac to us and ept grunng e adtwins years ago and tey are oping tat se will reed again tis summere potograp elow is o te male angGuang meaning sunsine, e is uite a star, tumlingaout and stung amoo, apparently is cage is always amess He also looed uite dirty around is ears and iswite strip, ut tis is a good sign as it means e is appyand ruing is scent glandsPandas are only erle or a ew days a year and mate inlate arc or early April nl ten teyre ept in separate cages and can only see eac oter troug a grid inte wall o te enclosure In te wild tey are very solitaryanimalsEdinurg zoo ope tey will ave ay pandas to sow te pulic later tis year I you wis to seete pandas you ave to oo a minute slot in advance as tey are very popular

Are weBy u aoStill evolving?In Carles arwins rigin o pecies, e descries ow umans ave evolved trougNatural Selecon and ave ecome ow weare todayere is no ueson tat umans are uniuein te animal world – we ave developed language sills, tecnologies and metods tatimprove our lives signicantly suc as uilding long lasng ouses to selter us rom tearsness o te environment, maing oodsae and delicious or our taste udsammals and umans in parcular ave telargest rainsin te animalingdomrelave tote size oteir odies)Researc assown tat, in early mammals, te rain regions associated wit smell were muc largertan in more ‘premammal ancestorsResearcers elieve tat, te size o te rainregion associated wit smell, expanded ecause mammals proaly used teir eensense o smell to unt at nigt wic meanttey could avoid compeng ood resourceswit dinosaurs tat sared teir aitatsby?Proessor teve Jones, said ‘in aespearesme, only aout 1 in 3 Englis aies made itto e 1 All tose deats were raw materialor natural selecon, and many o tose idsdied ecause o te ‘less good genes tat teycarried But now aout 99% o all te aiesorn in developed countries mae it to tatagene may argue tat we are prevented romnatural selecon due to medical and otertecnological developments, as tey cure diseases, elp tose wo cant pass on genes topass teir genes, almost everyone lives longenoug to pass on teir genes, wit lile‘selecon or te eer genes o wat istere or natural selecon to act on?ome elieve tat we are sll evolving ut teprocess as sloweddownne example o arecent evoluon isow our metaolism as canged to

allow us to digest lactose, te sugar in mil,some 1, years ago, eore te umansstarted arming, no one could digest tis eyond a ew years o ageHowever today, most people can digest tissugar; it can e seen as an evidence o naturalselecon as te rate o lactose tolerance indifferent parts ote world is aclue to tedifferent istories o armingacross te gloeWile 99% oIris people aree structure o lactoselactose tolerant,in out EastAsia, were tere is very lile tradion o dairyarming, te gure is less tan %Being ale to digest mil is an advantage as tisis an extra source o ood, meaning eer adaptaon or te Iris and may e as eercances o survival so tis useul gene is passedon Were as in out East Asia, so lile mil isproduced rom dairy arms, te aility to digestlactose is irrelevant to te affecng te cances o survival, tereore tey didnt not avetis useul mutaon!n te oter and, interesngly, some elievesrater tan seltering us rom natural selecon,te advances in tecnology tat we ave developed may actually elp us increase te speed oevoluonWe see rapid evoluon wen tere's rapid environmental cange and te iggest part o ourenvironment is culture, and culture is exploding, says Pro tearnsWe are connuing to evolve, tat iology is going to cange wit te culture and it's ust amaer o not eing ale to see it ecause we'restuc rigt in te middle o te process rigtnowIn our world o advancing medical and genectecnologies, people ave more power to determine teir own lie coices tan ever eoree direcon o our uture evoluon is liely toe driven as muc ourselves as y nature It maye less aout ow te world canges us ut aout our growing ailityto cange te worldecnology may ave limited te impact oevoluonary orces suc as predaon and disease, ut tat does not mean umans avestopped evolvingKey wordsNatural Selecon: e process werey organisms wo ave ‘eer genes and ecome eer adapted to teir environment tend to survive and produce more offspring Wereas tose wo are not well adapted or teir environment,die eore tey reac te age to reproduce, so tese ‘ad genes are not passed onOrganism: an individual animal, plant, or singlecelled lie ormMutaon: a cange in te genec code, wic maes te organism uncon differently, eg A mutaon in te genecause modern people to ave te aility to digest lactose

