News

The two June events are fast approaching. This morning I realised that there are just 19 working days left until the start of I’m a Scientist on June 11th. Let’s blame all these sneaky bank holidays.

On the plus side we’re well on the way planning for the events.

Teachers

We’ve selected teachers to take part in the two events. We’ve let them know how many classes they’ve got in which zones . Both the ‘Amsterdam’ and ‘Los Angeles’ events are full and we’ve got teachers on the waiting list for classes.

The artwork for the teacher packs is designed and is being printed. We’ve updated the teacher notes by removing the Information Sheets and Project Analysis lesson plans, as they weren’t used by many teachers. We’ve replaced the debate kit with the new ‘Drugs in Sport’ version, giving teachers a new debate to run with students.

Scientists

We’ve had lots of scientists apply and we’re going to make the first selections tomorrow. However we are still looking for scientists to fill some of the themed zones listed below. Apply here.

Zones

In addition to funding from the Wellcome Trust to run the event, the Institute of Physics and also The Royal College of Pathologists are sponsoring zones. The Pathology Zone replaces one of the general zones we were going to run during the ‘Los Angeles’ event. Sorry folks, you’ll have to wait until next time to see the Molybedenum Zone in action. Each extra zone gives 5 more scientists the opportunity to take part, developing their communication skills while having fun at the same time.

The zones in June are:

11th – 22nd June: ‘Amsterdam’:

• 4 general zones: Bromine, Krypton, Rubidium & Strontium
• Animal Behaviour Zone
• Genes Zone
• Materials Zone

25th June – 6th July: ‘Los Angeles’

We’ve now chosen the 15 zones running in our two I’m a Scientist events this June, and we’re looking for scientists and teachers to take part.

Teachers, apply here by Monday 30th April: imascientist.org.uk/teacher-registration

Scientists, apply here by Tuesday 8th May: imascientist.org.uk/scientist-apply

We’re running two events in June, ‘Amsterdam’ and ‘Los Angeles’ because, with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and different term dates in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, there’s no fortnight that fits all schools.

The zones in each event will be:

11th – 22nd June: ‘Amsterdam’:

• 4 general zones: Bromine, Krypton, Rubidium & Strontium
• Animal Behaviour Zone
• Genes Zone
• Materials Zone

25th June – 6th July: ‘Los Angeles’

We would like to congratulate the following students who have been named as the student winners in their zones for the March 2012 event. The moderators thought there were lots of great questions and excellent engagement with the event overall.

Well done to all the students above! They will soon be receiving their student winners certificates and WH Smith vouchers.

We would also like to thank all the other students who participated. Everyone contributed to the brilliant chats and thought provoking questions which often challenged the scientists.

As one scientist said

“I hugely enjoyed it. There are clearly some smart kids out there”.

And we agree.

After barely catching our breath after the March I’m a Scientist and I’m an Engineer events we’re straight into planning the next events in June.

We’re running 2 I’m a Scientist events back to back in June 2012 because, with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and different term dates in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, there’s no fortnight that fits everyone.

The June dates are:

‘Amsterdam’ event: 11th – 22nd June

‘Los Angeles’ event: 25th June – 6th July

For anyone wondering what the names ‘Amsterdam’ and ‘Los Angeles’ are about, rather than simply naming them events 1 and 2, or A and B, we’ve had a bit more fun.

The 2 events in June will be the 9th and 10th I’m a Scientist events we’ve run since the first in 2008. Seeing as 2012 is the year of the London Olympics and Paralympics the events are named after the 9th (Amsterdam) and 10th (Los Angeles) Olympic Games. This should make it easier to differentiate between the 2 June events.

We will run around 20 zones split between the 2 events. The Amsterdam event will probably have fewer zones than the larger Los Angeles event.

We haven’t decided what zones we’ll run yet, but there will be a mix of general zones with a broad range of scientists, and themed zones.

Teachers should specify which event they want to take part in when they apply. We’ll ask scientists nearer the time when we’ve decided on the zones.

It’s been a very intense two weeks of animated live chats and thought-provoking questions, with lots of topical issues up for debate.

Students and scientists have had over 120 live chats and scientists have answered over 3,350 student questions.

