Summary: A bacteria called the black plague started in 1347 and killed 50 million people in Europe in just 5 years. It started as harmless bacteria and got worse over the years. The strain arose no more than 140 years before the plague started. When we as humans go to a different country, we tend to get sick because we have had no contact with the animals or pathogens that are there. Nowadays we can treat most of our sicknesses with the medicine with have now.
Reaction: This article scares me because no one wants to be killed by a virus in the air that I don’t know about.
Reason for choosing: I made a connection to the Black Death from when Mr. Picciottoli mentioned it in class.
Information learned: Never travel to another country knowing you are not used to what they have there like water and food.
Critical thinking question: What type of medicine can cure this plague?
This article is asking the question are people afraid of science? It talks about how people are not necessarily afraid of science but just the unknown. This article is a written up interview with scientist named Lisa Radell. She is also a professor at Harvard. As well as a physicist. She study questions like string theory and particle acceleration to try and solve the question, when will and how will the universe end. Also a lot of people don’t care about that or don’t have time to care about that with there jobs, and mortgages. She doesn’t want to tell people what to feel and care about but she feels that a lot of people do care about this and she feels that they should have access to the most current information out there which is why she wrote her book.
I had several reactions to this article. I get that people might be afraid of change and while that is normal it is a problem. Lets say you are out somewhere and something doesn’t make sense to you, instead of walking away from it why note take a closer look and try to see why it is doing that and even if you don’t care that much don’t care about it don’t just drop it, try to report on a blog on online because it is possible you may have discovers something new. Also I chose this article for one reason only it looked interesting. Most articles I will do will be about a discovery not about something like a question for example why are people a afraid of science. Lastly I chose this because I curious why people were afraid of science. I learned that even though a lot of good can come from something people are more afraid of it. Also I learned that a theory is a possibility. For example the theory of the universe is probably wrong but it works and it is more then likely that a very small part of our theory is correct.
My question is do you think there will ever come a day when we can be sure we know the therapy of the universe?
I read the article “In African Cave, Signs of an Ancient Paint Factory” by John Noble Wilford, which was about how archaeologists have recently disocvered a 100,000-year-old workshop in a South African cave. They found ancient tools and ingredients showing that these early modern humans mixed some of the first paint. Archaeologists found stones for pounding and grinding colorful dirt (which was made redder with an iron oxide known as ocher) that revealed that paint was made here. This is the oldest discovery of how long there has been paint because previous studies only went back 40,000 years to 60,000 years. The color was very symbolic, representing life and death by its blood-like color. Finding these stones and shells, which were used as a container or a palette for the paint, showed that early modern humans were beginning to think like we do. They used the paint on their bodies for symbolic reasons, as decoration, or they used paint to leave messages or paint walls.
I thought the article was very interesting because it is amazing that even 100,000 years ago, humans were starting to think about inventions and ways to make life easier and better. I chose this article because new discoveries always draw me in and I couldn’t believe that so far back in history, humans were becoming more advanced. From this article, I learned about what was used to make the paint, which was just colorful dirt and the iron oxide, ocher. I also learned that the color was used so much because it was symbolic to the people living in South Africa. Overall, I enjoyed this article because it was interesting for me to read and it showed me how far humans had come, even 100,000 years ago! http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/science/14paint.html?pagewanted=1&ref=science
Critical Thinking Question: Why do you think paint was important during this time?
I think that paint was important during this time because, it says what some things are…. like in the summary it said that red was the blood. Also i think that maybe they thought one day someone will see our cave and find out many things about us so we should tell them! those are some of my thoughts.
The article I real about how different people are researching what the difference is between a baby that is brought up in a bilingual house and baby that is brought up in a household speaking only one language. In this article it said that when researchers at the University of Washington studied babies using measures of electrical brain responses to compare the two different types of babies. In addition, I read about a professor at the University of British Columbia who studies how babies perceive language. That professor came to a conclusion that babies born to bilingual mothers not only prefer both of those languages over the others, but they are also able tot register that the two languages are different
Reaction:
My reaction is amazed because I never knew that babies were this smart. I never knew that it was able babies to register everything in just six months. It’s really interesting because these babies are able to distinguish everything at such a young age. By looking at an infant, I would never think this.
Reason for choosing:
My reason for choosing this article was because I’ve never read an article about this subject before and I thought it would be interesting to learn about it and to share with everyone about. In addition, I didn’t know a lot about this topic so I thought I would read it. At the end, it was a really good article!
Information learned:
Information that I learned from this article is the babies are actually thinking more than we think they are. In addition, I learned that many scientists study babies different habits and compare and contrast them to other babies.
Question: What is your opinion on bilingual babies?
Last Tuesday, three astronomers won the nobel prize in Physics. The three astronomers discovered that the universe was being blown apart by a mysterious force called dark matter. Originally, the three men led two teams of scientists who were using stars called type 1a supernova to help outline the expansion of the universe. Instead in 1998, the two teams found that the expansion of the universe was in-fact, speeding up. The dark matter is pushing galaxies apart. Both teams of scientists came up with the same answer, which was surprisingly odd to both groups of scientists.
I chose article because like my article last week, this discovery was a huge breakthrough in science history. From this article I learned that the universe is expanding so quickly because of dark matter. What I found even more interesting was that scientists can’t actually describe what dark matter is. When I read this article I was extremely fascinating. This discovery will change the way physicists view the universe. I believe that many more discoveries in space will be made due to this recent discovery.
Question: Why do you think that scientists can’t describe dark matter.
I think that scientists can’t describe dark matter because they are not sure of where it comes from or exactly what is is. Also, since they probably can’t physically see it, they can’t describe its physical apperance or what it looks like.
Sharks are one of the most famous animals. Sharks play extremely important role in marine food chain as the top predators. This means that if their population continues to shrink the entire balance of the marine food chain will be put under great jeopardy. Since the over fishing of sharks has be happening this will decline the population of sharks. The recent estimate says that about 100 million sharks are killed a year from over fishing.
My reaction to his article is all though I don’t really like sharks because they do scare me this is really sad. I wish people would help and save the sharks that they are overfishing. If a shark gets stuck in the net the people who are fishing should help and save the shark. For example put the shark back into the water and if it is hurt see what you can do to try to help the shark get back to normal. Something I learned from this article is that about 100 million sharks are killed from people overfishing. The reason why I chose this article was because as I saw the title of it which is why are a shark in big trouble these days? As I read this I thought sharks are tough how can they be in trouble.
Critical thinking question: How do you think we can save people from stop overfishing http://sciencefactsandarticles.blogspot.com/2011/10/why-are-sharks-in-big-trouble-these.html
The article that I read talks about how babies born with extremely low birth weights have a higher risk of developing autism later on in life. Studies on this topic began in 1984, when scientists tracked 1,105 babies who weighed less than 4 pounds, 7 ounces at birth, and discovered that 5% (about 55) of the babies had signs of autism by age 21, which is about 5 times higher than the risk of autism in children with normal birth weights. This is alerting scientists to have children screened for autism at an early age, in order to start treatment immediately. About 3% of babies born in the U.S. are underweight, and if all of those children have a higher risk of autism, then screening must begin immediately. Unfortunately, scientists cannot be sure that it is the low birth weight that is attributing to autism, because so many things could be involved- and, of course, plenty of premature babies can have brain disabilities and yet not have autism. The important thing is to screen babies as early as possible, in order to start treatment.
It freaks me out a little that babies who are born too tiny could develop autism later on, because I know how many babies are born premature. Little babies are already prone to so many medical problems as it is that there doesn’t need to be another thing to be worried about. If I knew someone who was going to have a baby, I’d be worried enough that the child would be premature, and would be even more concerned if that child could easily develop autism.
I chose this article because it sounded interesting. Autism has always daunted me a little, and developments in the disease intrigue me because I want to know if any new treatment has been found. Furthermore, my aunt was an extremely premature baby, who has had mild cerebral palsy her entire life, and I made a connection when I read this article. By reading this article, I learned that premature babies have a higher risk for autism, and other brain disorders. Also, 3% of babies in the United States are born prematurely, meaning that they are very prone to brain problems. Finally, children who have autism will typically have symptoms of the disease by age 21.
