The Science of Sight

June 2007/Issue 14

think. what you can be

EYES WIDE OPEN T H E

SMART TECH N O LO G Y

S C I E N C E

Gadgets with brains

O F

S I G H T

your E Unleash A IN W A V

inner genius

BR HAVE A HOW TO in the creases?

THE HIDD EN EYES OF SPO RT What’s lurking

achine – inside

hing m N Mom’s was S T R U C T IO

DECON TH E AL IE N IN YO UR AR M PI T

out

Why growing up stinks PRESS PLAY

Lady Naturelle reviews CDs • An animator’s take on Spider-Man 3 • Guitar Hero II tested by you covers.indd 1

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rse than being ‘The only thing wo

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What’s your vision? Are you someone who can see but is blindly following like a lamb or are you a pioneer actively at work, redefining the way others view the world?

Welcome to your new-look Hip2b2 magazine. There’s a new team on board with a mission to tickle your smart spot; this month we present to you The Sight Issue.

You would have noticed that your magazine has undergone a face-lift. We’ve morphed to a perfect square, unashamedly reiterating that it is indeed hip to be square. Being smart will get you everywhere – just ask Mark Shuttleworth, the first African in space.

There’s more: we’ve included a pullout centrefold of our newly defined galaxy for your wall or classroom (do you know why Pluto’s no longer a planet? Slide your fingers to the centre of the magazine to find out). Watch out for more special pullouts in future.

– HELEN KELLER

We’ve also recruited a team of expert contributors: a scientist with an honours degree in human genetics writes about growing-up body dilemmas; an industrial designer shows us inside a washing machine; a local songbird gives her take on the latest CDs, and an animator reviews Spider-Man 3.

But our most important new contributor is you. We have readers giving feedback on events and reviewing books and we introduce our Game Lab, where you get to test the latest games on the market. Take a journey with us on every page – and let us know what you think. Write to us at talk2us@hip2b2.com and be sure to visit the revamped www.hip2b2.com website.

Our vision is clear: to be the smartest youth magazine on the planet.

How can we, you might ask, since this magazine is only distributed in South Africa?

In a few years’ time it could be your eyes evaluating the images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope or your hands holding the formula for an AIDS cure – all because of inspiration given birth through reading this magazine, through living the ethos that’s Hip2b2: Think. What you can be.

Turn that thought into a vision, and the vision into reality.

Editor Nevelia Heilbron Art Director Anton Pietersen Managing Editor Mandy J Watson Editorial Consultants Stefania Johnson • Ami Kapilevich Creative Director Crispian Brown Publisher Jaco Scholtz Production Manager Shirley Quinlan Reproduction New Media Repro Advertising Director Aileen O’ Brien • Tel: 021 417 1228 Ad Executive Londiwe Mosito • Tel: 011 263 4765 Contributors Nikki Benatar, Anthony Samboer, Trevor van de Ven, Kate Carmichael, Darrin Hofmeyr, Jill Cicero Sub-editor Mandy J Watson Proofreader John Linnegar PUBLISHED ON BEHALF OF BSQUARE COMMUNICATIONS Communications Manager Kate Evans Published by New Media Publishing (Pty) Ltd Tel: 021 417 111 • Fax: 021 417 1112 Managing Director Bridget McCarney Executive Directors Irna van Zyl, Naomi Herselman, John Psillos All rights reserved. While precautions have been taken to ensure the accuracy of information, the editor, publisher and New Media Publishing cannot be held liable for any inaccuracies, injury or damages that may arise.

Printed by Paarl Print

PHOTOGRAPH: JOHAN WILKE • HAIR AND MAKEUP: MARELI SERFONTEIN

CHAT ROOM

NEVELIA

WHERE’S KATE? Kate Evans, the founding editor of Hip2b2 magazine, has been promoted to communications manager of BSquare Communications and will now be responsible for overseeing all Hip2b2 platforms – including the magazine, website, mobizine, Brand Ambassadors, and other projects. We say, you go, girl!

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US

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at Science Unlimited Week, Pretoria, March 2007.

KATLEHO TSIU

Grade 11, St Barnabas College, Bosman Favourite subject: Geography ‘ The two ways I think electricity has benefited my life is the vacuum cleaner and escalators. ’ MARINUS SCHURINK

Grade 10, Hoërskool Waterkloof, Pretoria Favourite subject: Drama ‘ I’d like to become a forensic scientist so that I can act in CSI. ’

Grade 10, Badirile High School, Gauteng Favourite subject: Biology ‘ I like science because you use it in everyday life in ways that you might not expect or be aware of. I’d like to be a doctor. ’ PABALLO MOTHOPENG

Grade 12, Resolofetse High School, Potchefstroom Favourite subject: Biology ‘ I love maths because it’s difficult and I’m the best learner on higher grade at our school. I’d like to be a radiographer one day. ’ HOPE KADIAKA

Grade 9, St Paul’s Middle School, North West Favourite subject: Maths because it’s stimulating and interesting. ‘ I’d like to be a scientist when I grow up so that I can invent something to help fight poverty. ’

Grade 12, Resolofetse High School, Potchefstroom Favourite subject: Science ‘ I’d like to study chemical engineering and start my own company, teaching the next generation. Everything we do is basically science. ’

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We pay respect to Leonardo DiCaprio for his ongoing commitment to raising awareness of environmental issues. This Hollywood hunk has been going green to the Oscars since 2005 by pulling up in eco-friendly hybrid cars. Visit his eco site www.leonardodicaprio.org for news on his planet-saving projects. (By the way, Leo, nice accent in Blood Diamond.)

A

APRIL NHLANHLA

YOU SAID IT

JUDITH JAAROUD

RESPECT

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Grade 12, St Benedicts College, Johannesburg

H

RYAN PAUSLEN

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I would just like to comment on the ‘Warning! Global Warming’ article that was in the March issue. It is really great that more and more people every day are becoming aware and spreading awareness of global warming. Global warming is slowly killing our beautiful Earth, and the onus is on us to solve the problem.

Global warming might be a frightening concept but the only reason it has become so terrible is because people have chosen to ignore it, allowing it to grow. If we unite and spread awareness, together we can gradually overcome this problem.

We should make a greater effort to fix our errors, because we are tearing our world apart and soon we will have no world to live on.

KA T

Share your news, views and pictures – and please include your contact details, school and grade. • Write to: Hip2b2, PO Box 440, Green Point 8051 • Email: talk2us@hip2b2.com or win@hip2b2.com

YOU WROTE

Who do you nominate for the Hip2b2 badge of respect and why?

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FORUM

1 550 00 0 Hip2b

EYE WITNESS

Grahamstown, March 2007.

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E PHOTOGRAPHS: NEVELIA HEILBRON AND GALLO IMAGES/GETTYIMAGES.COM

YAZEED KHAN

Grade 11, St Barnabas College, Bosman Favourite subject: Geography ‘ I’d like to be an environmental engineer and recycle water for a cleaner environment. ‘ DONOVAN DU PLESSIS

Grade 10, Hoërskool Waterkloof, Pretoria Favourite subject: Design ‘ I find science interesting but I don’t understand all of it. ‘ JOHANNES MAGOAZA

Grade 10, Badirile High School, Gauteng Favourite subject: Science, because it teaches me things I don’t know. ‘ I think the best thing about science is electricity that allows us to boil water. ‘ Visit www.hip2b2.com for more comments.

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If, like me, you’re a science boffin and want to open your eyes to more science and technology then the Sasol SciFest is a must. Every year over 200 schools attend it and the organisers bring in experts from all over the world. This year’s theme was ‘ Make Science Count ’.

One of the best displays was from our own University of KwaZulu-Natal, which demonstrated some quirky inventions such as a micro steam-powered car made from painttin lids and sheet metal and pop-pop boats made in a similar way, showing how simple ingenuity can create a cheap, resourceful demonstration of technology.

One of the most exciting things for me was meeting real-life scientists such as Professor Jacques Christian, who hosted a rocket workshop. We all had a chance to make our own cardboard rockets and fire them on top of a nearby hill. Since rocketry is one of my favourite pastimes I already had some experience and my 30cm rocket went the highest, reaching 175m.

The SciFest is so diverse and this year we had workshops ranging from glassblowing to laser shows and various lectures such as the gruesome world of forensic entomology. Unlike some of the members of the audience, I stayed to the end of this one!

If you’d like to know more, visit the Sasol SciFest website at www.scifest.org.za.

N U M B E R S

reports on the Sasol SciFest,

B Y

Grade 8, St Davids Marist College, Johannesburg

H I P

BEN CUTHBERTSON

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magazines have been given away since it launched in August 2005.

1 721,25 mm 3 is the volume of an issue of Hip2b2 magazine; the total area of its pages (including front and back covers) is 2 386,8mm2.

37 added to the number of times a cricket clicks in 15 seconds gives you the day’s temperature in Fahrenheit – a fact that gardeners have known for ages according to NASA’s website. Visit www.nasa.gov for lots of fascinating stuff.

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lucky readers can win a smart, small, sexy Hip2b2 MP3 player. Simply write or email us the mathematical formula for the volume of a cylinder. (Tip: fast forward to the Smart Maths section.)

Please title all your entries: HipMP3.

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planets remain in our solar system because Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet status. Can you name them? Have a look at our pullout centrefold or visit the website www.nineplanets.org.

6a m

today in South Africa is 6pm yesterday in Hawaii, USA, and 1pm today in Tokyo, Japan. Why? Because the world is split into 24 time zones. This way the Sun is directly overhead at noon wherever you are.

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MANDY J WATSON

FA NT THE AS TIC

Loves… dreaming. Humour.

Documenting her world through writing and photography.

Hates… mediocrity and lying.

Admires… integrity.

Envies… no one.

Dreams about… possibilities.

Wishes… people would talk less and listen more.

Ace r on M eporter Neve andy J W Pixie Jo team lia Heilb atson, hnson g at Hi ron – Anton ets th e p2b 2 the mag supe Pietersen lowdow n azine r-po were and . d ne w

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PROFILES

ANTON PIETERSEN

Loves… music.

Hates… troublemakers.

Admires… humble, honest people.

Envies… those in heaven.

Collects… CDs. Dreams about… better days.

Wishes… upon a star.

Gets angry when… people

are wasteful.

Cries when… he stumps his baby toe.

