science

Chemical Anniversaries: 1868 – The element of the Sun

In August 1868 a total solar eclipse was predicted to cross India and Thailand. Astronomers from around the world travelled by land and sea to observe the Moon covering the Sun.  Many were keen to use a new instrument, the spectroscope, to examine the Sun’s corona. Isaac Newton used a… Read More

Fritz Haber’s Nobel Prize

In the autumn of 1918 the First World War was at last approaching an end. In neutral Sweden the committee for the Nobel Prize for Chemistry met.  As in 1916 and 1917 they decided that there had been no discovery that “conferred the greatest benefit on mankind” so did not… Read More

Why Outdoor Learning is a Must

Are you an innie or an outie? The problem is most children and their teachers are innies and there’s an outdoor education deficit. According to research, we spend so much time indoors even prison inmates get more fresh air than we do and that’s just #out of order… Read More

A-level Biology: Chordates and Tetrapods

In previous articles we have looked at the possible methods by which protocells could have started and later evolved into prokaryotic cells and eventually, eukaryotic life. These were very distant events occurring in the Precambrian period around 2-3 billion years ago (2-3 thousand Ma ago). Taking the view that the… Read More

Chemical Anniversaries: 1918 birth of Fred Sanger, double Nobel prize winner

Albert Einstein only won one Nobel Prize. Marie Curie won two, first in Physics and then Chemistry. Only one person has ever been awarded two Nobel Prizes for Chemistry, the English biochemist, Fred Sanger. Yet, his contribution to genomics, the modern term for his area of research, is not widely… Read More

Chemical Anniversaries: Celebrating Nobel Prize Winners

The 2017 Nobel Prize winners will be announced tomorrow, so it is a good time to look back at some previous winners with particular anniversaries this year. One hundred years ago the First World War was into its fourth year. With most of the industrialised countries involved and the deaths… Read More

Chemical Anniversaries: 1867 the birth of Marie Curie

Marie Curie is France’s most famous scientist and probably the most well-known female scientist in the world. Except she wasn’t French and Marie was not the name she given at her birth in 1867. She was born Maria Sklodowska in Warsaw, now the capital of Poland, but Poland didn’t exist… Read More

‘@priscigeeks takes over @CollinsPrimary Twitter for British Science Week 2017

Snap Science author, Bryony Turford, took over @CollinsPrimary for British Science Week 2017! During our Twitter chat Bryony covered the following questions: Read More

What happens after Science Week?

Children love Science Weeks and Science Days, when the regular timetable is relaxed and every lesson is their favourite one – science! Of course British Science Week is the ideal opportunity to do this, but you can hold a School Science Week at any time to suit your school. Whatever… Read More

What are your plans for British Science Week?

British Science Week, a ten-day programme of science, technology, engineering and maths events and activities across the UK for people of all ages, begins on 10th March. How will children, staff and parents at your school be taking part? Will they be going to one of the hundreds of public… Read More