ANew cureforCancer?In te rst stages o uman lie te emryo is made upo a special type o cells called ‘tem cells tese cellsare uniue ecause tey are undifferenated and unspecialized, ut ave te aility to ecome specializedA single emryonic stem cell can develop into more tan specialized cell types tat mae up our ody; nervecells, sin cells, red lood cells and every oter important cells in te ody However, wilst tese cellsave te potenal to uild and sape a person tey canalso e te cause o a persons destrucon e maturaon process called differenaon wic tese cells undergo can somemes go wrong; i te gene acvity isnot gtly regulated cells may orget teir identy anddevelop into cancer cells However Researc rom BRIC,niversity o Copenagen, as given new insigt intote processes o different ways ow te ody regulatesit, y idenying te crucial role o te molecule Fxl1Fxl1 is a protein tat recruits and acvates geneswitces and so controls wat specialized cell a temcell will ecome Proessor risan Helin wo is teead o te researcing group stated tat ur newresults sow tat tis molecule is reuired or te uncon o one o te most important molecular switcestat constantly regulates te acvity o our genes IFxl1 is not present in emryonic stem cells, te cellscannot differenate properly and tis can lead to developmental deects,e researc as een a uge leap in understandingow differenaon wors y explaining ow it is tatGene switces suc as PRC1 and PRC aac to teNA Wilst it was previously nown tat gene switceswere crucial to te process, y indicang wic genessould not e acvated, it was not completely understood ow it was tey wored since PRCs are not capale o inding to te NAur results sow tat Fxl1 is essenal or recruingPRC1 to genes tat are to e silenced in emryonicstem cells Fxl1 inds directly to NA and to PRC1,and tis way it serves to ring PRC1 to specic genesWen PRC1 is ound to NA it can modiy te NAassociated proteins, wic lead to silencing o te geneto wic it inds, says postdoc Xudong Wu, wo asled te experimental part o te invesgaonWilst it is a great advancement or sciensts to eale to compreend suc an important lie process,simply understanding ow Fxl1 uncons is not temost important aspect o te researc; ow tisnowledge can e applied is ar more important ecause Fxl1 is a potenal target or cancer terapyiming o gene acvity is not only crucial during development, ut as to e maintained trougout teliespan o any cell since genes may need to ecomeacve or inacve depending on te odies needsWen a person as cancer te gene acvity is not ascontrolled and so te cancer cells are ale to undergosel renewal and te cancer spreads, normal differenated cells are unale to undergo sel renewal as a result o teir gene acvity eing controlledI te ody could regain control o te gene acvityten te cancer could e stopped rom spreading, andtis is exactly wat te researcers want to try In collaoraon wit te iotec company Epierapeucs,te researcers want to develop iniitors to Fxl1 asa potenal novel terapy or cancer

DIYSuperheroes!Can we really use ones to Adamanum to mae Wolverine? Imue a soldier wit a serum to mae im a uperoldier wit a Viranium sield? Can we minimise Arc Reactors to eep srapnel away rom our earts? Can gamma radiaon extrapolate our cellsto turn us into monsters wen a parcularly unsavoury part o our personality rears itsugly ead?Read on to nd out!

Super-Soldiers!Soldiers!(Captain America)It is possile to ul up and increase muscle density o a uman ody using supplements and steroids, cominedwit a strict energy regime And it is also possile to increase stamina using a strict exercise regime Wat it is notpossile to do owever, is to ul up to suc an extent tat eigt, weigt, metaolism and pysical ailmentscange – some even disappearing! e ‘supersoldier serum in te Captain America movie rom 11 is certaineasile, ut it would not alter eigt or ave as dramac effects as te serum in te lm dide uilding o a super uman is not impossile, merely improaly, as gene seuencing and manipulaon incurreatroug aer reatroug in te modern age; ut it would not e a serum as sown in te lm, and terewould e side effects e closest one could get to acieving te greatness o Captain America today would e teollowing:• Anaolic steroids to increase muscle ul and weigt – coupling tis wit strict exercise could create temuscled pysiue associated wit a superero• Periodical reas in te sin ones and reseng, increasing eigt sligtly every me e more mes tisis done, te more painul it is, and te more detrimental to te ealt o te one undergoing tis ind oterapy it ecomes• Growt ormones can minutely increase eigt, ut not to suc a dramac extent as teve Rogers eigtincreased, as te tecnology simply isnt tere yetIt is liely tat iotecnology in te uture will enale results similar to te ‘supersoldier serum strengt and endurance aove natural uman capaility) ut it is igly unliely tat it will e a serum as simple and ast acng inte lmWilst te development o a ‘supersoldier serum doesntseem to e visile on te near orizon, it is liely tat iological advances will ulmately culminate wit te aility to produce umans wit iger endurance and eer pysiologytan te lay manAt te moment toug, te closest it is possile to e is tainga strict exercise regimen and steroids, despite te somemesdetrimental side effects on te odyAs or te Viranium sield, Viranium also isnt a real ting,sorry arvel ans! And even i it were, to survive te lowrom olnir in te lm it would ave to ave te strengt tonot ucle under te weigt o rougly 1 illion elepants e esmated weigt o olnir!)

