Physicist Dr Jess Wade awarded OBE for services to gender diversity in science

Congratulations to award winning physicist and #STEM ambassador Dr. Jess Wade has been awarded a medal of the Order of the British Empire for services to gender diversity in science.

Dr. Jess Wade is a physicist and an incredible advocate for women in science and engineering. During 2018, she’s embarked upon a challenge: to write one Wikipedia page per day about an “awesome underrepresented group working in science and engineering.”

Dr Wade researches polymer-based LEDs in the Blackett Lab at Imperial College London. As part of her outreach work she has led public engagement initiatives to promote women in STEM, including schools outreach work in physics and coordinating international women in physics academic conferences. She’s leading the way as an inspirational woman in science helping to break down barriers, and give girls the confidence to see themselves as scientists.

Read an interview with Jess about her Wikipedia page per day here.

Jess is also a proud STEMette and STEM ambassador, helping to promote fellow STEMettes such as author Angela Saini who wrote Inferior and Superior.

Follow Jess on Twitter to and join the world of science girl power!

Dr Jess Wade is a Whizz Pop Bang science adviser; a member of our behind-the-scenes team who help to ensure that our content is up-to-date and accurate.

In every issue of Whizz Pop Bang magazine we have a mix of female and male scientists to inspire girls and boys, and particularly showcase women in STEM roles. Breaking down gender stereotypes is an important part of Whizz Pop Bang magazine as we strive for a future of equality. Find out more here.

We also feature famous historical scientists, focusing just as much on the female scientists as the male scientists. Find out which historical scientists we’ve featured so far in Whizz Pop Bang, and if you’re a teacher looking for science and reading resources we’ve got reading comprehensions ready to download and go with our schools subscriptions!

#WomenInSTEM

#WomenInScience

QueensBirthdayHonours


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EYE SPY! A close-up look at the science of sight


Inside this issue of Whizz Pop Bang science magazine you’ll find all sorts of ways to trick your eyes, learn how microscopes work and you can even have a go at making some fantastic 3D glasses.

LEARN HOW TO WRITE YOUR NAME IN BRAILLE: Ever wondered how blind people read braille? In this issue we teach you the braille alphabet so you can learn how to write your name. How long will it take you to remember the pattern of dots that create the letters in your name?

YOU WON’T BELIEVE YOUR EYES! Learn how eyes work, then play some tricks on your peepers with our speedy science activities.

SILLY SCIENCE: How do creatures who live in the dark sense their surroundings? Find out about six creatures who live in the dark and have developed some amazing ways to sense their environments, find food and avoid danger.

HOW STUFF WORKS: Take a close look inside a microscope, and enter the competition to win a pocket microscope!

SENSATIONAL SCIENTISTS: Read all about Patricia Bath’s medical inventions and how they’ve restored sight to thousands of people.

Loads of awesome eye-deas to keep your budding young scientists entertained! Visit our online shop to buy this issue for just £4.75 with FREE UK delivery. Got a question about Whizz Pop Bang or subscribing? Check out our FAQs or get in touch by emailing our friendly customer services team: hello@whizzpopbang.com


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WIN! Brilliant Ideas from Wonderful Women

It’s International Women’s Day 2019 and to celebrate we’ve got three copies of this super cool book to give away! To enter this competition simply answer this question…

Which famous female scientist discovered that Earth has an inner core, as well as a mantle and outer core? 
1. Inge Lehmann
2. Katherine Johnson
3. Agnes Arber

Answer in the comments box below by midnight on Sunday 10/3/19 👇🏾
(Hint: the answer is in the QUAKE RATTLE AND ROLL issue of Whizz Pop Bang!)


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Helping children in Nepal to enjoy science

We have one simple aim for Whizz Pop Bang, and that’s to help as many children as possible to enjoy the wonderful world of science.

A few months ago a man called Brian Mildenhall, who works for a charity in Nepal, phoned and asked if we could donate some magazines for the children he helps. Brian works for a charity called Freedom Kit Bags which was set up to help end period poverty in Nepal. As well as supplying sanitary wear for women and girls, the team behind Freedom Kit Bags deliver education too.

Brian took a box of Whizz Pop Bang magazines on his most recent trip out to Nepal, and just last week he sent us these heart-warming photos of the children reading them at school. We’re all so touched to see our magazines in the hands of Nepalese children and teachers, helping them to read English and enjoy science. Thank you Brian and team for doing what you do! ❤️👍🏾🧠


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International women and girls in science day!