Critical Thinking Question: Do you have any personal connections to this article? If you do, describe them, and how does this article make you feel based on any personal connections?
My article is about how green vegetables can help your immune system. The vegetables assure that your gut and skin are getting the proper functions they need. When a scientist stopped eating healthy for about two weeks, he noticed that about 70 or 80 of the protective cells that the vegetables gave him had disappeared.
The compound of the vegetables can prevent the bad cells to coming and destroying your immune system. That as well is another theory that some scientist have to for a conclusion. Either way, eating right can help your health and protect your immune system as well.
This article was really interesting to me. I really liked learning this. I always thought that protecting your immune system would be much more scientific rather than just eating right. I thought that the cells would have interact with the outside world to become infected and to stay healthy. I was actually wrong and figured out that really, all you had to was eat your vegetables. That surprised me the most.
I chose this article because I was interested when I saw the food for the picture. I was confused as to how food could help your immune system fight off disease. But after reading the article it actually became very clear to me.
I leaned a lot front his article. Like that not only can eating healthy protect your immune system, but how eating junk food or having a poor diet can very much hurt your immune system. I never really thought about it like that.
Critical Thinking Question: Are there any other theories as to how other things can help your immune system?
New Mystery on Mars’ Forgotten Plains-Science Daily News
This article was about a surface on Mars called Hesperia Planum and how this flat uninteresting landscape could possibly rewrite the planet’s history. Scientists usually do not study the flat lands, and especially not this one since there was only a small volcano on it. Carolyn Roberts, a scientist, was studying the Hesperia Planum and realized there were no other volcanic flows in this area. She thought that she couldn’t see any active volcanoes because of the thick dust that blankets Hesperia Planum like snowfall. She then realized there were about a dozen narrow sinuous channels called rilles just a few hundred meters wide and a few hundred kilometers long. They were not all clearly volcanic. Everyone assumed it was lava flows but now looking at it twice, it could be a lake deposit. They could have carried water, lava or something else at one point. She also noted that the craters of the Hesperian marked a transition between the Noachian (a time of liquid water on the surface and the formation of lots of impact craters) and the Amazonian (a drier, colder Mars). Making this discovery could change the history of Mars. If Carolyn Roberts discovery happens to be true, Hesperia Planum can potentially be a good place to look for life since water and volcanic heat and minerals are the starting key for getting life started. Overall, this is a new and important discovery made which can change everything we know about Mars.
This article was very interesting. In enjoyed learning how new discoveries are made every day. If scientist’s theories are true, it could change our history. I think it is very important to acknowledge the theories and discoveries made because we could learn a lot from it. I chose this article because I like to read about space. I enjoy learning about planets and thought this article would interest me. I learned that Mars could potentially have water on it. If it did there could be signs of life. That would mean it would be the first known planet besides Earth to have living creatures on it.
If there was water on Mars, do you think scientists would find animals or other living creatures? Why or Why not? http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111012083440.htm
Summary-
Whales have been caught and killed since ancient times. I read the article, “With Powerboat and Forklift, a Sacred Whale Hunt Endures” by William Yardley and Erik Olsen of the New York Times. Whale hunting was a more popular activity in ancient times, when the blubber, meat and bones were very valuable and resourceful. But, Inupiat Eskimos in Barrow Alaska recently caught a twenty-eight foot bowhead whale. Before commercialized products reached Barrow, the bowhead was a key source of food, spirituality sense, and energy.
Preparing a whale is no easy or clean task. The crew carefully hauls the whale with a bulldozer, and then it is chopped up to pieces. A whale like this is a big celebration for the community, and the crew who had the honors of catching it will offer the whale part for the next couple of days. But, the crew in Barrow, bringing even more joy, caught another whale. The bowheads are endangered animals, so that worries many; but their population is increasing. Animal-rights people are continuing to deem this cruel, but the Eskimos claim it is all a misunderstanding; their ancestors did it for thousands of years, so it is symbolic of their community.
Reaction-
I think that whaling is an interesting sport. Whales are such giant creatures, that I cannot imagine who came up with the idea to haul them on to shore, especially back in ancient times. It is harsh to kill these whales and then cut them up in front of the whole community. I personally would not enjoy a giant, bloody whale body being down the street from my house. But, I respect that this is an ancient tradition. Animal rights activists will probably continue to shame this, but at least these Alaskan Eskimos only harvest 1 percent of bowheads each year. I would not want to be associated with this type of activity, but I am glad it is controlled.
Reason-
This article stood out to me because of the intriguing picture. It captured the whale being distributed in pieces along the beach in Barrow. I chose the article after reading since it focused on how some people’s ways of life have still remained the same, but also changed. I think it is fascinating how animals play a role in science, from studies, tests, and production. I know that certain types of whales have been on the verge of extinction. So, I wanted to know more about this whale and how it is used in this Alaskan town called Barrow.
Information Learned-
The article was compelling, and I learned a few things. First, that whaling still takes place! I thought it was very rarely done, or that there was some type of law against it. But, it still happens, just not so frequently. Next, I learned that a crew hauling in a whale is a great thing. It calls for people to gather and congratulations to be given to the family of the crew. Lastly, I saw that whaling is a family tradition. Some people have passed on their knowledge from generation to generation, even since the 1800’s.
Critical Thinking Question:
Do you think whaling will continue on as a tradition? If it does, do you believe whaling will stay in desolate areas or branch off and become popular again?
Science Article
The article “Long Lost Lake Agassiz” is about a Lake that used to be as big as the Hudson Bay, however now has vanished. The lake was formed by melting glaciers but has been evaporated. The Lake Glacial Lake Agassiz used to cover most of Canadian providence. Thousands of years ago were the last ice age and suddenly now the weather gets hot and then it changed back to cold. Mr. Lowell said that he studies rapid climate change and it is weird how the temperature went from being cold too hot to cold in the last 30 years. There are still many more questions about the lost Lake Agassiz that haven’t been answered.
I think what happened to the lake is so weird. Although of course things would change over time because how we are affecting the environment in a bad way. I decided to choose this article to read about because I never heard of the Glacial Lake before. Also I never knew it was one of the many lakes that disappeared from global warming. I learned that over the past 30 years the weather has gone from cold too hot to cold. I’m not sure what will happen in the next 30 years or even 15 but I hope it’s nothing bad.
Critical Question: If the weather is changing that fast and the weather doesn’t change like that for about 1000 years then what do you think will happen in the next 30 years or even 15?
A Delivery From Space That Made A Big Splash:
Summary: During the observations made by the telescope, astronomers found water ice on a comet named Hartley 2. Water has been found on other comets as well, however, they had a different ratio so it was unlikely that the water is a source of Earth’s water. However, this water on comet Hartley 2 matches the chemistry of Earth’s oceans. Researchers believe the water came from the Oort cloud, a light year away from the sun. This comet, scientists think came from the Kuiper belt, 1,000 times closer to the Earth. The Kuiper belt is larger than the asteroid belt; therefore, that enlarges the possible source of earth’s water. However, researchers still have to compare this comet with others to confirm this discovery. “However, this proves that the solar system may have to be revisited,” said Paul Hartogh, a researcher.
Reaction: My reaction is that this really does mean we have to revisit the solar system. I thought that this was an interesting discovery and it shows that there may be more sources of water. I was surprised when I read this article because I knew scientists were struggling with other sources of water, especially on Mars, but this is great news that we may have found water on a comet. I was also happy because if fresh water does run out, and the ratio of the water does match Earth’s water, we will still be able to survive.
Reason for choosing this article: I thought that this was important news, which more people should know about. This article does show hopes that there may be other sources of water. Also, this article is a good example that there are still plenty of more discoveries to be made. Just because someone discovers something vital, does not mean that there aren’t more things to discover. Now that we have some evidence of another source of water, scientists and researchers still have to back this fact up and need to do more exploring. Also, I thought that this was a prominent discovery made.
