posted by admin on Apr 25

Fancy your skills in the forensic department?  Well, why not prove it for real without all the training.

It looks as though there is currently a hybrid between a high tech fairground ride and a science event – where you spend the day following in the footsteps of a police detective to solve a ‘real’ crime.

Now, I don’t know about you – but I am really looking forward to this experience, and it really takes ‘rides’ to a whole new level, so much better than a ghost train……

The Experience:
Apparently you get to choose which of the 3 ‘incidents’ you want to investigate – whether it’s a car in a living room, a back alley murder or a buried skeleton found in the desert, and then start picking up the clues.

This includes reading lab results, checking murder scenes and getting to use the most advanced scientific technologies to solve the crime – including DNA fingerprinting, firearms identification and blood splatter analysis!

The layout of the ‘experience’ allows for 3 crime scene rooms (you get to pick between them), 2 labs, a briefing room, and an autopsy department where you can gather your initial theory, all the artifacts from the scene including rubbish, food and clothing.  The finer details and the body itself can be analysed under the microscope along with cutting edge scientific factors that can help solve a crime today, like your pets fur or the pollen you have in your car!

And of course – there is also Grissom’s Office,  where you end up and get to offer up your suspect to the boss! 

The Details:
The CSI: The Experience is currently running in the UK at the Birmingham Bullring until May 31st – and that is every day up until then.

Tickets cost £9.75 for adults and £7.00 for 5-17 year olds (with under 5′s free).

Go to CSI: The Experience for more details and to see an online map and videos of each section.

posted by admin on May 3

Fancy a chance to win $20,000 to implement your very own Green Invention or Idea?

That’s just what you could get if you enter your great green idea in to National Geographic’s new competition.

They are looking for exceptional concepts or new products and technology with a green twist, to battle it out for the 5 lots of prize money!  This includes implementing that idea, profiling you in National Geographic Magazine and whisking you off to a conference to discuss your ideas with some ‘green’ heavy-weights!

Fancy the challenge – Think you’ve got something different out there?

They are hoping that everyone in the States pitches in, as even a small idea by one person, can grow into a whole new technology or way of life for others.  Your idea may be just the seed that gets something big to happen – and that’s why they are calling the The Green Effect.

What Do You Have To Do?
Well firstly, go to their website and you can watch their promotional videos and also read other peoples ideas.  Don’t worry if someone has a similar idea to yours – as it is how you ‘pitch’ your idea that will win the day.

If you can see a different result or a different action plan – then it could be your idea that leads the way.

If your invention does something slightly different to another, or is virtually the same but has that little unique selling point that strides past the others, then you are what they want!

You don’t have to go it alone either – a group of you can enter the idea, invention or concept.  You have more great minds to channel your thoughts through, and back up in those moments of ‘mind-block’.  And more people is always fun!

How Do I Enter?
Well, you need an great idea – and a passion for it too!  You need to be able to talk about this idea, product or concept as though you mean it!

You also need to be over 18 years of age and live in the US to enter.  Now, you can be younger or live outside of the states and have this great idea – but you need to get a person who is over 18 and resident of the US to enter on your behalf. 

They will be the name shown on the winning entry (should you be so lucky) and they will be the one forwarded and in charge of the prize money to get your winning idea off the ground – so make sure you know them well enough!

What Do I Need?
You need to register with National Geographic online and then you are ready to go. 

You are expected to enter an essay detailing your idea and how it al comes together, and you can enter up to 4 images and or 1 3 minutes max home video to support your idea if you feel you need to!

You can only enter 1 idea per person or group.

Scoring is based on 4 areas of 25 points max each,  They are perceived benefit to the environment, impact on the local community, feasibility of achievement with the funds offered and relationship to the sponsors ethical philosophy regarding ‘small steps’.  Obviously you need to read the full ‘rules’ section for yourself to clarify all the relevant points.

How Long Do I Have?
The competition closes for entries on June 8th 2009, and the 10 finalists will be announced the first week in July.

So get on to The Green Effect now and register

posted by admin on Apr 22

Twive Away! – The New Twitter Tool.

Everyone is Twittering at the moment – even Stephen Fry was doing it while on TV the other day!

But, if you are trying to use Twitter as a way to get more visitors to follow your Tweets and potentially gain benefits from it – then maybe you should look into a new guide that is doing the rounds out there!

