EXPERIMENT :DNA EXTRACTION

some kind of popular science

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SCI SCIaugust 2013

some kind of popular science

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A GREAT GENIOUS:NIKOLA TESLA

II. SCIENCE PICNIC IN ZAGREB

EXPERIMENT:DNA EXTRACTION

ABOUT ANTIBIOTICS

about cats

Photo: Heart muscle capillary http://education.denniskunkel.com/

Author: Elif KoyuncukPublished by: Mladinski center Dravinjske dolineContact: elif.koyuncuk@hotmail.comŽička cesta 4a3210 Slovenske KonjiceSloveniaEdition: 2/ September-October 2013Copies: 100

Tesla: A Great Genious

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Astronomy:Quasars

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Experiment:DNA extraction

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II. Science Picnic

in Zagreb

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Did you know?

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Google Science Fair 2013

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Let’s Learn Turkish

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Science Pages

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World Records

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Working Brain

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Editor’s page

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I N D E X :

Antibiotics

INDEX

Second edition of SCI Popular Science Magazine is again full of

interesting themes like first one. From this edition, SCI will be

published once in two months. As you can see on cover page, you

are reading now September-October edition.

On 15th of September we were in Zagreb to see Second Science

Picnic. It was a great event and I wrote an article to share my

experiences with you. Maybe next year you also want to attend it

and learn too many things about different kind of topics in science.

Specially youngsters will be inspired to make experiments after

they read about Science Picnic. They can find a DNA extraction

experiment after Science Picnic article. It is very easy to make and

they need just simple materials which they can find at home. If they

have their original ideas, maybe they can think about to attend

Google Science Fair with their projects, specially after they know

about prizes. They can read about Google Science Fair 2013 in this

edition.

There is also a wide range of topics so that you can find

something interesting, depending on your interests, such as

astronomy, health, mathematics, langauge...

Enjoy!

Elif Koyuncuk

Author and Designer of SCI

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EDITOR’S PAGE

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TESLA: A GREAT GENIOUS

Nikola Tesla was a genious scientist

who had a lot of theories and inventions

which changed the world. He was one of

the greatest electrical inventors who

ever lived.

Education He was born on 10th of July 1856 in

Croatia. He was a Serbian by origin but

he spent most of his life in USA. He was

fourth of the five children in his family.

His father wanted him to be a priest like

himself, but fortunately he did the right

choice and decided to be a scientist. He

studied at Politechnik School in Graz, Austria and later he

continued his education in Prague Technical University. besides his

langauges Serbian and German, he also learned foreign langauges

such as English, French and Italian to be able to understand

technical books in other langauges.

Great inventions All his life he invented numerous great new things, most of them

were revolutionary. He had around 700 patents for his inventions.

One of his greatest invention of was AC-induction motor. In the

beginning of 20th century, scientists didn't even dream about any

alternative for direct currency. He surprized them with his works

on alternative current and also devised motor which works with

alternative current.

Nikola Tesla, 1983

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Tesla's AC-induction motor is widely

used troughout the world in industry

and household devices. This new

device started the industrial

revolution at the turn of the century.

Tesla was so far ahead of his time

that many of his ideas are only

appearing today. His legacy can be

seen in different devices from

microwave ovens to MX missiles.

Besides this, Tesla's life inspires us to believe that anything that we

imagine can be accomplished, especially with electricity.

USA years His early discovery of the alternating current motor led him to

USA to seek a venue for his discovery. There he developed the

polyphase AC system of power transmission, which drives every

home and industry in the country. He invented Tesla coil to create

high-frequency electricity, neon and florescent lighting, radio

transmission, remote control and hundreds of other devices which

are now an essential part of our everyday lives.

His technological achievements transformed USA from a nation

of isolated communities to a

country connected by power grids

where information was available

upon demand.

He met with Thomas Edison and

started to work with him in his

company in 1884. He was

improving Edison’s motors and

generators to get higher level of

efficiency until they had a

disagreement about money.