NEVELIA HEILBRON, EDITOR

Nevelia dances (preferably barefoot) to her own rhythm – whether organising a youth-group camp or notching up one more editorship in her young and trendy belt.

What does your job entail? Conceptualising,

editing, managing, loving, and living the smartest youth mag on the planet!

What do you need to be a magazine editor?

Ideally, a degree in languages or journalism, the ability to multitask and stay cool under pressure – and a vision for your magazine that you eat, sleep, and believe in. You need to make words and visuals dance together in such a way that someone with two left feet can feel the rhythm.

When did you know that journalism was for you? That’s difficult to say because I went to

NEVELIA HEILBRON

Loves… dancing. Chocolate. Her

mom’s cooking. The ocean. Perfume.

Hates… prejudice. Spicy food. Bad

body odour.

Admires… people who live out their dreams. And anyone who orders dessert before their main meal.

Collects… money for Colleen’s Place of Hope – a shelter for abandoned children.

Dreams about… writing documentaries.

Wishes… to spend more time at the beach.

Relaxes by… jogging.

Cries when… someone steals her chocolate.

university intending to study politics. In high school I always said I’d love to be an editor.

What have you edited? The Club magazine for the JD Group (Joshua Doore) and, recently, Off-Limits (a youth magazine), Growing Up and Diner for Edgars.

Career highlights? Becoming editor for the first time at 23. Interviewing people that inspired me, from celebrities, such as Kabelo and Jack Devnerain, to everyday angels, such as Colleen Naidoo who runs a children’s shelter.

Lowlights? Working until 11pm on a Saturday.

Where did you go to school? The Settlers High School, Bellville.

What did you love about school? All the cultural activities.

And hate? Exams…

But you got an A aggregate in matric – can you share some exam tips? Pray! My headmaster

always told us it was important to keep a balance: study, exercise, relax, and get enough rest. Balance always works for me.

What did you do after school? I studied social

science at UCT. How did you get to be a candidate on the Dean’s Merit List? Not bunking too many

classes. Submitting my assignments on time.

Maintaining a 75% average.

What’s next? I’d like to hitch a ride with Mark Shuttleworth on his next journey into space.

In another life you would have been a…

chocolate maker.

Your secret ambition? To do an advanced

driving course with Fernando Alonso.

What ‘s important to you? My faith. My family

and friends.

Sum up your activities as a youth worker.

Organising life-skills programmes, camps, and fun activities for young people. Giving youth an alternative to destructive habits, such as substance abuse or reckless living.

Do you floss? Yes, every night. Do you know how much junk gathers in one day – gross!

Nobody knows this but you’re actually quite good at… Scrabble.

If you’d created the world you would have…

Taken more time to rest.

You’re a pretty good dancer – where did you learn? Dancing in front of the mirror.

I did ballet and modern dancing while growing up.

Favourite dance track? ’Rock This Party (Everybody Dance Now!)’ by Bob Sinclar.

High heels or flats? Barefoot.

If you could be a superhero, who would you choose? Mystique from X-Men: she’s the

ultimate shapeshifter, which would come in handy at deadlines.

And who would be your arch enemy?

Catwoman… way too much leather!

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One of the youngest magazine art directors in South Africa, Anton’s accelerated flight path up the publishing ladder includes a spell at the award-winning foodie publication Taste.

What’s with the hair? Experimenting.

What does your job entail? Designing a

magazine to make people want to read it.

What does it take to become a magazine art director? Artistic talent, a diploma in graphic

design, and hard work.

When did you first realise you could draw? When

I got my first hiding – don’t draw on walls.

Where did you go to school? Livingstone High School, Cape Town.

Were you a swot or a clot? Bit of both.

Favourite school subjects? Art and biology – I got to draw in both.

What didn’t you like about school? History and PE uniforms.

What sports did you play? Volleyball, athletics.

How do you spend weekends? I never plan.

Do you floss? Most of the time – especially

What did you do after school? I studied multimedia, then worked at various magazines, starting with a computer magazine, and each time stepped up the ladder to experience new things. You only grow through challenges.

In another life you would have been a… computer scientist, astronomer, filmmaker, or musician.

after eating a mielie.

Word is that you’re an ace at computer games?

If you were a beauty queen what charity would you endorse? Orphaned kids.

Why? They’re kids.

If you’d created the world you would have…

not created the snake.

If you could be a superhero, which one would you choose? Superman, it’s the best

disguise ever – the specs, not the tights.

Who are your role models in real life?

Friends and family, they’re the real deal.

In fiction? Spider-man: with great power comes great responsibility. And the Energiser bunny: never give up.

MANDY J WATSON, MANAGING

What did you study after school?

Graphic design at the Cape Technikon Design Institute.

What were the challenges of student life? No money – I had to get things right first time.

And the best part? Being a student.

What advice would you give kids who want to study graphic design? Ask the right questions.

Prepare to work hard. Love what you do.

How did you get to be Hip2b2’s art director?

Hard work and love for design.

Who do you admire? Mark Serra, the art director of Taste magazine – he can make all things beautiful – and the designers behind the Apple Mac and Sony technology.

What matters to you? Relationships, my faith.

In another life you would have been a…

great idea.

Your secret ambition? To be a rock star.

Your favourite things? CDs and cars.

Although it’s the first time she’s taken on the managing editor mantle, Mandy’s an ace at computer gaming, has designed websites from scratch, and is a stickler for precise punctuation.

What talents and qualifications do you need to be a managing editor? The ability to sweet

talk a crowd of scary people.

Where did you go to school? RGHS, Cape Town.

Were you a swot or a clot? Both. I never did

what I was supposed to be doing because I was too busy becoming a computer geek.

Everyone thought it was wasted time, except me. Guess who was right?

What did you love about high school? People learnt to leave me alone.

And hate? Pretty much everything.

I’ve been known to make grown men cry as I leave them in my gaming dust.

Your favourite games? My list goes back to the (early) ’80s. Recently I like the Final Fantasy series (especially Final Fantasy 8 and Final Fantasy X) – the graphics are superb. I’m a fan of the Wipeout anti-gravity racing games because of the high-speed action, and also enjoy the Jak games and Unreal Tournament.

Highest score? Depends on the game. You can find me in some of the world top-20 rankings for wipe3out at www.wipeoutzone.com.

Why do you love the Web? It is absolutely fascinating. Everything is out there; sites and people interested in any topic you EDITOR can think of. Sometimes I go to Korean or Japanese sites because they are so different. Yet there are millions of people who consider those sites normal and who think that sites we consider normal are weird.

Why does grammar matter? Grammar, spelling, and punctuation all matter – they are the building blocks of a language and evolve over centuries.

If you are proficient in a language you can communicate your ideas better, appear smarter, and therefore be taken seriously.

Any favourite words? ‘Obtuse’ and ‘abstruse’.

How often do you floss? Technically never, because my dentist does it for me twice a year.

PHOTOGRAPHS: JOHAN WILKE • HAIR AND MAKEUP: MARELI SERFONTEIN

ANTON PIETERSEN, ART DIRECTOR

Which superhero would you choose to be?

A combination of Superman, for the flying, and Batman, for the gadgets. We could call me Superbat(ty)(wo)man, although I would prefer Captain Disdain. And I would be able to teleport vast distances instantly.

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– IT’S THIS WASTE THAT MAKES YOU SMELL.

TROUT POUT What scientific use could fish scales possibly have? They are, in fact, what keep your lips sparkling. Most lipsticks contain fish scales – or, rather, the ‘shimmery’ substance of fish scales, called pearl essence (mainly sourced from herring). Not to worry, though, it is perfectly safe and one of the many by-products of largescale commercial fish processing. Now we know the real reason why you should suck a breath mint before a smooch.

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INTEL MEETS CHOPPER

Cellphones are useful devices but your parents may not be keen on you having one because of the potential dangers and dodgy content online.

If you can’t change their minds the i-Kids gadget (www.mobiles2go.co.za) might be an alternative.

Although you can store only four pre-programmed phone numbers in it, it can receive SMSs from any number. There’s an emergency function – you press one button and it will call all of the numbers stored until someone picks up – as well as a nifty GPS chip that works with satellites so that your location can be pinpointed even when the phone is off. If you think it’s a bit too basic for your needs suggest that your parents get one for each of your younger siblings to keep them safe.

To celebrate its new ‘QuadCore Intel Xeon processor 5300 series’, Intel teamed up with Orange County Choppers to build an Intel-branded 250-horsepower chopper motorbike. The dream machine, which sadly will never be available to the public, showcases Intel’s embedded technology by incorporating computer functions into a completely different kind of technology (a motorbike).

Features include PC-powered fingerprint recognition, digital gauges, integrated audio and video systems, GPS/satellite navigation and wireless connectivity.

Cameras replace rear-view mirrors (they capture what is going on behind the bike and display it on a screen on top of the tank) and the computerised dashboard can be removed and used as a mobile computer.

SMART TECHNOLOGY

SAFE MY MATE

the science of everyday things

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SMART TECHNOLOGY

ANOTHER LEVEL The new wireless controller has built-in sensors to gauge if you are moving it up-down, leftright, and forwards-backwards.

It can also sense roll, pitch, and yaw movements, such as when you are flying in a flight simulator. If the game you are playing supports it, you can now actually control your on-screen characters simply by moving the controller around – no more pressing buttons or using the control sticks. Game on!

BY TREVOR VAN DE VEN AND AMI KAPILEVICH

The PlayStation 3 (www.playstation.co.za) reached South Africa earlier this year, and it was worth the wait. The new console packs a lot of impressive technology into its small case, including a DVD player for the new Blu-ray format (a type of DVD that holds more information than current discs, so the sound quality is much better and you can get crisper images on your TV). The most interesting new piece of technology is the SIXAXIS wireless controller, which replaces the DualShock 2 controller.

FAST FACT The PlayStation 3 is about 40 times more powerful than the PlayStation 2.

Botswana Aircon Botswana gets hot – really hot – and air conditioning can be costly. So if you’re the owners of Ngepi camp in Botswana you get bush savvy and install a sprinkler nozzle at the top of each conical thatch roof. When you turn on the sprinkler it showers the bungalow’s roof with river water. As the water evaporates, it cools the room down by up to 5˚C. That’s because the bungalow is a diathermic system: it exchanges heat with its surroundings. The water molecules absorb the energy (heat) of the bungalow as they evaporate. You use the same principle to cool yourself when you sweat.