Big shout out to Whizz Pop Bang girls today – it’s international women and girls in science day 👩🏽‍🔬🎉👨🏼‍🔬👏🏾 We’re hugely proud to be inspiring scientists of the future… girls & boys!
 
Thanks to these two super scientists from Shaw Ridge primary school for sending in their rendition of the periodic table song, you’ve got amazing memories!👇🏿

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10 Awesomely Amazing recycling heroes!

Whizz Pop Bang magazine recycling heroes

Big shout out to our 10 Awesomely Amazing recycling heroes in our RUBBISH SCIENCE issue!

♻️♻️♻️♻️♻️♻️♻️♻️♻️♻️

1. Melati and Isabel Wijsen who set up Bye Bye Plastic Bags
2. Sammie Vance with her recycled plastic buddy benches
3. Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu who set up soleRebels designing shoes from old tyres
4. Ryan Hickman, age 9 runs his own recycling company
5. Aaron Westbrook 3D prints prosthetic limbs from recycled plastic
6. Anna Bullus who set up Gumdrop ltd making shoes with pink soles from recycled gum
7. Esther Bird campaigned to stop single-use plastics being used at her school
8. Julia Bray, Ashton Cofer and Luke and Natalie Clay converted styrofoam cups into activated carbon
9. Zymal Umer set up Zee Bags to make gift bags from recycled newspaper
10. Amy and Ella Meek from Kids Against Plastic campaign to help families, cafes and councils to be ‘Plastic Clever’

So inspiring to see so many kids taking the initiative, the future’s looking greener everyone! 👍🏽


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StartUps awards 2018, highly commended in the Women in Business Category!

StartUps award women in business highly commended

Whoop whoop! Exciting times for Whizz Pop Bang!!! Firstly we’re thrilled to announce Whizz Pop Bang founder Jenny won highly commended at the StartUps Awards 2018 in the Women in Business category!! 👏🏼 🏆 🤩

AND Jenny appeared on BBC4 on the Tomorrow’s World Live show as one of the many people inspired by the program. Cracking week for Whizz Pop Bang!


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Awesomely honest reviews for Whizz Pop Bang…

Boys with their SPY issue of Whizz Pop Bang science magazine for kids

Your reviews and feedback mean the world to us, so thank you to all these families who have taken the time to share their thoughts on Whizz Pop Bang, the awesomely amazing science magazine for kids!

“My 9yr old daughter has received her first copy and is thrilled with it. Excellent magazine. Word of warning though, I do unfortunately appear to have inadvertently learned stuff too due to her constant verbal updates whilst reading it. Be warned, it could happen to you!” 🤯
Gemma Dodgson

“I love the fact that women engineers and scientists feature so prominently. I hadn’t realised this was the case when I first subscribed, and originally subscribed simply because it looked like a fun way to get a greater exposure to science, but it really stands out for me. I also love the use of proper scientific terminology because it familiarises children to this language and makes science more accessible.”
Cat

“My daughter starts asking a week before it pops through our letterbox when will it be here. Best birthday present she’s ever received.”
Nicky Doyle

“My son said “Whizz Pop Bang is the best magazine ever, I love the jokes especially”
Ella Weaver

“My son reads it cover to cover! More than once! He even refers back to back copies. (The pile on the bed is huge!)”
Ed Bickerstaffe

“Fantastic magazine and helps so much with our daughters love of science”
Tracey Cook

“My daughter loves the magazine. She is really excited every month when it arrives. She wants to be a scientist when she grows up so that she can ‘change the world’ and that says it all really!”
Anna Hodgin

“We are a home educating family and I choose not to use the discount because I believe that it is already great value for money. We (age range from 34 – 5) all get excited when Whizz Pop Bang comes through the door. It gives us the opportunity to explore things/people that we may not have heard of before in a style that all of us can understand and use as a base to explore articles further. I personally enjoy ‘Animal antics’, ‘Interview with a science hero’, ‘how stuff works’, Ten awesomely amazing’ and Sensational scientists.”
Leech family

“It is an awesome magazine. As a mum I like that you email me a supply list before the magazine arrives. All three of my children love it ages 6, 13 and 15.”
Michelle

“I’m also a Childminder so I’ve kept all the copies so they can access all the back issues when topics arise at school. I imagine that the babies I mind will look at these in the years to come as well as my grandchildren.”
Caroline Francis

“My child took a copy to school and the teacher was so delighted he said he’d buy W.P.B too! 😁”
E. Yates

