Helix @ CSIRO

For kids, parents and teachers who love science


Leave a comment

Race in space

Here’s a board game from a past issue of Scientriffic. Although it was published a few years ago in 2009, I think it’s still beautiful. Plus, it might be a fun way to pass time this weekend. I hope you enjoy it!
Banner with text: Race in Space, Illustrated by Patrice Marsaudon, for 2-4 players

You will need

  • printer
  • scissors
  • glue
  • die

Before playing the game
Squares folded into a token shaped like a cross on a base.

This is how to fold the four shuttle tokens for the game.

  1. Download and print the board [PDF, 7.55 MB], data cards and shuttle tokens [PDF, 8.30 MB].
  2. Cut out the data cards.
  3. Cut out and fold the four shuttle tokens as shown right.

Continue Reading →


Leave a comment

Fire away!

Diagram showing the the different steps of building a model catapult.

Here is a diagram to help you build a model trebuchet! The number on the diagram matches the number of the step below.

You will need

  • Thick popsticks
  • Craft glue
  • Plasticine
  • Two metal washers
  • Pencil
  • Plastic medicine cup

What to do

  1. Glue four popsticks together to form a square. Glue another six popsticks across the frame to make a base for the trebuchet.
  2. Make the base stronger by gluing another popstick along each edge. Continue Reading →


1 Comment

World Oceans Day LEGO® Investigator Giveaway!

Reblogged from Investigator @ CSIRO:

To celebrate World Oceans Day we’re giving away a LEGO® Investigator. To enter subscribe to this blog by midnight Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) on 8 June 2013.

Subscribers who’ve already signed up and anyone who subscribes by midnight on World Oceans Day 2013 will be in the running to win.

The winner will be announced on this blog on Tuesday 11 June 2013.

Read more… 4 more words

Subscribe to the Investigator @ CSIRO blog for your chance to win a LEGO® Investigator!


Leave a comment

Arrow maze

A square grid with a path traced on it.

When making an arrow maze, start by drawing a path from the ‘In’ box to the ‘Out’ box.

You will need

  • Paper
  • Overhead projector sheet or tracing paper
  • Permanent marker
  • Pens or textas
  • A copy of the arrow maze [pdf, 7kB]

Solving an arrow maze

Although it might not look like it, this puzzle is a type of maze. The rules are quite simple:

  1. Start at the box labelled ‘In’.
  2. There are arrows in the box. Follow one of them to the next box.
    A line going through some boxes. Someone is drawing arrows along the line.

    Overlay a transparency and then draw arrows along the path.

  3. This box also has arrows. Pick one and follow it. Keep following arrows until you get to the box labelled ‘Out’.
  4. This maze has a loop from which you cannot escape – if you end up in the loop, you’ll have to start again! Continue Reading →


Leave a comment

Make-a-mummy update: Week 1

After letting it sit for three days, I checked out my chicken mummy. The mixture of salt and bicarb looked like it had absorbed a fair bit of water, and I detected a faint whiff of something rotten. Yes, it was coming along nicely!

Not wanting to gross out my co-workers, I took the bag home. It was raining outside, so I decided the laundry was the best place to open the bag. I put the tray in the bottom of the sink, and opened the bag. I poured the contents into the tray. The smell was revolting – even worse than I expected.

After the smell, the next thing I noticed was the colour of the chicken. The skin was no longer a pale pink – it had turned much darker, while the flesh of the chicken had turned yellow. The skin was dry and leathery.

Chicken carcass surrounded by a mixture of bicarb soda and salt.

Observations: the chicken smelled awful, its colour had changed and the skin felt like leather.

Trying not to be sick, I cleared away some of the drying mixture that had crusted on. The mixture of salt and bicarb was doing its job. It was clumping together and felt moist, indicating that it was absorbing the water from the chicken. I removed the sock from the cavity of the carcass. It was actually damp – that’s how much water it had absorbed. I filled a new old sock with drying mixture and put this in the cavity.

Continue Reading →


Leave a comment

Double Helix – back to basics

Adenine molecule marked with an A.

Game on! Get hands-on learning about genetics with cards like this.

Two centuries ago, nobody knew much about what made a single fertilised cell grow into a human. Or – for that matter – a dog, a sea urchin, a worm or a whale. The problem was nobody could imagine how a microscopic bag of chemicals could possibly split in half again and again, yet still have enough information to make all the different organs and tissues in the body.

Since the invention of the microscope, scientists have known many cells contain a round, dark nucleus. In the late 19th century, a Swiss physician managed to extract specific chemicals from the nucleus that he called nuclein.

Bit by bit, over the following decades, chemists worked out what was in this goopy material. There were hints that these chemicals could hold the key to what turns a simple cell into a complex organism. Finding convincing evidence took a long time. Continue Reading →


Leave a comment

The different faces of phosphorus

Burning match.

Phosphorus is used to set matches alight.
Image: Sebastian Ritter/Wikimedia Commons/CC-BY-SA-2.5

Strike a match. It lights thanks to phosphorus. This element doesn’t just have fiery applications – it’s important for life itself.

Phosphorus comes in a number of different forms, called allotropes. The two main allotropes get their names from their colours: white phosphorus and red phosphorus. Both allotropes are reactive. White phosphorus is so reactive that it can spontaneously burst into flames when exposed to oxygen. The red phosphorus used in matches is slightly more stable.

Phosphorus is so reactive that, in nature, it is only found in combination with other elements. A common combination is for one phosphorus atom to combine with four oxygen atoms to form a phosphate ion.

A number of important biological compounds contain phosphates. DNA, which holds an organism’s genetic information, contains phosphates. Adenosine triphosphate is used by cells to produce energy. In humans, phosphorus is also needed to build strong teeth and bones. Continue Reading →

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 63 other followers