The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has called for an e-Petition to halt the perceived decline of science exam standards in the UK. The RSC reports evidence that modern students are unprepared to answer math and science questions requiring critical thinking or calculations. The report is based on the results of an exam taken by 1,300 of the country's brightest 16-year-olds, which included several numerically-based questions selected from the past 50 years of O-Level and GCSE exams. The students scored an average of about 15% on 'hard' numerical questions from the 1960s, though they scored much better on recent 'soft' questions. If you are a British citizen or resident, you can sign the e-petition. The RSC's report, The Five Decade Challenge, is available online for viewing and download.

Have you been wanting to preserve a decoration or specimen in plastic, but weren't sure what to use? Here's an email asking a similar question:

Hi Dr. Helmenstine,

I have a flower from a funeral, and I'd like to preserve it in a clear solid block. If I remember, acrylics like lucite and polycarbonate need to be heated around an object to have it form-fitted.

What clear material is out there that starts in a liquid state, and "cure" into a clear hard solid state?

Thanks!

You can use polyester casting resin, which is also known as plastic embedding medium. I found a webpage that describes how to cast the plastic. You can find casting resin at a craft store or online (compare prices) searching under "plastic embedding medium" or "casting resin". Casting resin isn't just for embedding objects. You can use it to make three-dimensional shapes for jewelry, decorations, or containers. It's a fun project that illustrates polymerization. Although you don't have to heat the plastic to cast it, strong fumes are released once the catalyst is added, so this is a project for outdoors, a fume hood, or a well-ventilated area.

One way to get a free trip to the AAAS meeting in Chicago was to win the "Dance Your Ph.D." competition in which contestants pursuing a Ph.D. in a scientific discipline were asked to submit a YouTube video depicting their research. Sounds scary, doesn't it? Well, the winners of the contest have been announced so you can judge for yourself. Winners were selected from four categories: Graduate Student, Post-Doc, Professor, and Popular Choice. In addition to getting a trip to the AAAS meeting, winners are being paired with a professional choreographer who will collaborate with the researchers to develop an interpretive dance based on the science. These dances will be presented on February 13, 2009 at the conference.

Antibubbles are globules of liquid that are surrounded by a thin film of gas. They are a common occurrence, but you may not have noticed them. Antibubbles can either skitter across the surface of a liquid or they can be submerged under liquid. Antibubbles appear bright because they refract light back toward its source, similar to how water droplets in a rainbow refract light.

There are a couple of ways you can make and observe antibubbles yourself. One method is to drip water from a faucet into a container of water to which a couple of drops of soap have been added. The soap lowers the surface tension of the water so the film of air surrounding the dripping water can persist long enough to see the antibubbles.

You can make antibubbles that last longer by using the following procedure:

1. Pour a couple of teaspoons of sugar into a glass of soapy water. Do not stir the sugar. Give it a few minutes to dissolve. You want a dense layer of sugar at the bottom of the glass.

2. Use a drinking straw to drip a sugar solution into this glass. The droplets will form antibubbles that will sink toward the bottom of the glass. Though the antibubbles will pop if they touch the sides of the container, they will rest on top of the sugar layer at the bottom of the glass and may last for several minutes.

There is a technique to this. I was able to get a couple of antibubbles to sink toward the sugar layer, but I had much greater success forming antibubbles (as well as normal bubbles) on the surface of the liquid in the glass. I got the most antibubbles by pouring a thin turbulent stream of sugar water into the glass, not adding the liquid dropwise. Post a comment if you have any tips for success.

I love having a real Christmas tree, but I'm a little lazy on watering and usually don't get around to taking down the tree until... say... Valentine's Day, so last year I tried something different. I got a potted living tree. On the one hand, it wasn't as impressively large as my usual tree and it didn't fragrance the room. On the other hand, it probably helped humidify the room all winter and didn't require much care at all. Somehow I managed to not-kill it over the course of the year, so it will be my tree again this year. I'd recommend trying a living tree to people who have a little light in their homes and don't mind having a large houseplant, at least until the weather is warm enough to move it outdoors.