Tesla AC Electric Motor-1888

Transmitter and Laboratory, 1901-1905, located in Wardencliffe

ScientistTesla: A great inventor

4

Tesla finished working with him after Edison refused to give him

money which he promised for a task which Tesla achieved. After

that case, they became competitors. Tesla started to search new

business partners or investors to support his works.

In 1886 he found investors and formed his own company called

Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. But it didn’t work out on

long term and investors didn’t want to support his ideas any more.

After almost one year without money and good job, he met with

Charles Peck and Alfred Brown and they made an aggreement to

work together. They established Tesla Electric Company. Finally,

they built a research laboratory for him in West Broadway. In this

laboratory he worked on his new discoveries and in a short time he

got a lot of patents. His ideas were so original and ingenious, so

that he was never rejected. Also Westinghouse made a deal with his

company to use Tesla’s AC motor idea and to have the license for

this invention.

Tesla's goal was to make new inventions and to take humanity

one step further. He didn't care about prizes or money at all. He

spent money which he earned from his inventions and patents

again on new experiments.

He spent his last years of life alone in hotel rooms. Because he

didn't care about the money, he could't make enough savings for

him. When he died, in New Yorker Hotel in USA, all his hand

writings and papers were taken by US government.

In 1960, in honour of Tesla, the General Conference on Weights

and Measures for the International System of Units dedicated the

term "tesla" to the SI unit measure for magnetic field strength.

Sources http://www.teslasociety.com/index.html

http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla

http://www.pbs.org/tesla/

http://www.yurope.com/org/tesla/5e.htm

http://www.elektrikport.com

http://www.croatianculture.org

ScientistTesla: A great inventor

5

Discovery Quasars or quasi-stellar radio sources are objects which shine

with an enormous energy from so far of the universe. Astronomers

named this objects quasi-stellar radio source when they first time

observe them in 1960's, because they saw that they were objects like

stars and that they give off radio signals. Actually after more

research they understood that a few of them emmit radio signals,

but they didn't change their name. In addition to radio waves, they

emmit also visible light, ultraviolet rays, infrared waves, x-rays

and gama rays. Despite of their brightness and high energy, it is

very hard to observe them by telescope because of their distance.

Properties Quasars are galaxies which

have very active galactic nuclei at

the center. It is generally

accepted that quasars are

powered by accretion around the

central supermassive black hole.

Evidence for the black hole

includes the high degree of

emission emanating from a small

central area. And there are also

accretion disc and jet formation areas in central region. Although

quasars appear faint when viewed from Earth, the fact that they are

visible at all from so far is due to quasars being the most luminous

objects in the known universe.

QUASARS: A LITTLE KNOWN OBJECTS IN THE UNIVERSE

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A beautiful quasar drawing which is drawn due to photos captured by telescopes

They can be trillion times brighter than sun because of their

enormous energy. They give off more energy and have luminosity

more than 100 normal galaxies combined. A typical quasar has 39 26

luminosity of about 10 watts. The Sun’s luminosity is about 4*10

watts. Energy which they release in one second could satisfy

electrical energy needs of Earth for next whole billion years.

How far? They are the most distant objects detected until now. Because

they were born in early times of the universe. Light from quasars

takes billions of years to reach the

atmosphere of the Earth. We know how

they looked like billions of years ago. The

light we see coming from them was

produced when the universe was only one

tenth of its present age. It means, if you

observe a quasar, you observe childhood

of the universe.

We know that we can determine the

distances of celestial objects from us

based on the red-shifting of their light. All

observed quasar spectra have red shifts

due to their distances. For example Quasar 3C 273, has a red shift

of 0.158. It means it is 2 billion years away from us.

Sources Jones, G., Quasar Jets on Parsec and Kilopasec Scales, 2012

http://www.universetoday.com

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasar

http://www.britannica.com

AstronomyQuasars: A little known objects in the universe

Quasar 3C 273

7

II. SCIENCE PICNIC IN ZAGREB II. Science Picnic was organized on 15th September in Zagreb,

Croatia and has brought together a lot of science lovers from

several different countries. People from various science centers

worked on preparing and implementation of this event. It was

possible to find a lot of experiments and

exhibitions refering to every field of

science. Children, families and participants

of all ages could find opportunity to observe

and make experiments on various topics in

different fields such as biology, physics,

chemistry and paleontology.