Link of article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/science/11comet.html?_r=1&ref=earthplanet
Critical Thinking Question: If there really is some of Earth’s water on the comet, how do you think we would we reach that source, what are some possible ways to transport that source to Earth so we will be able to use it, and could there be a downfall with using that water?
My article was about searching for life in space. Later this decade, NASA will begin a mission to bring Mars rocks back to Earth. Many people believe that this mission will be the one that finds “ET.” If we don’t find aliens in our solar system, then they will be somewhere out in the other solar systems. Here on Earth is what is called the “Allen Telescope Array”, which is completely devoted to finding extraterrestrial intelligence
I found this article to be very interesting. This is because I had never known about the Allen Telescope Array that is just devoted to finding other life in the universe. Also, I found that NASA is going to do another space mission to be interesting. I chose this article because I thought it was going to be interesting. Also, I enjoy space and the new things space has to offer. What I learned from this article was that the NASA program wasn’t yet over. Also, how they find ET, with the Allen Telescope Array.
Critical thinking question: How do you think that the rocks from Mars will further them into finding ET?
In Minneapolis on October 14th, 2011 an extraordinary thing happened. Scientists brought diamonds to a lab in Minneapolis. With new technology scientists were able to use a special laser to find out were in the world the diamond came from. How this works is the laser takes off a minuscule of the diamond and it then creates plasma. The plasma from the diamond gets hot enough to give off a bright pattern of light that tells the scientists what it is made of and possibly what country the diamond came from. With this method the scientists might even be able to tell if the diamond is a “conflict gemstone” or a diamond that was obtained legally.
I think that this article is very neat. I think this because it shows how far technology has gone and how advanced it is. I really like how the scientists are able to find out where the diamond came from. I choose this article because it sounded the most interesting to me. This method is not ready to be brought to companies who deal with gems, but one day hopefully it will help them make sure that they are not financing the bloodshed that happens when conflict gems are involved.
Question, Do you think that in the future scientists will be able to tell who or what touched the diamonds?
Insomnia is a condition where you are unable to sleep or have great quality of sleep in an reasonable amount of time. There are three types of insomnia, these three types refer to the amount of time you experience the symptoms of insomnia. One type is transient insomnia, which is often known as adjustment sleep disorder. Transient insomnia occurs when you are under a great deal of stress or anxiety, it will go away once those stresses are resolved but is likely to reappear. Another type is short-term insomnia that lasts 1-6 months. It can be caused by stress or may be due to your surroundings such as noise or light. Lastly, the next insomnia is called chronic insomnia, which is any insomnia that goes on over 6 months. This insomnia usually comes in a package with other sorts of disorders and is not likely to happen otherwise. To be called a disorder, insomnia that is, it must come with these symptoms afterwords, tired in daytime, loss of interest and motivation, irritability and worries about sleep.
A family member of mine has struggled with insomnia before so reading this article, I didn’t have a necessarily strong shocked reaction. My reaction was more interest then anything else. My reason for choosing this article is that when I was searching for an article, the heading for this one appeared on the sidebar and it intrigued me so I clicked on it.
Critical think question:
How do you think insomnia may affect people’s lives?
I think that insomnia may affect peoples lives because if you are unable to sleep it can really have a terrible affect on you. You are fresher and readier to learn when you get a great night sleep so when you don’t sleep at all, your ability to learn goes down to almost zero. Sleeping is so important and eventually if you don’t sleep ever, you could die. So it is not a good condition to have, and should be checked out by a doctor ASAP.
The article I read about was a malaria vaccine that was tested between the 14 month flow. They found out from the new England journal of medicine that it occurs from ages 5 -14 months in more than 6000 African children. Mostly for rabies vaccinations. It has taken so far 25 years to get this far. Many doctors resgniened from doing this any further. Most said just to acept the fact that this is part of african life. This was waht my article was about
From Tropics to Poles: Study Reveals Diversity of Life in Soils
Summary: The soils of the world are full of bug and insect life. This is the conclusion that scientists have come to after going around the world and studying the different amounts of insect life in the soils. Before this research was found, most scientists had accepted the thought that most life on the planet is found near the hot equator, and the least amount of life exists in the cold areas of the poles. However, this discovery shows that that isn’t always true. Researchers traveled to locations such as the dry grasslands in Kenya, the tropical forests in Costa Rica, and the frozen grounds of Alaska and Sweden and found that many amounts of nematodes, mites and springtails existed in the soils of those places. One scientist mentioned that some of the best ways to understand the biodiversity of life on Earth is by studying the smallest life forms. The study really shows the range of ecosystems on the planet. The different amounts of each insect they found at each site helped to explain each location’s diverse species, and that all of the insects contribute to the soil. They help to develop nutrients in the soil and that’s great help for farmlands. All in all, the insects that inhabit the soil can be found all over the world.
Reaction: After reading this article, I wasn’t very surprised by the information it contained but was still interested. What I was surprised to read was the fact that these scientists went to so many locations around the world to collect this data. I know that scientists do things like that all the time, but they usually travel like that for much bigger projects. To find out that these scientists went all that way to find information about life in the soil was a bit surprising, and it was surprising in a good way. By the time I finished reading this article, I was amazed that the researchers had done so much traveling for the project, but happy that they did it because the discoveries they made are very important for people to know.
Reason for Choosing It: Before I found this article, I knew that I wanted to read something about life on planet Earth. To me, this topic is the easiest to understand and write about. When I read the title, I became interested and began reading the article. Before I knew it, I was done reading and felt like I had learned quite a lot! I was sure that it would be a waste of time to search for another article to read, when I just finished and understood this one. Overall, I chose it because it was about a topic that was simple to understand and interested me.
Information Learned: Although I had known prior to reading this that insect life existed in the soil, I hadn’t known that lots of insect life could be found in the soils near the earth’s poles. I had always figured that most life could be found closer to the equator, like what was said in the article. When I read that the scientists were discovering life in the soils of the poles, I knew that I had learned a new piece of information. Mainly, I learned about different places where insect life could be found in the soils of places that I didn’t expect there to be.
Link to the Article: http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/10/18/from.tropics.poles.study.reveals.diversity.life.soils
Critical Thinking Question: How do you think it’s possible for all of this insect life to exist in the soils of places such as Alaska where it’s so cold?
An interesting article I read talked about the Foambot: a robot that can build itself into any kind of robot fairly quickly out of foam, making it adaptable to any job. The Foambot consists of a mobile “mothership” platform that makes the robot, and several joint modules that move the robot. To make the robot, the mothership lays the joints out on the ground and sprays them with a mixture of chemicals, known as reagents, that react with each other to harden and expand into a solid urethane foam. Once the foam is connected to the joints, the mothership uses software installed in it to find out how the robot can move based on the way it is built. This was very interesting in my opinion. I couldn’t believe a robot could make itself and adapt to how it is made. Imagine in how many different ways this concept could potentially be used.
I chose this article because the title “Foambot Creates Itself Out of Sprayable Foam, Becoming Whatever Robot You Need” really popped out at me. I wanted to know how this was possible. The concept of a robot adapting itself for any job was interesting to me. I learned that it was possible for a robot to create itself. Another fact I learned was that there was such a thing as foam that expands and hardens. As you can see, robots can be made to do just about anything.
The article I read was about how wind produces electricity, but it may not be worth the money to go greener. In 2030, if the United States kept up it’s rate of greating wind mill things, then we would be saving about 20% of electricity! But, it would cost over 2.3 billion dollars to do this. Also, people are predicting that if we did do this, then people would be taking granted of their elecricity and become greedy about it and buy more electrical appliances. The wind mill things could become useless on less windy days, and instead of having a few electronics work, a lot won’t work. I think it is amazing that people can calculate this. Also, I think that we should go fourth with the wind mill things, but we should have a limit on electrical appliances per household. Obviously, at the time, we have a delightful amount that keeps electricity going without power outs ever day, but if we had the wind mill things, we could go above. The thing is, we shouldn’t go up too many electrical appliances. I chose this article because I think that we should be going green. We have done little things for many years, but now I think it’s time to take a stand in the world and actually do things to help out our enviornment. This article is an example of a failed attempt to go green, but we learn from our mistakes. Maybe next time, we will figure out how to make this be cheaper and we may also figure out how to keep the amount of electricity we have know and not go overboard with electricity so it doesn’t get out of hand. I found this article in my dad’s New York Times newspaper. What are some ways you are going green? What is one big thing you would do to really impact how green the world is?
