Blog posts
Question of the fortnight: Why do babies have big heads?
Blogging science to life
Mon 12 April 2010, Written by: Sophina
How come babies are born with big heads? Does that mean they have big brains?
Yes. in relation to how big their bodies are, babies have big brains.
In fact, shortly after birth, we have more brain cells, or neurons, than we will have in the rest of our lives. It's connections in the brain that develop. When we're born, connections between brain cells are not very specific. As we get older, these connections become stronger. In fact, your brain continues developing until your early 20s!
Nadine Becker
University of Bristol Neuroscientist (from At-Bristol's Brain Awareness Week)
Many thanks to Nadine for the answer! You can find out more about the brain when All About Us opens using two new interactive exhibits: Weigh a Brain and Power a Brain!
Every fortnight, we are answering your science questions about the human body. It's all part of finding out how amazing you are, in the run up to the opening of our new exhibition All About Us in February 2011.
Do you have a science question about the human body?
Tweet your question to @atbristol using the hashtag #QF and we’ll answer one question every fortnight!
Find out more information about our new exhibition All About Us opening in February 2011
Animation winners announced…
Blogging science to life
Mon 12 April 2010, Written by: Nicole
The Oscars may have come and gone, but for all you film fans out there the winners of another, much more entertaining, film competition have been announced…
The Animate It! movie making competition's second round of winners have been released. The four age groups in the competition, all demonstrated the kind of impressive skill which could have Aardman animators quaking in the boots!
The winners of the groups are then entered in the annual competition to win and Oscar-style ‘Golden’ Morph at a red carpet ceremony held in July 2010.
And the winners are…
Under 7
Winner: Spider Love Story – Great background and fun calypso music for these Mexican arachnids! Proper job, well done!
Highly Commended: Strictly Come Dancing – Imaginative use of pipe cleaners and oh so topical!
Commended: Morphs Holiday – imaginative use of props for an old modelling-clay favourite
7-11
Winner: Alien Dance – Cool, what a mover!
Highly commended: Octoball – short and sweet.
Commended: Plaso The robot
12-17
Winner: Random Monkey Film – Very imaginative, good use of materials; credits looked really good too. Well done.
Highly commended: Moon Invasion – good choice of music and props, loved the falling snow – gave atmosphere!
Commended: Attack of the monster – a selection of really scary colourful monsters being monstrous of course!
18 and over
Winner: Revenge of the Tinsel – made me laugh out loud. Great selection of props.
Highly commended: Whale fun – first time we’d had a whale I think.
Commended: Love – liked the character design
To watch the winning entries grab your popcorn and visit the Animate It! homepage. And if you think you can do any better visit At-Bristol and make you own animation by June 30th to be entered into the next round of the competition – Good Luck!
VIP visit to At-Bristol...
Blogging science to life
Fri 9 April 2010, Written by: Nicole
As the election campaign headed to Bristol, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg chose to squeeze in a trip to At-Bristol to sample some hands-on science fun!
While here he visited Jet set go, had a go at making giant bubbles and was even shown how pendulums work by At-Bristol Chief Executive Goéry Delacôte! After helping some visitors edit their animations on Animate It! he headed out to sunny Millennium Square to greet the party faithful and address local and national media - how exciting!
Easter Eggs-plained…
Blogging science to life
Thu 1 April 2010, Written by: Nicole
We have plenty of eggs-citing activities planned for the Easter weekend! Here is a run down of them so you can be sure to make the most of your visit!
Easter Trail - Take part in the terrific At-Bristol Easter trail, keep your eyes peeled and follow the clues around the venue to win an exciting Easter prize!
(Running over Easter weekend from 02 until 05 April just ask on arrival to At-Bristol)
Eggs-treme Experiments - We will be running dozens of eggs-cellent experiments as the Live Science team will be investigating the science of eggs! Can an elephant stand on an egg without breaking it? Can you drop an egg from 30 feet without breaking it? All will be revealed throughout the Easter holidays.
(Running daily from 02 April until 18 April. Simply check the What’s on board on arrival to At-Bristol to see times and location.)
Easter Animation - Craft your own Aardman-style clay bunny which you can keep and take home with you! Then bring your bunnies to life with our Animate It! exhibition- you can even email your animation home to family and friends to wish them a Hoppy Easter!
(Running Easter holidays from 02 April until 18 April- Be sure to check the What’s on board on your arrival to At-Bristol for times.)
Easter Face-painting Fun! No design is too great or too small whether you want a fluffy chick, amazing egg or bouncing Easter bunny!
(Running over Easter weekend from 02 until 05 of April just ask on arrival to At-Bristol for times and location.)
Little Stars – NEW SHOW! All tiny explorers welcome for our ‘Little Stars’ trip to the stars, as Easter sees the first showing of our under 5’s Planetarium show Little Stars. Join us on a colourful, musical journey visiting some familiar places and some new ones, as we make new friends along the way!
(Little Stars Planetarium show 2pm weekends and holidays)
Happy Easter!
Question of the fortnight: Using ribs to reconstruct bones
Blogging science to life
Mon 29 March 2010, Written by: Sophina
Do you know why to reconstruct bones after an accident they take some of your ribs?
And why they can go back there and keep taking more?
Question via twitter from @asober
The question that is being asked is about using ribs as donors to replace broken, damaged or diseased bones elsewhere in the body.
