Christmas Gift Guide 2014 - #SciSparksAdvent Day 6
This is your ultimate science gift guide for anyone who loves science...
1. The Dino Pet
£37.40, biopop.com The comical shape of this “pet” is a nod to the tiny photosynthetic organisms inside called dinoflagellates. The dinopet contains a bioluminescent species that when shaken undergoes a chemical reaction that produces a fleeting flash of blue light.
A firm favourite when I was a kid, this entertaining goop is a non-Newtonian fluid - in other words, its viscosity is not constant. If you hit it with a hammer it shatters, but try to make a sculpture and it’ll slowly deform into a squidgy blob.
3. Giant molecular model
£130, miramodus.comWhen it comes to sculptures I choose a giant molecular model. This one is ethanol - particularly appropriate for the slightly squiffy festive season.
4. Pencil digital stylus
£49.99, shop.fiftythree.com Away from the office, I enjoy wielding a paintbrush, but it can be cumbersome lugging watercolour paraphernalia around. This stylus and app offer a surprisingly good, albeit different, experience. It doesn’t take long to work out how to create different colours and effects, but turning that into a great picture still requires a painter’s patience.
5. Kid’s Stuff Crazy Colour bubble bath
£2, sainsburys.co.uk This bubble bath beats all the weird aromatic concoctions you usually find under the tree: it contains a pH indicator called bromocresol green that changes colour from yellow to blue as it’s diluted.
6. Celestron NexStar Evolution 6
£1,199 widescreen-centre.co.uk Christmas for me means escaping to the countryside, so it’s the perfect time to make the most of the cloud-free nights and get everyone around a telescope. This one is pricey, but can hook up to your smartphone to track the constellations.
£79.99, shop.lego.com Although Lego’s women of science, as featured in the short-lived “research institute” kit, never got tenure, this polar expedition set features scientists of both sexes bundled up for field work.
8. Molecular gastronomy starter kit
£69.99, msk-ingredients.com Christmas is all about adding a touch of class to your glass and kits like this make it simple. Use sodium alginate and calcium chloride to knock up little pearls of orange and rhubarb juice that burst in your mouth.
9. Videre Pop-Up Pinhole camera
£45, sciencemuseumshop.co.uk Digital cameras and smartphones have fuelled new forms of photography - but too often we are ignorant of what goes on “under the hood”. This superb kit takes you back to the basics of picture-taking.
10. Herb Garden
£78, clickandgrow.com Fresh herbs are great in the kitchen, but who is going to tend to my basil when I’m away? This smart herb garden could be the answer – just top up the water tank and leave it to the sensors inside to adjust the amount of light and water the plants get.
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