It’s always better to make experiments by

oneself, because that’s the best way to learn. In addition it makes

more fun!

This kind of events are perfect to make children and youngsters

like science and discover their favorite field. They can get inspired

by observing and carrying out

experiments. Perhaps they can

choose their future profession after

this experience.

As science lovers we were also

there to see what is going on. We

observed, applied, and took photos.

Experiments were well-chosen for

learning and enjoying. Everything

was clearly understandable for a

wide age range. Each part was full of people.

Besides science children also had fun

Mitochondria model to explain energy production in cell

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We could select among a wide variety of topics and every one of

them was educational and enjoyable. There was walking on a liquid

surface, making batteries, static electricity tests, determining

density difference between liquids, making origami, paleontology

researches, usage of solar energy, learning about photosynthesis,

discovering robot technologies and 3D printers, energy production

in mitochondria, making soap, observing reaction between baking

powder and lemon juice...

To get more information, we made a small interview with Bruno

Blumenschen, who was employee of science picnic.

SCI: What is the purpose of this event?

B.B.: Through this event we want to

popularize sience. This event is a big

opportunity for NGO's and science

organisations to promote their

programs. This event also promotes a

great science center, ZEZ, which will be

built in Zagreb in two and a half years.

Now, we organize science picnic outside

without a roof, but finally we will have a science center and

everyday will be a science picnic for us under its roof.

SCI: How was the feedback after first science picnic?

B.B.: Last year around 10,000 people visited our science picnic. We

made a questionnaire with 2000 people and totally we got 4,7

points out of 5. For this year our prediction is 20,000 visitors.

SCI: Who is your target group?

B.B.: Target group of the science picnic is mostly families with

children, but also of course every person who are interested in

science. The 60% of visitors are children between 8-13 years old. It

will be almost same in ZEZ Science Center but also teenagers and

adults will be a big target group and they will find a lot of interests

in it.

Visiting the science picnic was a great experience for us. We

refreshed our knowledge, learned new things and had fun. We wish

this event will continue with more and more visitors each year.

ExplorerII. Science picnic in Zagreb

Children found opportunity to see different inventions

9

walking on liquid

making batteries

density difference of liquids

static electricity

paleontology

observing micro structures

ExplorerII. Science picnic in Zagreb

10

A short look at DNA As you allready know, DNA is a macromolecule which exist in

every cell and has genetic codes. Long DNA chain consists of

nucleotide monomers which have one phosphate, one five-carbon

sugar and one organic base. This organic bases are adenine,

guanine (purines) and cytosine, thymine (primidines).

Proliferation is one of the essential properties of life. DNA is the

material which every living organism need for proliferation. When

prokaryotic organisms like bacteria, viruses and blue green algae

have their DNA exist in cytoplasm, in eukaryotic cells it is

packaged as chromosomes and located in nucleus. Each

chromosome refers to one long DNA

chain. Length of the DNA can change

between a few and 10 centimeters. One

part of the first chromosome of human

is 7.3 cm length. A macromolecule with

this length, must be folded perfectly to

be able to locate in nucleus of a cell.

This perfect folded DNA structure is

called the deoxynucleoprotein. In this

structure there are DNA, histone

proteins and other proteins. As you can

see on the picture, all double strand

DNA folds and gets packaged in its

special way and became a chromosome

structure.

Experiment Time for Youngsters:DNA Extraction

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DNA extraction Experiment time for youngsters

Each species has their own chromosome number. Onion which

we will use for DNA extraction, has 16 chromosomes, dog has 78

and human has 46 chromosomes. Don’t forget, genetic properties of

an organism doesn't depend on cromosome number, they depend on

information which their DNA codes have inside.

DNA extraction from onion We choosed an extraction method which you can try out at home

with regular materials.