LISTEN UP

LOW-TECH MOMENT

The Nokia 5300 XpressMusic phone (http://mea.nokia.com/A4199012) ditches the usual business features and makes better use of its memory and processor by offering music-geared functions such as direct access to the MP3 player through the controls on the sliding mechanism. An adapter allows you to plug in your own headphones. The phone features a 1,3-megapixel digital camera and comes with a 512 MB microSD card so you can store all your music and pictures (you can buy a larger card – up to 2 GB – if you want to).

SMART WIN You could win a copy of How Cool Stuff Works published by Dorling Kindersley and distributed by Penguin Books in SA. To enter write to: Hip2b2 Cool Stuff Giveaway, PO Box 440, Green Point 8051 or email: win@hip2b2.com. Please include the name of the giveaway, your name, contact details, school and grade. The closing date is 30 June 2007.

Winners will be notified and their names will be published on the website.

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we take it apart

DECONSTRUCTION

The solenoid valve opens water valves, allowing hot or cold water into the machine.

Water from the taps travels via the hose into the machine to the washing-powder tray.

A cast concrete block acts as a counterweight to the motor and stabilises the machine.

Washing powder and fabric softener are washed from the tray to the inner drum.

The spring helps to absorb any harsh vibrations created by the drum spinning.

The metal frame adds to the rigidity of the machine.

The ywheel is directly connected to the inner drum and is turned by a motor via a big belt.

The perforated stainless steel drum spins in both directions, tossing clothes through soapy water to clean them.

When the drum spins at over 1 400rpm water is forced out through the holes in order to dry the clothes.

The heating element heats up the water.

Shock absorbers stabilise the inner drum as it spins.

The ďŹ lter traps lint and other dirt and can be cleaned from the front of the machine.

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The water pump pushes dirty water through the outlet pipe.

5/9/07 3:04:58 PM

THE WASHING MACHINE

The water from the washingpowder tray runs into the inner stainless steel drum.

The cast concrete block acts as counterweight to the motor and stabilises the machine.

The rigid plastic drum houses a stainless steel drum.

BY ANTHONY SAMBOER • ILLUSTRATIONS: ANTHONY SAMBOER AND BRUCE FARTHING

THE INNER WORKINGS

Let’s assume you took your family’s washing machine apart – in the name of science, of course. This is what you’d find. The back service panel, held together with screws, gives you access to the flywheel and motor.

The motor drives the flywheel via a reinforced rubber belt, rather like a car's fan belt. The flywheel is connected directly to the perforated stainless steel drum that holds the clothes. An outer drum surrounds it.

The outer drum seals in the water and lets it circulate in and out via openings on the top and bottom. The machine washes your clothes by moving them back and forth, allowing the soapy water to penetrate the fibres. To dry the clothes the inner drum spins the entire wash tub, forcing the water out.

All the components are attached to a rigid inner metal frame. Solenoid valves and a water pump regulate water flow.

Even basic washing machines have a considerable amount of wiring on the inside and are well insulated from potential water leaks. An LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or LED (Light Emitting Diode) coupled to a compact computer module allows the user to interface with the washer.

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The spring helps to absorb any harsh vibrations from the spinning drum.

Shock absorbers stabilise the inner drum as it spins.

OUR FAVOURITE BITS:

The motor spins the drum at over 1 400rpm and is attached to the outer drum by means of bolts.

The motor has to be the coolest part: it is capable of spinning at more than 1 400 revolutions per minute. The intelligent computer programs built into the latest washing machines are pretty impressive too: you press a button and they calculate the most efficient cycle to use based on the fabric type and weight of the clothes you’ve just tossed in.

WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED? Like cars, washing machines have shock absorbers and springs. This is necessary to absorb the vibrations from the spinning drum during the wash cycle and thereby isolate the movement.

SHOCK HORROR: Did you know that cast concrete blocks are used inside washing machines for stability? The block counterbalances the motor when the washer is spinning. This also explains why washing machines 15 are so heavy.

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FAST FACTS WHAT HAPPENED TO PLUTO?

Uranus was discovered only in 1781 by William Herschel, who originally named it Georgium Sidus (the Georgian star). It was later renamed to be in line with the other planets.

Surface: It has no solid surface as it is a gas giant.

Atmosphere: Hydrogen, helium and methane.

Temperature: A uniform temperature of -205.15°C. Rotation of its axis: 17 hours.

Rotation around the Sun: 30 707 days or 84 Earth years.

Satellites: 27 Rings: 11

In August 2006 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) held a meeting to rework the official definition of what a planet is. The proceedings took days and astronomers presented their ideas before arguing over the points. Eventually they came to the following conclusions: In the solar system, a planet is a celestial body that: • is in orbit around the Sun; • has enough mass so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium shape (which means that it is nearly round); and • has ‘cleared the neighbourhood’ around its orbit (which means that it has swept most smaller bodies out of its way in its orbit).

Because Pluto meets only the first two of these points (it still has to sweep a lot of space debris out of its path) it can no longer be considered a planet and has been reclassified as a ‘dwarf planet’ along with Ceres, Eris and Charon.

DID YOU KNOW?

Mars is named after the Roman god of war because of its blood-red colour, which is caused by iron-rich dust.

Surface: Canyons, dunes, volcanoes and polar caps of water ice and carbon dioxide ice.

Atmosphere: Carbon dioxide (96%).

Temperature: The temperature can drop as low as -140°C and reaches a high of about 20°C. Rotation of its axis: 24 Earth hours, 37 minutes, 23 seconds.

Rotation around the Sun: 686.96 Earth days.

Satellites: 2

Neptune is a stormy blue planet that was discovered when astronomers realised that something was exerting a gravitational pull on Uranus.

Surface: The surface is a liquid layer that is covered with thick clouds and with constant, raging storms.

Atmosphere: Hydrogen, helium, methane and ammonia.

Temperature: The average temperature is -220.15°C. Rotation of its axis: 16 hours and 7 minutes.

Rotation around the Sun: 164.88 Earth years.

Satellites: 13 Rings: 4

The IAU is a group of astronomical societies from around the world. It makes important decisions regarding disputes that may arise in astronomy when scientists have different opinions regarding a situation and an official decision needs to be made. The society is also in charge of naming celestial bodies.

1 The planet that orbits the fastest around the Sun is Mercury. A full orbit takes 88 days.

2 The planet that orbits the slowest around the Sun is Neptune. A full orbit takes 165 years.

3 Ceres is the dwarf planet that orbits fastest around the Sun. A full orbit takes 4½ years.

4 Eris is the dwarf planet that orbits slowest around the Sun: a full orbit takes 556 years.

It is also the largest dwarf planet in our solar system. It was only discovered in January 2005 and is named after the Greek goddess of strife and discord. When it was discovered it was given the nickname ‘Xena’.

5 The smallest dwarf planet in our solar system is Ceres. It is named after the Roman goddess of growing plants and motherly love. It has no moons and measures 950km in diameter.

6 Pluto is the second largest dwarf planet in our solar system. It cannot be seen by the naked eye – only telescopes measuring 10 inches (about 25cm) in diameter and larger can see it.

7 The distance from Earth to the Sun is roughly 149 598 000km. Astronomers call this an astronomical unit (AU). The distance from the Sun to Pluto is 39AU. 8 If you travelled at 120 kilometres per second by car to Pluto from Earth it would take you 5 403 years.

9 Light travels at 299 792 458 metres per second, which is 1 079 252 848.8 kilometres per hour.

Information courtesy of Astro’s.

IMAGE: THE INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION/MARTIN KOMMESSER • SOURCES: WIKIPEDIA.ORG, BRITTANICA.COM, NASA.GOV, FACTMONSTER.COM

Saturn has majestic rings that surround it.

Surface: Liquid and gas.

Atmosphere: Hydrogen and helium.

Temperature: The average temperature is -130.15°C. Rotation of its axis: 10 hours, 40 minutes, 24 seconds.

Rotation around the Sun: 29.46 Earth years.

Satellites: 57 confirmed and three unconfirmed.

Rings: There are four main groups of rings and three fainter and narrower ring groups: these seven groups comprise thousands of smaller rings.

2.8 billion km from the Sun

1.4 billion km from the Sun

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system and was named after the most important Roman god because of its size.

Surface: Jupiter is a hot ball of gas and liquid.

Atmosphere: Whirling clouds of coloured dust, hydrogen, helium, methane, water vapour and ammonia. The Great Red Spot is an intense wind storm that is larger than Earth.

Temperature: -121.5°C on average.

Rotation of its axis: 9 hours and 55 minutes.

Rotation around the Sun: 11.8 Earth years.

Satellites: 63 Rings: 4

4.4 billion km from the Sun

Venus is often called Earth’s twin because the two planets are close in size. It is also known as the ‘morning star’ and the ‘evening star’ since it is visible at these times to the unaided eye.

Surface: A rocky, dusty, waterless expanse of mountains, canyons and plains, with a 322km river of hardened lava.

Atmosphere: Carbon dioxide (95%), nitrogen, sulphuric acid and traces of other elements.

Temperature: It can be as high as 470°C at the surface.

Rotation of its axis: 243 Earth days.

Rotation around the Sun: 224.7 Earth days.

778.3 million km from the Sun

Earth is not perfectly round; it bulges at the equator and is flatter at the poles. From space the planet looks blue with white swirls, which are created by water and clouds.

Surface: Earth comprises water (70%), air and solid ground. It appears to be the only planet with water.

Atmosphere: Nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%) and other gases.

Temperature: The temperature can drop to as low as -88.3°C or climb as high as 57.7°C but the average is about 14°C. Rotation of its axis: 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4 seconds.

Rotation around the Sun: 365.2 days.

Satellites: 1

227.9 million km from the Sun

The Sun is a star that is at the centre of our solar system. It is about 4.57 billion years old. All the planets orbit around it, as do asteroids, dwarf planets and some comets.

Composition: It comprises hydrogen (73.46%), helium (24.85%) and trace amounts of other gases, including oxygen and carbon.

Temperature: The surface of the Sun has an average temperature of about 5 700°C. The corona is much hotter, at several million degrees Celsius.

Surface area: 11 900 Earths.

Volume: 1 300 000 Earths.

Mass: 332 946 Earths.

149.6 million km from the Sun

Mercury has almost no atmosphere and its dusty surface of craters resembles the Moon.

Surface: It is covered by a dusty layer of minerals (silicates).

The surface comprises plains, cliffs and craters.

