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This Autumn we’re running I’m a Scientist from 12th – 23rd November. There will be 3 zones. A Cancer Zone (November becomes ‘Movember‘ as men grow excellent moustaches to raise awareness of men’s health, specifically cancers) and two more zones that we want to fit in with the topics you are teaching at the time. We want your suggestions for what zones to run. What will you be teaching your students in November? Let us know here: www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1017914/What-topics-will-you-be-teaching-this-November Next week, once we’ve had your suggestions, we’ll post the results here, and start recruiting scientists working in those areas. This event is just for teachers who’ve taken part before. And we’re doing things a little differently. Teachers will be able to use their existing username and password. Students will register online on a unique page created for each teacher. There won’t be any printed teacher packs. No fiddly access codes. No … Continue reading →

We’ve come to the end of 2 very energised weeks and we want to say a big well done to the student zone winners from I’m a Scientist from 25th June – 6th July. Moderators and scientists have nominated students in each zone who asked great questions, engaged really well in the Live Chats, or left some thought provoking comments. The winner in each zone gets a £20 WH Smiths voucher and a certificate. We’ve also listed a few runners up in each zone who we thought participated really well. Thanks to all the students for asking so many great questions, from the philosophical and thought provoking to the weird and wonderful you really challenged the scientists and stretched their imaginations. And the student winners are: Earth  Winner: boxofstrawbs  – for asking very good questions and live chat contributions Runners up: abichohan and doctorwhomadperson   Laser Winner: jewlz – for asking very interesting and varied questions … Continue reading →

And It’s all over! We’ve had such a brilliant, intense two weeks of live chats and entertaining questions and engaged minds, that it seems sad to say goodbye. But we have our winning scientists, the summer holidays and lots more events on the horizon to look forward to! The eight winning scientists have made it through four nail biting rounds of evictions. Each student vote counted and in some zones the evictions came down to almost single votes! It’s time to reveal the winner in each zone. Congratulations to: Zone Winner Where they work Yttrium Zone Allan Pang Queen Mary University of London Zirconium Zone Carol White University of Leeds Niobium Zone Michael Cook Imperial College London Earth Zone Nuala Carson SynthSys, University of Liverpool Laser Zone Tom Lister Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust Molybdenum Zone Ash Cadby University of Sheffield Organs Zone Bob Bonwick Cheltenham General Hospital Pathology Zone Samantha … Continue reading →

It’s getting exciting now, the final scientists are all preparing themselves for the big day tomorrow! But sadly that means we have to say goodbye to more scientists today.. And the third scientists to go are: Diva in Yttrium Zone John in Zirconium Zone Blanka in Niobium Zone James P in Earth Zone Mike in Laser Zone SJ in Molybdenum Zone Nisha in Organs Zone Jonathan in Pathology Zone Here are some top questions from the day from the live chats.. annaseal : Why does sweat smell? blankasengerova : @annaseal. Good question. Sweat contains some waste products from the body which may have an unpleasant smell. And it also contains pheromonoes which help us pick our best suitable mate (Niobium) bobob : wts the worst thing that can happen to us while we r alive jamespope : @bobob Letting outselves down, we only have one person to answer to in … Continue reading →

Oh no! It’s the second day of evictions today, and the scientists have been working tirelessly at answering all the questions and taking part in live chats, but unfortunately we must say goodbye to 8 more scientists today – as there were no evictions in Organs yesterday, and only one today – we will have a double eviction tomorrow! The second scientists to go are: Harriet in Yttrium Zone Rebecca in Zirconium Zone Anil in Niobium Zone Davie in Earth Zone Pip in Laser Zone Gemma in Molybdenum Zone Vee in Organs Zone Michael in Pathology Zone Here are some top questions from the day.. If you had to, what would you release into the Earth’s atmosphere. Neurotoxin or Hydrogen Cyanide? (Molybdenum Zone) Is it possible to be completely invisible? (Laser Zone) When a tornado hits, what happens to things which are sucked up inside? Are they just dropped off … Continue reading →

The scientists have been working hard to answer over 2, 409 questions and have taken part in over 70 live chats collectively. But as only one scientist can win in each zone it’s time to announce the first to be evicted… The first scientists to go are: Angela in Yttrium Zone Ellie in Zirconium Zone Cees in Niobium Zone Gemma in Earth Zone Tianfu in Laser Zone Andrew in Molybdenum Zone A draw in Organs Zone! Anna in Pathology Zone Here are some of the top questions from the week so far.. Do you agree with Michael Gove’s opinions concerning GCSEs? Do you think they are too easy?Do you agree with Michael Gove’s opinions concerning GCSEs? Do you think they are too easy? (Molybdenum Zone) How have childrens reactions changed to divorce over the last 50 years? (Zirconium Zone) Why Don’t Birds get Electrocuted… (Pathology Zone) In the future do … Continue reading →

The Monday morning blues were quickly banished by means of a show of school students and their excellent questions in the live chats. alan1421 : @emma how come on earth there oxygen and in space theres none i mean why doesn’t the oxygen go from earth and fill in the space emmatrantham : @alan1421 Brilliant question! I didn’t know the answer to this until recently. At least part of the reason is that the gravity of the earth attracts the oxygen to it (Niobium Zone) hamsa : Why is there no mammal with green fur? Green is a good camouflage color, and nonmammals (for example, frogs, snakes, and birds) do come in green. Why not mammals? (Earth Zone) mayerar01 : could the moon have moonquakes?? shaunarose : Since clouds contain tiny water droplets, why are rainbows not permanently present? johnwelford : @shaunarose, there needs to be quite a lot of sunlight … Continue reading →

After a busy 2 weeks we want to say a big well done to the student zone winners from I’m a Scientist from June 11th – 25th. We asked moderators and scientists to recommend students in each zone who asked great questions or engaged really well in the Live Chats, or even left some thought provoking comments. The winner in each zone gets a £20 WH Smiths voucher and a certificate. We’ve also listed a few runners up in each zone who we thought participated really well. Thanks to all the students who took part. You asked some great questions and there were some fabulous live chats, from the deep and thought provoking to the more lively where you really challenged the scientists (and their typing skills). So well done to: Animal Behaviour Winner: emily72, Loreto Grammar School – for asking lots of thoughtful science based questions Runners up: lucyluvslemurs, … Continue reading →

What a day, the week has progressively gotten busier and busier! Today seemed to explode with questions – over 460 in laser, with over 200 waiting to be checked by our BEAUTIFUL moderators, and that’s just one zone! Trying to pick highlights for the day has been almost impossible, as there are so many brilliant questions, probably, some of the best of the week: liv99 : are scientist more likely to get ill than other people?? blankasengerova : @liv99. I don’t think they’re more likely to get ill, I think teachers and nursery teachers are actually because they come in contact with lots of people in their work. (Niobium) themadman2477 : r u ever scared of when your doing sciecne that you are going to find something out that u didnt realy want to know (Molybdenum) brokenhalo : is there any possibility of parralel universes?? carolwhite : @brokenhalo – there’s … Continue reading →