“I have been very impressed with WPB. My boys love receiving their own post (in such vibrant and environmentally friendly packaging) each month and can’t wait to open it. The experiments and articles are pitched at the perfect level and inspire them to think about topics that they might not otherwise come across. I will be continuing the subscription for their little sister when she is old enough, too.”
Rebecca Wale

“Whizz Pop Bang is an excellent resource that I have recommended to several parents and teachers. My kids look forward to receiving the magazine every month, and my son is currently reading this month’s out loud to me. Please keep up the good work!”
Cathy Campbell

“I’m an archaeological scientist. I want my son to understand why I love what I do; that science can be beautiful, and awe-inspiring, and fun. Your magazine forms a central part of this nefarious propaganda machine, so … thank you!”
Chloe Duckworth

“I love the accessible feel and the range of topics covered each month. I really appreciate the advance warning emails so I can prepare for forthcoming experiments”
Jo Jenks

“Our daughter loves receiving Whizz Pop Bang looks forward to it each month. She’s excited about science and a passionate feminist so it’s great that the magazine provides role models of women in STEM. We’re also impressed with the decision to use paper envelopes rather than plastic wrappers. Thank you.”
Sarah Giles


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Royal Institution logo

News on the Royal Institution Christmas lectures 2018

Prof Alice Roberts Royal Institution Christmas lectures
Prof Alice Roberts who will be answering the question ‘Who are we?’ at the Royal Institution Christmas lectures 2018

Who are we?

Where do we come from?

What does it mean to be human?

This year Prof Alice Roberts will take us on a fascinating journey for the Royal Institution of Great Britain Christmas lectures to answer the most fundamental of questions: Who am I?

Each one of us is unique. And yet there are many more similarities between us than differences. We share about 99.4% of our genetic sequence in common with other people. In that small genetic difference resides much of the wonderful variety we see in humans today. How do we use the similarities and differences between us to construct our individual identities?

In the 2018 CHRISTMAS LECTURES from the Royal Institution, scientist, author and TV presenter Alice Roberts will take us on a journey to answer the most fundamental of questions: Who am I? 

Tickets to the filming of the Christmas lectures are available through a ballot in September, open to Royal Institution Members and Patrons and UK registered schools only. To find out how to join the Ri and apply for tickets to this once in a lifetime show, visit the Ri website.

About the lectures

From our hidden similarities to a fruit fly, to the story of the emergence and global spread of our own species, to the interplay between genes and environment in creating individual differences, Alice will uncover our shared evolutionary past and ask challenging ethical questions about what the future holds.

Lecture 1 explores our amazingly beastly past, and through surprising similarities to our animal ancestors – from the bones and body plans we share with fish and horses to the genes we share with a fruit fly – we discover our true place in the biological tree of life.

Lecture 2 examines connections with our closest living relatives, chimpanzees, and traces our evolutionary journey – from a common ancestor with those apes, to the emergence of our species, Homo sapiens, and the amazing colonisation of the world by our Stone Age ancestors. What are the essential characteristics that makes us human? And how did out species become so successful?

Lecture 3 unpicks genetic variations to find out how the differences between us are created by an interplay between genes and environment, asks whether we can find evidence for natural selection and adaptation in our genomes today, and explores how our DNA may hold clues to future health and risk of disease. We can already change the genes of crops to give them traits we see as desirable, but could it be possible for humans?  And in this Brave New World, where do we draw the line?

The Lectures will be broadcast on BBC Four in December.

Alice, who is Professor of Public Engagement in Science at the University of Birmingham, said: “The study of biology and our own evolutionary past gives us a really interesting way to understand who we are, today. I’m looking forward to sparking some young imaginations with this amazing area of science. 

“As well as providing us with knowledge about our past and present, though, new technologies can confront us with difficult decisions about what we should do in the future. 

“So I’ll also be asking some challenging questions about what identity means today, and what advances in genetics in particular might mean for us as a species.” 


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what makes something fly

Take off this summer with our Sky High Science issue!

Whizz Pop Bang science magazine for kids! Sky high science

Wouldn’t it be amazing to fly like a bird? Or how do you fancy fluttering like a butterfly, or even soaring like a snake?! There are all sorts of flying phenomena to discover this issue. Have a go at making your own stunt plane, investigating different designs of straw planes and testing aerofoils. We interview Palaeontologist Liz Martin-Silverstone to ask her how on earth the giant pterosaurs were able to fly, plus we find out how drones work, and answer the question on lots of people’s minds… just how do planes fly???

Buy this issue here and fill your summer holidays with awesome science fun!! ? ✈ ?


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