The eight winning scientists have made it through four nail biting rounds of evictions. Each student vote counted and in some zones the evictions came down to just a few votes.

It’s time to reveal the winner in each zone. Congratulations to:

The winning scientists all receive £500 to spend on science communication, and we can’t wait to see their wonderful ideas put into practice!

Thank you to all the scientists who have taken part. You’ve been great contenders; each and every one of you has contributed to making this event a success.

We’d also like to thank teachers for your enthusiasm and involvement. And students for your questions and live chats, which have been a mixture of challenging, funny, thought-provoking and sometimes quite bizarre. We hope you’ve enjoyed taking part! Teachers and students, please remember to fill in our feedback surveys, so we can make future I’m a Scientist events even better!

Scientists and schools can sign up now for the June I’m a Scientist and a special event we’re running: I’m a Scientist, In the Zone.

And finally, a BIG thank you to our funders, the Wellcome Trust. Wellcome support the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical humanities, and are dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health.

Thank you also to the Science & Technology Facilities Council for sponsoring the Electromagnetic Zone, the RCUK Energy Programme for sponsoring the Energy Zone, the Institute of Physics for sponsoring the Quantum Zone and Space Zone, and The Physiological Society for sponsoring the Sports Zone.

Here are some highlights from what people have been saying about the event:

In live chats students said: “Wow thanks for that, I just learnt somthing really amazing”

“i REALLY ENJOYED THIS WAS VERY INTERESTING!!!” and “thank you for the really good answers“.

Scientists have been very positive too:

Audra in Sports Zone said: “I’ve had a blast,  Leila in Space tweeted: “… my typing fingers are sore.Exhilarating! #IAS2012”

and Ezzy in Electromangetic Zone said: “I wish I did this all day but I am off to a dull meeting now!“

It’s now under 24 hours until we’ll be announcing the zone winners!

Today it was game over for one more scientist from each zone and the third set of scientists to go are:

• Ben from Electromagnetic Zone
• Akram from Energy Zone
• Lena from Gallium Zone
• Daphne from Germanium Zone
• Suzanne from Quantum Zone
• Ken from Selenium Zone
• Catherine from Space Zone
• Audra from Sports Zone

We hope you’ve enjoyed taking part! Thank you for all the time and effort you’ve put into answering student questions and taking part in live chats.

One student said in a live chat: “I still can’t get Over I am talking to real SCIENTISTS”

Only one scientist can win each zone and so today we had to say goodbye to more scientists.

The second set of scientists to go are:

• Mario in Electromagnetic Zone
• Gill in Energy Zone
• Asif in Gallium Zone
• Jon in Germanium Zone
• Marcus in Quantum Zone
• Jarvist in Selenium Zone
• Nazim in Space Zone
• Gavin in Sports Zone

We hope you’ve enjoyed taking part! Thank you for all the time and effort you’ve put into answering student questions and taking part in live chats. Students are getting a lot out of the event.

With evictions happening everyday, the tension is building. After yesterday’s eviction Vicky Young tweeted:

“Phew – made it through the first round of ‘imascientist Really really want to win!“

Despite the pressure, there’s still lots of camaraderie between scientists.

Highlights from student questions include:

The philosophical: “Do you think that all of our achievements may be in vain like the achievements of Ozymandias?”

The creative: “If you had the opportunity to design a rocket what would it look like..?”

And the one that got us thinking: “If I can close my eyes why cant I close my ears?”

At the beginning of the second week and students haven’t just been asking big questions, they’ve been debating them!

In Selenium Zone Indi and Vicky discuss with students the ethics behind animal testing. Indi defends her animal research as necessary for preventing disease and ill health.

While Germanium Zone have been having a conversation about how their research can involve physically or emotionally hurting living things. Answers include Daphne bleaching microalage and Darren giving mice in his experiments plenty of food, water and shelter, which they don’t get in the wild.

Energy Zone scientists decide whether time is an illusion or a dimension. Student stanners69 commented:

“i think that we exist in a 4 demensional universe where are future is already set out.”

And in Gallium Zone students ask if people are born gay, straight, bisexual or do  people choose.

