Would you like to help Scientists by getting involved in a real Science project for Science Week? If so, then read on to see how you can contribute.

This year’s project, run by Citizen Science and Zooniverse is called Operation Weather Rescue. Scientists need the public’s help to digitise 2.5 million pieces of  weather information between the years of 1860 and 1880.

This involves entering pieces of historical weather information into their database from old handwritten records that appear on screen. It is really easy to do and instructions are provided.

One of the biggest challenges that researchers face is access to historical data sets. Before we had computers, early scientists would often write their data by hand. Every day since 1860 the UK Met Office has produced daily weather reports from across western Europe. Originally the weather observations were transmitted by telegraph to London and collated. Many of these records have now been scanned or are archived in libraries across the globe. However, much of the data within these books hasn’t been digitised. The most accurate way of doing this is manually entering the data into a computer.   All in all, there are over 2.5 million pieces of data that need to be entered from this period – something that would take the team – made up of researchers from the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, the University of Reading and the Earth System Research Laboratory – years to enter themselves. 

Why is this important? 

Once digitised, it will be the first time that climate scientists and meteorologists from around the globe will have had access to the raw data. This will give them a better understanding of the climate from the past and will help us to predict what the future could look like.  

The team will use the data to better examine storms and unusual weather events. As the world warms, the data will provide a baseline to help us measure those changes and monitor climate change, which will impact people and environments across the world.

How can you get involved? 

1. During British Science Week, go to: http://www.weatherrescue.org and click “Get Started 
2. Read the instructions in the pop-up box and when you get to the end, select “Let’s go!” 
3. Become a citizen scientist and help to tackle climate change! 

Are you interested in Science? Do you like running in your spare time? If the answer is yes to both, then you would like the new free running app available online at:

www.britishscienceweek.org/plan-your-activities/run-with-the-ancestors/

This is an app available for Science Week with one million years of British history scaled down to a 10k or 5k virtual race. Run with the Ancestors tells the story of Britain’s ancient history. Starting with a barren landscape in the absence of humans, to the behaviour and customs of prehistoric humans, this immersive app allows you to explore it all while you run.

The narration features Professor Chris Stringer, Research Leader in Human Origins and Dr Silvia Bello, Human Evolution Researcher at the Natural History Museum in London. Their expertise help explain the phenomena encountered during the run. From tools used by our first ancestors to evidence of domesticated dogs, you’ll gain an accurate insight to early humans in Britain.

From the blustery climates of yesteryear dominated by Woolly Mammoths and sabre-toothed cats to the arrival of our first ancestors and their unique traditions, take a step back time and run through Britain’s remarkable history.

As you triumph over each kilometre, you’ll unlock more commentary adding to the landscape being formed in your mind. But you can also listen to your music in between narration – the app will manage all that for you.

To get started, simply download the app, register and choose whether you’re going to run 5k or 10k. Then plug in your headphones and run.

British Science Week runs all next week at St. Albert’s Primary.  The theme for Science Week this year is journeys.  A journey does not necessarily need to be a physical journey; it can also be  about journeys of knowledge.

The pupils of St. Albert’s will be taking part in a poster competition this week on this theme. This competition is run by The British Science Association every year. This can be done as a homework task.

The pupils can make their poster about anything Science related to do with journeys. It could be journeys into space (space missions), undersea exploration journeys, journeys on land (from seed dispersal to the growth of a new tree, species of insect migrating due to climate change), animal migrations e.g the journeys salmon make to lay their eggs where they were born or wildebeest migrations, how birds navigate using the earth’s magnetic field, journeys by air and the technology that assists this, how diseases have spread across the world, journeys of knowledge for example, how objects are made and where they end up; the life cycle of animals, or the water cycle.

Here are the rules:

• Entries can be from teams of pupils (for example all doing a part of the fact finding online), or from individuals. A team entry win would result in the prize being split across the team.
• Entries should be 2D and done on A4 paper, which I will distribute to all classes.
• It should be original work, no pictures or text copied directly from the Internet. No templates.
• The best five entries from the school will be chosen and submitted.
• There are three age categories. These are Early years P1, Infants- P2-4 and Junior P5-7. So they will be competing with those of similar age and ability.
• Posters can be made as a homework task or in school.

Posters must include the following information (entrant details can be on the back of the poster):

• entrant first name (all names if a team) and entrant age (all ages if a team)
• age category (of the oldest team member)
• school/youth group name and address

The closing date for entries is Friday 5th April, but I would need all entries for judging the best five in by Wed 27th March at the latest.

The prizes– Guinness World Records is offering a very special prize this year for the Junior category – the chance to spend a day in the life of the Guinness World Records team at the global headquarters!  The winning Junior student (and accompanying adult) will be able to see with their own eyes how the team review evidence and verify new records for extraordinary journeys. Prizes in other categories are yet to be confirmed.