https://doi.org/10.36866/pn.93.8

After the success of last year’s Biology Week, the seven-day celebration returned again for 2013. The culmination of this week-long extravaganza of activities, events, prizes and poetry, was, as last year, Physiology Friday.

Coordinated by The Society of Biology, Biology Week ran from 12–18 October and all around the UK Physiological Society Members were throwing themselves into physiology-themed activities. Matthew Manson and Jessie-Ray Matthews began the fun on the Saturday by testing the public’s lung function at Cambridge Big Biology Day. Armed with a spirometer and a spreadsheet they demonstrated to visitors just how height and lung volume are related.

On Monday, The Society joined a host of learned bodies and bioscience organisations to hand out freebies at the Institute of Education for The Big Biology Giveaway. The afternoon event saw happy teachers leaving with a range of fantastic resources for their students.

Up in Leeds, Charlotte Haigh set her students into action on Wednesday in the ‘Physiology Challenge’. The Leeds Students Union was taken over by human physiology Students competing against each other to carry out the best physiological outreach activity. Members of the public were treated to an investigation of peak flow rate, nerve conduction and reaction times, and a look at sleeping patterns and colour blindness. The challenge continued on Physiology Friday in a ‘Cranium’-style general knowledge quiz with charades, drawing, impersonations and the spelling of some interesting physiological words – backwards. The ‘Dream Team’ – also known as Emma Diamond, Alex Bannister, Rhiannon James, Ellie Taylor, Melina Teske, Howard Macdonald and Tom Hall – came away victorious, nabbing themselves University of Leeds hoodies with ‘Winners of the Physiological Challenge 2013’ printed on the back.

A highlight of the week was Thursday night’s Society-funded evening at the Royal Veterinary College. The doors of the London college opened to the public for The RVC Lates. The night featured heart-themed activities, anatomical sketching, science busking and a live dissection of a (dead) sheep, as well as a virtual reality cow simulator.

The busy week came to an end on ‘Physiology Friday’ with some Twitter rhymes and digestion poetry as we challenged Members and students in our Biology Week competitions. After all that fun we can hardly wait for Biology Week 2014.

Physiology rhymes

To celebrate Biology Week and Physiology Friday we ran a physiology-themed poetry competitions.

Odes to digestion

We invited under-17s to enter our digestion poetry competition for a chance to win a Kindle Fire and a visit from our Mobile Teaching Unit for their school. Entrants were asked to complete our ‘Ode to Digestion’ in no more than 200 words.

Apples and pears, pizzas and pies,
The food that we eat is fuel for our lives. But there’s something that happens, that stops congestion,
It’s this little thing, it’s called digestion…

Entries satisfied the appetite of our judges and they were impressed by the number and quality of poems received. Judging took place throughout Biology Week and Physiology Friday (18 October) and we are pleased to announce nine-year-old Rhiannon Williams of Our Lady and St Oswald’s Primary, Shropshire as the winner. This is her entry:

Apples and pears, pizzas and pies,
The food that we eat is fuel for our lives. But there’s something that happens, that stops congestion,
It’s this little thing, it’s called digestion.

In through the mouth our yummy food goes,
Spreading energy and growth from our heads to our toes.
Teeth start chewing, taste buds awaken And food is mushed though mastication

Our mouth glands pump out saliva and spit
To wash the food down, bit by bit
Through the gullet and into the belly,
Where all bits of food break down and go smelly.

Our stomach walls squeeze and churn
Then gastric enzymes take their turn.
Acid and bile dissolve our food
The proteins, carbs and fats we’ve chewed.

Round the maze of intestines the food finds its way,
Through small ones and large ones its passing each day.
As the food nears the end of the winding road,
All goodness has gone, it carries no load.

The stuff that’s left must leave somehow, Out another hole it will go now.
The waste just vanishes with a flush,
I think I’ve mentioned quite enough!

So if you’re baffled by the question:
What on earth could be digestion?
Just take a look at this poem here,
And the answer will be written clear!