In this article, it discusses a recent discovery in Scotland. Archaeologists found the remains of a Viking chief buried with his boat, sword, ax and spear. This was one of the most significant finds ever found in Britain. The grave was believed to be over 1,000 years old and a lot of it had rotted away, but scraps of wood and hundreds of metal rivets held the vessel together. This grave was 16 feet long and is the first intact site of its kind to be discovered on mainland Britain.
I think this article was very interesting. It’s cool that people can dig things up that are as old as 1,000 years. Although they are rotted away, you can still tell what they are which i think is amazing. From this article I learned that the sword, spear, ax, boat, and the Viking Chief are all called artifacts, and the people that find them are called archaeologists. I chose this article because we talked about this topic (archeaologists and artifacts) in Social Studies, and i wanted to learn more.
Link: http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20111019/EU.Britain.Viking.Ship/
Critical Thinking Question: If an artifact rots, how do you think archaeologists can tell what the object is?
We’ve all heard someone claim that TV and other electronics can rot our brains. While that may not be entirely true, it isn’t very useful for educational purposes. According to my article, children under the age of two years old learn little to nothing from even the most educational programs. In fact, by spending time in front of the television it cuts down on their social skills like playing with other toddlers. Television is everywhere, the average house has ten screens alone under their roof. While there is no proof of long-term setbacks, electronics don’t succeed in the education department. Infants are completely clueless on what educational messages are coming from Sesame Street or Yo Gabba Gabba, and while school age children can understand it they learn faster by being taught by a teacher or doing the work on their own. If nothing else, children should be spending most of their time with actual people because it improves their language skills drastically compared to the TV. In the future, our doctors may be recommending limits on media for youngsters.
I was a bit surprised by this article. Sesame Street has been around forever, and I just thought that it was an essential for teaching kids about life. I even learned some Spanish by watching Dora The Explorer when I was little! The fact that people are so reliant on TV to distract their kids for brief moments of time confuses me because it doesn’t do much for them educationally. I guess in years to come people might stop handing their toddlers an iPhone to play with and instead a coloring book.
I chose to read this article because it caught my eye. After seeing all those “Your Baby Can Read” ads and educational programming on television, I was convinced it was a new phase of education but who could have guessed that it actually didn’t educate as much as conversations with other humans. I learned something new by reading this article and I think others can too.
Overall, I learned that nothing beats flashcards and books for learning. People have tried everything, from TV shows to iPhone apps, but clearly they haven’t proved as effective! Also, who could have guessed that by kids “learning” with TV they could also damage their social skills? I wouldn’t be surprised if the number of electronic education opportunities lessened.
My critical thinking question to you is this:
What might be in store for alternate education of the future? Explain!
This article was about the flying squirrel and its 43 species tribe. In the article it talks about how the squirrel can fly. This animal will launch its self off the top of the tree and extend his flaps. Then the squirrel can glide its way down. It uses its tail as a stabilizer for steering. This article was cool because you don’t really hear about lying animals that don’t really have wings. It is so cool how a squirrel can fly with out having to flap its wings. My reason for choosing this article was because it was interesting. The information I learned was that the wrist bones in the squirrel are small cartilaginous bones.
Giant Pandas mainly eat bamboo, but how they digest it has been a mystery until now. Scientists have found bacteria in the panda intestines that can degrade cellulose, the main component of bamboo. The idea is that the bacteria digest the cellulose for the panda and then provide them with nutrients that they can use. Scientists found these bacteria by sequencing panda dung.
I found this article interesting because it explains how panda’s can grow up to 350 pounds on a plant diet. I have always thought that pandas and cute and interesting and it was cool to get to know more about them. I chose this article because almost everything in it was new to me: that you can identify bacteria in their dung, and that people can’t digest cellulose. I also learned that some plant eating animals, like cows and sheep, have multiple stomachs. There are bacteria in these stomachs that help them digest plants.
I learned that you can determine the kinds of bacteria in a sample by looking for the sequence of RNA in ribosomes. Also they found genes that can break down cellulose in bacteria called Clostridium.
Here is a critical learning question: Just because cellulose-degrading bacteria are in the Panda gut, does that mean they are the ones who digest the cellulose? Maybe the scientists are being fooled and something else digests the cellulose.
The article I read was about how there is a new radar that scientists created so you can see through walls from a good distance away. How it works is that there is a ray that shots through the wall detects a motion like a animals send out waves to detect motion.so it goes through the wall detcets it and it comes back and gives you the picture.
When the scientists were testing they were having a problem 99% of the waves didn’t get through then on the way back 99% didn’t get through again. So only 0.000025 of the signal strength got through from the orignal. They said this was not only the main problem.This was created for the army so people could see if there was enemies on the other side of the wall. But it wouldn’t work if you got one image every 20 minutes and you would have to stand next to a potetionaly dangerous building so the scientists built it so that you can use it from 60 feet away. So what the scientists thought of was that the longer the wave the more it could get through the wall. They made it so if your 30 feet from a target it sends out a 30 kilohertz the wave. The radar can only detect moving objects but even a person standing still has a slight movement it will detect it. As of know humans show up as a blob and as a bird’s eye view.
My reaction to this artcle was that it was very cool that you can detect something through a wall. Because nobody has been able to create anything like this so it was very cool. And know they can use it in the army so it will help save lives in the army which is very helpful.So I really liked this idea and article and I am thanking the scientists for this.
My reason for chosing this article is that I thought the title was very cool and it intreiged me to want to read the article. And the other article’s that were there did not excite me and make me want to read it/
What I learned about in this article is that scientists can now see through walls and army’s can use it. And also to get through a solid abjuct as a ray will go through a solid if it is longer. And thats what I learned in this article.
In the article I read this week it talks about the ozone layer. Scientists have found out that the ozone layer has reached as new low. This is because of all the global warming that is going on. The ozone layer protects us from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. Without the ozone layer we will all be in trouble.
I was really suprised at how low the ozone layer was. I knew it being damaged but not at the rate it is being destroyed. It won’t be long before it is not there any more.
I choose this article because it really took me by suprise. If we don’t do anything about our global warming problem we won’t live much longer.
In this article I learned that the ozone layer is up in the stratosphere. Also, that the thickness of the ozone layer changes throughout the year.
Critical Thinking Question:
How can we reduce the amount of global warming a year?
Studies of Universe’s Expansion Wins Nobel
On October 4th 2011, three astronomers were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for learning that the universe is rapidly being blown apart by the mysterious force that is dark energy. Saul Perlmutter, Brian P. Smidt, and Adam G. Riess are all being awarded this prestigious award. They are all attempting to see what the fate of the universe will be, if the “Big Crunch” will happen or we could drift off into the depths of the cosmos. In 1998 nobody believed their theories but those people where proved wrong. Surprisingly, every test they have done was inline with the Einstein’s theory cosmological constant.
Opinion: I found this article intriguing and I thought it was mind-blowing to find out that a mysterious, and almost scary, force, called dark energy, is blowing us apart. I have watched many shows on the Science channel going into depths about the strange force.
Learned: I learned a lot in this article dark energy should be 10120 times more powerful according to Quantum Theory.
Reason for Choice: Mrs. Lasher provided articles for Social studies and the article i got applied to science as well.
Source: New York Times
Critical Thinking Question: How do you think the Universe might end? Will we drift off into the unknown or crash together in a “Big Crunch”?
