Editorial issue 44 Editorial article
With demanding workloads throughout the year, it’s important that teachers as well as students find time to take a well-earned break over the summer, so everyone can return to school refreshed. And this year, Science in School will be taking a holiday of sorts, too – we will step away from our desks to attend conferences and courses over the next few months, and to work on projects behind the scenes. As a result, the next issue of the journal will be published later than usual: you can expect the autumn/winter issue to arrive on your doorstep or in your inbox at the end of November.
But for now, sit back and enjoy what this issue has to offer: in the chemistry lab, we explore biochemistry using bananas and have some fun with organic chemistry by extracting essential oils. For older students, we learn some valuable life lessons (and some physics) about driving and road safety. We also bring you the third article in the ‘evolution in action’ series, this time looking at the intriguing – and sometimes contentious – topic of how new species emerge.
In this issue, three of the organisations comprising EIROforum – which funds Science in School – provide features of their own: building the world’s largest telescopes; the curation of ‘big data’ in molecular biology; and a computer coding challenge to run experiments in space.
We hope you enjoy the summer break and look forward to seeing you in the next academic year.