Materials: 1 middle-sized onion, salt, detergent, ethanol

(70%), coffee filter, funnel, jar (500 ml), 2 big bowls, pasteur pipette

(5 ml), an experiment tube or a small glass.

Method: · Cut the onion into small pieces and put pieces in the jar.

· Solve 1 teaspoon of salt in 100 ml water and add 10 ml

detergent. Mix gently, without making bubbles. This

solution is called lysis solution and it will disintegrate cell

and nucleus membrane and DNA will be outside of the cell, so

we will be able to collect it.

· Pour this solution on onion particles.o

· Prepare approximately 55 C hot water in a large and deep

bowl and put the jar in it. Jar needs to stay in this hot water

bath 10 minutes. Meanwhile smash onion pieces gently with

a spoon, without making bubbles. After hot water bath, put ojar in 0 C icecold water. At this moment, be careful! Jar can

crack when you put it from hot water to cold water. To

prevent this, you can make it a little bit cool in tap water.

After you put it in cold water, again wait around 10 minutes

and at the same time smash onions with spoon.

· Put a coffee filter in funnel and pour the onion mix in it.

During filtration don't mix or shake, just let gravity work.

Mix will be strained in 5-6 minutes.

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· Take 5 ml of strained liquid with pasteur pipette and pour it

in experiment tube. Slowly add ethanol on it around 1 cm

tickness. Don't mix. Ethanol will stay at the top of the liquid.

In a few minutes you will see thin white strings are coming

up. After 10 minutes, all DNA will be collected in ethanol side

of the tube. You can easily take this white cluster with a rod.

· DNA is water-soluble but it can not be solved in alcohol.

That’s why when you add alcohol, DNA strands get together

and became visible. If you see that in the tube, you extracted

DNA succesfully. Congratulations!

As you can see in the picture above, we succesfully extracted DNA at home and got a good result. Now it is your turn to try!

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Experiment time for youngstersDNA extraction

page no

When we are sick or have an infection in some part of our body, we usually use antibiotics to heal. Today, they are among most frequently prescribed medications in modern medicine. Altough it seems an ordinary medicine today, before discovery of antibiotics, a lot of people died because of simple diseases or injures. Antibiotics are chemicals produced by or derived from microorganisms, such as bacteria or fungi. In the beginning they have been produced from these microorganisms. Now they are produced synthetically. First discovery After first antibiotic was d iscovered by Alexander Fleming, a Scotch scientist, in 1928, millions of lifes had been saved. When Flemming was working on some bacteria which causes skin disease, he noticed that some fungi from air, destroys this bacteria. This fungi was Penicillium and chemical which is product of this microorganism called 'penicillin'. Antibiotics were a significant breakthrough for medical science. But until 1939 Flemming couldn't produce this chemical because of financial difficulties. In 1939 with help of two scientists Sir Howart Florey and Ernest Boris Chain, Flemming worked on clinical trials in Oxford University. After trials, penicillin began to be produced in USA. Besides normal life, during second world war, people were saved from death of simple injures or sicknesses. For this discovery, Flemming earned Nobel Medical price in 1945.

THEIR DISCOVERY, CHARACTERISTICS AND ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE

ANTIBIOTICS:

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Alexander Flemming

Antibiotics

How antibiotics work? Some antibiotics are 'bactericidal', meaning that they work by killing bacteria. Killing process can be done by several ways. Some a n t i b i o t i c s d a m a g e t h e peptidoglucane layer of cell membrane, by working like detergent. Therefore bacteria can not keep its shape and die. Another way of destroying cell membrane is s t o p p i n g p e p t i d o g l u c a n e producing mechanism and

activating otolityc enzymes. Some of them might inhibit bacterium's ability to turn glucose into energy, or its ability to construct its cell wall. When this happens, the bacterium dies instead of reproducing. Other antibiotics are 'bacteriostatic', they stop multipying of bacteria by breaking nucleic acid (DNA and RNA) synthesis mechanism. They can’t reproduce themselves and our immune system can fight with them easily.

