I do a lot of talks to schools on science subjects, and always find it interesting what catches the attention and helps them latch onto a bit of scientific stuff. This is particularly apparent with my talk on light, which is the only pure science one I do down to junior school level -typically 10 to 11 year-olds (I have a ‘being a writer’ talk all the way down to infants, but that’s a different kind of thing).
A classic example is when talking about colours and our perception of them. I mention that (some?) hawks have a fourth color receptor that enables them to handle ultra-violet. (Vague interest.) This is how they manage to spot tiny voles and mice when they’re hovering over the motorway verge. (Slightly more.) Now a mouse is brown on a brownish-green background. Not much chance of seeing it. (Droops a bit.) But there’s something mice do all the time, we choose when to do. Any ideas? (Strong peak.) They pee. (Very strong peak.) And the trickle of mouse pee shows up well under ultraviolet – so the hawk sees a clear marker of where a mouse is going. (Peak continues).
I know you can’t do it all the time, but it’s just such fun when they get all excited…
Brian, my son is sitting next to me and I read this out loud to him. He says he doesn’t like it, because he doesn’t want the mice to get eaten. Sigh. I guess I’ll have to work some more on ecology with him.
Steffi, that is too funny! How old is he? I used to have similar issues with cute zebras being killed by lions, but my Mum just told me that lions (and their cute cubs) can’t eat grass because they have the wrong kind of teeth, and I got it pretty quickly.
He’s five, and your mother is a very clever lady! I mostly just say something like “well, they’re hungry and they have to eat too” in those situations…
That is a great little tid-bit that I didn’t know about. I always thought they just had really, really good vision… I guess you learn something new every day!
Oh, we have mice running round our kitchen. Maybe I should borrow a UV lamp to see the full horror of it?
That’s a lovely image, Scott. Of course you might not enjoy seeing where the little trails go…
Oh, I’ve seen the mice themselves running around, so I know where they go. With the little brown ricegrain-like parcels about, I know where they’ve been too.