Scientifique Issue 1 2015

Scientifique

Issue 1, 2015

Rare species of hoverfly discovered at KESW

Science beyond the syllabus

Inspiration from the inspired

KESW’s resident apiarist explains page 1

WELCOME TO SCIENTIFIQUE Issue 1, summer 2015

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t is a great pleasure to introduce the first edition of Scientifique, a celebration of a year of science at King Edward’s Witley. This is a vibrant school with a diverse range of educational opportunities and one area within the school that is humming with activity and enthusiasm is the Science School. I am extremely fortunate to work with such a dedicated team of Science teachers who not only deliver excellent lessons, but are prepared to provide a wide range of activities to enhance the learning experience of all our pupils, from 1st Form to U6th. We have a very clear vision for our department and that is to make scientists. We believe that a strong understanding of the principles of science will drive innovation, which in turn will be transferrable to industry, medicine and the environment.

Beyond the academic curriculum, we have taken pupils to visit Intech Science Centre and Planetarium, Birdworld, Marwell Zoo, Wakehurst Millenium Seed Bank and Brooklands Racetrack. Field work has taken place locally and has been combined with active conservation work. Pupils have had outstanding opportunities to listen to top level speakers on a whole range of scientific topics and the prospective medics have attended a course on how to attain their goal of becoming doctors. We have had a number of wonderful guest speakers who have joined our Café Scientifique to talk to the pupils about their careers in the world of science. Our Green Hub raises environmental concerns, the Astronomy Club continues to gaze at the skies, Housemasters have been “murdered” in the name of forensic science and the Biology Department’s experiment on the decomposition of bread has hung in there for another year.

It is the hope of all the teachers in the department that our pupils will reach their full potential in Science. We are passionate about our subjects and hope that our enthusiasm is infectious.

Ann Hill Head of Science page 2

Inside this issue: Death at King Edward’s

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Café Scientifique

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Hoverflies at KESW

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BAE Systems

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A Year in Physics

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Science in Action

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Seeing Stars

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Bees at KESW 2015

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Edible Science

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Science Further Afield

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The Last Word

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Our Vision •To develop curiosity in and passion for science •To empower more of our pupils to continue in science at university •To educate our young people to judge the quality of the scientific information they encounter

•To combat bad science •To show how science can help humanity tackle its greatest challenges •To make science cool

DEATH AT KING EDWARD’S CSI WITLEY FORENSIC SCIENCE INVESTIGATION INSPIRES THE THIRD FORM

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ach summer, at the end of the 3rd Form Science through the process, skills that can be readily applied to many curriculum, a member of staff is ‘murdered’ in the areas of life. name of forensic science. Over the next few weeks, DNA fingerprinting was also used during the case, with pupils the pupils gradually put together a case from a semaking use of an electrophoresis cell to produce a similar ries of realistic activitrace to those proties that closely mimic duced by DNA profila real forensic investi“ Today at around 8:47 Tudor Matron, Eve ing. At the visit of Her gation. This year, in a Royal Highness, the Watt, was found murdered outside QMH. departure from the Duchess of Gloucester pattern of the last few pupils demonstrated She was stabbed with a juggling knife, years, a member of the techniques removed at some point over the the PE staff will go learned and showed under the blunt inweekend from the Science Department their understanding strument for the sake of the science inof education.

Police have identified four suspects who volved.

Last year’s project have both a motive and no alibi for their The investigation consaw one of the Matinued with a mixture whereabouts this morning.” trons brutally stabbed of fingerprinting, witwith a juggling knife, ness statements, on which tell-tale finthread analysis, pollen typing, photofit images and chromagerprints were left which proved central to the subsequent tography. More controversial techniques of psychological trial. profiling from handwriting style were also used to build a proEvidence came in many forms, some good but some was disfile of the killer to aid investigation. The principal focus of the missed by the trial judge in spite of protestations by the inweek is to build understanding of the role of science in crime vestigating officers. Pupils have learned to make judgements investigation, and also to learn to make judgements about the about the veracity and value of different forms of evidence quality of evidence presented by various techniques.

The investigation culminates in a trial held before a ‘judge’ whose job it is to consider the weight of the evidence presented before him and decide if there should be further investigation or that the case has been made against one of the suspects. Motives have varied over the years; theft of intellectual property, unrequited love, blackmail and jealousy to name but a few. It is evident from the level of engagement amongst the pupils that the effort required to produce activities like this is richly rewarded in terms of the pupils’ enjoyment of the subject and continued enthusiasm for learning.

