Thursday 19 May 2016

Science Ambassadors






We have been lucky over the past week to have had 4 speakers talking to the year 7 and 8s about science as a career.  We have heard from a mechatronics engineer from Fisher and Paykel, an earthquake geologist from GNS Science, an engineering geologist from Opus and a plants and ecosystems scientist from Landcare Research.  
It was great to hear the different 'types' of science that can be pursued as a career. 

Use Your Senses!

The year 7 and 8s have been busy investigating the importance of smell, taste and sight.  We visited the Food Science Department at the University finding out some pretty interesting things!
Did you know we have up to 10,000 taste buds made up of 4 types........filliform, circumvallate, foliate and fungiform.  We are born liking sweet tastes and born disliking bitter tastes.  Our perception of food is unique to us.
Strawberries are made up of 300 individual flavours and odours.  We took part in an experiment where we had 2 jellies.  One green coloured and one red.  We had the red first then had to choose from a list of flavours such as raspberry, kiwifruit, green apple, strawberry.  Most thought it was raspberry (it was!) Then we tasted the green - most thought it was a 'green' flavour...BUT the jellies were actually the same flavour (raspberry).  Our brain was trying to make sense of both the sight and the taste of the food.
The Food Science Dept was a really interesting place to visit!