www.curiosity-box.com

Hello Curiosity Cadets! Welcome to your latest Curiosity Box

Cool Crystals

Items marked with an * on your instruction cards are Collectable. Look out for these items in every Box, so you can build your very own home laboratory! From beakers and pumps, measuring tape to magnifying glasses....we have it covered....

TO HACK OR NOT TO HACK your Curiosity Box! First check through your activities so see whether you’ll need your box for any of them, before you get creative with it. Remember to send us pics of your experiments!

For best results read all the instructions before diving in to the activities. The best scientists check all the info before they start experimenting!

www.curiosity-box.com

You have about 40 trillion bacteria happily hanging out in your

body right now...GROSS right?!! Well no! Most of those bacteria live

there all the time and actually help to keep you alive and healthy!

I am always surprised at how absolutely incredible our bodies are,

did you know that humans can lose the use of huge chunks of the

brain and still it works?!

This box is all about you and more importantly,

what is inside your body and how it works.

It is truly an amazing and

very precious machine.

Yours in Curiosity,

Champion Role Model Collectable Card

Dr Lynda CoughlanVirus Nerdette,

Jenner Institute

MY WORK

I work on tiny microbes called viruses. They are so tiny that you need a special kind of powerful microscope called an electron microscope to see them. Viruses are like a shell containing genetic coding material called DNA. We use viruses that do not cause illness in humans. We can chop up their DNA and swap it for pieces of DNA from other dangerous diseases like infl uenza (the fl u). Then we package the engineered DNA back into the virus shell and use it as a vaccine.

This type of vaccine tricks your immune system into thinking it has caught the fl u, but you do not get sick from the vaccine. When the cells in your body that are involved in fi ghting an infection see the bits of fl u, they produce fl u-specifi c weapons to fi ght it. This means that next time you really do catch fl u, your body is ready to fi ght it off , and you do not get sick.

I get to travel all over the world as a scientist, presenting my research and visiting researchers in other laboratories to work together on new experiments. I work with lots of passionate and enthusiastic people who love what they do so conversations with people at work are always interesting.

Champion Role Model Collectable Card

Let’s get curious about Lynda!

The most awesome thing I have done so far is:Engineer viruses that help prevent or cure diseases

At primary school my favourite thing to do was:Although we didn’t do science as a subject in school in Ireland,

I knew I wanted to be a scientist from a very young age. I had a

microscope at home with a projector and my whole family had

to spend weekends looking at fly wings, beetle legs and animal

hair.

Advice I would give to my 7 year-old

self:Work hard and believe in yourself. You can

be anything you want to be.

My hero is:

Rosalind Franklin who helped us to

understand the structure of DNA. I also

love Jane Goodall (studied chimpanzee

behaviour) and David Attenborough, whose

TV shows are just amazing.

I love being a scientist because:I learn something new

and exciting every day.

You are the owner of the world’s most awesome machine, YOUR BODY!

About 98% of our DNA is identical to that of a gorilla!?!? Take a look at the funny picture on the back of this card ‘Human and Gorilla’, and you can see how similiar the skeletons look.

Here are some more fascinating facts:

- our bones keep getting worn down and rebuilding themselves, so that essentially we end up with new bones every seven years

- our bones are responsible for the production of blood cells, and calcium and vitamin D are very important for healthy bones

- to ensure blood only goes one way - either in or out - there are four valves in the human heart

- if you lay all the blood vessels in the human body side-by-side, you’d end up with 60,000 miles worth: enough to go around the earth more than twice!

- we completely replace our skin about once every month

These are only a smidgen of the fascinating facts about us. We have sent

some internet links to your grown-ups so you can fi nd out more!

www.retronaut.com www.curiosity-box.com

The past like you wouldn’t believe