If you just happen to step outside in the next week or so, you just might be able to catch a glimpse of some “cosmic litter” that had been discarded by Hailey’s Comet. This year the shower will reach it’s highest point around sunrise on October 22. These meteors are know as “Orinids” because of the facts that these fireballs seem to fan out from the north of Orion’ s second brightest star can be found. This particular shower usually will produce 20- 25 meteors per hours, under a clear and dark sky. These will begin to increase around October 17th, and then after the peak which occurs on October 22nd, the numbers will slowly increase. The best time to watch this event is from 1-2 a.m., until around dawn.
What are comets??? That is a question that you may be asking yourself after the first paragraph. Comets are leftovers of the solar system, which may consist of odd bit and pieces of gases such as methane, ammonia, carbon dioxide, and water vapor. The reason why they become shooting stars is because when they reach Earth’s, and they collide with it, friction from our atmosphere makes them eventually turn into white heat, and cause the effect of shooting stars. These fire balls travel at a speed of 41 miles per second, and are just a tab faster than most other comet’s remains.
I really liked reading this article. Last year and in 6th grade I got up to see meteor showers, but on every night that we went out it was cloudy!!! I was so mad and now I have a third chance to see one. I chose this article because my mom was reading about it on a website and she sent it to me to read, and so I found it quite interesting that they fall at 41 miles per second. I also never knew how they got to be shooting stars, or what thy where made out of. These two facts also interested me a lot.
Question:
Do you think that all meteors appear to be white?Explain.
A retired German satellite is coming back down to Earth, and they cannot get in touch with it. This is a problem because some on the pieces could crash down on the Earth has early as friday. (tomorrow) Experts are not sure exactly where it will land.
When I read this article, I was very surprised about what was happening. I never really keep up with learning about space/scientific things, so I never thought the first article I read would be about a dangerous satellite coming to crash into the Earth. At the same time, I am kind of mad at this. I feel that this is annoying, and that this should never happen. The satellite is now putting people in danger, because it was “retired” in space. In my opinion, I think retired satellites should be taken out of Earth’s orbit so these types on things don’t happen again.
I choose this article because I do like reading about space and when I saw this article it looked interesting to me. I did find it very short for my liking but i thought the topic was good.
In Seattle people are worrying because scientists have found out that wild samon found in the british columbia area has been infected with anemia. It is a deadly deadly virus that devastated farm fish in Chile. It is not contagious to humans but now people in fish markets don’t want to buy the salmon. People are upset that this has happened because it is on the endangered species list. Wild samon are also a cultural symbol.Fisherman blame hatcheries for “stealing” thier livelihood.
I thought that people are overreacting. If the virus is not contagious then whay would’nt people eat it? That just makes it harder for the fisherman. Well,I guess I would’nt want to eat a fish with a virus either. I choose this article because I didn’t understand why people would’nt eat it. Also I didn’t understand the title. I learned that scientist can track viruses and that alot of people like salmon.
The article that I read was about a man named Adam Kraus who has spotted a new planet being formed. Apparently the planet has been forming for 50,000- 10,000 years. They are calling it for now LkCa 15 b, and it is the youngest planet that has ever been observed before. Kraus said that he had caught the object at the perfect time, because now he can see it actually forming into a planet. This new sitting will help other scientist answer questions like whether planets form early in the life of a star or later. He also thought that other planets might be forming around the star as well, and he is hoping that they are. It has always been hard for scientist to actually see a planet forming because of the bright light of the star, but Kraus used a method which was to change the shape of their mirror to remove light distortions created by earth’s atmosphere. Another method was to put masks over most of the telescopes mirror. When they used these two methods, it allowed them to see the planet forming perfectly. Kraus told NASA about his discovery, and they will keep researching the star until it is fully a planet.
My reaction to this article was astonishment. I didn’t really think that planets were still forming in our solar system. But I think that its really cool that something like this is actually happening. Im really interested to learn more about the new and upcoming planet. It would be cool to see what the planet will look like and what the living conditions might be, whether we would be able to breath there or not. I chose this article because at first I didn’t really understand that a new planet was forming, so I clicked on it to find out more about it. I’m glad that I did pick this one because I learned something that I didn’t even think could happen. I learned that new planets can form in our solar system, and that they are made from very old stars. This article was really good and very informative.
Do you think that there really are other planets forming from the same star?
My article was about a new fruit in African has become America’s favorite fruit. This fruit is called the African mango. And we Americans don’t just like it because it taste good which it does. But this mango helps people lose weight. In one mouth Dr. Tanya Edwards, M.D lost seven pounds just by taking the pill that has this fruit extract in it. She didn’t change any other habits like eating or exercise. She calls it the miracle pill. It’s the extract that is making people lose all this weight. But it doesn’t stop there. This fruits extract also helps lowers there cholesterol, triglyceride, and glucose levels.
My reaction to this article is excitement. I love all science things and this is just one of the greats. I know that they have said that this one pill works, and if u eat this food you’ll lose weight But this extract is really going to changes people’s lives. There is a lot of data to prove that this works. And there is only going to be more because everyone is going to start to use this miracle. And they said small things can’t make a different. I chose this article because it caught my attention. A fruit that helps you lose weight? No way. But it’s true. What I learned from this article is that there are a lot of things out there that can help you. You just really have to look for them. I also learned that most great discovers are not found in American. My critical thinking question is can anything bad happen to you heath wise if you use this product? If so is it long term?
On October 19th, 2011, scientist’s discovered something absolutely extraordinary. They discovered a planet sized object as cool as Earth itself orbiting a dwarf planet outside our solar system. The scientists have given this planet an unusual name. Its name is WD 0806-661 B. The temperature of it’s surface is between 80 and 160 degrees farenheit. This is possibly as cool as a human! Astrophysical Journal states that “It is the coldest object ever directly photographed outside our solar system.
My reaction to this article was pure amazement. This classified “brown dwarf” is about the size of an actual planet! Also, it is probably the coldest object in the deep thresholds of space. It could probably be even colder than a human being, which really surprises me, to say the least. I hope scientists wil be able to perform more research on the brown dwarf.
My reason for choosing his article was that space has interested me for many years. To learn something new about space always persuades me to research the topic. Since this article was something new, i really wanted to read it. After reading the article, I was left captivated and satisfied with my new knowledge. It was such an amazing discovery that just had to be read.
The information that I have learned from this article are that scientists have been trying to find new record holders for cold brown dwarf planets since 1995. Also, I learned that the scientist shad to go through many photos to discover this object in space. They searched through photos of six hundred stars to find this brown dwarf. They found the brown dwarf in two photos taken in 2004 and 2009. This was a very interesting article and a blast to read.
The article I read was about fruit snacks, and how they are not as healthy as you might think. Stores, and brands advertise fruit snacks, as a healthy snack kids will love. It is true that they are very tasty, but they are definitely not the healthiest product you could give your child. They are almost identical to the sugar coated gummy bears snacks that kids love. Though fruit snacks are made partially from actual fruits, they are much closer to being candy then fruit. It’s a fact that fruit snacks have fruit flavors, but the ingredients used are not as healthy as expected. Some people think because fruit snacks are made of sugar cane, or sugar from fruit that it is still healthy, since the sugar originated from fruit. When it comes down to it sugar, no matter where it comes from is still sugar.
There have been many complaints, and even a lawsuit on this subject. The manufacturer is lying by saying they are healthy snacks for kids. People are complaining that fruit snacks are candy advertised as fruit. They think it is unfair to sell a product, and call it healthy when the truth is there are a lot of other snacks out there much healthier. Before you buy a product, you want to know exactly what it is you are allowing into your body. Fruit snacks are not clear, or accurate with there ingredients, which is beginning to cause controversy.
Overall, I think it is not fair to the customers buying the product. People think they are buying a healthy snack for their child, when really they are giving them a ton of sugar. Trying to pass a product as fruit, when it is similar to candy is not the right way to try and get people to buy it. I think the ingredients on the back of the packages should be changed to better fit what is actually in it. That way people can know what they are consuming. I found this article very surprising, and upsetting. I had no idea anyone would lie about what is used to make a product. I think you are always better off telling the truth, and selling the product as it is.