It’s great to see such topical issues like these being discussed in both questions and live chats.

It’s National Science and Engineering Week. This year’s theme “Our World in Motion” relates well to what students have been asking.

Fiona and Justin in Sports Zone explain how the time of day effects running speed,

Adam in Space Zone answers why space missions must account for solar wind 

and Sam and Elizabeth in Electromagnetic Zone explain use roller coasters and cars to explain why centrifugal force is only virtual.

With the first eviction on Tuesday tension is increasing!

Today has been busy! There’s been 8 live chats and there are now over 1,700 student questions for scientists to answer.

Some scientists have been feeling the strain but all their hard work seems to be paying off.

Ezzy Pearson said in a live chat: “There were such good questions. I feel like I’ve had a good brain work out“.

Student have also been enjoying themselves. Student (ayshacupcake) from Gallium Zone said “we are in a science lesson but we would do this in our own time, thank you for infactuating us with your knowledge” in a live chat.

There have been lots of questions on space. Some brilliantly weird: Do you think the prime minister could be an alien?

and some very logical: why is space so black? and is there rain in space?

Bodily questions include why we get morning breathe and what triggers the content of our dreams.

We also like: can laughing for 24 hours give you a 6 pack?

It’s the end of only day two and already the mods have approved over 1,200 questions form the 1,400 students registered so far on the site.

Today the scientists typed their way through 13 live chats. Fingers are tiring.

Second day of live chats and question answering for @imascientist and my typing fingers are sore.Exhilarating! #IAS2012

— Leila Battison (@leilabattison) March 13, 2012

The students are still going good guns:

Our sports scientists are being asked if we could have two hearts and what the impact would be on performance.

Space scientists are providing their views on Super Mario Galaxy and the science involved.

In the Quantum Zone Suzanne gives a very full explanation of the maths of juggling

and the cute award lands in Energy Zone:

Woould you rather have a puppy sized elephant pr an elephant sized puppy?

Enjoy.

Today was a big day. We kicked of 13 live chats across 7 zones; introducing both scientists and students.

Scientists have been getting quite excite but nervous over the weekend. Vicky Young (scientist) tweeted “Im a little nervous for it all now. The live chats seem like they might be very intense! Speed typing would help!” Vicky wasn’t the only scientist expecting both the physical and computer strain. Leila Battison tweeted that she’d “even changed the batteries in my keyboard, anticipating overusage!”

The newly trained mod(erator)s were also feeling the heat. One mod tweeted “Just gearing up for @imascientist #IAS2011 the words baptism and fire spring to mind.”

Once the live chats had started, scientists and students soon got the hang of it.

It’s only a matter of weeks before I’m a Scientist starts in March so it’s time to announce the scientists and schools taking part.

The event will be running from 12th-23rd March, coinciding with National Science and Engineering week. Zones such as Energy and Sports tie in particularly well with this year’s theme Our World in Motion.

Selecting scientists for March 2012 from teacher and student ratings

Schools

Over 100 schools will be taking part and as usual there’s a big variety in schools involved, from Weymouth to Glasgow, and even Hungary. We’re hoping that, as in previous events, energy levels will be high and classes at these schools will have a great experience. One teacher in June 2011 said: “You could have powered a small town off the energy the kids produced this during our session”. 

Scientists

As ever competition for scientists was very tough, and choosing the final scientists to take part was challenging. We had to turn down lots of scientists doing fascinating research. Scientists have thoroughly enjoyed previous events. One scientist who took part in June 2011 recently tweeted: “You’ll have the best 2 weeks of your life. Also the most exhausting 2 weeks. Then withdrawal!”

 Electromagnetic Zone

Sponsored by the Science & Technology Facilities Council.

Scientists

Schools

Dixons City Academy, Bradford
Cheadle Hulme High School, Cheadle Hulme
Whitgift School, Croydon
Winterton Comprehensive School, Winterton
St Benedict’s School, Ealing
Lampton School, Hounslow
The King’s School, Ottery St Mary
Park View School, Chester-le-Street
Arnold Hill Academy, Arnold
Thistley Hough Hill School, Penkhull
North Chadderton School, Chadderton
Ernulf Academy, St Neots
St Anselm’s Catholic School, Canterbury

Energy Zone

Sponsored by the RCUK Energy Programme.