If you're going the traditional route, with a cut tree, you can keep it green and healthy for a month by giving it a little care at the beginning. First, cut off the bottom inch of the trunk to provide a fresh surface for the tree to uptake water. You may want to spray the tree with an anti-dessicant to help prevent too much water loss through the needles. Make sure the tree has a lot of water when you first bring it into your home. Mixing Christmas tree preservative into the water can help keep your tree fresh for an extended length of time, but the most important step of watering the tree is to make sure it never dries out. You may want to make certain any lights in contact with the tree aren't hot. Obviously (I hope) don't position the tree near a lit fireplace. Similarly, try to avoid placing it the path of a heater vent.

I realize people who read this blog come from a variety of backgrounds, so a holiday tree isn't something everyone 'does', but if it's one of your traditions, I hope your tree is beautiful this year.

While watching the History Channel, I learned why I haven't made a dry turkey. The secret of my success? It's not my cooking technique. My family circles the roasting turkey, ready to pounce the instant it hits the minimum cooking temperature, which in my house is 170°F. Depending on what you read, the safe/optimum cooking temperature is 160°F to 180°F. The minimum temperature is supposed to protect you from bacteria (mainly Salmonella) and parasites (eww). If you shoot for the lower temperature then the dark meat of the turkey (the legs and thigh) will be tough and underdone. If you aim at the upper end of the temperature range then the dark meat may be fine, but the white meat will be tough and dry. According to the History Channel, at 170° the proteins that comprise turkey meat start to break apart, which produces a tender meat. However, at 180° the proteins start to coagulate, toughening and drying your bird.

Did you know you can't tell how done your turkey is by whether the meat is white or pink? The bones of young turkeys (and chickens) are porous, allowing hemoglobin to leech into the meat and tinge it pink, even if the meat has been thoroughly cooked. Smoked or grilled turkeys are especially likely to have pink meat when done.

Temperature can affect the quality of your turkey in a way you probably can't control, too. The rate at which turkeys were chilled when they were processed affects the meat texture. Similarly, you may expect differences in meat between fresh turkeys and thawed turkeys that were frozen.

Capture the images of bubbles on paper with this safe and easy project.

I've been trying out kits for educational toys, like slime and the chemical volcano, but one kit I just can't bring myself to buy-and-try is the rock candy kit. Why? It's around $12 and doesn't even come with the sugar... just a stick, container, and flavored food coloring. I can come up with a jar and popsicle stick to make my own rock candy and I suspect you can too. If you want flavoring, there are couple of ways to go. You can add a few drops of flavoring to your saturated sugar solution. These would be extracts or flavorings that you would buy in the spice section of a grocery store. You use these by adding food coloring and a couple of drops of flavoring to your crystal solution. Cherry, lemon, lime, orange, mint, and cinnamon all work well. Another option is to dissolve Kool-aid™ or other drink mix in the crystal growing solution to (intensely) flavor your rock candy.

If you have experience with the rock candy kit and think it's worth the money, let me know and I'll try it out, but I suspect you can save your pennies and get equally good or better results on your own.

When I compiled this photo gallery spectacular and famous nuclear explosions I came across some interesting lines and spikes in some of the images. Do you know the explanations for the phenomena seen in these photos? The first image is of a nuclear test that took place as part of Operation Teapot at the Nevada Test site. See the wavy lines on the righthand side of the picture? Do you know what they are?

This next photo was taken less than a millisecond after one of the Tumbler-Snapper nuclear tests, again at the Nevada Test Site. The spikes that protrude from the bottom of the fireball are seen under special circumstances. Do you know what causes them?

The ring around the mountain in this NASA photo depicts what is believed to be the edge of a glacier.

Scientific American reports that the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has detected what appear to be water ice glaciers near the surface of the mid-latitudes of Mars. Not only is it surprising to find so much water ice so close to the equator, but researchers are amazed by the massive size of the glaciers and how the ice appears to exist very close to the surface. The November 20 issue of Science details the results of an analysis of two Martian features by the MRO's shallow radar, or SHARAD. These features, which are representative of numerous mountains dotting the landscape, appear to be composed almost entirely of water ice.

Mars Phoenix Photo of Ice | How Do They Know It's Water Ice?