Probably you have seen some explanation on package of antibiotics which you have used, such as broad spectrum or narrow spectrum. 'Broad-spectrum' antibiotics are used to treat a wide

range of infections. 'Narrow spectrum' antibiotics are used to treat a few types of bacteria.

Antibiotic resistance Bacteria are capable of developing resistance to antibiotics. After they get resistance, they can not be killed by commonly used antibiotics. When bacteria are exposed to the same antibiotics over and over, they can change and are no longer affected by the drug. Actually bacteria naturally have a resistance mechanism of antibiotics. It is called natural resistance. They can also develop resistence to antibiotics in time by some mutations. Bacteria have number of ways how they become antibiotic-resistant.

Health

During II. World War penicilin saved thousands of life

15

For example they can possess an internal mechanism of changing their structure so the antibiotic no longer works, they develop ways to inactivate or neutralize the antibiotic. Also bacteria can transfer the genes coding for antibiotic resistance between them. One more resistance mechanism that bacteria have is decreased membrane permeability to antibiotics. Resistance to antibiotics can cause serious problems, because some infectious deseases become more difficult to treat. Resistant bacteria don't response to antibiotics any more and continue to cause infection. Some of these resistant bacteria can be treated with more powerful medicines, but there some infections that are difficult to cure even with new or experimental drugs. According to the ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control), antibiotic resistance continues to be a serious public health threat worldwide. In a statement issued in 19th November 2012, the ECDC informed that an estimated 25,000 people die each year in the European Union from antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. Specially in hospitals, uncontrolled use of antibiotics can cause antibiotic resistance. This becames first reason of hospital infections. Resistant bacteria can survive and proliferate despite existence of antibiotics and this situation makes treatment process longer. The worst is that sometimes patient’s life can not be saved. After hospital infections staying at hospital gets longer and between 2-8 days and treatment costs become higher.

Sources Tübitak Bilim ve Teknik Dergisi, May 2013, edition 546 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Flemming http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/10278.php

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HealthAntibiotics

DID YOU KNOW? How much caffeine can be harmful? Most of us drink a cup of coffee to get out of bed every morning.

When we meet with a friend we order a cappuccino. In summer time

we take a can of cold coke to refresh ourselves. But if we consume

too much caffeine in a short time, we can have serious hearth or

nervous system problems.

There are 85-150 mg caffeine in one cup of coffee, 100-130 mg

caffeine in one liter of coke. When you have caffeine in your body,

its rate in your blood increases highest level in first 15-20 minutes.

In 5 hours you use and remove at least half of caffeine which you

have in your body. Caffeine increases fatty acids in your blood, they

are turned into energy and it makes your body resistance higher. It

stimulates your nervous system, supports your attention, makes

you resistant to sleep.

If a person drinks 6-7 cups of coffee in a short time, feels

restlesness, sleeplessness, has diarrhea and abnormal heart

rhythm. In addition to high blood pressure, heartburn and

headache can happen. But for caffeine poisoning a person should

drink 80-110 cups of coffe or 200 cans of coke. But this is not

practically possible. Symptoms of caffeine poisoning are vomiting,

heart palpitation and coma. Death is also possible because of

respiratory failure and heart attack. If you directly take caffeine

powder to your body, 5-10 grams of it is enough to kill you. Of

course you wouldn't like to try! Just enjoy your morning coffee.

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Curious mindDid you know?

How microwave ovens cook? In a normal oven, heat comes from its inner walls and transfers

inside of oven by conduction. It means first of all oven heats air

inside of it, after heat transfers from surface of food to interior.

That's why, if you heat oven more than food needs, you burn surface

of food but inner side of it still stays raw. On the contrary in

microwave oven heat is everywhere at the same time. Because heat

doesn't travel by conduction. Energy in microwaves reaches each

part of food at the same time. Waves specially effect water and fat

molecules inside of food.

