Marvellous Milk Nina and the Neurons

# If you've got a question and you don't know where to go

# Ask Nina for some help cos she's got a science show

# She makes sense of her senses While helping all her fans

# By doing her experiments with potions and with bangs

-# Touch your tongue

-Tongue!

-# Fingers

-Fingers!

-# Eyes.

-Eyes!

-Ears.

-Ears!

-Nose.

-Nose!

# Nina and the Neurons find out what you need to know

# Nina and the Neurons find out what you need to know

# Luke, he helps us with our eyes And Felix with our touch

# Ollie sniffs out smells And Belle, she hears so much

# Bud is Ollie's brother He helps us with our taste

# They're Nina's little neurons And they're coming to your place!

-# Touch your tongue

-Tongue!

-# Fingers

-Fingers!

-# Eyes.

-Eyes!

-Ears.

-Ears!

-Nose.

-Nose!

# Nina and the Neurons find out what you need to know

# Nina and the Neurons find out what you need to know

# Oh, yeah! #

Hello! I'm examining my rock collection.

I'm rather proud of it.

It's amazing what can be found underground.

Oooh.

BEEPING

I hear a beep, I see a flash, I wonder what they're going to ask.

-BOTH: Hi, Nina!

-Hello!

-We have a question.

-Why are we told to drink milk?

That's a great question. Why are we told to drink milk?

Come to the lab and we'll do some experiments to investigate.

-BOTH: See you soon, Nina! Bye!

-Bye!

I'm going to need some help to answer this one

and I know just who to ask. OK, neurons, time to get to work.

ALL: Neurons at the ready, Nina!

Today's question is, why are we told to drink milk?

Which neuron will be most useful in helping us find the answer?

ALL: Me! Me!

Will it be fabulous Felix?

I can help so very much, if you need the sense of touch.

-Will it be beautiful Belle?

-I send messages to brain from ear.

If there's a sound, I'll help you hear.

-Will it be lovely Luke?

-For looking and seeing, day or night,

I'll help you with your sense of sight.

-Will it be awesome Ollie?

-If it's pongy or whiffy but you can't tell,

-my messages help your sense of smell.

-Or will it be baby Bud?

Sour, salty, bitter or sweet. I'm your taste buddy whenever you eat.

-It's Bud!

-Yippee!

CHEERING ALL: Go, Bud!

ALL: Go, Bud! Go, Bud! Go, Bud!

Go, Bud! Go, Bud! Go, Bud!

Go, Bud!

Give me a taste of the action, Nina!

Why are we told to drink milk?

I've chosen Bud to help - milk is something we drink and taste.

I need to get the lab ready before the experimenters arrive.

Lily loves kittens. Her friend Casey loves spaghetti Bolognese.

They both want to find out why we're told to drink milk.

Today, for one day only, Lily and Casey become the experimenters.

-BOTH: Hi, Nina!

-Welcome to my science lab! Come in!

Now, you asked, why are we told to drink milk?

Why do you want to know?

-My mummy tells me to drink milk.

-I like orange juice better.

I like milk and orange juice.

And apple juice, grape juice and pineapple juice!

There are lots of lovely drinks.

I wonder why your parents want you to drink milk.

I think we need to investigate to find out more.

For our experiment, we'll use our senses.

ALL: Whoop-woo! A senses experiment! We're ready, Nina!

OK. Who can tell me what colour milk is?

-White.

-White.

-White, yeah!

Milk is white. Does milk smell of anything? Have a smell.

-BOTH: It smells like milk.

-Yeah!

-OLLIE SNIFFS

-It smells delicious.

But it's really hard to describe.

-Now, what about the taste?

-It tastes like milk.

It's a creamy taste. Of course, orange juice comes from oranges

that grow on trees. But where does milk come from?

-BOTH: Cows.

-Right. Milk often comes from cows.

But we can drink milk from other animals,

like sheep's milk and goat's milk, and these

have something in common.

They have something special in them we can't see. Calcium.

-Have you ever heard of calcium?

-BOTH: No.

I think calcium is the reason you're told to drink milk. Come this way.

We're all wearing our safety goggles for this experiment.

I've also got my safety gloves on.

This is calcium. This calcium comes from the ground.

Doesn't look much like milk, does it?

-BOTH: No.

-What does it look like?

-BOTH: It looks silvery.

-Yeah.

Like little silvery hard lumps.

This is what calcium looks like on its own.

We don't normally see it like this. It's normally in other things.

-Like milk!

-Like milk.

Then it looks very different.

Would you like to see me make some calcium disappear?

BOTH: Yes, Nina!

Nina is going to do a magic trick!

-What can you see happening?

-It's fizzing.

-Bubbles are getting bigger

and popping and making the steam come out.

So the water made the hard piece of calcium fizz up.

And the water and calcium have joined together

and made this cloudy white liquid.

So what colour is water normally?

-No colour.

-That's right, water doesn't have a colour,

so this white colour must come from the calcium.

But I said I'd make the calcium disappear, didn't I?

-Yeah.

-OK.

I'm just going to add a little bit of vinegar.

And then give it a little stir. Ta-da!

-It's like magic!

-It's science! But it's still pretty cool, isn't it?