Nick Emsley Physics page 3

CAFE SCIENTIFIQUE ENHANCEMENT IN SCIENCE

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afé Scientifique has been running for two years now, enriching the content, range and scope of the Science provision at King Edward’s Witley. The aim is to extend the content offered by our IGCSE, IB and A-level courses with guest speakers, exciting opportunities and the chance to engage with experts in their chosen fields.

The project started off humbly as an opportunity to attend a talk or demonstration, followed by a chance to discuss with the speaker over coffee afterwards. Truth be told, we have been slightly overwhelmed with the response from the School, to the extent that it is not really possible to offer the ’café’ half of the experience any more, although the opportunity for questions remains a central plank of the programme. Over the next few pages you can get a feel for what has been an inspiring range of opportunities for our pupils this year.

THE GREEN HUB Environmental Activities at King Edward’s At the time of writing, the Pope has just written an encyclical on Climate Change and President Obama has interviewed David Attenborough, signalling increasing anxiety about the issues surrounding climate change. These acts are an acknowledgement of the impact of human economic activities in driving the emissions of carbon dioxide and methane which are linked to rising global temperatures, ahead of the next international climate conference, to be held in Paris at the end of 2015.

Here at King Edward’s we have continued to encourage sustainable living through the Green Hub, keeping up the pressure to recycle materials across the school and reduce the waste of light, water and heat. The School’s Estates Department have been working hard to continue with their programme of smart lighting systems, improvements in insulation and more efficient heating systems. Beyond this we have worked in partnership with Mr Stephen Dean who is restoring Buss’ and Hambledon Commons back to Surrey

Heathland (a rare habitat) with groups of pupils helping by the removal of birch and pine seedlings as well as through burning gorse.

The annual Scrap Heap Challenge was a great success with very high quality entries in the art and mini-beast habitat sections. The theme of endangered species provided papier maché sculptures of a turtle, albino lion, tiger, hedgehog, rhino, pandas and an intriguing red snake (species unknown).

The Fashion Show was great fun with wonderfully embellished upcycled clothing as well as recycled newspaper confections. The highlight for the environment was the outstanding mini-beast habitats that are now in the school grounds. It is hoped that these will soon be populated by a multitude of helpful invertebrates as well as a home for hedgehogs.

We need a new group of students to work towards gaining Green Flag Status for King Edward’s. This will be a great project for the pupils doing Duke of Edinburgh Awards or for the 6th Form CAS projects. Please sign up next term.

Ann Hill Head of Science

Find your nearest café scientifique Cafe Scientifique is a place where, for the price of a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, anyone can come to explore the latest ideas in science and technology. Meetings take place in cafes, bars, restaurants and even theatres, but always outside a traditional academic context.

Visit www.cafescientifique.org to find your nearest venue page 4

This presentation focused on the various treatments for HIV This is a conceptual drawing of nanoparticles delivering and other diseases using nano-sized particles, (a nanometre drugs to the blood stream being 1 billionth of a metre). The presentation started by Various treatments were also presented and discussed with looking at the development of nanothe pupils in attendance. technology and then its various applicaThese ranged from: ‘to create a tions in modern day medicine.

When developing a new nanomedicine there are normally two approaches: The first is to create a nanoscale vehicle that can carry drug molecules within the body.

nanoscale vehicle that can carry drug molecules within the body’

This vehicle can be designed to go directly to the target e.g. diseased cells .

Anticancer drugs such as Caelyx/Doxil Antibiotics such as Ambisome Antihepatitis drugs such as Pegasys

Nanovehicles should not be mixed up with nanorobots zooming round our bodies ‘hoovering up’ cholesterol or injecting individual cells.

This stops the drug entering healthy cells and causing undesirable side effects.

Dougie Galbraith Head of Chemistry

MR EDDIE HENBURY – EXXONMOBIL Oil: the Chemistry and Physics of black gold The main aim of this evening was to demonstrate the Chemistry and Physics within the oil industry, including green issues. The lecture was about an hour long and allowed time for interaction with and questions from the pupils in attendance.

The presentation started from the ‘gloppy stuff’ we first got out of the ground, to what we can do with it now, and how some clever chemists and physicists had to come up with all these ideas.

In addition there were some demonstrations of energy, including an imploding tin, a balloon flame-thrower, fire water and a flame tornado, which where demonstrated in the School Laboratory.

Dougie Galbraith Head of Chemistry page 5

THE PHYSICS OF PLAY Physics department evening lecture on the science behind toys The Physics Department took a tour through the science behind toys, sports and games; a series of key concepts were developed from their use in toys to their application on a grand scale on earth or beyond.