Critical thinking question: Do you think it is okay for manufacturers to say fruit snacks are a healthy snack? Why/why not? http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/10/the-candification-of-our-food-the-case-of-the-fruit-less-fruit-snack/246913/
Summary: In Orlando, close to the launching site that is home to the many achievements of space travel, drew hundreds of people in a conference to discuss ideas of how to travel in space. Many participants were engineers, scientists, fans or students. Dr. Breeden raised the idea of an engine-less spaceship. His theory is that the starship will follow an asteroid and its orbit around the sun. Next, it will get caught up in the asteroid orbit and then flung into space. It will be powered by gravitational pull instead of an engine. NASA could make something like this in the future. Besides the engine-less spaceship they are trying to work on different ways to power an engine. Nuclear powered engines are helpful because they are radioactive. Also, they are trying to create nuclear engines with electric generators to give spaceships extra power.
Reaction: My reaction was that I thought it is very impressive of how NASA and scientists come up with these ideas. Through the years we’ve had many improvements in space travel. This article made me realize how important it is for them to have conferences to think of ideas. Every invention starts with an idea.
Reason: The reason I chose this article was that I thought it looked very interesting. When I saw this article it made me want to read it and find out how there can be a spaceship without an engine.
Information Learned: From this article I learned that an idea for NASA is an engine-less star ship. I also learned that they are trying to use different ways to power an engine. NASA’s different ideas help improve traveling into space in some way.
The article i read is about cars of the future. Google is usually known for its search system,and mail, but this article talks about how google invented a new line of cars. These cars are safer, smaller, smarter, and high tech. The cars run on two wheels only, and are suited for a driver and passenger. These fascinating cars are safer. They have video cameras on the outside so that the car can yield to pedestrians and avoid crashing into cars. Also, they can alert a driver when there is traffic. Six of these tiny cars can automatically park themselves into one normal parking spot. The cars are not only safer, but they are eco-friendly. These cute cars are electric. They are battery powered. When they are running out of battery, the car automatically sends a text to the owner of the car. Also, these wonderful cars return to the owner with a push of a button on your cellphone. For example if you parked your car in a sea of cars and you don’t know where you parked it, you can click a button on your phone and it will turn on and automatically drive to your location.
I think this is a really interesting article. I was fascinated by how intelligent these cars sound. They are geniuses created by geniuses (Google). I really enjoyed learning about this cute tiny cars. They can perform so many tasks. On a test trial they worked perfectly.Also i hope to see this cars more often. I want to hear about it and see more articles about them. Finally, someone has created a eco friendly smart mode of transportation. Its just absolutely amazing.
**Critical Thinking Questions**
1) Do you think these cars are a good idea?Explain.
2) Also do you think these cars will influence society in a positive or negative way? Explain
A new way of measuring blood sugar for diabetics has been discovered. Instead of having to prick a needle into your skin you can now measure your glucose levels with laser beams. But it will have to be proved that it can be used on humans first. Scientists have tried to use this for 20 years now but the glucose was easily smudged because of background noise from other molecules found in blood.
Scientists from the University of Toronto have discovered a way to turn off the background noise by using two beams of infrared lights at slightly different wavelengths. The glucose in the blood absorbs the light giving off heat which can be measured. this can then give the diabetic a blood glucose reading. Another problem is that this is very complicated and hard to produce the laser beams. They will have to find of making it so that people can buy from the shops and use it at home.
My reaction was that this would be great. My mom and one of my cousins have diabetes and it would be a lot easier if they did not have to use a needle to measure there blood levels.
Summary:
I read the article, Parents Urged Again to Limit TV for Youngest and found it was very intriguing. It turns out that American Academy of Pediatrics says to limit the amount of screens, which includes TVs, computers, iPads, iPhones, iTouch, cell phone, blackberries, TV shows in the backround etc. for very young children, normally under the age of two. The warning is not quite as harsh as the one back in 1999, saying the screens should be banned, but that the amount should be limited. This is because they have found that these children learn almost nothing from watching anything on the screen. Even what we call “educational television” doesn’t let these extremely young kids learn anything. For older kids, yes but toddlers cannot comprehend what is being put in front of them. The AAP says that these children learn more efficiently from real-life interactions, with people like their parents or babysitters and things. The report from the AAP say that for every hour a child under 2 spends in front of a screen, he/she spends about 50 minutes less interacting with a parent, and about 10 percent less time in playing. How much time should be limited though, is up to the parent.
Reaction:
I thought that this article was very knowledgeable. It was chock full of facts and connections, as well as real people giving their feedback on the matter. I also felt that is was very intriguing because this subject is very important nowadays with all of our new technology on how to handle it and when to stop using it and get outside and have real-life interactions.
Reason:
I choose this article because I felt this subject would be very intrersting to read about in today’s times. There is so much new technology out there that sometimes you need to put a limit to it or else it could get out of hand.
Information Learned:
I learned that children under the age of 2 can’t comprehend was it being put in front of them on a screen. Also I learned that this warning is not the first of them and that the AAP has also put a warning out about limiting your child’s screens in 1999, but that warning was much harsher then this on
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/health/19babies.html?_r=1&ref=science
Question:
Do you agree with the fact that children under 2 shouldn’t watch screens? Why or why not?
My article is about a new planet that is going to form. Far away, in the winter constellation Taurus the Bull, a star has been born – and scientists now say they have photographed what they believe is a new planet in orbit around it, perhaps the youngest ever seen in the process of forming. Adam Kraus who is a young astronomer at the university of Hawaii made the find. He worked with Michael Ireland of Macquarie University in Australia. They have named the planet LkCa 15 b. It is the youngest planet ever found and about 5 times younger than the previous record-holder. It is 450 light years from Earth, and, like the young Earth as it took shape more than 4.6 billion years ago. My reaction is that I’m surprised. I was not aware of this new planet forming. I think that is pretty cool occurrence. I t is not very often that a new planet forms. The reason I chose this article is because it was very interesting and I actually learned something from the article. I learned that it is about 11 times farther from the star it circles (11 AU, or Astronomical Units) than we are from our sun. It is giant, probably about six times as large as Jupiter, and Kraus said it’s about 2 million years old. It’s a baby. A two million year-old baby? Check it out!
There is a mysterious small planet named 2007 OR10 in our solar system near Neptune. Scientists nick named this planet snow white because it has a thin layer of ice covering it. It is part of the Kuiper belt and Its real color is red, but half of it is covered with water ice. Scientists say that its reddish color probably comes from methane gas. it was discovered in 2007 and its about half the size of Pluto. Lastly this is just like many other dwarf planets in the solar system.
I found this article pretty cool and interesting. I was shocked that there was a form of water on another planet. Also i was surprised by how small this dwarf planet was. Lastly i wondered if there was any form of life on that dwarf planet.
I chose this article for many reasons. First space is my favorite topic to study in science. Second when i saw the picture of a red planet is automatically grabbed my attention. Also the title sounded like it was be an interesting and factual article. That’s why i chose this article.
Critical Thinking: If there is a for of life on that planet, is an atmosphere required?
The science article that i read was called rapidly inflating volcano creates growing mystery. This article is about how a volcano in southwest Bolivia is growing. Not tall, but wide. It is growing at a rate of 2cm per year and it has been growing for nearly 20 years. That would be equivalent to 40cm or 16in! The worst part about this is that scientists thought that the area was essentially dead! This article is mostly about the volcano and scientists opinions. One of their opinions is that the volcano won’t erupt, and it is just growing. I believe that this is a very interesting article and that everyone should read it just for fun.
My reaction to this article is very simple. I believe that this is again another volcano that is extremely interesting. Volcano’s always hold mysteries on how they function and where the lava goes. Scientists can’t just dive into the lava and see where it ends. Also, they can’t just go into the volcano and research all the rocks that are in the cave and what treasures might be in the volcano. Overall, i think that this is a good article to read for fun and that everyone should read it. Lastly, this article proposed many cool facts that everyone would be interested in. For example, this was a scientist who said that volcanoes hoard magma for about 300,000 years before they erupt. That’s very interesting because the volcano erupted about 300,000 years ago!