Atmosphere: A thin mixture of helium (95%) and hydrogen.

Temperature: Mercury alternately bakes and freezes, depending on which side is lit by the Sun. The sunlit side can reach up to 467°C and the dark side can drop as low as -170°C. Rotation of its axis: 58.64 Earth days.

Rotation around the Sun: 88 Earth days.

108.2 million km from the Sun

57.9 million km from the Sun

OUR SOLAR SYSTEM

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309044/E/HIP

Hip2b2 is launching a Brand Ambassador programme and you may be just the person we’re looking for. If you’re pretty hot stuff academically, have good people skills, and can communicate ideas well, then we want you to apply.

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The Evolution of the Eye

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THE SCIENCE OF SIGHT

How the eye works hat is sight, exactly?

Well, one reply is ‘images that my brain makes from information that my eyes IRIS give it’. This is not a bad CORNEA answer because it implies that vision is a two-part PUPIL process: 1) the eye is stimulated by its environment; 2) the stimuli are LENS processed by the brain. In humans, the photoreceptor cells are your retina. The retina is really just a strip of millions of photoreceptors, in the shape of either a tubular rod or a pointed cone, at the back of your eyeball. Rods are found on the outside of the retina and are used to see when photons are scarce (when it’s dark). Cones, found in the middle of the retina, are used when there’s plenty of light. They ‘see’ details such as colour. The ‘eyeball’ part of your eye is actually a

development of the concave (cup-like) evolution of the eye. Along with the cornea, iris, and pupil it forms part of a lens mechanism that helps to focus the photons RETINA (light) onto the retina itself.

This brings us to the second part of eyesight – the brain. The optic nerve carries a chemical signal from the retina to the brain (‘I am being hit by photons there and there!’), and the brain then creates mental OPTIC NERVE images out of these chemical signals (‘Wow! I am seeing a total babe!’). The part of the brain that processes eyesight is called the visual cortex. This is situated right at the back of your head and uses up to a quarter – some say two-thirds – of your entire brain. By the way, it is a myth that we use only 10% of our brains. We use our entire brain, all the time, because different areas of our brain control different things.

VITREOUS HUMOUR

Want more detail? Visit: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/bigeye.html

Over time the photoreceptor cells either grow outward in a bump (convex) or collapse inward like a crater (concave).

This allows the photoreceptors to tell the animal from which direction the light is coming.

Modern flatworms, limpets, and clams still have these types of eyes.

450 million years ago

Light-sensitive cells are called photoreceptor cells, or opsin proteins.

As these cells become more advanced, light particles (photons) trigger a chemical reaction that tells the creature if it is night or day, if it has crawled into somewhere dark and safe, or if any large objects are approaching.

470 million years ago

An animal (probably a‘prickly-skinned’ echinoderm such as the starfish) develops a spot with light-sensitive cells on it. While this wasn’t exactly an eye as we know it, it told the animal if any other object or animal was close to it so it could either run away or attack.

Before that all animals actually had to touch or crash into other animals and objects to tell that they were there.

500 million years ago

The first arthropods (ancient ancestors of modern insects, spiders, crabs and even microscopic plankton) begin to appear. They are blind.

550 million years ago

570 million years ago

The images on the left illustrate the evolution of an eye from a flat, lightsensitive patch of skin to a concave eye. To find out more about this, visit www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/1/l_011_01.html (While you’re there, have a look at the video clip. It’s very cool.)

In mammals the crater of the concave eye deepens and the sides grow together to leave just a small pinhole for the light to enter (refer to the diagram above, left). Although this helps to focus the light, it also means there is less light entering, making the images dimmer. To counteract this the lens part of the cornea develops to intensify the light.

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Eye Q&A

with Professor Eric Chudler of the University of Washington.

1. Why do humans have two eyes, not one or three?

Two eyes provide us with the ability to see in depth. The brain makes quick comparisons of the information given between the two eyes, which allows us to see in 3D. To test this, throw a ball to your friend, then ask him to keep one eye closed and throw the ball again, but upwards this time instead of towards him. He will try to catch it because he won’t have any depth perception.

2. Why are some animals’ eyes at the front of their head and others on the sides?

Eyes at the front of the head provide animals with better depth perception, while eyes at the side provide a larger field of view. Predators usually have eyes facing forwards; animals that are prey usually have eyes on the sides of their heads.

detecting movement. They also allow the animal to judge exactly where the movement is coming from.

4. What does it mean to be colour blind?

People who are colour blind have problems telling the difference between different colours. This happens because there are three different types of cone cells in the retina If you are colour blind you may not be and they see different able to see the number in this image. colours. When one or more of these cells is damaged it is difficult to see the colours associated with them.

3. What does 20/20 vision mean?

20/20 vision is considered normal vision.

It means that a person can be 20 feet away to read what a ‘normal’ person can read at a distance of 20 feet.

5. Why do insects have compound eyes?

Compound eyes create an image of the world through dozens (sometimes hundreds!) of separate ‘windows’ and so are excellent for

6. Do animals see in black and white?

Many animals have some ability to see colour but not all animals see the colours that we see. Some animals, such as dogs and horses, are colour blind. Others can see ultraviolet or infra-red light, which we can’t see. Bees can see patterns in flowers that humans can’t.

7. Why do people have different-coloured eyes (brown, blue, or green)?

Eye colour is determined by the amount of pigment you have in the iris. The iris is the muscle that opens and closes the pupil (which lets light into the eye).

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THE SCIENCE OF SIGHT

How lenses work Lenses work by refracting (bending) light that passes through them. When we look through a magnifying glass we are actually seeing a virtual image of the object through the lens because our eyes project the light rays from the object through the lens, creating a bigger virtual image. So the eye is using the lens to create a larger image of what is being looked at. Optical microscopes and telescopes work by projecting the virtual image inside the instrument and then using another lens to magnify that virtual image. So it’s a virtual image of a virtual image.

EYE

VIRTUAL IMAGE

LENS ACTUAL OBJECT

Why spectacles? and where the first pair may have come from.

It is thought that spectacles were invented in Italy in the early 13th century. We’re not sure exactly who invented them but we do know that they were probably used for reading and had convex lenses.

(Concave lenses that help you to see further were only developed much later.) These days most glasses aren’t even made of glass but from a special type of plastic, called CR-39.

These celebrities have not let It does not break as their sight impairments stand easily as glass and is in their way: also lighter. Contact Anastacia lenses perform the Andrea Bocelli same function as Jennifer Aniston glasses except they Michelle Pfeiffer sit right on the eye Ronan Keating itself. (Interesting Demi Moore fact: early versions Chris Evans Stevie Wonder

BLIND AMBITION

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of contact lenses did not allow oxygen through to the eye, which suffocated the cornea, so contact lenses could only be used after the invention of a special type of material that allowed oxygen through.)

Glasses are basically lenses used to correct human eyes that don’t focus properly onto the retina. They compensate for the faulty focusing of the eye. The three most common eyesight problems that can be corrected by wearing glasses are: • Myopia or short-sightedness: objects close to you are clear and objects further away are blurry.

• Hyperopia, presbyopia, or far-sightedness: you can see things that are far away but you can’t focus on things close to you.

• Astigmatism: the eye’s natural lens (cornea) is not symmetrically shaped so objects appear curved or blurry. One in three people is astigmatic.

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They may give us very different perspectives on the world but each of these instruments is really

MICROSCOPE The first microscope was developed in the Netherlands although there is a dispute as to who gets credit for it. Galileo Galilei coined the term ‘microscope’ in 1609 but it was Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723) who first used it to see the zoo of life that exists in a drop of water. Van Leeuwenhoek studied thousands of microscopic objects, from single-cellular organisms such as yeast and bacteria to blood cells flowing through veins.

There are many microscopes that do not rely on light and lenses to magnify an object. The image you see above – a dust mite on human skin – was created by an electron microscope, which fires a beam of electrons at an object and forms an image by analysing how and where the electrons are deflected. Modern electron microscopes can magnify an object up to 2 million times – but that’s nothing. A scanning probe microscope can see individual atoms on the surface of an object by running the tip of a very sharp, very sensitive device over them. These microscopes can magnify more than 20 million times.

NIGHT VISION The human eye can only see the types of light that make up the spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet). What we don’t see is that the spectrum actually continues further in both directions with infra-red (‘under’ red) and ultraviolet (‘above’ purple/violet) light. We can’t see infra-red light but we can feel it – it is emitted as heat by objects. Night-vision goggles are designed to see heat rather than light.

Night-vision goggles see in one of two ways: 1) Image enhancement works by enhancing whatever little light there is, even if we aren’t sensitive enough to realise it’s there, as there are always a few photons (light particles) flying about. Night-vision goggles can act as a super-sensitive retina.

2) Thermal imaging sees heat rather than light. Infra-red light is ‘seen’ by a special infra-red detector that then translates the information into a thermogram (heat picture) that you see. The coolest thing about night-vision technology is that it can let you see if anything has been touched or disturbed, such as if something has been buried or if a change has been made to a wall. Law-enforcement officials have been able to take advantage of this when investigating certain cases.

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BY AMI KAPILEVICH PHOTOGRAPHS: GALLO IMAGES/GETTYIMAGES COM AND ISTOCK PHOTOS SALT PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF S POTTER (SAAO)

Super Vision

THE SCIENCE OF SIGHT

doing the same thing: enhancing the power of the eye and changing the way we see and think about the world.

BY AMI KAPILEVICH • PHOTOGRAPHS: GALLO IMAGES/GETTYIMAGES.COM AND ISTOCK PHOTOS • SALT PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF S POTTER (SAAO)

X-RAY

TELESCOPES

X-rays are just one of many types of electromagnetic waves. They were discovered by Wilhelm Röntgen, a German scientist, when he realised that electron beams from his cathode-ray tube – an ‘electron gun’, a new and exciting invention in 1895 – were creating images on a barium platinocyanide-covered piece of cardboard. The X-rays would penetrate ‘soft’ materials such as flesh but be absorbed by dense substances such as bone.

Modern telescopes see stars and objects that are billions of light years away from the Earth. (A light year is the distance that light travels in one year. It is equal to 9,46 x 1012km, or over nine trillion kilometres.) This means that it takes the light from those objects billions of years to reach the Earth, so the astronomers are seeing those objects as they were billions of years ago. And so will you, if you just look up at the stars.