Bruce Banner(The Hulk)Gamma Radiaon is actually a very dangerous sustance, and prolonged ig exposure to it can ill—loo atarie Curie, wo spent er wole lie researcing radiaon ended up dying rom a disease associated witgamma poisoningo it is not possile to manipulate your genecs wit gamma radiaon to cause te darer parts o a personality to ecome a personied monster eigt mes te weigt o te original person, no less Bruce Banners exposure to te gamma radiaon sould ave illed im, and it is not wise to try and ecome e Hul y standing in ront o a radioacve element eming gamma radiaon ou migt dieo te ueson is, wat could you do to mae yoursel somewat lie e Hul? Well in te comics, it is explored tat r Banner ad a split personality disorder tat was affected y te gamma radiaon and intensied, so wen is eart rate speeds up and is metaolism canges past a certain point, tis part ois personality comes to ligto, wat could you do?• ye your sin green?• teroids?• Build up muscle?As previously menoned, to acieve a Captain America pysiue you would ave to tae copious amounts oanaolic steroids and spend inordinate amounts o me in te gym o acieve a pysiue to matc tat oe Hul, te rst port o call would e to colour your sin in green I dont recommend tis Really ou dontwant pale green sin or a mont Its not un And ten, to get te rippling muscles tat are posively terriying, a lot o me at te gym needs to e spento e Hul is te least plausile superero to create, as tere is no animal tat sciensts ave discoveredtat can flip etween two orms in an instant e closest in nature is te emergence o a uerfly rom acrysalis, ut tis taes a period o meo increase weigt eigold in te lin o an eye, or rater, te me it taes or an eye to turn rom rown togreen, is iologically impossile now But wo nows wat weird and wonderul species science will discoverin te uture?

Logan(Wolverine)e rst prolem wit using Adamanum to ones is tat Adamanum doesnt actually exist! And witall conceivale elements discovered aside rom te wolly unstale ones, it is not easile tat it couldexist Adamanum would ave to e a transion metal as tose metals do not react readily wit sustance ound in te ody However, a metal seleton is possile ut tere are several issues wit tate iological issues surrounding tis type o procedure are:• An inaility to produce red lood cells Wit a metal seleton, te one marrow would ave eenreplaced and would leave te ody wit a deciency o red lood cells, and would slow down terate o respiraon• Immunodeciency would occur almost immediately – te ody would e unale to produce witelood cells and as te surgery involved in replacing ones would e maor, te ris o ineconwould e incredile• Calcium ion deciency, meaning tat movement impairment would e certain Calcium ions causemuscle retracon, wic enales movement Witout te calcium rom ones, movement would edicult, i not impossile, witout regular transusions o Ca + ions• In sort, in order to stay alive wit your recently acuired metal seleton you would need regularlood transusions and would ave to live in isolaon due to te compromisaon o your immunesysteme pysiology issues are:• I a normal one were to rea, it would set and eal in aout six wees As a metal seleton doesnot ave te capaility to set and regenerate its cells, te ones would ave to e removed in aigly painul surgical procedure• etal ones ave poor soc asorance and so in te event o an accident te lieliood tat internal damage would occur is ig – i te enre seleton was replaced, te acon o te organsing te structure would cause intense ssue damageIn sort, do not try tis at ome!

Tony Stark(Iron Man)Iron an, weve all seen te lms or at least eard o Roert owneyJuniors impressive display as ony tar) and researc suggests tat i we could master nuclear ssion, wede on our way to creang a miniature ‘arc reactor to power te suitony tars palm sized arc reactor may not exist, ut i ssion could e otained and miniaturised) and acooling system developed tat would, and could, t and wor around someting te palm o te and tentis may not e so ar away However, to miniaturise te tecnology would tae extensive researc—rst toacieve ssion and ten to mae it to te scale o a torus reactor ie te one at JE) rougly 8cm in diametero wilst it is teorecally possile, it is not mecanically possile Not yet, at leastNext, te suit I te arc reactor could e created and ics out rougly 3 gigaoules a second, ten te suit iste next prolem Clearly, it cant e made rom iron ecause tat would e too eavy and cumersome Grapene or itanium seem to e in te running as to wat te suit would e made rom, as ot are strong and,in tin seets, ligter tan iron oulding te suit around te arc reactor would integrate te cooling systemtat would allow te ssion to occur, tus rendering te suit less slee and aerodynamic as seen in ot tecomic and te lms e original comic is proaly more alie to wat could e produced y sciensts nowe ‘tar Industries tecnology needed to create te drones owever, could e done As no one needs towear te drones, te tecnology or cooling te ssion reactor and te cales or connecng every part o tesuit to te ody could e applied in a sasactory mannerAs or te computer interace, simulaons could e used to elp advance tis tecnology, and give scienstsan idea aout ow to integrate te screens rom JARVI into te aceplate o te suit I an AI arcial intelligence) could e programmed to e as smart as JARVI, it could e plausile tat te wiy anter etween ony tar and JARVI could ecome a realitye removal o te suit is prey slic in“e Avengers” ut it would not e as astto remove te suit in reality, it would emore lie painstaingly unscrewing everyolt and taing apart every scrap o armour to t it to te ody

