Hello everybody, GI Jake here!Mike & I are very excited to bring you the latest edition of Microbe Magic. Itis full of news, competitions, experiments and information that willkeep you busy during the long winter months! Don't forget tocheck out the website at http://microbemagic.ucc.ie to keep up

to date on all that’s happening in Mike’s world!

Winter 2008

Copyright Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre 2008 ISSN 1649-6000

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This edition of Microbe Magic is all abouthow skin forms a barrier to protect us.If we cut our skin, we often put aplaster on it to prevent germs fromentering. Cut out the shape of the

sticking plaster and design your skinprotection cover!

Check out: http://microbemagic.ucc.ie for defence ideas!

Send your entries to: Mike, Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, 5.12 BioSciences Institute,University College Cork.

Clare Forde, 4th class,Firmount NationalSchool, was the winnerof the Microbe MagicLimerick Competition.Clare (pictured withGráinne Heelan fromthe APC and her mum)won an MP3 layer and acuddly GI Jake for herlimerick on digestion.

Clare’s winning limerickMy digestion starts in my mouth,And goes through my stomach, no doubt!Crosses my stomach line, Enters my intestine,And it all finishes up down South!

Just before thesummerholidays, theAPC took part inthe DiscoverScience andEngineeringAwards ofExcellenceceremony inCork. DanielHarrington(pictured) of

Gurranesig National School, Kilbrittain, wasthe winner of the APC word searchcompetition. Daniel won a very large andcuddly GI Jake!

COMPETITION TIME

DESIGN A PLASTER AND

WIN AN MP3 PLAYER

WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING?

TTeeaacchheerr ’’ ss TTaasskk TThhee rroollee ooff sskkiinn -- tthhee ggrreeaatt ddeeffeennddeerr!!

The aim of this experiment is to examine what happens when yourskin, your first line of defence, is broken.

You will need: 2 fresh apples (the same type), without any cutsor bruises; a warm spot (like a windowsill in the sun); pencil& paper.

To start, label one piece of paper ‘Specimen’ andthe other ‘Control’. On one apple only, make a smallcut using the tip of the pencil. Place the cut apple onthe ‘Specimen’ paper and the other on the ‘Control’paper. Make sure both apples are in a warm spot. Keepa journal each day of how the apples appear.

What’s happening? The apple’s first line of defence, its skin,protects it from some pathogens. If its skin is cut, it is in prettybig trouble because those pathogens can get inside. In thisexperiment, the healthy ‘Control’ apple should stay pretty muchunchanged. The ‘Specimen’ apple on the other hand should have bigchanges. Most likely it will be brown and mushy where pathogenslike fungi and bacteria have entered through the cut and infectedthe apple. Your skin helps to stop invaders from entering your body.If pathogens do get in, your second line of defence fights to keepyou healthy. It is really important to keep your skin clean, especiallyif you have a cut, and remember to leave it alone as it heals!

GI AND SKIN WORDSEARCHFind the words hidden in the grid. Remember, they can be inany direction (forward, backwards, upside-down!) and some dooverlap! small, anus, luke, gland, large, rectum, follicle,dermis, oesphagus, intestine, bifido, epidermis, mouth,bacteria, skin, subcutaneous, stomach, jake, nerve

World DigestiveHealth DayThe “Exploding Custard” shows were part ofthis year’s World Digestive Health Daycelebrations at the APC. These fast-moving,entertaining demonstrations of do-it-yourselfkitchen-table science were exciting andinteractive shows given by Ian Russell ofInteractive Science Ltd UK. More than 450students travelled to Fermoy from countiesCork, Limerick and Tipperary. The shows weregenerously sponsored by Yakult Ireland. Watchout for next year’sshow – who knowswhat we’ll do next!

Sheila Morgan, APCand Teagasc, withpresenter IanRussell getting thefull explodingcustard experience!

WarsawScience PicnicIn June, the Microbe Magic crew travelled toPoland to the 11th Warsaw Science Picnic.There, they shared a stand with ScienceFoundation Ireland and the Irish Embassy. Anestimated 100,000 people of all ages attendedthe outdoor festival with 250 stands frommany countries. Young and old carried out ourexperiments, digesting starch with their saliva,as well as entering our wordsearch competitionon the gastrointestinal tract which was writtenin Polish!

Karolina Dabrowska,winner ofwordsearchcompetition, SallyCudmore APC andMaurice O’Donnell,Second Secretary,Embassy of Ireland,Warsaw.

GI Jake at the busyMicrobe Magicstand at WarsawScience Picnic

The sun can be very damaging to yourskin. You need to wear sunscreen,cover your head with a hat, put onsunglasses and a long-sleeved T-shirt toprotect your skin from the sun.Remember the saying: Slip, Slop, Slap &Wrap! Slip on a T-Shirt, Slop on

sunscreen, Slap on a hat & wrap aroundsunglasses!

The middle layer of your skin iscalled the dermis. Your dermis is

made up of a protein called collagenthat makes it stretchy. Your hair follicles(the tunnel where each of your hairsgrow) are in the dermis, along with bloodvessels and nerves. Your dermis also hasglands that produce sweat to help you keep cool anddifferent glands that produce oils to keep your skinwaterproof and your hair shiny.