The tour began with angular momentum, the humble gyroscope, through ice skating to the movement An illustration from the presentation, explaining the Magnus effect and how it can be used to of the solar system and impart ‘swerve’ to the ball in a range of sports. galaxies. The audience Van Der Graaf generator. Audience members were treated to were invited to experience the effect of decreasing radius on a range of demonstrations and surprises, including a brief angular velocity, narrowly escaping motion sickness in the appearance from two static-sabre wielding Jedi knights. process.

The evening concluded by returning to look at how the conThe night progressed on through the Magnus Effect and its cepts presented linked together to explain some of the oriapplication to spin and curve on tennis and footballs. An augins of the galaxy; electrostatic forces bringing the matter in dience member bravely faced down a rapidly approaching the early universe together, until the density of matter had spinning tube, which swerved at the last moment to pass risen enough for the weakest of the four forces, gravity, to harmlessly over their heads. This was followed with a look at take over and start to form stars and eventually galaxies. The the famous David Beckham free kick against Greece from ideas then came full circle, back to the beginning where the 2001 in which the Magnus Effect played a major part, leaving gradual contraction of galaxies under gravity caused them to the Greek goalkeeper at a loss. The effect has even reaprotate as a consequence of the conservation of angular mopeared in aviation designs recently, with proposal for rotating mentum. wing planes.

Nick Emsley The evening moved on to look at static electricity, supported by several hundred thousand volts of static charge from the Physics

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CONNECTING LONDON Helen Read MEng, Old Witleian and Engineer for Crossrail

This summer Helen Read, Old Witleian, came back to present a talk on her experience of moving into an engineering career working on one of the largest Civil Engineering projects the

highlighting her experience of entering this fiercely competitive work environment.

She explained the three main routes through engineering: civil; mechanical and electrical. Within her field, there are many areas of expertise on offer, from procurement through surveying to construction and environmental services. Inevitably, many of these require a high level of competence with computer-based systems.

Helen finished by outlining the various routes into the field, highlighting the importance of recruitment in an industry where there is never a shortage of employment.

country has ever seen, the CrossRail system.

Helen attended King Edward’s, completing her IB Diploma before going on to read Civil and Environmental Engineering, and attaining an MEng from Cardiff University. After graduation she went to work for Laing O’Rourke as part of their graduate development programme.

In the concluding open discussion with pupils that followed, they were given a chance to explore the many possibilities that a qualification in engineering offers; this proved to be the real inspiration for many present.

Jim Culbert Head of Physics

She was assigned to the Crossrail project, specifically the Tottenham Court Road station. This is an enormous build, projected to cost £89million; it consists of two ticket halls and new platforms and passageways connecting them. The sheer scale of the engineering task is illustrated by the numbers involved; 12,000 m3 concrete to be poured, supported by 2,500 tonnes of steel.

Helen focused her talk on the role of women in engineering, All images © Laing O’Rourke 2015, all rights reserved.

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POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER Changes in the brain and the role of talking therapies On Thursday 14th May, Mrs Malak Ben Giaber came to talk to the Café Scientifique about her career as a psychologist.

Her main interest is post-traumatic stress disorder and she has had considerable experience of treating patients in Libya, where she lived and worked for many years. This talk attracted a large number of pupils who packed the Biology laboratory (I lost count after 40). They were not disappointed because Mrs Ben Giaber gave a fascinating overview of her route into Psychology.

Having completed the International Baccalaureate at the Frankfurt International School, Mrs Ben Giaber started a university degree course in English and American Literature. She then discovered her interest in Psychology and was able to start a degree course (the IB allows for such flexibility since by studying six subjects, the Diploma holder has expertise in a wide range of skills, including mathematical and scientific subjects) and currently she is working on a Master’s degree in Psychology.

‘Psychology She emphasised that incorporates a Psychology incorpostrongly scientific rates a strongly scientific element combined element combined with counselling and with counselling talking therapies. The two interact to provide and talking a holistic treatment for therapies. The two each patient. The sciinteract to provide ence provides evidence of significant changes a holistic in the brain to a patreatment for each tient who has posttraumatic stress disorpatient’ der, including overactivity of the amygdapage 8

la (part of the brain that processes emotional information and is associated with strong fear-based reactions) as well as measurable reduction in the size of the hippocampus and the anterior cingulate cortex. In order to treat such a complex disorder, the patient has to unlearn their fear responses and this is achieved by using various different therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy or psychotherapy, usually in conjunction with anti -depressant medication. Mrs Ben Giaber described the team work used by health care professionals to treat this condition and explained the role of the psychologist. After her talk, the pupils asked many questions and we adjourned to the Science Meeting Room to have a more informal question and answer session. As a result of her talk, there are a number of pupils who are considering Psychology as a career possibility. Mrs Ben Giaber is a parent of two pupils who are currently at King Edward’s. It is hoped that other parents who have science based careers will offer to join our Café Scientifique and share their expertise with the pupils.