TheKingin theCar ParkThe 4th February, 2013 was a historic momentfor medievalists and Ricardians everywhere,with the amazing announcement that thebones found under a Leicester car park were theremains of the infamous Richard III, our mostenigmatic king. Dom reports.Now, youre proaly wondering wat an arclelie tis is doing in a science newsleer And itstrue, science and istory can somemes seem toe two opposite enes But occasionally, te twocome togeter, as tey ave in te case o Ricardsince te seleton was ound, in a marvelloussymiosis to give us te trut For ot scienstsand istorians Being a Ricardian mysel mainlydue to *coug* s Aiten *coug*) I ound tisvery excing news e discovery o is ody couldelp to comat udor propaganda tat slanderedis reputaon, elping us nd out aout te realRicard IIIJust to give you a it o acground, Ricard ecame ing in 1483 aer te deat o is roter,Edward e nature o is ascension was suspicious to te supersous people o te me, ande was elieved to ave illed two princes in tetower o ondon As is reign connued, esowed imsel to e a ust ing, owever e wassomewat naïve and made mistaes His elovedwie died in 148, ollowed closely y teir son,leading to rumours tat Ricard ad murderedtem He was an excellent soldier and adept militarycommander, elping is roter out o gt sirmises as early as wen e was 18 years old He was deeated y Henry udors Frenc army at te ale oBoswort, not due to Henrys sill e ad asolutelynone!) ut ecause o te treacery o te tanleysand is mistaes on te aleeld, among oter actorsWat appened aer te ale to Ricards ody wasunsure unl now egend says tat it was dumped ina river, so past searces or te ody were donedownriver rom te ale site ere were somesources, owever, tat said e was uried in Greyriars curc, in eicester igging tere revealed a seleton But tere was no way to prove tat tis seletonwas Ricard and tis is were science comes in!e rst me tey unearted te seleton, tey noced te severe curvature o te spine see aovepotograp) ome istorical sources tell us tat Ricard ad eiter a uncac or one soulder igertan te oter e act tat te seleton as‘scoliosis, as we would call it today, would seem tomatc te istorical descripons, sowing ow science can elp give istory concrete proo However,

painngs o im cant seem to agree on wic soulder was iger, and it seems tat te difference wasexaggerated greatly in many o te painngs modern antropologists recon tat te sideways curvature o Ricards spine would ave ad lile impacton te way e waled and lived is lie even tesources tat are negave towards Ricard grudginglyadmit tat e was a silled and rave warrior o denitely not te ump o oul deormity descried yaespeareEven toug all o te evidence was now seeming topoint towards tis eing Ricard, te sciensts needed to e asolutely sure ne o te next maor teststat could disprove te teory in an instant was tecaron dang test Caron dang wors y looing atte natural radioacvity rom isotopes o caron,mainly caron14 As it is present in all tings tat areliving or one living, it allows us to date tem as tecaron14 decays, it emits eta radiaon, wic cane measured y a Geiger counter nce te decay asoccurred a set numer o mes, te caron is nolonger radioacve, so over me te count drops Iwe compare te count rom our sample to te nownallie o caron14 te allie is te me taenor al te radioacve atoms in a sample to decayand ecome stale) we can wor out te age o tesample However, tere are complicaons omeoods tat te person may ave eaten suc as sactually asor caron14 rom te ody, loweringte count Wen tey rst tested te sample romte seleton, te me period appeared to e too lowBut wen corrected to account or various reasonssuc as te seaood, te range given was slapangwere we oped it would e i te ones were Ricards o tats anoter c in te oxHowever, te most important test in proving te seletons identy was te NA test Even i a ody aseen dead or years, traces o mitocondrial NAare sll present on te ones Anoter advantage ocollecng it rom mitocondria is tat tis orm oNA is only passed down rom te moters side aste sperms tail tat contains tis NA reas offaer erlisaon is means tat tere is nocontaminaon o te NA, allowing a clear line toe traced to living descendants In tis case, te linewas traced to urniture maer icael Isen, wo is adirect descendent o Ricards sister Anne, meaningtat is paern o ases in is mitocondrial NA isidencal to tat o te seleton, idenying tat eyonddout te seleton was Ricard III Witout science, wewould ave not een ale to carry out tis test, oweverwitout istory we wouldnt ave enoug inormaon totrace Ricards loodline Witout istory and science coworing togeter, tis amazing discovery could avenever appenedNow tat wed idened te remains, one tas remainedrom science to determine wat te real Ricard IIIlooed lie Aer Boswort, many o te portraits oRicard were tampered wit in one was or anoter, maing small canges to mae im loo lie a villain or example, tey narrowed is eyes, gave im a small gtlipped mout and sarpened is ngers into ‘claws onone painng, is tum is literally a spie!) Now tat weave is sull, we could use our current nowledge aoutte posioning and dept o muscle ssue on te ace toreconstruct wat e really looed lie e result seeimage elow) ore a resemlance to te painngs andexposed all o te sutle canges made to teme current plan is to ury te seleton in eicester, ollowing tradional protocol and eicesters nders eepers principle However, in is will, Ricard explicitly saidtat e wanted to e uried in or, is irtplace However, tere is an online peon currently signed y over1, people proaly more y te me tis is pulised!) tat is trying to get Ricards nal wis ullledou can sign it at :hp://epeons.direct.gov.uk/peons/2and elp te last o te Plantagenets e properly put torest at last in te place tat e wanted As Pilippa angley put it, ‘Its as i Ricard wanted to e oundYou can read more about this amazing find at:bb---21063882