Ribs can be used to replace things such as the mandible (jawbone).
Once a whole rib has been removed it will not regrow, if you remove one to three inches of rib it will regrow but will not be usable for bone reconstruction as it will be abnormally shaped.
You can use multiple ribs because there are 24 in total and you can lose portions of less than four without any functional loss.
Mark Yeatman BSc(Hons) MBBS MD FRCS(Eng) FRCs(C/Th)
Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon
University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust
Many thanks to @asober for the question, and University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust for the answer!
Every fortnight, we are answering your science questions about the human body. It's all part of finding out how amazing you are, in the run up to the opening of our new exhibition All About Us in February 2011.
Do you have a science question about the human body?
Tweet your question to @atbristol using the hashtag #QF and we’ll answer one question every fortnight!
Find out more information about our new exhibition All About Us opening in February 2011
Question of the fortnight: What is deja vu?
Blogging science to life
Wed 17 March 2010, Written by: Hannah
Every fortnight, we are going to answer your science questions about the human body. It's all part of finding out how amazing you are, in the run up to the opening of our new exhibition All About Us in February 2011.
What is déjà vu?
Scientists don't understand it...it's to do with memory and with the way the brain pieces events together to make one memory. Sometimes when the brain is trying to match previous experiences to what's going on around you it can make some mistakes-and your brain does actually make a lot of mistakes!
Did you know that your sense of smell is your strongest memory, stronger than what you see or hear?!
Do you have a science question about the human body that you’d like answering? Tweet your question to @atbristol using the hashtag #QF and we’ll answer one a fortnight!
Find out more information about our new exhibition All About Us opening in February 2011
Brilliant brains aplenty in At-Bristol
Blogging science to life
Tue 16 March 2010, Written by: Zoë
Five models, ranging from six years old to 70, will be in At-Bristol tomorrow (Wednesday) to see their own heads as resin models for the first time, that form a new exhibit ‘Weigh a Brain’ that is part of the new £1.5 million exhibition ‘All About Us’ opening in February 2011.
This week is the internationally celebrated Brain Awareness Week, which At-Bristol always takes part in, through various activities that highlight how our brain functions, and the importance of it. The ‘Weigh a Brain’ exhibit is a very straightforward design allowing the visitor to literally take a brain out of heads of various ages and weigh them so see just how much our brains weigh as we age – the result is very surprising…just how much our brains weigh, and also the changes that occur as we age.
The models are all male to keep the consistency of the same sex development and the average size and weight of a male brain at each particular age - the image captures the first stage of the heads before they were made out of resin as they are now.
To continue the theme of Brain Awareness Week, the Bristol Neuroscience Group are in At-Bristol every day this week (until Friday) running activities such as marking on a swimming hat where different parts of the brain are, and then you can put the cap on and see for yourself how your own brain works, and also making neurons from pipe cleaners.
So if you fancy being brainy, acting brainy or just finding out more about our amazing brains, then come and see for yourself!
Do try this at home...
Blogging science to life
Mon 8 March 2010, Written by: Nicole
Just a quick reminder to listen to Bristol Community fm (93.2) on 15 March 2010 from 5.30pm as At-Bristol’s John Polatch will be carrying out an experiment live on air, and he is inviting you to participate at home while you listen!
For all of you that missed Monday’s show, which listed the easy-to-get household apparatus you need to take part in the experiment, here is a list of what you need to have to hand:
1.5kg Jelly whichever flavour is your favourite! (if you don’t fancy making your own wobbly jelly, ready-made is fine!)
1 x Freezer bag or Clingfilm
1 x Elastic band
1 x Marker pen
The experiment has been devised with Brain Awareness week in mind but all will be revealed on Monday from 5.30pm!
For other Brain Awareness week activities, such as meeting the Bristol Neuroscience Group and how to make pipe-cleaner neurons, visit At-Bristol next week!
And if you can’t wait until Monday – check out our do try this at home page- and put your grey matter to the test!
Do try this at home...
Blogging science to life
Mon 8 March 2010, Written by: Nicole
At-Bristol is giving you the chance to tune in and take part in a live experiment!
At-Bristol’s very own John Polatch will be carrying out an exciting live experiment on Bristol Community fm(93.2) and because At-Bristol is all about interactivity we are inviting you to carry out the experiment at home as you listen!
Be sure to listen to Bristol Community fm today from 6.45pm to find out what household apparatus you need to take part in the interactive experiment. The experiment itself will be taking place on Monday 15 March during Brain Awareness week (15 March- 21 March) so make sure you tune in to test out your brilliant brain!
And if you can’t wait until Monday 15 – check out our do try this at home page - which has lots of other experiments for you to test out!
Fancy a bit of light Sport Relief this week?
Blogging science to life
Fri 5 March 2010, Written by: Nicole
Well head down to Millennium square and take part in A Question of Sport outdoors!
We are giving you plenty of opportunities to put your sporting knowledge to the test and have fun all in the name of Sport Relief!
On Saturday 6 (12pm and 2pm) and Tuesday 9 March (12pm, 2pm and 4pm) an interactive brand new A Question of Sport game will be played on the big screen in Millennium square and just needs you to make it a success.
So come down and challenge your friends and other members of the public to see who has superior sporting knowledge- while doing your bit for Sport Relief!