Ann Hill Head of Science

MIND-MACHINE INTERFACES Dr Tom Carlson On 20 November, Dr Tom Carlson came to the School to talk about brain-machine interfaces. Dr Carlson is a lecturer for Aspire Create, the Centre for Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology. Dr Carlson currently works at the Institute of Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal Science, University College London, in the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. His team is working on the development of wheelchairs that respond intelligently to the brain activity of their paraplegic users.

Dr Carlson started his Café Scientifique talk by explaining the various methods of measuring brain activity and showed that the simplest and least invasive method was to measure electrical activity using electroencephalograms. This measures the tiniest of electrical impulses in the motor cortex linked to movements towards the right and left. Since this activity is located in different parts of the brain, the activity can be used to command a computer to drive a wheelchair. The wheelchair is also very responsive.

The analogy is that of the user being a ‘rider’ and the wheelchair is a ‘horse’. In the same way as a rider indicates to the horse the direction that they want to go and the speed, the user can indicate this to the chair. The chair behaves rather like the horse and instead of blindly going in the direction indicated, it senses the environment and takes the most rational route past obstacles, along corridors and through doors. Currently the brain machine wheelchairs are better at navigating through narrow doorways than the more traditional joystick operated electric wheelchairs. Unfortunately they are not yet programmed to go backwards, rather like most horses I know! This technology is going to improve massively the quality of life for many people who have had life

changing injuries from accident or war. Dr Carlson also showed the pupils robotic exoskeletons that are helping victims of lower spinal cord injuries to be able to walk. As with most research projects, there is still a long way to go and there is the constant battle for funding. It was therefore excellent that Dr Carlson could meet Mr Don Moroney, our Estates Manager who regularly raises funds for Aspire, most recently through a sponsored swim, the equivalent distance of the English Channel. Dr Carlson also gave a strong endorsement of the IB for pupils who wish to study Science and enter a career in research. His work has taken him to Switzerland and he regularly goes to conferences around the world, so he explained how the enrichment of speaking a second language and an openness to new cultures is a real benefit to scientists.

Ann Hill Head of Science

Café Scientifique Needs You We are always on the lookout for speakers to come along and engage our pupils. If you have a Science, Technology, Medical or Mathematical background and an evening that you can spare, we would love to hear from you Please contact Mrs Ann Hill, Head of Science on 01483 686703 hillae@kesw.org Image: www.neurogadget.com

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HOVERFLIES AT KESW COVER STORY: TWO RARE HOVERFLY SPECIES FOUND ON KESW GROUNDS

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wo more nationally notable flies found at KESW in 2015.

Rhingia rostrata was once a very rare hoverfly that seems to be increasing in numbers in recent years in the South East. It is a typical old woodland species associated with fox dens and badgers setts where it is thought that the larvae overwinter. Records are increasing in Surrey but it is still a notable species and there are few records from the south west of the county.

Brachypalpus laphriformis is a hoverfly that is a rather convincing mimic of several mining bee species. It is a good indicator of ancient undisturbed woodland and although it has a wide distribution across the south of England it is rarely found. This one found the old Sweet Chestnut trees next to the road to its liking.

These two hoverflies have been added to the list of notable species at KESW and show the importance of the previously managed woodland in the school. These records have been sent to the British Entomological Recording Schemes along

Rhingia rostrata page 10

Brachypalpus laphriformis with previous notable records.

Clive Saunders Head of Biology

BAE SYSTEMS AND RAF TALK SENSORS, LASERS AND VIRTUAL REALITY

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AE systems and the RAF came in to school to give us a talk. BAE systems is an engineering company and they were showing how important engineers are. They showed us lots of different experiments.

For another of the experiments we had a static bike (one that didn’t move forward) and when someone peddled on the bike the action of the peddling charged a battery which was

Firstly they explained to us about sensors. One of the QMH

boys went up to the front and was blindfolded and had to touch different objects and guess what they were. This showed us that we don’t need to see something to know what it is. This led on to them talking about aeroplane sensors so that they know if they had been hit and can sense heat. They told us that in a few years there will be aircraft with a type of skin which heals the damage. This works by a fluid that will go to where the problem is and harden up, until it can be fixed properly.