MATTER’SEVIL TWINEver since the paper on it in 1928, antimatter hascaptured the thoughts of science fiction writers andfans alike. Yet it is a real substance that is pro-duced in small quantities every day! Dom reports.Anmaer e very word causes science con tospring to mind, rom rocet uels or te uture to‘flawless energy generaon et in tis case, anmaeris actually science act, predicted wit a proper sciencteory in 198 and proved 4 years later Its een descried as te most expensive sustance in te world; in te general esmate was tat million dollars could produce 1 milligrams o positrons Not tatanyone would actually sell anmaer to you, no maerow ric you are – its capaility or destrucon is anoter ting tat as made it amous Wen anmaercomes into contact wit normal maer, suc as te atoms in your ody, it anniilates it completely wit aurst o enormous energy – terell e more aout tatlater But ear not, people o Eart, anmaer weaponsare not someting well e seeing in te near uture owe can rest easyor nowhat actually is anmaer?But wat really is anmaer? Beore we can understandtat, we need to loo at ‘carge and ‘spin, two intrinsicproperes o suatomic parcles suc as te electronElectric carge is a property o maer tat causes it toexperience a orce wen near oter maer wit an electrical carge is is your ‘posive and ‘negave carge– same carges repel, wile lie carges aract Easy,rigt? pin is less simple In scienc terms, its an inerent orm o angular momentum carried y elementaryparcles, composite parcles, and atomic nuclei omae it a it easier to understand, picture a asetall rotang on a players nger It can rotatele to rigt, or rigt to le, on an axis perpendicular to te nger, wic in tis analogy could represent opposite spin Now tat were clear on teterminology, anmaer is virtually idencal tomaer, wit opposite carge and spin For example, te anparcle counterpart o te electron iste ‘positron, wic as a posive carge as itsname suggests e act tat it is very similar tomaer as led to speculaon tat tere could esomewere tat is made enrely o anmaer,wit an anyou tat youd really not want tomeet! In act, te only reason our maer is‘maer is ecause in our universe tere seems toe a sortage o anmaer, so we named wat iscommon to us rsthy do maer and anmaer annihilate?I you and your anyou were to sae ands, allell would rea loose As a general rule o parcle pysics even tougt tere are some excepons), tings lie to decay into oter tings tatave as small a mass as possile is is wy eavier parcles suc as muons decay witin a racono a second Wen an anparcle and a parcleanniilate, tey produce potons, wic aremassless is is te ulmate state to acieve orparcles tat are ale to decay An electron on itsown can't simply decay into potons as carge is

always conserved, and an electron is te smallest parcle wit negave carge, so its stuc asit is But i a positron comes along, its te electron's lucy day as te posive carge o tepositron can cancel out its negave carge, itsree to decay into massless potons All temass lost is converted into energy via Einsteinsamous euaon Emc , giving te ugeamounts o energy we expect c is te speed oligt, wic is aout 99,79,48 m/s, so even ite cange in mass is very small, te energy wille massive!)Natural anmaerEven toug it is very rare, it is possile to ndanmaer in te universe around us Aer teig ang, maer and anmaer were ot created rom te primordial energy, ut or somereason tere was more maer tan anmaeris meant tat te maer destroyed te anmaer, creang uge amounts o energy tatcan sll e detected today as cosmic microwaveacground radiaon ‘CBR Wen you turn onan old analogue V, some o te ‘noise tat yousee on te screen is te V picing up on tisenergy suffused trougout space Quite recently, wile studying tunderstorms, some sciensts discovered tat te gamma rays produced y te excited electrons in te clouds occasionally interacted wit oter electrons, producing a positronelectron pair Natural etadecay o radioacve isotopes also produce positrons and anneutrinos nortunately, teseanniilate prey uicly, so we do not avemuc cance to study naturally occurring anmaerArficial anmaersing various parcle accelerators, we can collide parcles suc as neutrons togeter at igspeeds, converng teir inec energy into arange o exoc parcles, including anmaerBecause o its tendency to anniilate, we nowave te tricy tas o storing it we cant use anormal container, as te anmaer would toucte sides o te container I te anparcles arecarged, we can use magnec and electric elds todo tis is, owever, will not contain uncargedparcles, or wic we need a vacuum Anatomsorm te same way as normal atoms do, and weave currently succeeded in maing anydrogenand aneliumPossible uses of anmaerne use o anmaer tat as already een madepossile is medicinal use eta decay is used togive an image o te ody rom te inside, andtere is ongoing researc into cancer treatmentsusing anmaerAnoter possiility is as a uel e scarcity o anmaer means tat it is not readily availale or useas uel, unortunately, and any anmaer propulsion would reuire engine construcon so as toprevent te anniilaon o all te uel simultaneously, wic we ave not yet acieved e ope istat it could e used as a uel or interstellar travel,due to its muc iger energy density tan convenonal uels e energy per unit mass aout9×11 J/g) is aout 1 orders o magnitudegreater tan typical cemical energies we aveacieved so ar e reacon o 1 g o anmaerwit 1 g o maer would produce 18×117 J, teeuivalent o 43 megatons o N is is important ecause every ilogram sent up into spacecosts uge amounts o money, so space engineerswant to minimize te cost as muc as possilehat about the future?e study o anmaer as only ust egunproperly, and tere are sll many tings tat needto e discovered eore it can e used as uel, orexample te containers tat prevent anniilaon,and parcle accelerators at places lie CERN areusy trying to mae atoms o eavier elements ouro anmaer o, te issue is ar rom closed tisis one o te new roners o pysics, so i youtougt tat tere was noting to e discoveredany more, tin again! Pysics is te wy andow o te universe, and unless te curiosity o umans peters out over te years,neiter will pysics

