Apatite for Destruction experiment summary

This is a summary of the experiments we've been doing. We'll get the results of most of them on Saturday (18th Feb) at the results event in Cardiff.  Making hydroxyl apatite (HA) in the lab   The people in Cardiff (Cardiff Catalysis Institute, our partners in this project) have been trying to make HA on pieces …

25 things we learned by running a radical citizen science project about nappies (as you do)

At the end of a project, you usually put weeks or even months of effort into evaluating it and writing an evaluation report. Then about three people read your report. Which is a shame, because if you've been honest, there's stuff in there that might be useful to other people. So I thought I'd write …

Our Fluffy Journey

We are getting distressingly close to the third anniversary of our lovely ‘pool in the dining room’ homebirth! Both myself and Noah have also recently transitioned into full-time education (university & preschool respectively ), so big changes all round, which seems like a good time to reflect on our experiences! We had been trying to …

A paean to the joy of nappies

For weeks our group of volunteers have been asking questions, trying to choose THE ONES we will do experiments about. Those we've chosen are very practical and useful questions about the best ways to wash and care for your nappies. But some more whimsical questions got asked along the way. One question that got a lot of discussion …

Live chat with Verity Mann and Trisha Schofield from the Good Housekeeping Institute

  For our fifth live chat our guests of honour were Trisha Schofield and Verity Mann, respectively Head and Deputy Head of Testing at the Good Housekeeping Institute. Both are responsible for testing large, domestic appliances such as washing machines and dishwashers and also a number of products and services. Trisha has been doing this …

Live chat with fabric technologist Ian Strudwick

For our third live chat we had the pleasure to speak to Ian Strudwick, technical manager of Shirley Technologies in Manchester. This is a collection of laboratories involved in independent testing on textiles and polymers using standardised washing tests. Ian is therefore the perfect person to answer all our washing machine related question, and we …

We’ve chosen our questions!

Over the last week, the Nappy Science Gang have been voting for the 3 main questions they're going to answer. Drumroll please......the winners are.... 1) What's the best thing to wash cloth nappies with (Bio detergent /non-bio detergent / liquid / powder/ eco eggs/ soapnuts)? 2) Is 'strip-washing' cloth nappies necessary? If so, what is …

Our first live chat, with Penny Broderick of the Nappy Library Information Service

This week saw the Nappy Science Gang's first live chat with an expert related to the project - and what a chat it was! From now on, live chats will happen regularly, so watch this space for details! One Tuesday 12th May at 8pm, we had the pleasure and privilege of putting our questions to …

Real Nappy Week

For the majority of UK parents, the 20th - 26th April 2015 won't be marked on the family calendar as a special one. But for cloth nappy users and advocates along with us at The Nappy Science Gang (who are both) it's 'Real Nappy Week'. Founded in 1996 (by Go Real) this annual event is …