FAQs about the Call for Entries

In this tumultuous time of finals, crazed shoppers, end-of-the-year frenzy, schizophrenic weather, and, of course, the Call for Entries for Cambridge Science Festival 2012, we at the Festival office get a lot of questions, some of which I will answer en masse here today.

Q: I am John Doe and have a great idea for a CSF event, but am not affiliated with a University, company, etc.  Can I still put in an event entry?
A: Absolutely! We love to see all the different ideas out there for the Festival.  Keep in mind - whether or not your entry will be chosen depends on where your event lands on the awesomeometer.

Q: It is after December 6th, are you still taking Entries for CSF?
A: Yes!  But pretty please, get them in as soon as possible!  (For the sake of our sanity, we'll put our foot down for a hard stop in January.)

Q: I am part of XxxxxX Group and want to be part of the Festival, but don't know what to do!
A: Technically not a question, but we've still got an answer (or several):

• Do a fun booth activity at the Science Carnival (past examples: liquid nitrogen ice cream, lego DNA, robotics demonstrations).  Also, the Carnival this year is a Circus!  Can you do something in the circus theme?
• Create an engaging event highlighting science and technology (one such off-the-wall idea: a Science Crawl).  
• Many organizations are already doing cool events for the community, we'd love to highlight them at the Festival!
• There's still time to be highlighted as a Cambridge Science Festival Sponsor for 2012!  Check it out.
• Contact us, and we can chat.

Q: I am ____@___.uk and have this great idea for the Festival...
A: ...Pretty sure you're looking for the Cambridge UK Science Festival... but we'd love to have you!

Q: Who are you, and what exactly do you do? [People are generally more polite than that though.]
A: Keep tuned in!  We'll have Festival staff profiles going up on the blog into the New Year!

Link Salad, bon appetit

Tips to hack together a 3-course meal with a coffeemaker and much more… particularly enjoying the how to brew beer with a coffeemaker!

http://www.neatorama.com/2011/12/07/10-awesome-geeky-cooking-hacks/

 

Everyone is wrong about how people die when they fall into lava

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/12/the-right-and-wrong-way-to-die-when-you-fall-into-lava/

Mother and child’s hearts beat together…

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/12/scienceshot-human-hearts-beat-to.html?rss=1

Teeth are evolved fish scales?

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/12/teeth-from-the-outside-in/

This Whale Song project invites citizen scientists to help marine researchers understand what whales are saying.

http://whale.fm/ 

An interesting exercise:

How to picture the size of the universe

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/12/universe-size/?pid=2574&viewall=true

Links of the Week

Miscellanea of cool science linkage:

The uncertainty of memory, Courts are catching on...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/29/health/the-certainty-of-memory-has-its-day-in-court.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Gender-typed science learning kits and why they won't help further Science

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/11/29/how-not-to-market-science-to-girls/

…and the speedy response to the blog

http://blog.scientificsonline.com/2011/11/girlsboys-novelty-kits/

Explore interesting science in some of this year’s best science books!

http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2011/11/best_science_books_2011_boing.php

Gene identified for needing less sleep. Now when will we get to modify that gene?

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Lifestyle/Wellness/Why-even-4-hours-of-sleep-is-enough/Article1-774229.aspx#.TtU6VhUTu0o.facebook

Flexible robots!

http://bostinno.com/2011/11/29/funded-by-the-pentagon-researchers-from-harvard-build-a-robot-with-the-flexibility-of-gumby-video/

 

Ravens point using beak and wings!

http://www.livescience.com/17213-ravens-gestures-animal-communication.html

edit:
Not a recent blog post, but the first time I've run across it - some interesting claims!
"Botox may diminish the experience of emotions" 
http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2010/04/botox_may_diminish_the_experience_of_emotions.php