The Micro-cosmos

The image you see above is of a human large intestine and colon. Notice that some areas of the intestine are whiter than others. That’s because in order for us to see a ‘soft’ tissue, such as an intestine, the person who is having the X-ray taken must swallow a special liquid called barium sulphate that then shows up on the screen.

The image that you see above is of the Great Orion Nebula. A nebula is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen gas, and plasma. In some nebulas stars are formed. The Orion Nebula is the closest such nebula to Earth, a mere 1 500 light years away. In fact, it is the light of the stars in the gas clouds that make them ‘shine’ so spectacularly. Stars are where all matter is formed. They are concentrations of energy.

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THE SCIENCE OF SIGHT

Optical illusions There are many academic definitions as to what an optical illusion actually is. Is it the art of seeing something that’s not really there or is it not seeing something that is there? Is it a question of mind over matter or can your eyes really deceive you?

An optical illusion is an image that is perceived in such a way that upon closer inspection makes no sense to the viewer. It’s deceptive or misleading in such a way that it tricks the brain into interpreting the information sent to it by the eye in a way that to some degree is wrong.

It deceives the human visual system into perceiving something that is not present or incorrectly perceiving what is present.

An optical phenomenon results in a false or deceptive visual impression.

DID YOU KNOW

that one of the largest telescopes in the world is found in South Africa? The massive Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) in Sutherland, Western Cape, uses a hexagonal mirror array 11 metres across.

Visit www.salt.ac.za for more information.

FIND YOUR DOMINANT EYE

Is the top centre circle bigger?

Measure them both to find out.

English painter Bridget Riley is one of the foremost proponents of op art – art that exploits the fallibity of the human eye.

Want to learn more? Visit: www.mishabittleston.com/artists/bridget_riley/

What do you see in this picture?

Two faces or a vase?

Just as you get left- and right-handed people, you also get left- and right-eyed people. To find out which one you are, cut a golf ball-sized hole in a piece of cardboard. Hold the cardboard in front of you and look at an object through the hole with both eyes open. Slowly bring the cardboard towards your face until you are looking through the hole with one eye. This is your dominant eye!

FAST FACTS

Would you believe that these three parallel lines are of equal length?

Measure them with a ruler to see.

• The largest eye ever recorded, at 37cm in diameter, belongs to the giant squid. The human eye is 2,5cm in diameter.

• One of the smallest creatures with an eye and a nervous system is the hydra.

It is microscopic and is neither a plant nor an animal.

• People blink about 20 times a minute – that’s 10 000 times a day. If one blink lasts 0,3 seconds then we spend 3 000 seconds – almost an hour – each day with our eyes closed just blinking.

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5/4/07 4:15:14 PM

WHAT IS A BRAND AMBASSADOR ANYWAY?

A whole world of opportunity lies ahead for our Brand Ambassadors. You will be the face of the brand and will be a big part of what happens at Hip2b2.

You could end up starring in the TV show, being a writer for the magazine, creating a blog for us or even recording video and audio podcasts for the website – perfect for budding journalists and those that are interested in broadcasting or media.

S C I E N C E Chemistry and physics aren’t just school subjects to you, and you could probably create something extraordinary using only weird things you’ve found in the kitchen….

C O M P U T E R S You could hack and crash the securest government systems (although we would prefer that you didn’t…), create great websites with ease, and you have a passion for computers that you’re willing to share.

M A T H S Do you have a gift with numbers and formulas? Maths talent + application = successful Brand Ambassador.

HOW TO APPLY

I N V E N T I O N If you’re constantly tinkering and taking apart appliances for parts for your own wacky inventions, you could be our next Thomas Edison.

E N T R E P R E N E U R S H I P Have you started your own successful business or service? Are you on the fast track to building an empire?

You’ll get to buff up your CV with some interesting work experience and we’ll help you to develop your talents, putting you on the fast track to exciting study and career opportunities.

We will be recruiting Brand Ambassadors from various provinces but you’ll have to be a pretty unique person to be selected. You should have a proven track record in one of the following areas:

To apply to be a Hip2b2 Brand Ambassador, please visit www.hip2b2.com to download the official application form. You will also need to supply us with a motivating letter from either a parent or teacher stating which category you are applying for (Science, Invention, Entrepreneurship, Maths, or Computers).

The applications close at the end of June and the interviews will commence in July.

If you don’t have access to a computer, you’ll be able to view the application questions on your cellphone on one of the Hip2b2 mobizine channels.

See page 10 to find out how to subscribe.

We can’t wait to hear from you!

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SCI DIY

Make a solar-powered oven Amaze your friends, surprise your mother: use nothing but the Sun’s energy and a little inventiveness to cook up a storm. (Okay, maybe just a hot dog or two.)

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5 WHAT YOU NEED pizza box • ruler • marker pen • scissors • plastic wrap • aluminum foil • black paper • tape or non-toxic glue • drinking straw • a sunny day • hot dogs (viennas and rolls)

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HOW YOU DO IT 1 Draw a square on top of the pizza box, 3cm in from the edges, and cut along three of the sides to make a flap.

2 Cover the flap with foil with the shiny side facing out. Use tape or glue to make it stick.

Press out any wrinkles with your fingers.

3 Cover the inside of the box (the bottom and the sides) with foil in the same way, shiny side up.

4 Now for the difficult part: pull down the lid, leaving the flap open, and cover the hole with plastic. Use a piece of plastic that’s bigger than the box so that you can seal it tightly. This is to ensure that air cannot get out.

5 Place a piece of black paper over the foil inside the box – your oven is now ready. To start the cooking process, place your viennas on a square

piece of foil (or a paper plate) in the centre of the oven.

6 Put the oven in a flat, sunny spot. Close the lid and prop the flap open with a straw. Turn the flap towards the sun – you want its rays to reflect off the foil and into the box. Let the viennas cook until they are ready. Be patient; it may take 30 minutes to an hour before they are done.

TIPS • The sunnier the day, the better your oven will work.

• Keep adjusting and turning the box so that the flap is always facing the Sun. • Be careful, the oven can get very hot.

• Try using marshmallows on top of Marie biscuits in your oven for a sweet treat.

• PHOTOGRAPHS: MICHAEL LE GRANGE AND ISTOCK PHOTOS

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EXPERIMENT: www.nasa.org

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5/7/07 12:23:52 PM

ADVERTORIAL

FAST FACTS Auguste Mouchout, a French maths instructor, was the first to convert solar radiation into mechanical power. Using a glass-enclosed iron cauldron, he trapped solar rays to boil water. By 1865, through adjustments such as adding a reflector to concentrate radiation, his apparatus could operate a small, conventional steam engine! Hot stuff.

RE ACHING NEW F RO NTIER S

Sasol is not just another fuel company. It is innovative beyond belief, going right back to the company’s origins, which grew out of the whacky idea of turning coal into petrol. Sasol uses science to create magic and improve lives, and is an established market leader in the energy industry.

Renowned as an excellent employer, it also offers exceptional opportunities for talented individuals. The Sasol bursary scheme is highly sought after and aims to attract outstanding individuals to the organisation, specifically students who are genuinely interested in mathematics and science. The goal, therefore, is to provide students with the curiosity, enthusiasm, and zest necessary to appreciate science and mathematics as subjects of learning for everyone, not just scientists.

If you feel you have what it takes to work for this dynamic and market-leading company, why not find out if you qualify for its bursary scheme by visiting www.sasolbursaries.com or calling 086 010 6235. Bursaries are on offer for full-time university studies in the following disciplines: BSc Engineering, BSc, and BCom. An equal opportunity employer, Sasol awards bursaries to deserving students of all population groups.

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Choose a great career in science MECHANICAL ENGINEERING The title sounds impressive, and so it should be: mechanical engineers have been instrumental in the development of power generation, transport systems, space exploration, human-comfort devices, mining equipment, and even mechanical replacement parts for the human body. They use principles such as heat (think of Auguste Mouchout), force, and the conservation of mass and energy to analyse static and dynamic physical systems, in contributing to the design of items such as automobiles, aircraft, and other vehicles; heating and cooling systems; household appliances; industrial equipment and machinery; and weapons systems.

Sound fascinating? If you’re the type of person who scores above average marks in maths and science on higher grade, is good at problem solving, and able to think creatively and synthesise information, this might be your career.

You can study mechanical engineering at most universities (a four-year course) and most technical universities (a three-year course). You will also have to complete three years of post-graduate training before you can register as a professional engineer.

5/7/07 12:24:17 PM

How to have a brainwave Do you need a good idea, fast?

Rather than sitting around waiting for inspiration, here are some techniques you can use to hurry your muse.

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HEAD SMART

Chew it through According to www.smart-kit.com, chewing gum improves your memory! The big question is, why?

Researchers from the Cognitive Research Unit in England aren’t entirely sure but it’s either because the chewing motion increases your heart rate, which pumps more oxygen into your brain, or it’s the release of insulin that does it.

Whatever. It works. Get chewing!

Sleep on it The writer James Joyce kept a notebook near his bed so he could write down his thoughts the moment he woke up. Your brain is most creative between sleep and consciousness. Either set your alarm to wake you an hour or two after you’ve fallen asleep or jot down those creative thoughts as soon as you wake up.

Cut and paste Look through old magazines, cut out the pictures and words you like most, and stick them onto a board or into a scrapbook. Simply gazing at the images and words and letting your mind wander is a guaranteed method of having a great idea.

Get physical Not only is exercise good for your body, it is now proven to be equally good for your mind. Go for a jog or do some stretches next time you’re short on inspiration.

‘Imagination is more important than knowledge.’

– Albert Einstein

ILLUSTRATION: DÉBUT ART/MARIO BELEM

Brain food A healthy diet equals a healthy mind. Fish, pumpkin seeds, green leafy vegetables, and walnuts (boring, we know) are packed with Omega-3 fatty acids, which boost brain cells.

Nifty notebook Sometimes great ideas happen when you’re not even thinking about a project. That’s because your subconscious mind is processing information when you aren’t aware of it.

Trouble is, we often forget those great ideas – so don’t leave home without a notebook.

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Scribble Get your hands on the largest piece of paper you can find, then take a black marker and start writing down all your ideas. It doesn’t matter if they’re crazy or half-baked. The point is to get them out there. You’ll be surprised at how many ideas you can connect or develop.