I chose this article because this tittle just caught me. It seemed very interesting that the volcano is growing rapidly. Also, that the pictures were interesting. Another reason why i chose this article was because after i read the first paragraph i was hooked and just read the whole thing without realizing it! For me, that only happens when something really catches my interest. That is why i chose this article.
I learned that volcanoes actually can grow. Not only grow but grow as rapidly as the one in this article. Another piece of information that i learned was it takes about 300,000 years for a volcano to hoard magma before they erupt! That fact really interested me. The last fact that i thought was really cool was that it is growing over 10 times faster than any other volcano!
http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/s/sleep.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep
Summary: My article was about sleep. Sleep exists in all humans, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Sleep is the state of natural rest which the body needs for survival. There are certain drugs such as sleeping pills and alcohol that can make you fall asleep quicker. This is the type of sleep in which most dreams occur. The hours of sleep you need are 18+ when you’re a newborn and drops as you age. This is my article summary of sleep.
Reaction: My reaction is that it is very interesting to learn about the many facts about sleep. Like how even fish sleep.
Reason for Choosing: My reason for choosing is because I remembered that my grandpa takes sleeping pills so I figured I could do sleep for my topic.
Information Learned: I learned many facts about going to sleep. I kind of want to learn more.
Critical Thinking Question: When do you think fish sleep [because every time I’m looking at them even if it’s in the middle of the night there always swimming around]?
The article I read about was that there were comets spotted in the distant solar system. The Spitzer space telescope detected icy comets raining down on the solar system. This downpour of comets resembles our solar system billions of years ago during a time period called “the Late Heavy Bombardment.” They say this could have brought water and other life-forming ingredients to the Earth that’s what some scientists say. The telescope has spotted some comets being torn to shreds when spotted colliding with a star.
The article i read was about DEET and how it confuses insects sense of smell so that mosquitoes,ticks, and chiggers. DEET confuses an insect such as a mosquitoes antennae so that instead of it sending brain waves to the brain about the smell it elminates the whole process for the mosquitoe to even know there is a scent. My reaction to this article was amazment because i get repeatedly attacked my mosquitoes everyday and can not stop itching now i can destroy that problem from ever happening. I chose this article because I very much despise mosquitoes so when i found out that DEET can help me stay bite free i had to read it. I learned that mosquitoes do not have noses they have an anteenae that picks up on scents in the air and sends waves through its nerves to the brain to alert the body of a future meal. http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2011/10/deet-confuses-mosquitoes/
Today, I chose to review the article “Birth of a Planet: First Pictures of Youngest Planet Yet Seen”. This article was enthralling because it was about how a young astronomer named Adam Kraus photographed the forming of a new planet. The new planet, which is forming around a new star inside of the Taurus constellation, is the first of it’s kind. This new planet was named LkCa 15 b. According to Kraus, LkCa 15 b is the youngest planet ever found, being approximately five times younger then the previous planet. Additionally, he noted that the planet is a gas ball, similar to the make up of Jupiter and Saturn. The new planet is approximately 450 light years away from Earth and about eleven times farther from it’s sun then we are. This discovery helped show how scientists believe solar systems are formed in swirling clouds of dust and debris in space. This is truly a ground breaking day for science.
After finishing this article, I was amazed! Adam Kraus must be exhilarated with his ground breaking discovery. I know I would be! Seeing a planet form must be a once in a life time event that few people ever get to see. Also, I thought that this must mean that there are other planets forming out in the abysmal recesses of space. Just think about how many planets are out there right now!
I chose this article because I am, and always have been, highly interested in astronomy. I think it is a rich subject that is full of surprises and fascinating discoveries. Additionally, I felt that an article about the birth of a new planet is, in of itself, a worthy read. I was hooked from beginning to end, and it really got me thinking.
I learned a lot from this article. To begin, I learned more about how planets are formed: in swirling masses of space dust and debris. Additionally, I began to grasp distance in space more. In terms of distances in space, LkCa 15 b is relatively close to Earth. While still unimaginably far, LkCa 15 b could still be in our grasp of reaching, granted we are given centuries of space travel to reach it, of course.
My critical thinking question is this: Based on the observations of Adam Kraus, what do you think we can learn from the newly forming LkCa 15 b?
Studies of Universe’s Expansion Wins Nobel
On October 4th 2011, three astronomers were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for learning that the universe is rapidly being blown apart by the mysterious force that is dark energy. Saul Perlmutter, Brian P. Smidt, and Adam G. Riess are all being awarded this prestigious award. They are all attempting to see what the fate of the universe will be, if the “Big Crunch” will happen or we could drift off into the depths of the cosmos. In 1998 nobody believed their theories but those people where proved wrong. Surprisingly, every test they have done was inline with the Einstein’s theory cosmological constant.
I found this article intriguing and I thought it was mind-blowing to find out that a mysterious, and almost scary, force, called dark energy, is blowing us apart. I have watched many shows on the Science channel going into depths about the strange force. I believe I chose this article because it sparked my interest in Cosmology and Physics. I learned a lot in this article such as the fact that dark energy should be 10^120 times more powerful according to Quantum Theory. I have always had an interest in Cosmology and Physics I enjoyed reading this article
.
Source: Ny Times
Critical thinking: How do you think the universe will end?
Summary: The article I read was about how in the future cars are going to be a lot more advanced and some may even be able to drive themselves. Cars have been made that can drive themselves, but they have not come out to the public yet. Google recently made a car that drives itself and they did a test drive with two people in it to give it instructions. Plans for future cars also include texting you when it needs to be charged (if it runs on electricity), talking to other cars, parking themselves, and returning to their owners when a button on their phone is pressed. General Motors company also built a vehicle called EN-V. It is a very advanced vehicle much smaller than a car. Similar to the google car, it also has the ability to drive independently.
Reaction: My reaction to this article was that I was so amazed at how technology is going to become so advanced in a few years. In the mid 1900′s people had such expectations for what future technology would be like, but we failed to meet most of the expectations like flying cars. Self-driving cars will finally show how our technology has advanced greatly.
Reason: My reason for choosing this article was that when I saw the title “Cars of the future,” I was very intrigued and interested in what it would be about. Cars that drove themselves was only something I had imagined and I never thought that scientists would actually be attempting to create it.
What I learned: From this article, I learned that in the coming years, big advancements in technology will be coming to cars. Everything will be easier to use and more eco-friendly. I also learned that a lot of testing goes into creating something for customer use. It says in the article that this has been studied for quite some time now and just in this past year did anyone actually test out one of these vehicles that can drive themselves.
Critical Thinking Question: Do you think it would really be possible for everyone to have cars that drive themselves, and do you think it would be safe?
In this article I read about how the scientists are finding life on another planet. They say that the planet is not that hot and not too cold. The planet is 3.6 times bigger than Earth. The scientist say that the temperature may be up to 85 degrees or higher. The planet only has 60 days in a year. It surrounds stars by the constellation Vela.
In my opinion I think this article was very cool because there will be a new planet with life on it. I think it is so cool that the scientist were observing the planet. In this article they didn’t mention the name of the planet. I really dislike that about the article, but everything else is interesting.
Critical Thinking Question:
In the article the writer doesn’t mention the planets name. What would you name it and why?
I did my article summary on Gorillas.Gorillas are apes and, since apes are man’s closest relatives, they have a fascination with humans.There is only one species of Gorillas. Gorillas are the biggest primate. They are herbivorous. And have 6 times the strength of a body builder. There habitats are jungles. My reaction to this article was i was interested the whole time i read this. I didnt know much about Gorillas until io read this.