-BOTH: Yeah.

-So calcium is hard and silvery grey,

but when it's mixed with things like water, it changes

and can even turn invisible.

We know there's calcium in milk,

even though we can't see it. How does it get there?

I know somewhere a bit dark and spooky that might help us find out.

Let's go, experimenters!

Here we go! I can't wait to see where we'll end up today.

Nina said it would be dark.

And spooky! And there would be goblins and witches and...

Don't be silly, Bud. Nina wouldn't take us anywhere scary.

I've brought you to these caves to see some amazing science.

We're going to go down under the ground to see it!

-You're not afraid, are you?

-BOTH: No!

Excellent. I knew you looked brave. Come on, let's go in!

Hee-hee!

Brr! It feels rather cool down here!

That's because the sun doesn't shine underground.

-WATER DRIPPING

-Did you hear something?

-It's water.

Yes! And if we follow the sound of the dripping water

then we should find what we're looking for. This way!

-BOTH: Wow! Cool!

-Oh, wow!

Oh, what is it? Is it scary? Can I look?

Oh, Bud, they're not scary at all.

They're called stalactites and stalagmites,

and they're found in underground caves like these.

They have calcium in them. I told you

calcium is found in the ground. The ground is usually below us,

but as we've come down into these caves, the ground is now above us.

And below us!

So stalactites and stalagmites are made

when special water from the ground above us

drips into these caves. The water has calcium in it

because it has travelled through the ground,

picking up calcium on the way. Over many years,

the special water dries up, leaving these amazing hard pointy things.

-Do they remind you of something?

-Teeth that haven't been brushed.

Yeah! They do look a bit like dirty, giant teeth.

Giant teeth! Oh, no!

They just look like giant teeth, little Bud.

-Don't you want to see them?

-Whoa! They're amazing!

Our teeth are a bit like stalagmites and stalactites -

they have calcium in them.

Our bodies use calcium to make our teeth and our bones strong and hard.

Is that why we're told to drink milk?

-Exactly.

-How does the calcium get into the milk?

-Ah.

I know an experiment that will help us answer that.

So let's go back to the lab for our final experiment.

Here we have two beakers. In this beaker is tap water,

and in this beaker is special water

that you might find in the ground. Can you tell them apart?

-BOTH: No.

-I think you might be able to

after the experiment. Goggles on, please.

We never drink out of experiment beakers as that could be dangerous.

So I want you to pick up

your special blowing tubes and blow into the beaker of water.

Oh! OK, stop there.

What has happened to the water?

-Mine has gone all whiteish.

-And mine's just stayed the same.

-Right.

This has gone all whiteish because this water

from the ground has calcium in it. Blowing air into the calcium water

made it change and turn white.

And, Lily, your water, the tap water,

has stayed the same - it's got no calcium in it.

How does calcium get into milk?

All the fruits and vegetables that we eat

come from trees and plants like this one.

-Where do these grow?

-They come from the ground.

Plants come from the ground

and drink water from the ground around them.

We visited the caves and found water from the ground has calcium in it.

What do you think happens when plants drink water from the ground?

-The plants drink up calcium too.

-That's right.

Almost all the fruit and vegetables we eat have calcium in them.

But what about the milk? It doesn't come from a plant!

It comes from a cow!

Good point, Bud. So, what do cows eat?

-BOTH: Grass.

-Yeah!

Grass grows in the ground

so the grass also drinks up water with calcium in it.

Cows get calcium from the grass and make lovely creamy milk with it.

# Nina and the neurons! #

Your question was, why are we told to drink milk?

I think we've answered it. First we found out

that milk has calcium in it. Calcium is found in the water in the ground.

Because plants drink this water,

calcium is found in lots of fruits and vegetables we eat.

Because cows and other animals eat plants like grass,

calcium is found in the milk they make.

We're told to drink milk because it has calcium in it

which our bodies need to make healthy bones and teeth.

We also discovered calcium is in lots of other foods too.

-I hope that answers your question.

-BOTH: Thanks, bye!

Bye!

If you want to know more about science all around us,

go to the Nina section on the CBeebies website. Have fun!

Lab coat on, Nina?

Lab coat on, Ollie.

Safety gloves on, Nina?

Safety gloves on, Felix.

Don't forget your goggles, Nina.

Goggles are on, Luke. I think we're ready!

# We do experiments in the lab

-# In the lab!

-ALL: Shooby-dooby, in the lab

# Bubbling experiments in the lab

-# In the lab!

-ALL: # Go, Nina, in the lab

# Fizzing and popping Steam and smoke

# We need protection Don't we, folks?

# We always put our safety first

# Shooby-dooby, dooby-dooby

# We do experiments in the lab

# In the lab!

ALL: # Go, Nina! #

Ah, it's been such a great day, man.

Seeing Nina make the calcium change colour was cool!

I've had a fabby day

going down into those exciting caves!

It's been a marvellous day. It felt cold underground.

The stalagmites were fascinating!

Oh, I've had a brilliant day

hearing all about how calcium gets into our food!

Our day has been bursting with sensational experiments.

-I hope you enjoyed it. See you soon. Bye!

-ALL: Bye!