Interview withMr Wood1. Favourite subject at school?Primary scool? ats I lied te way it was very logical; and at A level my avourite was psycology I was ascinated y te experiments , te waypeople respond to situaons And I always loved cience, o course2. Favourite Sci-fi film?tar Wars, I tin te ligtsaers are mostly responsile. hat university did you aend and what course did you study?I studied Pysics at te niversity or4. hat was your favourite part of the course?aoratory days; and te ‘pysics o music module I also enoyed te cosmology module as it answers many uesons Id always wanted to now teanswer to5. hat did you want to be when you were younger?I rememer a lesson in year six were I decided I wanted to e a teacer uring secondary scool I tougt I migt e a researc scienst or an engineer ut Im very appy tat Ive come ac to teacing6. ho is your favourite Sherlock character and why?erloc imsel! His ‘mind palace and ast cains o logical tining mae or great entertainment. Favourite physics joke?TymbOy,“II’”Ty,“Ay?”T,“,I’m”. Do you have a fascinang fact for us?I was ascinated or a wile tat: ffbffffbffbffbffffbffis a grammacally correct sentence i you want to understand wy see te oom o te page)9. Favourite celesal body?aturn e rst me I saw te rings o aturn troug a telescope was an asolutely reattaing moment10. hat made you interested in physics?A desire to now and understand wy and ow everyting wors Ive naturally learnt more aout pysics y looing or answers to wy tings appenAltoug most people now uffalo as ot a singular and plural term or ison, and Buffalo as a city in New or, uffalo is also a ver meaning to ully, conuse, deceive, or inmidate singtese denions, Wiipedia suggests te sentence can e read:[T](ffbff)[m](ffbffbff)bff(ffbff)ll too ard to ollow or tose o us wo don't now uffalo as a ver Rene once more:[T]bff()mff[mby]bff()mffmbff()mffAnd once more:mff,mbybmmymbmmy

The physics dept. visitsJETJE is a pioneering researc acility wic aempts to recreate nuclear usion reacons tat occur on te unese reacons produce te ligt and eat tat we need to survive on Eart Witout tese reacons, te unwould collapse under te orce o gravity and would e no more!I usion energy can successully e arnessed on Eart, utureenergy prolems, and te effects o urning ossil uels suc asGloal Warming, could e over Amongst oter tings, differentparts o te JE set up can lay claim to eing te oest place inte olar ystem million ˚C) and te coldest 7 ˚C)ur visit egan wit an introductory tal aout te wor at JEand te longterm aims o te proect ollowed y guided tourswit memers o staff wo wor tere We ad te cance to asuesons o our guides wo were pysicists specializing in variousrelevant elds suc as plasma pysics Wilst we were tere, JEwas not actually in operaon is was a same in tat we couldome o our party wit rs Evans, one o our not see any results coming troug ‘live, ut it did give us aPysics tecnicians, in te reactor all looingcance to see te rooc arms woring inside te reacon camcool in ard atser maing modicaons ready or te next series o experiments e memers o staff tere were very riendly and elpulto mae our stay comortale and inormaven our way ac rom JE, we riefly visited idcot power staon ispower staon is actually two separate ones: one uses coal as a uel and teoter gase coal red staon is closing sortly as it will no longer meet te stricteremission regulaons coming in to play in 1 is will mean te loss ogenerang capacity or two million people ose on te visit were posed te ueson as to were our electricity migt come rom in te uture course one possile soluon is nuclear usion, ut we learnt tat tere is along way to go eore ullscale nuclear usion power staons are up and running e next stage on rom JE, ascaled up and more ecient version called IER, is ust now under construcon in te sout o France