Frequence of waves is related to energy which they have. In a

microwave oven there are radiowaves which have frequence of

2500 megahertz, and are generated by a vacuum tube. This

frequence is 20 times more then FM radio frequences. Radio waves

have one electric field and one magnetic field and they change their

directions 2,450,000 times in one second. That change moves water

and fat molecules back and forth. This movement causes fraction

and it creates heat energy. While this waves are absorbed by water,

sugar or fat, they can’t be absorbed by oxygen and nitrogen. That's

why air in microwave stays in room temperature. Air doesn't make

food dry. This situation prevents a crusty surface and raw interior.

Like every waves, microwaves in oven has peaks and nodes.

Distance between two peaks refers to wavelength of waves. While

peaks of waves has greatest energy, nodes don’t. It means heat

energy focuses around peaks. That’s why microwave ovens turns

our food to heat every part of it. Still there can be some parts which

are heated too much or less. This happens because several parts of

food have different resistence to heat.

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Curious mindDid you know?

How glue sticks? Sticking is a simple chemical reaction. Actually, if you bring

closer enough two surfaces, they are supposed to stick eachother,

because anti poles of two different surfaces want to get together.

But it is practically impossible. Distance between two surfaces -7must be less than 10 milimeters. But even if a surface looks very

-4smooth, it has roughness around 4x10 milimeters depth. In this

case molecules can not get closer because of roughness. Glue fills

gaps between surfaces therefore much more molecules can make

bonds. Molecules of glue must have affinity to both of surface

molecules.

How can glue stay in tube without sticking itself? Most of glues

has two kinds of materials inside. When one of them pushes

molecules of glue to get together, second one (called stabilizer)

makes reverse effect. This situation makes a neutral medium and

there is stability inside the tube. When glue goes out of tube, air

eliminates effects of stabilizer. So, glue hardens and sticks on the

surface.

Actually human invented glue a long time ago. In prehistoric

ages different kind of materials such as blood, egg white or extracts

of water plants have been used by our ancestors to stick some colors

on cave walls. From BC 3500 Ancient Egyptians and Sumerians

invented stronger glues by using animal skin and bones. Today a

wide variety of glues are produced by chemical processes from

hundreds of chemical materials.

Sources http://healthmad.com

Korugan, T.,Lüzumsuz Bilgiler Ansiklopedisi, 2007

http://commons.wikimedia.org/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp33ZprO0Ck

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Google Science Fair 2013 This year again Google Science Fair got young science lovers

and their brilliant ideas together from all around the world. Great

projects of future scientists between 13 and 18 years old gave

people inspiration and enthusiasm.

Grand award ceremony was held on 23th September in Google

Center California. 15 finalist were competing with their projects.

Google Science Fair Winner Award which is sponsored by Scientific

American, 50,000 USD and Voter's Choise Award, 10,000 USD went

to 17 years old Elif Bilgin from Istanbul, Turkey. Purpose of this

foundations is support further researches of young scientists. Her

project was ‘Creating bioplastic from banana peel’. 17 years old

Eric Chen from USA won Grand Prize and 17-18 Age Group Winner

Award with his project, ‘A New

Anti-flu Medicine’. Grand Prize

includes 10 days trip to

Galapagos Islands with National

Geographic Expeditions. In

addition 50,000 USD Google

scholarship is intended to

further the Grand Prize Winner's

education. Winner can choose a

hands-on experience at one of

these partner organisations: LEGO, CERN or Google.

15 years old Ann Makosinski from Canada won 15-16 Age Group

Winner Award with her ‘Battery-free Flashlight’ Project.

Viney Kumar, 14 years old, from Australia won 13-14 Age Winner

Award with his project, ‘A Signaling System for Emergency

Vehicles’.

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Google Science Fair 2013

Age group awards are these: A

scholarship worth 25,000 USD toward

each finalist's education costs. The

finalists have the second and third choice

of one of the remaining LEGO, CERN or

Google experiences. The finalists' schools

enjoy one year's free digital access to

Scientific American archives.