This also showed us how lasers work in films and how we can see them when smoke surrounds them. We can see them because the lasers are placed between mirrors, they then bounce off them, so we see the light of the laser being reflected.

For one of the experiments the presenter brought in a long metal tube. They turned on some gas so that they could use a lighter to make fire on the top. Then they turned on some music and the flames flickered in time to the music. This happened because the vibrations of the music were making the flames move in time to the beat.

connected to a box that could light an electric suit once the battery was charged enough.

One of the boys in QMH got to try on virtual reality glasses which were connected to a phone which had an app on it, so when he put the glasses on it was like he was actually there, inside the game. He got to play a game where he was on a rollercoaster and he said it felt, like he really was on a rollercoaster.

After all these experiments and other things we thanked BAE systems for coming and giving us the talk and demonstrations, we hope they come back next year to show us more things.

The website for BAE systems is: http://www.baesystems.com/ Article by Benjamin Wasko, assistance provided by Edwina Keary, Maxine McCormick, Satara Lazar, Amina Jamil and Kristofers Lujans all Lower School Pupils.

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A YEAR IN PHYSICS ENRICHING AND EXTENDING THE IB AND IGCSE COURSES

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014 kicked off in explosive style for the Fourth Form with a ‘big bang’ style lecture. The entire year were treated to a series of demonstrations from the Physics Department about pressure, gravity, time, electricity and even their own version of the ice bucket challenge. The aim for the beginning of the IGCSE Science course being to excite and engage pupils prior to the start of lessons. Pupils were asked to select from the demonstrations given, then research and prepare a presentation on the science behind the experiment.

The IB physicists were treated to a visit to Brooklands Museum for the ‘Celebration of Speed’ event; supercars from all marques were on display along with engineering wonders from the garages of enthusiasts throughout the land. Pupils

simulation of the original track on a modern Formula 1 car simulator.

The annual SATRO science and engineering challenge started during December; KESW fielded three teams, one from each key stage. Whilst all the teams did well in their categories, the key stage three team made it through to the finals. At the finals, they were unfortunately unsuccessful this time, but they now know what to expect for next year.

The Fourth form went on a visit to the Science Museum to research their candidates for a technological wonder of the world. Pupils chose everything from the steam engine to rocket flight, presenting their cases for inclusion to the rest of the year.

The IB Group 4 Project this year was on the subject of the ‘human machine’, linking together the disciplines from the whole gamut of group 4 subjects. Pupils investigated the sweet spot on a cricket bat, how frequency of sound affects ability to perform complex tasks, how strength diminishes over a period of exertion and many other aspects of human movement.

took the opportunity to walk the remaining sections of the famous banked track and even test their driving skills on a

During the Autumn term, the Institute of Physics gave a series of evening lectures at Surrey University. IB Physics stu-

2014 September

2015 October

Construction of FerIndia puts its Man- milab’s NOvA neutrigalyaan craft in orbit no experiment is around Mars completed ready for operation page 12

November The Rosetta craft drops Philae on to comet 67P/ Churyumov– Gerasimenko

December

January

Febru

Two quantu ties telep Nobel Prize: efficient Lost Beagle 2 spacegether; Sp blue light-emitting craft found intact on bital angula diodes Martian surface tum transf tween p

uary

dents and invited guests attended at a presentation of some cutting-edge research into dark matter; perhaps the experiments carried out at the Large Hadron Collider later this year will lend evidence to this research.

During November, a group of IB and prospective IB students went on an evening visit to Herstmonceux observatory for an open evening. All the telescopes were open for viewing and pupils were given the opportunity to see nebulae and galaxies in astounding detail.

There were displays of radio tracking and laser telemetry being used to measure the precise orbital dimensions of individual satellites.

Physics received another boost when the trip to the Joint European Torus was repeated for another year; pupils had the opportunity to see round the site and reactor hall of the

world’s largest and most advanced Tokamak fusion reactor.

Within the next few decades, the technology developed here will be scaled up and used to build the ITER project in France, which will prove the viability of fusion reactors as a source of

limitless energy on earth; minimal risk, maximum energy and no combustion of any fuel source required.