AClose encounterof the rocky kind…Your monthly dose of apocalyptic havoc!By Carli PillipsAs you may ave seen on te news recently, on te 1to Feruary a meteor exploded on top o Russia and onte same day, Eart nearly ad a run in wit a nice igcun o celesal deris As you can imagine, tiscaused uite te sr at te local space agencies, NAAand EA, wo ad expected te asteroid paying us avisit, ut wo were ust as surprised as te Russianseang teir reaast aout te news tat a sonic oomwas to accompany teir eggs and acono wat appened? And ow did all tese acclaimedgenius ol at te internaonal space agencies manageto miss someting lie a meteor colliding wit Eartsatmospere?!Well, lets start wit 1 A14, te asteroid wiccame a lot closer tan anyting else as or a wile:hat is it?It is an asteroid categorized as a NearEart ectNE), wic can give sciensts important clues as tote origin o our solar system and wic could ecomewaystaons or uture exploraon NAA as te aim otat, y studying tese, we can opeully migate potenal NE impacts on Eart, altoug tis statementas received a lot o cricism, as i an asteroid is eadedtowards Eart, tere is not muc NAA would e ale todo aout tatHow close did it get?1 A14 got to aout 17,1 miles or 7,m)away rom Eart eore it started moving away rom teEart on a ground trac rom Central Asia towards teNort Pole It wasnt visile to te naed eye, ut a pairo inoculars could ave seen it is asteroid actuallygot close enoug tat it was witin te geosyncronoussatellite ring, wic is aout , miles out andwere all te weater satellites tend to sitas it close to hing any satellites, and did the astronautson the internaonal space staon see it upclose?NAA and EA ad planned and predicted te route itwas going to tae uite accurately, and it was never atany ris o ing us, te moon, any satellites, or anyting else important As or te internaonal spacestaon all o te occupants were asleep at te me oit passing, as te staon was over Papua New Guineaat te me, so tey didnt see it eiteras it really, really big?Nope It ad a diameter o around 3m, so aout 3mes as wide as your average ouse is is less tanal te size o te internaonal space staon18m)! espite tis, it weigs around 4, metrictons o scale tat to someting youre amiliar wit,lets loo at te doule decer us: ere are, according to one source, around douledecer uses inondon Now, imagine tey are all ull to capacity witpassengers en mulply y , and youre looing ataout te rigt numer o summarise, 1 A14weigs ondons o usy uses!Anything else?Just a ew un acts At its closest, te satellite was onlyaout 1/13t o te distance o te moon rom EartIt was going aout 17,4mp, in a souttonortdirecon in relaon to te Eart e est place to seeit would e Indonesia, were it appeared to moveacross te sy y aout a degree per minute e asteroid was rst discovered aout tis me last year, in