Scientists

Schools

Honywood Community Science School, Coggeshall
Bearsden Primary School, Bearsden
St Thomas More School, Crewe
Rudolf Steiner School, Kings Langley
Kingsmead Community School, Wiveliscombe
Benton Park, Rawdon
Ysgol Dinas Bran, Llangollen
The Royal Docks Community School, Custom House
John Hanson Community School, Andover
Gateacre School, Gateacre
Deyes High School, Maghull
The Gilberd School, Highwoods
Bournemouth School for Girls, Castle Lane West

Gallium Zone

Scientists

Schools

Broadoak Maths and Computing College, Weston-Super-Mare
Ursuline High School, London
Brentwood County High School, Brentwood
Sheffield Park Academy, Bessacarr
Nisai Virtual Academy, Thornaby Place
Dunblane High School, Dunblane
Bramdean School, Heavitree
Dover Grammar School for Boys, Dover
Ysgol Tregib, Ffairfach
Abingdon School, Abingdon
City of London School, London
King Henry VIII School, Coventry
The Toynbee School, Chandlers Ford
Lucton School, Herefordshire
Birchwood High School, Bishops Stortford

Germanium Zone

Scientists

Schools

MidKent College, Medway Road
Lordswood Girls School, Harborne
The Warwick School, Redhill
Harrogate Ladies’ College, Harrogate
Hurstmere School, Sidcup
Macclesfield College, Macclesfield
Holmfirth High School, Thongsbridge
British International School Budapest, Hungary
Ermysted’s Grammar School, Skipton
Ursuline High School, London
Chichester High School for Girls, Chichester
Marshalls Park School, Romford
The Marlborough School, Woodstock
University of Chester Church of England Academy, Ellesmere Port
Trentham High School, Trentham

Quantum Zone

Sponsored by the Institute of Physics.

Scientists

Schools

Parliament High School, London
Longdendale Community Language College, Hollingworth
Sir John Colfox School, Bridport
Sirius Academy, Hull
Kirk Hallam Community Technology & Sports College, Kirk Hallam
Budmouth College, Weymouth
The Ridgeway School, Wroughton
Camden School for Girls, London
Carlton Bolling College, Bradford
Golden Hillock School, Sparkhill
Backwell School, Backwell
Brockenhurst College, Brockenhurst
Blackfen School for Girls, Blackfen

Selenium Zone

Scientists

Schools

Notre Dame High School, Glasgow
Tiverton High School, Tiverton
Pate’s Grammar School, Cheltenham
Roundwood Park School, Harpenden
Fitzharrys School, Abingdon
Culcheth High School, Culcheth
Spen Valley Sports College, Roberttown
St Bonaventures School, Forest Gate
Park-High School, Colne
Lord Lawson of Beamish School, Durham
Moor End Academy, Crosland Moor
Great Marlow School, Marlow
Wick High School, Wick

Space Zone

Sponsored by the Institute of Physics.

Scientists

Schools

The Urswick School, Hackney
Bushey Academy, Bushey
Hillside High School, Bootle
Trinity Catholic High School, Woodford Green
Mount House School, Tavistock
Howell’s School, Cardiff
Drumchapel High School, Drumchapel
Balby Carr Community Sports and Science College, Balby
Woodkirk Academy, Tingley
Grove School, Market Drayton
New College Durham, Sacriston Road
Convent Of St Jesus & Mary’s Language School, Harlesden
Buxton School, Leytonstone
Great Sankey High School, Great Sankey
Moreton School, Busbhury
St Brigids School, Denbigh

Sports Science Zone

Sponsored by The Physiological Society.