FIVE GREAT EUREKA MOMENTS IN SCIENCE 1 270 BC While getting into the bath, Archimedes realises that the volume of any object can be measured by how much water it displaces. He gets so excited that he jumps out of the bath and runs naked through the streets shouting: ‘Eureka!’ (‘I found it!’)

2 1514 Nicolaus Copernicus publishes a little book containing big ideas. One of them is that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Before that, people thought the Earth was the centre of the universe.

3 1834 Charles Darwin realises that animals in the Galapagos Islands are slightly different from those on the mainland. He concludes that species evolve over time to suit their environment.

4 1905 Albert Einstein postulates his theory of relativity, part of which was the famous formula: e = mc2.

5 1962 Murray Gell-Mann proposes that atomic nuclei (protons and neutrons) are themselves made up of funny little things called quarks. The atom is officially split!

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Working with volume EXPERIMENT

These cylinders have been made with identical pieces of paper – do they have the same volume?

Make your observations and decide for yourself. To see if you were right, try the following experiment.

YOU WILL NEED Two sheets of A4 paper, a ruler, sticky tape, and plenty of popcorn.

METHOD Make lots of popcorn, then use your sheets of paper to make one horizontal cylinder and one vertical cylinder. (It stands to reason that the cylinder with the greater volume will hold more popcorn.)

1 Place the taller, vertical cylinder inside the shorter, horizontal one.

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2 Fill the tall cylinder with popcorn, then lift the taller cylinder out of the shorter one and observe what happens. Does the popcorn overflow or not?

3 Were you surprised that the popcorn fitted in the shorter cylinder, with room to spare? If you perform your calculations carefully, you will discover that the taller, vertical cylinder has a smaller volume than the shorter, horizontal cylinder even though they are both made from the same size piece of paper.

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TRY Here’s an easy way to experiment with the volume of cylinders at home. Line up a row of glasses with different shapes and try to predict which one will have the greatest volume just by looking at them. Fill one glass with water, then pour the liquid into the other glasses one by one. The glass that holds the most water has the greatest volume.

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SMART MATHS

CAN YOU CRACK THESE OR WILL THEY CRACK YOU? Is this enough space for the mouse? As a rough rule, don’t keep more than four mice in a confined space of 35x25x13cm.

Question 2 Volume of a cylinder = height x area of the base (π x radius squared) = 15cm x 22/7 x 4cm x 4cm = 754,30cm3 of water

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h

2 Sean’s fish collection is growing. He decides to use his mother’s vase as a second tank. The vase is a perfect cylinder with a height of 25cm and a diameter of 8cm. How much water can the vase hold?

(Hint: the diameter is made up of 2 radii.)

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IMPORTANT FORMULA The volume of a cylinder = height x area of the base (πr2) π = 22/7 r = radius = half the diameter = distance from the centre of the circle to its circumference height = the height of the actual cylinder Note that the volume formula requires r2 and this means r x r.

SOLUTIONS: Question 1 a) Volume of the tank = w x h x l (width x height x length) = 15cm x 45cm x 15cm = 10 125cm3 *Note that volume is cubic.

Why? It is three dimensional. b) Half the tank is filled with sand so it stands to reason that the sand takes up 5 062,5cm3. c) Using the same thinking above, you would get the same answer of 5 062,5cm3.

1 Sean received a glass aquarium tank for his birthday. Its dimensions are as follows: width = 15cm, height = 45cm, and length = 15cm. If he fills half of the tank with sand and the other half with water: a. What is the total volume of the tank?

(Hint: ignore the fact that sand and water were combined.) b. What is the total volume of the sand? c. What is the total volume of the water?

Question 3 To find the total volume of the mouse house, calculate the individual volumes of the prism and cylinder and add them together.

l

Volume of the prism = w x h x l = 20cm x 20cm x 80cm = 32 000cm3

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3 Sean wants to build his mouse a special Perspex house. His mouse-house design has two components, a rectangular prism and a cylinder. The dimensions of the rectangular prism are: width = 20cm, height = 20cm, and length = 80cm and the dimensions of the cylinder are: length = 40cm and diameter = 15cm. a. What is the total volume of the house? b. Is this enough space for the mouse?

Volume of the cylinder = height x area of the base (π x radius squared) = 40cm x 22/7 x 7,5cm x 7,5cm = 7 071,43 cm3 Total volume is approximately 39 071,43 cm3.

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5/4/07 3:54:15 PM

BODY SMART

IS THAT AN ALIEN IN MY ARMPIT? You’ve heard that hormones are to blame for all the funny things that are happening to your body, right? This is true. A sudden increase in hormone activity is also the reason you start to smell. Sweat comes from something called a gland – a kind of cell that releases a substance such as sweat.

You have two types of sweat glands: eccrine glands (these are found all over your body and release the salty liquid that cools your skin down when it’s hot) and apocrine glands (these are mostly found in places such as your armpits and genitals). At puberty, your apocrine

glands become more active. This time bacteria are the culprits. These are tiny creatures that grow all over and in your body. Some types of bacteria particularly enjoy living in the cosy and moist environment that your underarms provide.

They thrive in the pores where sweat is being released and they multiply into a whole population that produces waste – it’s this waste that makes you smell.

At the later stages of puberty you also begin to grow hair in your armpits and around your genitals. This is also the work of hormones and makes your battle against odour harder to fight.

Great, so now what?

• Hop in the shower. Every day. Even twice a day if you’ve been playing sport.

• Wash your clothes regularly – bacteria also enjoy living on your clothes.

• Spray away. Deodorants cover up smells and anti-perspirants prevent bacteria from growing where you don’t want them to – experiment to see what works for you.

• Eat healthy stuff. Sorry, but it’s true – what you eat can affect how you smell – so put your order in for lots of fruit and vegetables next time your mom goes shopping.

• Drink lots of water (well, six glasses a day anyway) to flush toxins from your body.

BY KATE CARMICHAEL • PHOTOGRAPH: ISTOCK PHOTOS

Your teen years are full of issues that make life tricky. You’re moody, you’re growing bumps in weird places, and now you’re

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(NO, I’M JUST GROWING UP.) being told by your friends that you don’t smell great. Here’s why these changes are happening.

TO SQUEEZE, OR NOT? DO I NEED BODY HAIR?

Sadly, yes. It protects your skin from dirt and germs and provides cushioning for the sensitive body parts.

It also traps heat to keep you warm and helps you to retain your unique body scent. Research suggests that this is what helps us to attract a potential mate.

Natural body odour is where it’s at!

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Guys: should girls keep their legs silky smooth, or naturally hairy? Ladies: do you prefer guys with smooth chests – or hairy chests like Austin Powers?

Share your views with us in the forum in the Chat section at www.hip2b2.com.

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Hormones are also the reason we get acne.

Here are some interesting facts about these unwelcome bumps.

1 Don’t squeeze! This only makes things worse and can cause scarring.

2 Did you know that dabbing toothpaste on your zit really works? However, stick to non-gel toothpastes.

3 It’s a myth that fatty foods cause pimples – hormones are the real culprits. Eating healthily can still help you to avoid zits though.

5/8/07 7:54:24 PM

Technology is playing an ever-important role in deciding who wins, and who loses.

Let’s go a few centuries back in time and find two young men playing with a ball of woven reeds. We’ll call them Alf and Beet. Alf would get the ball and Beet would try to take it away from him – but there was a catch (if you’ll excuse the pun): they weren’t allowed to use their hands. The girls of the tribe found this greatly entertaining.

Alf had longer and more powerful legs. He would kick the ball and run off, with Beet in hot pursuit. This became boring because Alf would just keep running for miles and miles in one direction so, one day, Beet drew a few lines in the sand with his heel.

‘Look here, Alf,’ said Beet to his friend. ‘It’s no fun running after you like this. From now on let’s agree that you can’t go past these lines in the sand. If you do, then I get the ball.’

‘Good idea,’ said Alf. ‘Now the girls can watch us for longer too.’

Okay, so we just made this little story up but the point is that the first rules of sport were made – and developed – by mutual understanding, and for the benefit of all.

With time, however, sports became fiercely competitive and referees and umpires were needed to make sure that the rules were followed by everyone equally. Later, when people started watching sport on TV, they realised that the referees and umpires made mistakes. What’s more, as sports turned professional – that is, as they became regular jobs – these mistakes went from simply embarrassing to costly and unacceptable.

Therefore, technology was invented to help umpires and referees make their decisions. Here’s our selection of some of the most interesting devices.

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5/8/07 2:07:23 PM

SPORT SCIENCE

WHAT IS IT?

WHEN DO WE USE IT?

Hawk-Eye, one of the first sport technologies developed, helps us to track objects that move too fast for the naked eye, such as golf balls flying off the face of Ernie Els’ club or the tennis ball from Roger Federer’s serve.

Hawk-Eye acts like an action replay but on a virtual level, where the path (or trajectory) of the ball is graphically represented, to show us exactly where the ball travelled. Its popularity can be attributed to the fact that it makes for great TV viewing.

Hawk-Eye is often used in cricket broadcasts after an umpire has made an LBW call or at the end of an over to show where each ball of the over went. However, it is not actually used to make any umpiring decisions as the International Cricket Council has not officially sanctioned its use.

Tennis, on the other hand, loves HawkEye, and uses it to make official line-call decisions. It was first used at Wimbledon in 2003 and is today used in each of the four major Grand Slam tournaments, as well as other important tennis tournaments.

CAMERA PROCESSOR

MEDIA CENTRE

CONTROL CENTRE

PAVILLION

Hawk-Eye was developed by Dr Paul Hawkins, an expert in sports surfaces and equipment, while he was working at Roke Manor Research.

(Roke Manor Research is a company that started off developing memory systems for computers and later became involved in military technology, making machines that could locate who was shooting and where so that ceasefire violations could be stopped.)

When Hawk-Eye’s potential was recognised it became a separate company that teamed up with a television sports broadcaster. At first the technology was merely used as a clever TV gimmick to plot the trajectory of a ball for viewers but soon people were calling for it to be used officially as a key decision-making tool.

TERRACES

BY AMI KAPILEVICH • PHOTOGRAPHS: ISTOCK PHOTOS

WHO INVENTED IT? A minimum of six TV cameras are placed around the sports ground.

These cameras are fixed in one place and constantly film what happens in one particular spot on the field.

The images from these cameras are then fed through a computer program, which traces a graphical path through the flight path of the ball and displays it on screen for the television audience at home. This is all done in an instant.

Speed of camera recording: 250 frames per second.