It’s called TwiveAway (as in a ‘Twitterised Give Away’) and claims to be able to rapidly increase your numbers of followers – getting your message out there to more and more people literally overnight.

How Does It Work?
Well, it works around the fact that you are going to give something away for something quite simple.  This can include almost anything – but to save postage and other expenses, it’s probably easiest to offer an eBook or access to a membership site for free or something along those lines.

All they have to do in return, for example is to forward on your Tweets to a certain number of people.  In doing so they are automatically sent your ‘everybody wins’ prize.

Obviously you need to make sure that your prize is perceived as worth winning and is relevant to all.  For, example not many people will participate if your prize is an eBook on ‘How To Train Your Gerbil To Dance’ or ’10 Ways To Re-Use Shoe Laces!’. 

Alternatively, if you have got your hands on a great big prize like a new TV or an expensive piece of software – you could offer a ‘prize draw’ where everyone enters but only one person gets the prize!

How Do I Get Started?
You need to sign up for a TwiveAway account to get started, as this will give you access to the software that will follow your competition and your re-Tweeters.  It will even randomly pick your winner for a prize draw if that’s what you chose to do!

Go to TwiveAway.com to get started – it’s free!

However, this is only the start – so make sure that you actually tell people about your giveaway either on Twitter itself or on your own websites to make sure you get as much reaction as possible. 

After all you want to get more people following your Tweets – so the more people you get started – the more people they will forward your Tweet on to.  And this is the chain reaction you are after.

This is where a really good eBook comes into it’s own – if it appeals to everyone, everyone will want to tell their friends about it and the link to your Twitter account will just fly round the offices like a great joke does or a cute puppy picture!

Finally – don’t forget yo make your Twitter account of website it’s best ever, so that all these new visitors have got a reason to stay with you long after the TwiveAway contest!

Good Luck!

posted by admin on Mar 12

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It seems that medical advances are taking us around in circles! Scientists have recently discovered that injecting athletes with their own blood can speed recovery for a whole range of injuries.

Trials have used 2 high profile American Footballers as examples of how effective this treatment can be – their team then went on to win the SuperBowl!

What Is it All About?
The treatment – dating back from the ’70′s – is basically re-injecting the athlete or persons own body with their plasma – a component of blood.

Known as PRPT – Platelet-Rich Plasma Therapy – this treatment has been used in orthopaedic surgery to help repair bones of patients for decades but is failing to make it into the mainstream for athletes in the UK as it is still illegal. It counts as a type of blood doping and there is currently no way around it.

The process involves the removal of blood from the patient. This is spun to collect the body-healing platelets in the plasma, which is them injected straight into the damaged tissues. Reports are that there is generally function recovery in half the normal time.

What’s The Problem?
Even though the results are extremely positive, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Olympic Committee are still not sure about whether it should be allowed.

Their argument is that it is increasing the red blood cell count and so will lead to better performance – basically ‘cheating’. Defenders say that it is only the plasma being injected – not the oxygen-giving red blood cells, but this has yet to convince anyone.

Bearing in mind that many sporting bodies follow the advice of the WADA, it is very difficult for sports people in the UK to use this apparently amazing treatment which works so well for ordinary people. Not only does it shorten recovery time and prevent painful and expensive surgeries – this doesn’t hold any weight.

Professional athletes for now will have to suffer their injuries the old way.

posted by admin on Dec 16

Just a quick update about the National Geographic/Vattenfall competition.

It was a competition for children across Europe to come up with a great project to help combat climate change locally to them, but with international possibilities.

The winners were a group of young people from Copenhagen, Denmark who headed up the project:  Biogas: The Best Solution.

Their idea revolved around the concept of creating energy from an existing method, but by using the fuel from their local zoo.  Basically, the animal waste was burnt to create the energy needed to run the zoo itself.  A perfect circle.

The judges felt that this was ‘the most holistic’ project submitted from hundreds of entries from 21 countries.  Not only does it reduce the need for the zoo to import energy from other sources, it also plays a role in preserving the habitats needed for wildlife so that fewer species become endangered in the first place. 

The zoo already has a great reputation for helping existing endangered wildlife – and now it is helping other species before there is a problem – and it may be the model that leads other zoos and wildlife sanctuaries to do the same.

To find out how the project develops in the future follow the progress at www.nationalgeographic.com/combatclimatechange