woodchurch science

we’ve had a question from abbie wilson in year 7 about bees. einstein once said that if all the worlds bees died out then humans would follow within four years! here are a couple of articles about this problem which is worrying conservationists worldwide. article one - last flight of the honeybee, and article two - so what’s plan bee?

but here’s something to look into…did einstein really say that? here’s a letter in this weekend’s guardian:

Alison Benjamin states in Last Flight Of The Honeybee? (May 31), “According to Albert Einstein, our very existence is inextricably linked to bees.” There is no evidence for this being true, as can be found easily by reference to the myth-busting snopes.com. Snopes’ conclusion is that the supposed quote was probably concocted as part of a campaign by European beekeepers protesting about perceived threats to their livelihoods. Martin Whittaker, Edinburgh

here’s a few pictures of stephen, phil, dillon and robert cleaning out the school pond as part of the go for green project.

there are some resources available from bp education services about climate change (posters, leaflets, teacher notes). i have some copies if you want some for your lessons or if you want just a poster for your room i have 4 left…see me first come first served…

this is a y11 chemistry activity (C2 4.5) visit these sites and prepare a presentation about the production of concrete and its impact on the environment.
peak district quarries, sustainable concrete, history of concrete.

the what? the gaia hypothesis (first postulated by james lovelock in the 1960s) is an ecological hypothesis that proposes that living and non-living parts of the earth are a complex interacting system that can be thought of as a single organism. it postulates that all living things have a regulatory effect on the Earth’s environment that promotes life overall.

lovelock’s writing makes for gloomy reading. his latest book ‘the revenge of gaia’, predicts that by 2020 extreme weather will be the norm, causing global devastation; that by 2040 much of europe will be saharan; and parts of london will be underwater.

lovelock believes catastrophe is inevitable, carbon offsetting is a joke and ethical living a scam. so what would he do? find out here

i met this bloke on a train yesterday who just happened to be professor peter f smith special professor in sustainable energy at the university of nottingham who said that lovelock’s outlook is too pessimistic and wrong when it comes to the answer to the problem. he wrote a letter to the guardian which I just happened to be reading which says:

james lovelock is right to suggest we have already crossed the tipping point into irreversible climate change. the time lag between cause and effect means that the momentum in the climate system will inevitably propel us over the critical CO2 threshold of 450 parts per million in the atmosphere. he is right to be sceptical about offsetting schemes and the potential of wind power, but he is wrong to put his faith in nuclear energy. like all fossil fuels, uranium reserves are limited and some put exhaustion of stocks at 2030. nuclear will never be sufficient to power the uk economy after oil begins to run out in about 2040 and gas a decade or so later. even peak coal is put at 2025.
the uk will survive provided it: legislates to achieve dramatic reductions in energy use; embarks immediately on harnessing the power of tidal energy; and changes building and planning codes to cope with everything that escalating climate impacts will inflict on us over the coming decades

i had an interesting conversation with prof smith about climate change, and how we teach it in schools at ks3 and gcse. He agrees with lovelock that we have gone over the ‘tipping point’ and we are now in a period of damage limitation. all is not lost but we must seek out new efficient technologies and pray for more joined up thinking from our leading scientists and government leaders. any thoughts?

a team of scientists have met to discuss the biggest challenges of the next 50 years. top of the list is clean energy; in particular harnessing the power of the sun: just 1/10000 of the suns energy hitting us each day could provide 100% of our energy needs. read much more here

join schools across the country taking part in the uk carbon footprint project. here are some lesson plans to help integrate this project into the curriculum. in addition to this particular activity, the lesson plans explore the topic of climate change more broadly, with ideas for how to use google tools such as google earth, google maps and search to bring the subject to life.

this video is about 50 minutes long but is worth watching as an introduction to the phenomenon of global dimming. video here. may be best to watch it at home rather than in school (network streaming issues).

at last the problem of discarded chewing gum may soon be over. chemists have invented a completely biodegradable type of chewing gum that washes away within a week. revolymer claims its product is easier to remove from pavements, shoes and carpets than gums currently on sale.

a british-led team of scientists has won eu approval to seek to make nuclear fusion, the physicist’s dream, a reality. nuclear fusion has the potential to solve the world’s energy crisis with carbon-neutral technology by harnessing the process that drives the sun. so far, decades of research have generated little more than hype. the energy needed to stoke the vast temperatures at which such reactions can occur still outweighs the energy they produce, and supposed breakthroughs such as “cold fusion” have turned out to be false dawns. physicists joke that they have been predicting the technology is “30 years away” for the past 30 years. read more here. to read how nuclear fusion works you could also visit this site.