Number of times each ball is filmed during a single delivery: approximately 100.

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WHAT IS IT? Slow-motion action replay allows the viewer to watch what happened more than once, and at a slower speed. It can provide information to overrule or help the on-field referee.

WHO INVENTED IT? Austrian August Musger invented the slowmotion technique and patented the first slow-motion camera in 1904. He called it a ‘series apparatus with mirror wheel’.

WHEN DO WE USE IT? Slow-motion replays make for exciting viewing and are used all the time by TV broadcasters but they do not always have an official role in decision making. In rugby the referee will sometimes ask the television match official to make a call about the grounding of the ball in a try. In athletics it can help to show the difference that a split second can make.

Slow motion works in one of two ways. You can play the footage more slowly, so that each frame of film appears on your screen for longer, or you can film the event using a slow-motion camera. A normal camera captures 24 frames per second while slowmotion cameras capture many more – more frames mean that the action is slowed down when you play it back at normal speed.

WHAT IS IT? Cyclops is a small black box that is used in tennis to tell the umpire whether the ball bounced in or out. If the ball bounces out, Cyclops beeps loudly.

WHO INVENTED IT? Believe it or not, the same guy who invented the plastic shuttlecock: Bill Carlton, a 93-year-old former aeronautical engineer.

He developed the system in 1979 and by the next year it was being used at Wimbledon.

WHEN DO WE USE IT?

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It is used during serves and also to make line calls during a game of tennis. Cyclops has been on the Wimbledon circuit for 27 years and has been accepted at all ATP events. There is also talk of using Cyclops to make ‘no ball’ decisions in cricket and line calls in soccer.

Cyclops projects five infra-red beams about one centimetre above the ground along the lines of the tennis court – one master beam, projected just inside the line, plus four fault beams.

When the ball bounces out it cuts the master infra-red beam causing the system to beep. The fact that there are several beams allows the system to tell the difference between a tennis ball and a player’s foot. Of course the system had a few bugs initially, such as being set off by insects, but these have been ironed out.

5/9/07 2:23:11 PM

SPORT SCIENCE

WHAT IS IT AND WHO INVENTED IT? EDH is a proudly South African company developing technology that has revolutionised ball tracking in sports. Called FlightScope, it looks like a plastic parking metre but is actually a very sophisticated ball-tracking technology.

FlightScope uses Doppler radar to measure the position and momentum of the ball. Doppler radar works according to the Doppler Effect, which says that if an object moves, this motion changes the frequency of the light and sound of that object.

(Just think of the ‘neeeeouwww’ sound that a car makes as it moves past you – from high pitched to low. This is because as the car moves further away from you the frequency of the sound reaching you is changed relative to that movement (the Doppler Effect) and hence the sound that you hear changes.)

Instead of sound waves FlightScope fires radio waves (the same waves that your microwave uses) at the moving object (such as a golf ball) and then highly sensitive sensors measure the Doppler Effect on the object. They do so thousands of times every second.

WHEN DO WE USE IT? FlightScope is mostly used in golf. ‘When we were first developing FlightScope,’ says Tom Johnson of EDH, ‘we thought: why would anyone want to know where a golf ball ends up?’

Little did they know that FlightScope would radically change the way people bought golf clubs and golf balls, and coached golf. You only need to hit the ball three metres into a net and FlightScope can tell you exactly how far and how well you hit the shot.

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5/8/07 2:09:01 PM

PRESS

THE MOVIES It’s sequel season. Catch Spider-Man 3 in May and Shrek The Third in June. • Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End opens worldwide on 25 May. Johnny Depp based his character Jack Sparrow on real-life Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. During filming Richards (who plays Sparrow’s father) fell out of a palm tree and became concussed but he made a full recovery. • Mr Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm are back in the Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer. This intergalactic extravaganza hits our screens on 22 June and sees the motion-picture ‘debut’ of the Fantasticar, the high-flying vehicle that first appeared in the comics in 1962. THE BOOKS Does Harry Potter die in Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, the seventh instalment in JK Rowling’s series? Find out on 21 July when the book hits stores worldwide, a week after the release of the sixth movie, Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix. Find out more at www.jkrowling.com. • For a hard-hitting read try Khabzela: The Life And Times Of A South African by Liz McGregor. It tells the story of the Yfm DJ who died of AIDS. THE CONCERT Live Earth, a 24-hour concert organised by former American vicepresident Al Gore to raise awareness of the climate crisis, takes place in seven cities, including Jo’burg, on 7 July (07/07/07).

Among the 100 artists performing will be Pharrell Williams and Snoop Dogg. Catch it live online at http://liveearth.msn.com/.

THE DJ Breakfast with Gareth Cliff on 5fm, weekdays, 6-9am. He’s intelligent, informed, and irreverent and talks about everything from The Killers to Copernicus. THE FESTIVAL Visit the Grahamstown National Arts Festival for the best-of-the-best dance, music, theatre, and art. It’s on from 27 June to 7 July. Visit www.nafest.co.za for details. 2007’S MOST ANTICIPATED ROCK CD Linkin Park’s melodic third album, Minutes To Midnight, is a departure from the band’s rap-rock style. Watch the making-of footage on LPTV at www.linkinpark.com. BRILLIANT ON THE BOX In Micro Safari: Making Of creator Nigel Marvin uses macro photography and slow-motion techniques to reveal the workings of gravity and how tiny, rarely noticed creatures are deadly assassins in their own habitat. It premieres on 3 June, 7:30pm on DStv’s National Geographic Channel, or catch the reruns. Don’t have DStv? Watch it at www.nigelmarven.com.

BY NIKKI BENATAR

INTELLIGENT ENTERTAINMENT

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OPINION: MUSIC

Local songbird

Lady Naturelle reviews the latest CDs from her international counterparts.

JOSS STONE

CORINNE BAILEY RAE

Live In London CD/DVD I love this woman’s spirit, which is expressed through her warm, lilting voice and intimate singing style. Her sound is new but there are definitely nostalgic references. It was love at first listen.

Introducing Joss Stone I’m a fan of producer Raphael Saadiq (for his work with Kelis and John Legend), so I expected a lot.

Though it only received average reviews, I wasn’t disappointed. It’s soulful and jazzy, and her voice is captivating.

Like this? Try Floetry, Tweet and home-grown Siphokazi.

Like this? Try Norah Jones and home-grown Lira.

Corinne’s debut, eponymous (self-titled) album was released on 27 February 2006, 25 years and a day after her birth date. Vocal influence: Kurt Cobain (Nirvana).

Who’d have thought? Degree: English literature from the University of Leeds. Favourite band: Led Zeppelin.

Even though it’s her third album, Joss has titled it Introducing Joss Stone because she believes it’s the first album that truly reflects her. Her favourites: Aretha Franklin and Lauryn Hill. Nickname: Soul singer Smokey Robinson calls her Aretha Joplin.

AVRIL LAVIGNE

The Best Damn Thing I just love ‘Girlfriend’. Avril remains true to her poppunk style and delivers a rebellious vocal that’s good for singing along to.

AMERIE

Because I Love It ‘Take Control’ is my favourite track. It’s sexy and upbeat with an oldschool flavour, and I love the quality of Amerie’s voice on the recording. My only reservation is that she sounds too much like Beyoncé.

Like this? Try Christina Milian and home-grown Jamali.

Download the track ‘My Number One’ off Gang Of Instrumentals’ latest CD, Salute, at www.hip2b2.com.

Like this? Try Pink and home-grown Karen Zoid.

F A S T F A CTS :

LADY NATURELLE

The lead singer of Gang Of Instrumentals, Lady N’s real name is Tumi Masemola. She’s not just a velvet-voiced songstress but also an acclaimed stage and TV actress: her appearances include City Ses’la and African Footprint. What’s more, this media dynamo is also MD of TV-production-company Black Brain Pictures and record label Mighty Music Africa. Shu! Musical style: a mix of pop, soul, hip-hop, and reggae.

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5/8/07 7:46:00 PM

OPINION: MOVIES

Supervising animator Darrin Hofmeyr describes

Spider-Man 3 as 140 minutes of Hollywood

Better than the first two? The original Spider-Man movie had the advantage of being first and setting the bar, especially where Peter Parker learns his Spidey powers. Spider-Man 3 delivers everything we’ve enjoyed in the past two and more – twice as much action, more laughs, and even a bit more emotion, although Tobey Maguire struggles to cry convincingly.

Who’s better – heroes or villains? Why? Villains – in this movie the good became bad and the bad became good, but at any one stage the bad versions were definitely the better and more enjoyable. Evil Spider-man, Evil New Goblin, Evil Sandman, Venom and the Symbiote were the best characters.

Best part? And why? The big showdown at the end in which Spider-man and the New Goblin (Harry Osborn) team up like a WWE tag team to take on Venom and Sandman to save Mary Jane Watson from plummeting to her doom.

You loved the part when… Spider-man is being chased by Harry Osborn as the New Goblin and he puts up a Spidey chokeline that knocks Harry off his Goblin board. It all happens so quickly but with the camera work, digital doubles, and sound effects you feel every hit and knock Harry takes to his body as he falls to the ground.

You dozed off when… Kirsten Dunst sang… twice. Thankfully her song gets interrupted by an evil Peter Parker.

Best effect? The formation of Sandman. This sequence happens over two parts: the demoleculisation of Flint Marko and then the reformation of himself as Sandman. The first part is eye candy as the DNA molecules reform inside his body to become dust/sand particles. The animation and sound effects of the crystalisation and change inside Flint’s body are well designed and then when he starts to break up and disintegrate it is a great effect. The next sequence is when he has to pull all the sand particles together to form himself and stay formed. Like a sand castle with not enough water in the mix he also struggles to maintain his form.

At one point he tries to pick up a locket that contains a photograph of his sick daughter but his hand breaks apart as he attempts to take hold.

After struggling to stand on a leg that crumbles his emotion for his daughter gives him the strength to keep the sand stuck together. This scene probably contains some of the best particledynamic simulations I have seen: it’s great work from the guys at Sony Pictures Imageworks.

So, you want to be an animator?

DARRIN HOFMEYR

Supervising animator at Blackginger Animation (JHB)

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b

blockbuster at its best.

PHOTOGRAPHS: INPRA AND SK PICTURES

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How did they do it?