Nick Emsley Physics

March

April

May

June

July

um properrail runs cold on alien Electron pairing with- Graphene light bulb ported tohotspots; search of out superconductivity shines bright; devices NASA ‘New HoriLarge Hadron Collidpin and or100,000 galaxies fails seen at long last; tiny could be used to zons’ probe flies past er restarts at double ar momento find waste heat of transistor reveals make transparent, Pluto for the first view its previous energy ferred beadvanced civilizaelectrons marching flexible displays of of the planet photons tions two by two the future Image: http://guide.alibaba.com/scenic-detail/the-observatory-science-centre_33793414.html

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SCIENCE IN ACTION BIOLOGY AND IGCSE SCIENCE CONFERENCES

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iology in Action

Monty Mythen: Specialist in Anaesthesia and critical care – his main interest is in hypoxia since one in five patients in intensive care suffer from this. Research on Everest to mimic hypoxia and look at different individual’s ability to cope with low partial pressures of oxygen. This included the Caudwell Xtreme Everest project with 250 subjects at Everest base camp (at 5500m this is higher than Mont Blanc) followed by Doctors in the Death Zone (25 subjects who went to the summit). The aim is to identify subjects who have the ability to adapt to low oxygen partial pressures and look at any epigenetic changes that occur with the goal of applying this to clinical situations.

Felicity Mehendale: Specialist in plastic, reconstructive and cleft palate surgery. Her interest in embryology is based on the faults that can occur in the formation of the palate around 6 weeks in the development of an embryo.

The aim of the surgeon is to ensure that the palate and its associated muscles are reconstructed to ensure that speech, feeding and the Eustachian tube function effectively.

Clare Isacke: Specialist in cancer research. Her interest is in the variety of mutations found within cancer cells that are the drivers of tumour proliferation and how to inhibit them. When a driver gene is inhibited the tumour may dramatically reduce page 14

however it is not permanent since there are a variety of driver genes and those that are not inhibited will start to dominate. Therefore a combination of therapies, targeting founder lesions as well as controlling the environment around the tumour is leading to more successful long term outcomes.

Hugh Montgomery: Specialist in the genetics of athletes who asked the question: are athletes born or made? He examined the genetic differences between long distance and short distance athletes. There are variants of the ACE gene that controls the renin-angiotensin system and these are found to have different advantages depending on sport.

So it seems that there is a strong element of genetic advantage for elite athletes.

Science in Action Michael de Podesta from National Physics laboratory: How do we measure and go beyond the limitations of our senses? He considered electromagnetic waves, distance, speed and temperature and the astounding technologies that have been developed to detect and measure these phenomena.

Tom Sheldon: Hope, hype and headlines. Since most of us gain scientific information from the media, Tom Sheldon argued that we need to think very critically. He observed that extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence, we must be wary of confusing coincidence with cause, we must think about any ulterior motives and we must evaluate if the story is actually important and not just exciting.

nating at home when they should be recycled to reduce the environmental impact of mining. For example there is 300 times more gold in one tonne of smart phones than there is in one tonne of gold ore. She argued that we need to develop much better infrastructure for recycling and recover more scarce metals, however we need to ensure that unwanted data is securely destroyed.

Professor Sir Robert Winston: specialist in human fertility. Fertility in women is time limited and Sir Robert looked at the rapid decline in fertility from a 20 – 30% chance of pregnancy per month for women under 35 years old, 10% chance for women ‘extraordinary aged 35 – 40 and 5% chance for women claims need who are over 40. He extraordinary also spoke passionateevidence, we must ly about the pressures on women who are be wary of highly educated and confusing embarking on their careers to have their coincidence with children later in life cause’ and thus risk losing the opportunity to conceive. He argued that society needs to change if women who become mothers are to have equal opportunity with men.

To embark on a career as a doctor is an exciting and challenging opportunity. The preparation for this must be careful and considered. In this conference, recently qualified doctors considered the following issues:

Karen Vernon-Perry: Materials specialist. Food and cosmetics have to be labelled by law, but electronic devices do not.

Many of our devices contain very valuable scarce elements and in Britain it is estimated that 90 million phones are hiber-

@KESWNews

Supporting your Future at Medical School April 2015

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Are you sure you want to study Medicine and not a related subject?

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The academic qualifications (IB or A Level) plus UKCAT and BMAT tests.

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Work experience

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How to write a top quality personal statement and excel in interview?



What is it like to be a medical student?



What is it like to be a Doctor?

There was wise counsel to make sure that anyone considering Medicine is entering this career because Medicine suits them rather than trying to change themselves to suit Medicine. Most people have an idea of what it is like to be a doctor from a patient’s perspective, but it is vital to look at the wider picture and realise that the role is not just a healer, but also a teacher, advisor, advocate, manager, team player and, above all, stay calm in a crisis. As a result there is a keen group of pupils from King Edward’s who are founding a Medical Society with the express aim of working on a successful entry into Medical School. We wish them luck and hope they will be rewarded for their hard work. page 15

Science at KESW

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Before and after

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SEEING STARS A YEAR OF STARGAZING WITH THE ASTRONOMY GROUP

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hroughout the year, the Astronomy Group have been meeting to observe, investigate and learn about the sky above them. Limited by the vagaries of the English weather, we have outsourced our observing to the Bradford Robotic Telescope on Tenerife.

