A Cambridge project seeks to improve farming practices in Africa by sharing advances in biotechnology. They’re called Biosciences for Farming in Africa (www.b4fa.org). Chris Creese meets one of their founders Dr David Bennett. There’s a ‘demonstration...
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When a living thing, such as yeast, respires it produces heat. It may do this in the presence or absence of oxygen. These processes are called aerobic respiration and anaerobic respiration. How would the...
How are plants affected by light? During photosynthesis oxygen is produced. How much photosynthesis occurs depends on how much light there is. You can measure the amount of oxygen produced using sensors connected to...
When seeds germinate they use energy and give off heat. To test this, you can use temperature sensors which will continuously monitor any heat produced. You will set up some seeds in an insulated...
It’s not easy to measure how fast a plant grows. You would probably not be too keen to take measurements every few hours – and especially not overnight. There are ways, however, of seeing...
As food burns it releases energy. This energy can be used to heat up water. If you know how much water you used, and how hot it gets, you can calculate the food’s energy...
Fats, such as the fats in milk, need to be digested by your body. They are broken down into fatty acids and glycerol by an enzyme called lipase. You can do this in the...
In the manufacture of yoghurt, bacteria turn lactose into lactic acid. The acid denatures or spoils the milk protein and sets it solid. In the process, the milk starts to taste sour and its...
The speed of your pulse changes as you go about your day. It changes as you sit, walk or exercise. It is quite easy to record your pulse using the computer. You used to...
Is your breathing steady while you sit restfully? How does it change when you talk? How does it change when you exercise? How quickly do you recover after exercise? To find out you can...
Life in any aquatic habitat has to be supported by oxygen. We are all too familiar with rivers and streams where the oxygen supply has been exhausted and the river dies. The production and...
Amylase catalyses the breakdown of starch into sugar. How is the activity of this enzyme affected by temperature? You can start to find out by monitoring the activity at different temperatures. You use Iodine...
Measuring the appearance of cloudy sulfur when we mix acid and sodium thiosulfate is a popular science teaching activity. We can change the temperature or concentration of the reagents, and see whether the mixture...
Datasets (files) like the one below are useful in science. They have data to analyse by drawing graphs. The file below is in a ‘CSV’ format. Open it in your spreadsheet or Datalogging Insight program...
Datasets (files) like the one below are useful in science. They have data to analyse by drawing graphs. The file below is in a ‘CSV’ format. Open this one in your spreadsheet or Datalogging Insight...
Is mown grass in the compost heap really dead? When you cut the grass you remove its source of vital materials and the cut leaf ‘dies’. But when you feel a pile of cut...
The label on my milk bottle tells me how long the milk will ‘last’ at different temperatures. What do they measure to make this assessment? Is it the pH? I summoned patience, collected a glass...
Scientists need to measure and communicate, to handle information and model ideas. In essence, they need to process information. Young scientists have similar needs. When they write, draw graphs, do maths and make measurements,...
You can sense the human pulse cheaply using a sound sensor. While pulse sensors can now be found even in phones, using a sound sensor works too. Hold a sound sensor over where your...
If you’ve a couple of pH electrodes and sensors, the following is one of the most successful enzyme measurements I’ve tried. Before bothering further, connect the pH electrodes to a data logger and ensure...
Transpiration and a pressure sensor A sensitive barometric pressure sensor can be used to demonstrate transpiration. The picture here shows a low pressure sensor (as it was called) with a tube sealed onto the...
This podcast concerns the science of food crops. The growing world population leads to a demand to farm the land several times more effectively than we used to. But growing crops comes with risks....
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Dr Chris Creese and Roger Frost tour the LMB-MRC open day exhibition and learn about body clocks and worms. Follow-up link Read more at Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology www.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk
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The topic is meiosis in mammalian oocytes, or how we make the eggs that make our babies. Molecular biology research happens at the Medical Research Council lab of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. The LMB...
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The Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge is credited for landmark discoveries and cutting-edge techniques. This podcast offers an overview of what the LMB do. On the occasion of the Medical Research Council centenary, and a visit by...
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We talk with Peter Barham, a professor of ‘Molecular Gastronomy’ about what his delicious subject entails. He wrote the book “The Science of Cooking”. His idea is that “a kitchen is like science laboratory”...
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The author of a riveting book called “The Big Questions in Science” explains how they researched How did life begin? Why do we dream? And when can I have a robot butler? Science writer...
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rogerfrost.com is a compendium of ideas for using technology. It mostly shows how technology helps find answers to science questions. A home automation section for makers asks those questions around the house. Those who teach science will find every idea here indexed to save your time.
Roger Frost was a copywriter from 1988 to 2016 and this web includes many of his articles. They tell how the early Internet developed; how real scientists work and how real people, like you might use science & technology at home or school. Send a hi via the social links or add a comment to an article. Please use this content freely and link back here if you can.
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