Creating bioplastic from banana peels In this edition of SCI we will shortly introduce project of Elif

Bilgin, winner of of Science in Action Award and Voter's Choice

Award. Project's name is ‘Using banana peels in the production of

bio-plastic as a replacement of the traditional petroleum based

plastic’. Elif Bilgin describes her project shortly like this: 'I

developed a method for making plastic by using banana peels and

found new areas for the use of plastic that I manifactured: Using the

bioplastic in the making of cosmetic prosthesis and in the

insulation of cables. This project was done over a time period of 2

years. During this time period, I was able to succeed in my

endeavor to manifacture plastic that can actually be used in daily

life.'

She knew that she had to use a plant which is a good starch

source to produce bioplastic. Using banana peel in her project was

perfect reuse of organic source which is everyday thrown away.

This idea completely satisfies her sustainable and environmentalist

vision. Because she wants to live in a better environment like

everyone of us. For that, she decided to make something to change

the world. Elif says that succesful scientists inspired her for her

researches and experiments.

To see other finalists’ projects and winners of previous years,

please visit: www.googlesciencefair.com. You will see brilliant

projects which young intelligent brains achieved.

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Young scientists

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Marie Curie is her role model as a female scientist and Thomas

Edison’s working principle is her motivation. She never gave up

even if she didn’t have results which she expected.

Working hard She worked on her project more than two years to obtain a bioplastic which has appropriate characteristics. After a lot of researches and trials, finally she achieved. First of all she researched to find contents of banana peel to decide that if it is a good starch source or not. Her aim was to produce a bioplastic which can not easily decay and at the same time elastic. She used

propane 1-2-3 triol as a p las t i c i z ier which she researched and found in articles about bioplastic production. Bioplastic which she created in first trials, was decaying in few days. To prevent decaying of plastic she found a solution after a lot of trials. She dipped banana peels in 0.5% of Na S O 2 2 5

solution before boiling and mechanical smashing process

to make it stronger. It worked and material passed strength test and also it didn’t decay for weeks. During her trials she heard about Google Science Fair and decided to attend it with her project. After her long hard work and endeavor, finally she deserved prize.

Sources

https://www.googlesciencefair.com

http://www.scientificamerican.com/science-in-action

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Elif was trying to find best method

Google Science Fair 2013

Young scientists

23

In August edition we learned Turkish alphabet, some different

letters in Turkish, numbers and some templates. It is time to learn

more. This time we will continue with some simple and useful

dialogues.

Dialogue 1 (Introduction)

A: Merhaba, benim adım Ali. (Hello, my name is Ali.)

E: Benim adım Ece. Tanıştığıma memnun oldum. (My name is

Ece. Nice to meet you.)

A: Ben de. (Me too.)

Dialogue 2 (Asking ages)

A: Kaç yaşındasın? (How old are you.)

E: Ben yirmi beş yaşındayım. Sen kaç yaşındasın? (I am twenty

five years old. How old are you?)

A: Ben otuz yaşındayım. (I am thirty years old.)

Dialogue 3 (Shopping)

C: Merhaba, bu kitabın fiyatı ne kadar? (Hello, how much is this

book?)

S: Sekiz avro. (8 Euros.)

C: Tamam, bunu alıyorum. (OK, I buy this one.)

S: Buyrun, teşekkürler. (Here it is. Thank you.)

C: Teşekkür ederim. İyi günler. (Thank you. Have a good day.)

S: İyi günler. (Have a good day.)

LEARNING

TURKISH

LEARNING TURKISH

LET’S LEARN TURKISH

TURKISH

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SCIENCE PAGES http://www.worldometers.info In this web page you can find istatistics

about a lot of different topics such as

economics, water, energy, population

growth, health, food... Constantly

changing numbers can make you

confused but I am sure that you will find

very useful informations. Sources of

every statistical data in this page are

specified. It means, by reaching source

page you can read more information about the topic which you have

chosen. When I first discovered this page, I was impressed

especially by birth and death statistics, energy consumption and

remained energy sources.

When you sometimes compare some information which can be

correlated with eachother, it is possible to find very intersting

results. For example, you can obtain this contradiction: when

23,000 people dies of hunger in one day, there is more than half

million obese people in the world!

www.johnkyrk.com This page is very useful for students before their biology exams.