The telescope is operated by Bradford University as part of the Instituto De Astrofisica De Canarias, but is also available to subscribers. Users can ‘queue’ a request to image a particular object or region of the sky which is then captured when conditions are optimum, triggering an email to let you know that your photograph is ready.

With a little trial and error, we have managed to significantly extend our reach into the universe; our most distant objects imaged being more than 20 million light years, about 600 billion times the distance from the earth to the moon.

Excitement mounted during March this year as the muchvaunted solar eclipse drew near. Filters were fitted to telescopes, helioscopes were made and attached to eyepieces and pinhole projectors were built on a grand scale. On the morning of March 20th, the school science elite were gathered on the Headmaster’s lawn for ‘we have managed what proved to be to significantly a very cloudy sky. extend our reach Those present variously reported a into the universe’ dimming of ambient light or a drop in temperature, but the proof came in the form of the environmental monitoring from the Science Department roof; our sensors detected a clear dip in light levels, reaching a nadir at 09:18.

Despite the setbacks, enthusiasm ran high and all attending

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Messier object number 64, the ‘black eye galaxy’. Discovered

by Edward Pigott in March 1779 and re-imaged by pupil Benedikt Keller in spring 2015. had a chance to learn about the physics behind eclipses including when and where to be for the next one.

This year has also seen the refurbishment of our telescope and mount by Mr Richard Greenwood, Physics Technician.

The telescope, a Cooke and Sons 4.5” refractor, was manufactured around 1920 and has been giving excellent service since. Mr Greenwood has updated the mount to give better imaging possibilities and adapted the fittings to take modern eyepieces, significantly adding to the viewing possibilities (weather permitting).

The stars have also figured in the IB syllabus, with Astrophysics selected as an option for another year; the course builds

up from the processes inside stars to the nature and existence of black holes.

We have also taken the opportunity to extend planetary science into the Third Form curriculum with an investigation into craters caused by meteorite impact. With the Chelyabinsk ‘air blast’ in recent memory, pupils have been intrigued to find out more about these phenomena. The class took up the task by choosing to investigate an aspect of meteorites and compared this to a specific measure of crater size. During this process they were a little surprised to discover that at least 40,000 tons of meteorites fall to earth each year, although much of this is as tiny dust-sized fragments.

On a few occasions we have been lucky enough to use the telescopes in the lab for night-time viewing. In these instances we have been rewarded with stunning views of the moon, Jupiter and its moons, the great nebula (Messier 42), Venus and assorted star clusters and constellations. We normally manage six of these during the autumn term, but the weather has not been kind to us, with only four viewings so far this year.

M51, the ‘Whirlpool’ galaxy. Taken by pupil Clifton Ling n spring 2015. The sketch below was drawn in 1845 by Lord Rosse and is the earliest known image of M51.

Perhaps the most exciting things seen so far this year have been the images taken of our grandest neighbours in the solar system; the two largest gas planets have been obligingly visible this year, with Jupiter remaining prominent in the sky as a bright, yellowish ‘star’, although Saturn has only been visible during the very early hours.

Not only are these gas giants fascinating to see, but they give us a connection with the early astronomers who must have experienced a similar sense of wonder as they caught fleeting glimpses of astronomical bodies beyond our own. All-in-all, a great year of observing and a won-

derful introduction to the world beyond our own that is Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Nick Emsley Physics

All images remain Copyright © University of Bradford page 19

BEES AT KESW 2015 OUR RESIDENT COLONIES CONTRIBUTE TO THE SWEETNESS OF LIFE

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wo strong colonies have been overwintered and each survived with a lot of available stores and so the colonies grew rapidly. Good weather in March and April allowed further expansion. A dedicated group of students (the Bee Team) have worked hard to manage the hives this year making visits to the apiary whenever the weather permits. They have also have to assemble the frames of foundation that the bees use to make the honeycomb cells.

At the time of writing, one colony has been split to form an artificial swarm. This will allow the old queen, who has been moved to a new hive, to develop a new colony of workers. The remaining workers in the original hive are well on the way to develop a new queen. As soon as we can see that she is producing fertilised eggs, we will kill the old queen and re-unite the colonies. The new queen will then take over a very strong colony that will have lost the swarming instinct. The hope is that they will then turn their attention to packing honey into the super boxes and have a reasonable quantity to harvest in August.