Unfortunately I don’t have the exact knowledge but I can answer very loosely. Using a software program called Houdini they ran dynamic computergenerated simulations to calculate the movement of the sand. These were guided when necessary by scans of the actor, Thomas Hayden Church, so it formed the shape of Flint Marko’s face and body. The simulations could easily contain over a million particles of sand in each sim and then instancing another 20 particles per base particle, taking the total number of grains of sand in a shot to 20 million.

The sand simulation was then made to look fuller by adding a dust layer, which was made like most cloud or smoke simulations are in feature films. The particles were rendered with a program called Renderman, which was developed by Pixar,

the animation company famous for Toy Story and Finding Nemo.

This made it possible to load the vast amount of information only at render time and gave the sand the photoreal look.

Was there any effect that made you wonder: ‘How did they do that?’ Nearly all of them. Scott Stokdyk took over the helm as visualeffects supervisor from John Dykstra, who worked on the last two movies. In some cases it was a computer generated skyscraper and in others a 1/16th scale model so that the damage could be captured on film accurately rather than the crew secondguessing what should happen.

What didn’t work for you? The hand-held camera work around the sand truck that Sandman hides in made me feel a little sick.

The last few frames of the transition from Sandman to Flint Marko always appeared a little off and too quick a jump, not as seamless as I would have hoped.

Tell us what you know about the technology behind the movie. The technology is a collection of off-the-shelf software and hardware combined with a host of proprietary software that Sony Pictures Imageworks wrote itself.

Did you spot the missing hand? [In a fight scene in which Spidey punches through Sandman’s chest, congenital boxer amputee Baxter Humby took Tobey Maguire’s place. Humby, who was born without his right hand, helped deliver the intended effect of punching through Sandman’s chest.] I had read about this but to tell you the truth I did not look out for it or notice it when it happened. The action sequences are all so fast and busy that I was too engrossed to be thinking of anything else.

Our Spider-Man 3 reviewer gives us the inside track on his fascinating day job.

What talents do you need to be an animator?

An artistic background, a good understanding of movement and pose, patience and any other skills that will help to bring characters to life. As a supervising animator you also need organisational skills to manage the animators and operators on a project.

What qualifications do you need for your job? A diploma or degree is not necessary but a good, solid portfolio is. Knowing specific software for a company will help you get a foot in the door but if your skill is not at the level needed you won’t last long.

(Programs that Darrin currently uses include Softimage|XSI, Maya, and Photoshop and he specialises in character animation.)

What did you study, and where? Des(Hons) animation and electronic media at the University of Dundee in Scotland. I graduated with a 2:1 degree in 1999. The course focused on traditional 2D and CG animation including camera work and the history of animation.

we have done all the spots involving Mo and now his girlfriend, Moitia. The latest rollerskating meerkat ad was definitely the most fun to work on.

While in Toronto, Canada a few years ago I got to work on a series of M&M’s Candy commercials.

What great ads have you worked on? Since our company took over the animation of the Vodacom meerkat commercials in April 2006

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PlayStation 2 game

Guitar Hero II reviewed by you.

In Guitar Hero II for the PlayStation 2 your task is to master lead and bass guitar parts from famous songs by practising with a special guitar controller that comes with the game so that, ultimately, you can take to the stage with a virtual band and blow the crowd away with your guitar skills.

The more notes you get right and the more difficult the song and the game level, the more points you will score and the hotter your rock set will be. If you don’t practise enough and can’t hit the right notes the crowd will boo you off the stage and you will fail in your quest to become a rock idol.

Although you can play the game with a normal PlayStation 2

controller the point is to play with the special guitar controller, even though it takes some getting used to and you will probably feel a little uncoordinated in the beginning, which is half the fun (well, your friends will think so… until it’s their turn).

The guitar controller has five coloured buttons on the neck, as well as a strumming bar that you can flip up and down, and finally – if you’re skilled enough – there’s also a whammy bar so you can add cool tone effects to the longer guitar notes.

The box contains a game disc, one guitar controller, stickers so that you can customise your guitar, and an adjustable guitar strap. Price R699 • Contact Megarom • Phone: 011 234 2680 • Web: www.megarom.co.za

KIRSTEN HALLS

JOHN-JACQUES

TEM FISCHER

Westerford High School ’If I had made the game I would have integrated EyeToy technology into it so that you could see yourself playing the game.’

PIENAAR

Bishops Prep ‘I liked the guitar controller and the artists but I would have put strings on the guitar instead of buttons.’

Saxon Sea ‘I don’t like the music and I would have made the game easier to play.’

BY MANDY J WATSON • GAME IMAGE COURTESY OF MEGAROM

OPINION: GAMES

JOSHUA HERSELMAN

BYRON ZEELIE

Westerford High School ‘I liked that Guitar Hero II is a challenge. It’s a pretty decent game.’

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Jan van Riebeeck ‘I liked the guitar controller and the cool songs so, basically, I enjoyed the whole game.’

Would you or your class like to be part of our Games Lab? Send your contact details to: Hip2b2 Games Lab, PO Box 440, Green Point 8051 or email: talk2us@hip2b2.com.

5/7/07 2:13:13 PM

OPINION: BOOKS

Lord Of The Flies, by William Golding, reviewed by you.

JOSHUA SEMPLE

Grade 8, El Shaddai Christian School, Cape Town The message of the book is: what to do and what not to do if you’re left on an island.

The main characters are Ralph: the chief of the boys, who really knows a lot about survival and is a good fighter; Piggy: slightly fat, wears glasses, suffers from asthma, and talks way too much; Sam and Eric: twins, naughty, loyal, and always helping out (they remind me of Zack and Cody in TV’s The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody); and Jack: the leader of a choir, and a hunter and bully, who cares little for the boys that don’t hunt and only cares about his prey.

KATE WILLS

Grade 9, St Cyprians, Cape Town The message of the book is: when in a desperate situation, the evil inside of us begins to show.

I loved the way the author brings the island to life. Even though the island appeared to be a tropical paradise he managed to describe the underlying sinister side of the place discreetly. There were quite a few shocking and disturbing parts: for example, towards the end of the book, the boys resort to murder, arson and animal madness.

The plot wasn’t bad but because the whole book takes place in one place I eventually began to tire of it. I also felt that it lost its shock value – as the book went on you almost forgot the characters were young children; you needed to be reminded of how innocent and inexperienced they originally were in order for it to have more impact.

I would have advised Piggy to stand up for himself and not to be afraid to share his thoughts because he is the only one who really understands what is going on. His input, unknown to him, is what could save the children on the island.

My favourite part is when Jack mutinies against Ralph and makes his own gang. This leads to fighting and deaths!

This book keeps you entertained and it’s hard to put down.

Lord Of The Flies, by William Golding, is about a group of boys who are stranded on an island and have to survive without adults.

Published in 1954, it is regarded as the first book to explore mob mentality.

It continues to be a setwork choice at many schools.

I would have advised Piggy to keep quiet for a second and listen to other people. He should help out more and not blame everything on his asthma.

The plot is riveting and the author is a really talented writer. The writing style is unique and I have never encountered anything like it. The characters are realistic and one of my friends is a lot like Jack.

If I had written this book I wouldn’t really have changed much, only taken out the Beast, for those parts don’t make much sense.

The writing style is excellent. Everything was described so well and I liked the way there were symbols for most of the important themes: Piggy’s glasses, for example, symbolised intelligence and the conch shell represented democracy and the power of speech.

If I had written this book I would have brought in more aspects of life on the island, such as the camp, food, and so on. It is always interesting to read about how people live especially when it is very different to your own lifestyle.

Would you like to write a book review for us? Send your contact details to: Hip2b2 Book Review, PO Box 440, Green Point 8051 or email: talk2us@hip2b2.com.

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GIVEAWAYS

GOOD READS ASTRO-NOMICAL

We are giving away two Astro’s hampers valued at R300 each. Learn more about the galaxy when Captain Astro-Naut visits your school or check out the facts on the first Hip2b2 pullout centrefold.

GIVEAWAY NAME: Astro’s

We have two great books to give away to lucky readers this month: William Golding’s classic novel Lord Of The Flies and the recently released Khabzela: The Life And Times Of A South African by Liz McGregor (Jacana Books), which tells the true story of the Yfm DJ who died of AIDS. GIVEAWAY NAME: Lord GIVEAWAY NAME: Khabzela

SPIDEY SOUNDTRACK

Relive the movie through this soundtrack, which includes songs from multi-platinum UK artist Snow Patrol, multiple-Grammy nominees The Killers, Australian garagerock favourites Jet, Flaming Lips, Wolfmother, The Walkmen, and more.

GIVEAWAY NAME: Spidey

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TO ENTER

Write to: Hip2b2, PO Box 440, Green Point 8051 or email: win@hip2b2.com. Please include the name of the giveaway, your name, contact details, school and grade. The closing date is 30 June 2007. Winners will be notified and their names will be published on the website.

5/8/07 2:29:16 PM

THINK TANK

BRAIN BUSTERS CAN YOU READ THIS BRAINTEASER? The phaonmneel pweor of the hmuan mnid: can you blveiee taht you can aulaclty uesdnatnrd tihs txet?

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearcr at Cmagbride Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers of a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

WORD FINDER

SUDOKU EASY

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WHAT WORD? There is a common English word that is nine letters long. Each time you remove a letter from it, it still remains an English word – from nine letters right down to a single letter.

What is the original word, and what are the words that it becomes after you start to remove one letter at a time?

(Clue: the base word is ‘startling’.)

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AQUEOUS HUMOR

IRIDOLOGY

The watery fluid between the lens and the cornea.

The study of the iris, especially in relation to diagnosis of disease.

ASTIGMATISM

An uneven curvature of the cornea that results in distortion of vision at all distances.

PRESBYOPIA

ANSWERS startling – starting – staring – string – sting – sing – sin – in – I. WHAT WORD?

Pronounced as one letter but written with three, only two different letters are used to make me.

I’m double, I’m single, I’m black, blue, and grey.

I’m read from both ends and the same either way.

RIDDLE: Eye

SOURCE: WORLD WIDE WEB

RIDDLE

O

The inability to focus on objects up close due to the reduced elasticity of the lens, which routinely occurs after middle age.

OPHTHALMOLOGIST

An ophthalmologist is a physician who specialises in the medical and surgical care of the eyes and visual system as well as in the prevention of eye diseases and injuries.

CONJUNCTIVA

A thin lining over the sclera, or white part of the eye. This also lines the inside of the eyelids.

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