Videos about a lot of topics in biology will be very educational

either for highscoolers and undergraduate students. Animations

and informations which you can find here will make you

understand some biological processes and cell metabolism better.

no

Science pagesEditor’s suggestion

When you look at pictures, if you

put cursor on one part, you will

see explanations beside picture.

In addition, I am sure that after

watching, you will love biology

more. You will find very common

topics such as DNA translation

and transcription, meiosis, crebs

cycle, photosynthesis, energy

productuion in cell and more.

There are seven different langauge options.

www.thenakedscientists.com I always think that science doesn't have to be so serious! Creators of this page made a perfect combination by bringing together science, fun and creativity. Don't be afraid of the name of web page. Creators of it can be little bit crazy but there are too many serious scientific articles besides crazy ones. In articles it is possible to find very good ones about different kind of fields such as maths, chemistry, space, physics, biology, technologhy and other topics. In kitchen science part you can have fun with small tricks which you can easily make at home.

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Longest-standing maths problem Since the 1995 proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, a problem which stood for 365 years, the current longest-standing maths problem is the conjecture posed by Christian Goldbach (1690-1764), a Russian mathematician, in 1742. Goldbach's Conjecture states that every even positive integer greater than 3 is the sum of two (not necessarily distinct) primes. No one has succeeded in proving

or disproving the validity of this conjecture in 257 years.

First use of smallpox as biological weapon

The earliest documented use of the smallpox virus being used as a biological weapon was during the French and Indian

Wars between 1754 and 1767. British soldiers fighting in North America at that time distributed blankets that had been contaminated with smallpox amongst the native American Indians. Epidemics followed, killing more than 50% of the affected tribes. Smallpox is extremely lethal to populations that are not vaccinated against it. Death usually occurs within 2 weeks.

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TEM image of Smallpox virus education.denniskunkel.com

WORLD RECORDS

Longest fur on a cat Colonel Meow, a Himalayan-Persian cross-breed holds the world

record for longest fur on a cat. The 2 year old has fur that reaches

22.87 cm. The incredible feline

from Seattle, Washington, USA was

named 'Colonel Meow' by his

owners, Anne Marie Avey and Eric

Rosario, because of his “epic frown

and fur”.

It was adopted as a rescue cat from

the Himalayan & Persian Society,

needs his fur brushed 2–3 times a

week, and it takes both Anne and

Eric to complete the job. The couple

say that they never use products on Colonel Meow's fur, applying

only water and brushes if he gets dirty. Colonel Meow has his own

facebook page, if you want to send him a message!

Longest ears on a dog ever The longest ears on a dog measured 34.9 cm and 34.2 cm for the

right and left ears, respectively, on 29 September 2004. They

belong to Tigger, a bloodhound, who

is owned by Bryan and Christina

Flessner of St Joseph, Illinois, USA.

Tigger has won many show titles and

over 180 Best of Breed awards. He

was inducted into the Bloodhound

'Hall of Fame' in 2003. Unfortunately

Tigger passed away in October 2009.

Source http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com

Science& animalsWorld records

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SEND + MORE = MONEY

In equation above, each letter

refers one different number.

Find numbers.

2

We have a number which has 5

digits. Number in first digit equals

to sum of last two digits. Second

digit is 2 times of first digit, at the

same time it is 3 times of fourth

digit. If sum of all digits is 16,

what is our number?

3

Answers:1.1: (6+8)*(8/4)=281.2: 6*(9-5/2)=392: 9567 + 1085 = 106523: 36421

WORKING BRAINSOME MATHEMATICS TO HAVE GOOD TIME

1.2

1.1Calculate 28

with numbers 4,6,8,8

Use each number just once.

Calculate 39

with numbers 2,5,6,9

Use each number just once.

1.2

28

Photo: http://education.denniskunkel.com/

Helicobacter pylori

Helicobacter pylori

The Eskimo Nebula from Hubble and Chandrahttp://apod.nasa.gov/