The final layer of your skin is called thesubcutaneous layer and it is where fat isstored. Some fat is very useful as itprotects your organs when youbump into things or fall overand helps to keep you warm.Your skin is amazing so make

sure you look after it well!

Microbe Magic, G. I. Jake, Luke O' Cyte, Pat O’Gen, Gut Reaction, Gut Buster , E.Coli Crew, the associated logos and and/or characters,APC and logo are all Trade Marks of The Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre.

© Copyright 2008 The Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre

Skin is the largest organ in your body!Skin has several very important jobs,the most important of all is to makesure it holds all your inside bits, inside!It is very tough and acts as protectionagainst microbes and other things thatcould damage your internal organs. It is

also waterproof, which is why you don’t swell up andslosh around when it rains or if you go swimming! One ofthe greatest things your skin does is to sense the worldaround you. Your skin tells you about temperature,shape and weight, as well as telling you if thingsare painful, sharp, hard, soft or cuddly!

Your skin is made up of three thicklayers. The outside layer that you seeevery day is called the epidermis. Theepidermis is very tough and protectsyour body from harm and invaders. Theskin cells of your epidermis are deadand lie flat. These are easy to rub offbut your skin cells are constantly replaced without youeven noticing, so you don’t have any gaps!

Your epidermis also contains a pigment(like a dye) called melanin. Melanin getsdarker when you are out in the sun togive the lower layers of your skin someprotection from harmful rays. Peoplewith fair skin have less melanin and getsunburnt more quickly than

people with more melanin. No matter how muchmelanin you have, it won’t stop you fromgetting sunburnt.

YOUR SKIN – THE LARGEST ORGAN IN YOUR BODY!

Your skin weighs about 12% of your total body!

Your skin replaces itself entirely every two weeks.

Your skin has about 20 differenttypes of nerve endings, each sendinga different message o your brain.

The most common ones arethose that can sense pressure,

pain, heat and cold.

Your skin is thicker in places thatneed it, like the soles of your feet.

CONTACT DETAILS: Andrea Doolan,Alimentary Pharmabiotic CentreBiosciences Institute, Rm 5.12, University College CorkEmail: apc@ucc.ie Web: http://microbemagic.ucc.ie

The Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre is a research centre funded by Science Foundation Ireland and is a partnership between University College Cork, Teagasc (Moorepark) and Industry.

Darwin 200Watch out for lots of eventsin 2009 to celebrate the200th year anniversary ofCharles Darwin’s birthday!Darwin was the first to explainhow every living thing is relatedto everything else. You can learnmore at: http://www.darwin200.org

Experimental techniques have changed a lot sinceDarwin’s day. We are now able to see not onlyphysical differences but differences in DNA, thegenetic information in each cell. Chinese scientists,led by Dr Wang Jun, have recently worked out all ofthe DNA that makes up Jing Jing, the giant panda.Jing Jing will be pleased to learn that his DNA is

very similar to that of dogs and tous humans!

GI Jake and Luke O’Cyte visited Jing Jingin Sichuan province in south west China lastyear with APC researcher, Ms. Fang Fang.

What

about you?

Do you have ideas, suggestions or

stories of the experiments you’ve

tried for Mike? Let him know by

email at: MicrobeMagic@ucc.ie or

by post at: Mike, 5.09

BioSciences Institute, University

College Cork.

ASK A SCIENTISTQ. Why is snot green? A. Snot (or nasal mucus) comes in a variety of colours including bright green! The green colour isusually seen during an infection. It is caused by atype of white blood cell called a neutrophil. If youhave an infection, the neutrophil travels to the siteof the infection and tries to swallow upthe bad bacteria (the pathogen). To work properly, the neutrophil uses a helper enzyme which depends onferrous iron to work. It is the ferrousiron that gives the mucus its greencolour as your body works toprotect you!

Q. How do bacteria know where to go? A. Bacteria usually movetowards food or away fromdanger, because there arechemicals in the environmentthat they can sense. This iscalled chemotaxis (chemo = chemical, taxis =movement). Other bacteria contain tiny amounts ofminerals that match up with the direction ofearth’s magnetic fields to help the bacteria figureout whether they’re swimming up or down!

Q. How does freezing preserve peas?A. Freezing is a superb method ofpreservation. Firstly, it turnsthe water in peas to ice andslows down or stops thegrowth of bacteria and mouldsthat can cause food poisoning.As soon as peas are picked fromthe plant, their flavour and colourstart to deteriorate and enzymes work tobreak down many of the nutrients. This happenseven when peas are frozen so most peas are firstblanched (a very quick boiling process) to stop theenzymes working. Peas are then frozen immediatelyto ensure they keep as much of their sweet tasteand nutrient content as possible. Most peas areblanched and frozen within a few hours of pickingand can be kept in freezers for over a year (but docheck the ‘use by’ date on the pack!).

Ask your questions at:http://microbemagic.ucc.ie/ask_scientist.html

Would you like an APCscientist to visit your school?

Contact us at apc@ucc.ie or visit thewebsite at:

http://microbemagic.ucc.ie/teachers.html.This years presentation is “Our Bodies’Protectors – Keeping Us Fit 4 Life.”