Scientists

Schools

West Thames College, Isleworth
Westfield Community Technology College, Watford
Carluke High School, Carluke
Passmores Academy, Harlow
Lathom High School, Skelmersdale
Sacred Heart High School, London
Thurstable, Tiptree
Smithycroft Secondary School, Riddrie
Trinity CE High School, Hulme
Sir William Ramsay School, Hazlemere
Henlow Middle School, Henlow
Turnford School, Cheshunt
City of London Boys School, London

I work on malaria, and specifically how the parasites that cause malaria recognise and get inside our red blood cells. Malaria parasites have incredibly complicated life cycles, passing back and forth between humans and mosquitoes, but it is when they infect our red blood cells that they cause all the symptoms of malaria, including death – nearly a million children die from malaria every year. Our idea is that if we understand how they invade our red blood cells, we can come up with vaccines or drugs to try to block invasion, and so prevent malaria infection.

The actual process of invasion is fascinating – it is literally one cell forcing it’s way inside another, with the parasite almost dragging the surface of the red blood cell around itself until it winds up inside, where it is protected from the human immune system and surrounded by lovely haemoglobin. We use haemoglobin to transport oxygen, but the parasite uses it as food to grow and multiply.

But frankly, so many things about malaria are fascinating. Did you know that before antibiotics, people were deliberately infected with malaria as a treatment for syphilis? It worked, as long as you cured the malaria in time… Or that malaria is not just a human problem? There are different malaria parasite species that infect birds and rats and lizards and snakes and monkeys and apes. Humans originally caught malaria from apes (presumably from a mosquito that had recently bit a gorilla, then bit one of our ancestors), and even today, there is one species of malaria parasite that regularly transfers malaria from monkeys into humans.

So malaria is an incredibly fascinating subject, but when trying to communicate that to non-scientists, I have found lots of people get put off by the life-cycle of the parasite. It’s actually not all that complicated, but seems intimidating in part because parasitologists have given lots of different names to all the different stages, and draw complex charts with loads of arrows.

To try to solve that problem, I have been helping the Public Engagement team at the institute where I work, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute near Cambridge, to build a web tool to help explain the malaria life-cycle. The team animated some stages of the life cycle, I persuaded colleagues to be interviewed on camera to discuss some of the biggest problems in malaria, like drug resistance and vaccine development, got interviewed myself, and it all got packaged together in one big interactive tool called Malaria Challenge. We’re really proud of the results, and it’s all free online at the Sanger Institute’s ‘Your Genome’ website (http://www.yourgenome.org/teachers/malariachallenge.shtml). There are even teacher tools, to help teachers plan lessons using the resource. Hopefully it will introduce lots of people to the fascinating world of malaria research, and since the malaria life-cycle is on some A-level syllabuses, it might help some people pass a few exams as well!

We are now trying to spread the word about this fantastic science communication tool to as many schools as we can, by talking to teachers and spreading the word on the web. To help with this, I used the money that I won on I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here! to get loads of CDs burned with the full Malaria Challenge on them. We are going to mail copies out to all the schools that participated in Argon Zone (thanks everyone for your support!), and distribute the rest for free as widely as possible to schools all over the country.

I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here! was a fantastic experience, and really rewarding for me as a scientist. I am totally enthused by the format as a tool for science communication, and we have since run a mini-version at the Sanger Institute, connecting a whole range of scientists here to schools in our local area. The fact that taking part in I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here!  also gave me prize money to help explain the wonders of malaria to as many people as possible was just the icing on the cake!

Julian won the Argon Zone in March 2011

In I’m a Scientist this June 2012 we’re scheduling the event a bit differently.

In previous years we’ve run one big event in June. But this year we’re running 2 smaller events in the summer term, with the following dates:

11th – 22nd June

25th June – 6th July

The reason we’re doing this isn’t just to give ourselves more work, but to give as many UK schools as possible the chance to take part.

In previous years we’ve not had many Scottish and Northern Irish schools take part (Scotland and Northern Ireland are pretty sparse on our June 2011 participants map) because the event clashes with the earlier end of term.

And with examinations and an unusually late half term and bank holiday for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee to fit around, there’s no one fortnight that would suit everyone. So this year we’re running an earlier event and later event instead.

We’ll run around 20 zones split between the two events. We’ll ask teachers and scientists which event they’d like to take part in nearer the time. Apart from the the events will run as normal.

If you’ve any comments we’d like to hear them. If you’re a teacher will one of the dates fit in with your teaching?