The other colony, has not shown signs of swarming yet despite growing into an enormous colony. We are keeping a close eye on them as if they swarm we will you cannot lose half the bees and even worse they will manage your bees’ take half the honey behaviour. They with them. This colony has grown rapidly. will do what they They are already on are going to do their third super box and it is the skill and we have added an extra brood box to the of the beekeeper hive to give the queen to react to what is a bit more space. This may prevent the cologoing on ny from swarming until much later in the year. With this hive we are hoping for an extraction of honey in the last week of term.

As always in beekeeping, you cannot manage your bees’ be-

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haviour. They will do what they are going to do and it is the skill of the beekeeper to react to what is going on. So far it appears that this year things appear to be going well.

Hopefully this will translate into a good honey harvest; a honey harvest before the end of term has never happened before.

Clive Saunders Head of Biology

EDIBLE SCIENCE USING CAKE TO CLARIFY CONCEPTS

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e have been using cake making to demonstrate and to reinforce learning in Science for many years now. Recently, there have been some truly spectacular offerings from the junior members of the school drawn from their Key Stage 3 curriculum.

The second form have risen to the challenge and have proved creative bakers, producing very professional cakes that would look wonderful in any baker's window.

Indeed it has been a shame to cut into the mouth watering masterpieces but that is what we do and enjoy a cake feast........ then we learn about digestion!

Heart by Scarlett Thornton, Periodic Table and Rat Dissection

by Maxine McCormick.

Pamela Nash Science

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SCIENCE FURTHER AFIELD BIOLOGY FIELDWORK AT KESW 2015

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cology and environmental education have always been a key component of the curriculum at KESW and so it makes perfect sense for us to study the Ecology and Conservation option topic in the IB Biology for both the Standard Level and Higher Level students. The position of the school in rural Surrey also makes the Ecology module an obvious choice to study as many of the resources that we need are on our doorstep. Double lessons spread across the lunch break have allowed time for students to jump into the minibus and visit local conservation areas for their studies, thinly disguised as a biology picnic.

lations in our own woodland, freshwater ecology in the River Wey at Tilford and a comparison of communities between freshwater sites.

Students have also had the opportunity to visit the Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst Place. This is the world’s largest seed bank housing seeds for research and conservation from all over the world. Students get a backstage tour of the facilities and an insight into the research taking place at the facility. This study then forms their case study in ex situ conservation therefore linking closely to the IB specification.

Clive Saunders Head of Biology

‘time for students to jump into the minibus and visit local conservation areas’

This year, we have concentrated on the skills necessary to complete syllabus components of the Ecology module. Students will then apply one of these skills to an individual area of study which will then form their internal assessment project.

Studies have included work on competitive exclusion in plant species at Botany Bay, transects to look at plant popupage 22

THE LAST WORD THANKS AND FAREWELLS

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he successes of the Science Department at King Edward’s would not be possible without our dedicated team of teachers. However, the high quality practical programmes that they deliver would be impossible without the work of our highly talented technician team. These wonderful people work miracles in managing our laboratories and they make a highly significant contribution in the development of practical work, Extended Essays and projects.

They have brought a wealth of experience, coming from engineering, food microbiology and pharmaceutical backgrounds and are constantly contributing to the enrichment of our programmes at school. As a result the teaching staff and technicians make a very strong team and I am very grateful for all that they do.

Sadly we have to say farewell to the Head of Biology, Clive Saunders and chemist, Steve Pentreath (who was also Head

of the Lower School for many years). Both of these teachers will be sorely missed by their pupils and colleagues. The good news is that they are going on to interesting places and continuing in Science education. Steve is heading off to Kingswood School near Bath, where he will continue to inspire young chemists.

Clive is taking a break from teaching to indulge in his passion for wildlife as a volunteer guide assisting visitors at the

Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçu (REGUA). This is a privately owned reserve and Eco-lodge in the Mata Atlantica in Rio de Janeiro State which holds the greatest species diversity of all the forest areas in Brazil. It is severely under threat from development. If you want to find out more, please look at www.regua.org.

It remains for me to thank all the contributors to this first edition of Scientifique, especially Nick Emsley who has designed the magazine and patiently formatted the final product.

A number of exciting initiatives have already been planned for next year and I am looking forward to reporting them to you in the second edition of Scientifique.

Ann Hill Head of Science page 23

What Do Science Teachers Do? We make scientists

We inspire curiosity and a willingness to inquire We help you to make sense of the world We teach you to understand and make the stuff that is going to be the basis of our economies We give you the tools to answer questions and promote life long learning

We help you make informed choices in a democratic setting We help you understand the consequences of your actions page 24