Messages - Programme 1

"It's the first time I've watched this ... great fun. I liked the leaf notes and drawings and the process of surveying the island. I missed how they got to magnetise a needle for their compass. Were they given a magnet or did they have to make one with a coil and battery? Either way wasn't that cheating a teeny bit? Or was there loadstone on the island? Also, the phonograph interested me. I wondered if they would have had better results if the needle was stuck on to the edge of the tin in the plane of the base rather than centrally placed on the base of the can pointing along its axis. Surely the vibrations would move the base of the tin in and out, so the needle would move in and out of the wax. You want to make it vibrate from side to side, to make the classic wiggly line on the wax cylinder don't you? So the needle has to be stuck on as I suggested, or if kept in its original position, it needs to be made longer and bent through right angles. Maybe ... Do the team carry on regardless and try to get their inventions to work after the programme has finished, or do they give up and go home? I think there is a lot of room for TV science challenges ... it's got to be better viewing than Robot Wars (don't let my son hear me saying that!)"
Sekeeta

"Have just finished watching the first one of Rough Science. It was totally fascinating, maths and science were my 2 worst subjects at school but these resourceful people brought it truly alive. I was dying for a cuppa but couldn't move because I didn't want to miss anything. The sound recording was amazing because something I understood theoretically suddenly became real and more wonderous. The group deserve every credit as does the person who thought this up - so much better than any kind of survivor or Big Brother type of programme. Thank you indeed."
Siobhan McCauley

"Watched the show on Tuesday night - very well put together and I thought the map success was remarkable. I am impressed with the simplicity of the website."
Jonathan Forgham

"Think it's really great! Never miss it"
George

"Good site. Would the sound recording work better with a deeper voice - low frequency, fewer but stronger vibrations?? Deeper grooves??"
Tony Ashby

Jonathan Hare replies:
"Yes, I think you are right, it would work much better with a low frequency note. In fact a normal record is recorded with a heavy 'distortion' aimed to deliberately boost the high frequencies. On play back the low frequencies are deliberately reduced (equalised) to compensate (This is why a record sounds all tinny if you plug it into an amp without the proper equalisation input). The equalisation greatly improves the ability to record the 'difficult' high notes and improves the quality. I thought about testing this and did have plans to make a sort of buzzer to act as a test signal but never had time to try it out."
Jonathan

"I'd just like to take the opportunity to say it was a fabulous programme, I really loved it.Thankyou."
Rufus Marsh

"Liked the programme, but the mapping could have been done far simpler, quicker and more accurate, by the use of a technique known as "Plane Table Surveying", which requires only one measurement and no calculations. If you are not familiar with this technique, I'd be delighted to explain."
Keith Dunstan

"Hi to all the scientists on Rough Science, My seven year old son and I have just watched your wonderful programme. Our questions  to you are: 1. Which plants that could be found in our home area of North Wales could have enough fibre content to make paper? 2. what could we use to make inks?
Thanks for making science such fun."
Anne and Adam Skinner

"Congratulations on achieving what teachers have been failing to do for years, making science interesting! It's really good to see that science can actually be useful for practical things in (almost) everyday life, if only school were like this I'm sure we would have more up and coming scientists. Also it's a great idea that you have chosen quite a diverse bunch of scientists. If they were all "egg heads" I think people could become quite detatched, I especially like Mike Leahy whose unorthadox look and approach are a welcome change to the OU's usual set up!! I'm looking forward to the next programme. All the best."
Adrian Gabriel

"Excellent website - simple and easy to follow."
Linda Hooley