Originally, I planned to send live videos from our research ship to schools, so that students could take part in our expeditions, see what we are discovering on the ocean floor, chat to our team, and even sometimes direct our operations to explore the deep sea for themselves.

To fulfill our dream of a live video link with schools, we now need our own satellite communications system, which would cost around £25000 per expedition. I haven’t given up on that plan and although I can’t yet bring students to the ocean floor via the internet, I can bring the ocean floor to the students. So using the IAS prize money and sponsorship from a company, my PhD students and I have created an exhibit called “Where no-one has stood before”.

Our exhibit recreates what you would see, at life-size scale, if you were able to walk around on the seafloor at a deep-sea volcanic vent, 2400 metres beneath the waves. The exhibit includes a life-size banner image of a volcanic vent “chimney”, which is five metres tall and covered with deep-sea creatures. We’ve also recreated an area of seafloor around it, which shows what you would see underfoot if you were standing there: the rocky lava of the seafloor, and the animals living on it, such as Antarctic “yeti” crabs, stalked barnacles, and giant anemones. All of the animals that you can see in the exhibit are new species – most of them haven’t been properly described and named yet.

The view that you get from the exhibit is actually better than what you can see from our underwater vehicles that dive to the vents. From our vehicles, we only see a small part of the landscape at any one time – but for the exhibit, we’ve stitched together hundreds of pictures to show what it would be like if you could look around freely. Most of the time, the exhibit will be at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, where we regularly have school groups visiting. I often talk to those visiting groups about the marine life at deep-sea vents, and now I can take them there as well. But we can also take the exhibit out to schools (if they have a space tall enough for it!), and put it up in places like shopping centres during events such as Science Week.

In the future, I hope to build on the exhibit – we have enough pictures to recreate several vent chimneys at life-size, and an area of seafloor the size of a sports hall. I’d really like to fill a space like an art gallery with the exhibit, and then invite people to come for a walk around deep-sea vents on the ocean floor. Companies are starting to mine deep-sea vents for the minerals that they contain (such as gold, copper, and zinc), which could harm the creatures that live around them. Most people don’t know about the animals that thrive at the vents, and so we also hope our exhibit may help to raise awareness about this issue.

Right now I’m at sea again, this time heading for deep-sea vents in the Indian Ocean, where China plans to start mining. We don’t yet know what animals live at these Indian Ocean vents – and that’s what I hope to find out in the next couple of weeks, and share with schools via our www.thesearethevoyages.net website.

Jon Copley won the Neon Zone in June 2010.

As a winner of the June 2010 event I had promised to honour a £50 prize offered by a fellow competitor called Daniel Mietchen for his competition which can be found here. As yet the prize is unclaimed and as I still have the money, it’s still up for grabs.

I also said I was investigating ways I could help a local school or youth group. Since then I have started helping at a local school with their after school science club. (see page 3!) I have already donated prizes for their science fair project and have started planning for a new term with some hopefully exciting afternoons in store. The rest of the prize money will be going towards equipment and supplies for some of the things I’m planning.

Hopefully if I can win some more funds at a future event I can arrange something with another school or keep my involvement in the current one free for years to come!

Ian won the Beryllium Zone in June 2010. He provides scientific support and advice to law enforcement and counter terrorism agencies for the UK Home Office.

We’ve decided on the 8 zones running in the March I’m a Scientist event.

In mid November the Wellcome Trust agreed to fund 50% of the costs of I’m a Scientist for the next 3 years, and we’ve also got 4 sponsors supporting themed zones.

The 3 General zones are named after elements and will have a mix of scientists from all disciplines. We’re through to Gallium, Germanium and Selenium in the periodic table for March. The chemists among you may notice that we’re sadly not running an Arsenic Zone, because of the problems it may cause with firewalls.

The 5 themed zones are open for scientists who are members of, or funded by, the zone sponsors:

• Electromagnetic Zone: sponsored by the Science & Technology Facilities Council
• Energy Zone: sponsored by the RCUK Energy Programme
• Quantum Zone: sponsored by the Institute of Physics
• Space Zone: sponsored by the Institute of Physics
• Sports Science Zone: sponsored by The Physiological Society

Scientists can still apply to take part, until applications close on Friday 3rd February.