pain, as it was aout 7 mes as ar away rom us as temoon, and it ollows a similar sort o orital to us or atleast, it did Aer tis near incident, te orital o te asteroid will cange to 317 days, meaning it wont get tisclose to Eart or aout anoter 4 years Its currentlyvacaoning in our nec o te solar system on oliday romte asteroid elt, and sources claim its avourite ting to doin its downme is visit te Goldilocs zoneo now you now everyting you ever needed to aout1 A14, ut wat aout te muc less ancipated penomena, te Russian meteor?hat was it?eteor : Noun : A small ody o maer rom outer spacetat enters te eart's atmospere, appearing as a streao ligtis denion actually sums up literally wat it was, utwat aout te sonic oom, smased windows, and watsan ral? is parcular meteor managed to get into ouratmospere aove Russia and over te rals a mountainrange aout a tousand miles rom oscow) eore exploding e wite strea seen as it sped across te sy wasust te asteroid urning up as it came into out atmospere e sonic oom is rom were it roe te soundarrier and eing so close toEart le approximately1 peopleinured andmanaged tosmas somewindows, evencausing a actoryroo to cave in e meteor eventually landed in a rozenlae, as seen in te pictureIt came closer to us than 2012 AD14, and sciensts wentcrazy about that, so why didn’t they know about this one?First off, it was uite notaly smaller tan te asteroid eRussian meteor was only 17m wide, wic is sll plentylarge enoug to do signicant damage and you denitelydont want it exploding on you, ut it was ust lie a lot ote oter deris in space untraced, small, not really tatimportant econdly, te space agencies mums all toldtem wen tey were lile to never loo directly at tesun, especially not troug an ultraigpowered telescope wic would urn out all teir renas eore teyeven realised wat was appening, so unless teyre usinga special lter wic loc 9999% o te suns ligtto oserve sunspots, tere isnt muc pointed on tederis tere is is, coincidentally, exactly were temeteor came rom Bear in mind tat tere are undreds o collisions o deris wit our atmospere on adaily asis, ut tey are very rarely ig enoug to enoceale, so tere is really not muc point in NAA,EA, JAXA or any o te agencies to invest te ugeamount o money and resources wic would eneeded to trac all o tem, on te off cance tatoneinareallyignumer would a) come anywerenear us, ) it te atmospere, c) e ig enougtat anyone could even see it, and d) not appenover an ocean were it would e a moot point anywaySo other than that, do we know where it actuallycame from?ep, and its noting to do wit 1 A14 cienstsave een woring doule me on tis one, andsome guys at university in Colomia tin teyvecraced it eyre prey sure tat it came rom anApolloclass asteroid, wic is a set o wellnownnearEart asteroids ere are aout , o tem,and te ig ones are idened as eing a signicantris to our planet at tis incident is eing considered a lucy escape I tin says enoug aout owmuc un te rest ave te potenal to e old onto your ats, ols, its going to e a umpy rideAnything else?Just te acts Firstly, te sonic oom did smas glass,ut lucily it was as ar away rom oscow as it wasHad it een muc closer, te old glass in so many ote towering curces could well ave perised Itwas travelling at aout 11, miles per our at pea,eore exploding at around 9:am local meo tats all you need to now aout te importantrocs in your lie tis mont For more apocalypcavoc, read my arcle in te next edion, wic willeiter e aout evil aliens or reanimaon, dependingon ow many zomies appear in America tis weenl ten, don your noil at and your garlicflavoured stae, and sit gt in your nuclear unerRememer, its not over unl te at lady sings ormaye unl te at man sings, since Pavaro is slldead and Adele won an scarCiao!

Revision tipsScience is a subject based on facts and methods which unfortunately means that its impossible touke a science test (please do not try, it never works) ut no need to worry! Revision for science isthe same whether you’re in year or year 1 and it all comes down to these 5 easy to do ps.1) Know your syllabusExam oards very elpully provide syllauses or everyunit, tese include te different topics and te ey uesons tat you sould e ale to answer or eac topic, it isimpossile to revise i you don't now wat you're revisingso tae a loo at tis wesite and nd te syllaus or yourunit:ps://sgitslearningcom loo at your year older in teVE cience course2) Test PapersPracse maes perect, so print off and complete as manytest papers as you can and give tem a go! is is a greatway or you to decide wat areas you need to spend moreme revising on or to learn te correct exam tecniuesae test papers to teacers or mar tem yourselves witte mar sceme and youll see tat your mars will start toimprove! est papers are availale on te VE or on wesites suc as CR and WJEC depending on your examoards) Definion listcience is ull o denions and its essenal or any test tatyou now tem almost word or word, wilst tis may seemlie a daunng tas it can e made very simple y using adenions list ae a list or eac topic wit all o te denions you will need or a test in order to ensure tat youlearn tem all and don't miss any A template or a denion list is included in tisnewsleer or you to cut out and use!4) Textbook or LibraryWilst te notes you mae in lessons arevery important, its easy to miss out actsor mae mistaes For top mars maesure you pic up a textoo and readtroug te topics, and don't orget tatte lirary is ull o elpul textoos andarcles tat will elp you understand andlearn topics eer Reading outside tesuect gives you a wider eld o view andis especially elpul in essay suects as itcan elp you really impress te examiners5) e creaveont ust read over your notes, do someting acve Create coloured mind mapsor posters, write notes on postit notesand distriute tem trougout your edroom or ome ry different wesites sucas BBC ite size or scoolcom Play gamestat are relevant or tae part in interacveexperiments and ave un wile you revise youll rememer it eer i you enoyedit!

enion list template: use tis to note down anyey words you will need to dene later rom anysuect! I you want more, use a potocopier sucas te one in te lirary to mae more copiesordDefinion

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ScienceJokes!Biology!Q: Wat do you call it wen worms tae overte world?A: Gloal WormingQ: Wats te difference etween a dog and amarine iologist?A: ne wags a tail, te oter tags a wale!Biology is te only science were mulplicaonis te same as divisionChemistry!ne day on te onigt ow, Jay eno soweda classied add tat read: o you ave moleprolems? I so, call Avogadro at 13Q: Wy do cemists call elium, curium andarium te medical elements?A: Because i you cant elium or curium, youarium!Physics!Q: Wat was te name o te rst electricitydetecve?A: erloc msA Higgs Boson wals into a curc were tepriest is giving a sermon e priest serves tolecture te Higgs Boson aout ow it claims toe te “God parcle wen teres only oneGod!”e Higgs calmly replies: “But witout me, owcan you ave mass!”A certain nuclear pysicist went on oliday, andon te door o is oce e ung a sign: Gonenuclear ssion