The article I read is called Saturn’s Rings Tell A Comet’s Tale by Nadia Drake. It’s about how in the 1300s, a comet flew past Saturn and disintegrated, leaving dusty clouds behind on the rings. These are called rippled cometary footprints. These ripples can be detected from space using probes to beam back radio waves from the rings. By doing this, we can tell what hit the rings and when. Scientists found out that two comets hit Saturn, each separated by 50 years. After these two, however, no more went near Saturn.
I thought this was really cool. To think that the technology we have today lets us find the date that a comet hits Saturn! It’s pretty amazing.
I chose this article because it looked interesting. Also, I love learning about the solar system; it’s one of my favorite science topics and I greatly enjoyed studying it in 6th grade.
I learned what” rippled cometary footprints” are by reading this article. I also learned all about the ripples on Saturn’s rings. For example, they are 600 years old!
Here’s a critical thinking question:
Why is it important to know how long ago these ripples were made?
The article i picked was called Not such a Stretch to Reach for the Stars. In this article it talked about an engine without a Satrship without an engine. Scientists are thinking of a mix of ideas of how to oraganize and century long project. They are also talking about how they can produce a better starship. I think this was a very interesting article. I got to learn new things about a starship and it just had alot of cool information. The reason i chose this article is because i like to learn new things about space. It is cool to learn about things you wouldnt hear on a daily basis. I learned that i guy named Dr. Breeden was the one who thought of the idea with the engineless starship. Lastly I learned that the British society put together a fushioned powered starship in the 1970s. the cite source of my article was http://nytimes.com/2011/10/18/science/space/18starship.html?_r=18ref=science.
My critical thinking question was why did they decide to build a new starship? Explain your answer.
Hawaii astronomer captures image of forming planet
Summary: Recently in Honolulu, astronomers spotted the first images ever of a forming planet. About 450 light-years away from earth, it was seen as a circle of dust and gas around a two million year old star. It is estimated to have started to take shape around 50 fifty thousand to 100 thousand years ago. This planet is called LkCa 15 b and is the youngest planet ever observed. Scientists Adam Kraus and Michael Ireland discovered it through their telescopes and are trying to answer questions about the planet and if more planets are going to be forming. They suspect that more will form around the same star but are unsure because it was difficult to see because it was so bright. To see more clearly, they changed the angle of the mirror on the telescope to remove the light distortions from the earth’s atmosphere.
Reaction: I was very surprised that these scientists were able to find this forming planet. I think it’s really cool that we can see a real image of the gas and dust forming around their center of gravity- the 2 million year old star. It took so long for it form, I didn’t realize that it took almost a hundred thousand years for it to occur! I am really curious to see if more planets form around this star, and if they keep orbiting around it.
Reason: I chose this article because I am very interested in astronomy. When I grow up I think it would be a lot of fun to use telescopes to study the mysterious space above us. Also, the image shown above the article of the planet forming looked extremely vivid and clear and attracted me to read this informative article.
Information: I learned a lot in this article. I was not aware that it took over 50 thousand years for planets to form! Additionally, I didn’t know that stars can just start creating new planets at 2 million years old. Lastly, I learned that even if planets form around a certain star, they can still change their orbiting pattern.
Critical Thinking Question: Why do you think scientists were finally able to get an image of an extremely newly formed star? http://news.yahoo.com/hawaii-astronomer-captures-image-forming-planet-230958310.html
I read an article about how bacteria affects hail. The article talks about how in Montana USA, there was a hail storm. The balls of hail were about the sixe of golf balls. A scientist took samples of the hail and divided them into four different layers. He said that what was in the middle was some type of bacteria like dust or pollen. When the bacteria gets water on it (high in the air) it freezes and turns into hail or at least that’s what the scientists claim. My reaction to this article was that it was very interesting to learn what actually cause hail. But it was kind of confusing because it didn’t really give a specific experiment that the scientists performed. I chose this because I saw it and was like “cool”. It sounded cool to me. I learned that hail can be caused by pollen and dust. Also that ball of hail can be huge.
What is the height in the sky/atmosphere can bacteria become frozen?
The article I had just read is about a shark with one eye. There are many species with this condition known as Cyclops. Fisher Enrique Lucero León had caught a pregnant female dusky shark, legally and cut his find open to find the Cyclops shark. The rest of the shark embryos, all nine of them were normal. Enrique caught the female shark near Cerralvo Island. Not expecting to see an abnormal male embryo, Leon was shocked and amazed he said and I quote “This is incredible-Wow.”
Once the information was found out on Facebook by Marcela Bejarano-Álvarez a biologist, his and his team asked Leon if it was ok to see the Cyclops shark to do some research on it. Leons agreed and the shark was sent off to Alvarez. To make sure this shark was really a Cyclops the scientists got to work and researched other species and conditions dealing with being a Cyclops and x-raying the fetus. The little shark was proved to be an actual Cyclops. Scientist had also come to a conclusion of why they do not see more Cyclopes sharks all grown. They said the reason for this was that simply they don’t survive for very long.
I chose this article because after reading the first word in the title Cyclops, I was curious since I have only heard that word when talking about aliens and such. Also I saw a picture of the Cyclops shark and I was wondering what that was since I have never seen anything like it before.
Once I read this article I was kind of surprised. I didn’t know wasn’t a rare thing for species to be Cyclops’. I also thought it was pretty interesting how many Cyclops sharks don’t live very long due to the fact that they aren’t able to survive like regular sharks. I would most likely have the same reaction that fisherman, Enrique Lucero Leon had since it’s not every day that you see an animal with one eye (even though it is common). There for, this article taught me knew a couple of new facts and fascinated me.
C.T.Q: How do you think this will effect peoples out look on the word cyclops?
Astronomers have just captured the first direct image of a planet bieng born. This has not been possible before because the stars that the planets orbit outshines them. Astronomers changed the shape of their mirrors (to remove light distortion) and put masks over most of the telescope mirror. Adam Kraus and Micheal Ireland used keck telescopes on Mauna Kea to find this planet. They say that they found it just at the time when other planets are probably forming. The planet they photographed is called LkCa 15 and is being formed out of dust and gas while orbiting a 450 million year-old star. These pictures and methods can help answer questions about the formation of planets.
I was fascinated by this article. I know that scientists don’t know everything about the universe. I am eager to learn and want to know more about this. I also feel that the scientists were very ingenious when coming up with ways to see new planets.
I choose this article because I want to learn more about the way the solar system works. I love space science. I was intrigued by the title.
I learned about how planets form and how solar systems begin. I also learned that there is still so much to learn about the world.
I read the article New Tactics and Billions to Manage City Sewage which is about the contaminated sewage water in New York City. New York City feels that the sewage water that is untreated flows into the New York City water ways. The government of New York wants to use new technologies to clean the sewage water so it doesn’t contaminate the water ways of New York. This machine will help the underground storage tanks and tunnel systems. Parking lots, water parks and green roofs. The biggest water problem in the Metropolitan area is sewer water overflowing. People believe that this machine will create better living conditions in New York. Environmentalists of New York feel that this machine will start the largest green infrastructure systems in the country.
Critical Thinking Question: Is New Jersey in need of this machine? Do you think it should be sold world wide?
I chose this article because ever since learning about sewage systems last year I have been curious. Many questions that were unanswered last became clear to me after this reading this article. I was curious to whether there was a way to clear out the contaminated sewage water with out the ocean being an option. The article is about the enviroment, and that is what I enjoy reading about in science most. Enviroment intrests me deeply.
This article did teach me many things, but I wasnt too shocked about the issue. Underground sewage systems can’t be to clean because of the subways and all of the other things going on below the surface of the city sidewalks. I was very surprised to see that they had created a new machine to clean out the filthy water. I wish they had thought of this earlier so the oceans didn’t have to become so contaminated. Even water parks that little kids play in is effected by this growing problem.
I learned so many facts from this article that will help me in the future. I learned that the sewage systems in New York are in great need, and are effecting the water ways of New York too much. The article made me think maybe all of the states in the country should own this useful machine. The machine will lead to many incredibly positive outcomes. I know realize how important sewage systems are and how they effect the water ways and oceans of our major cities inside the country.
Parents Urged to limit TV for Youngest
Parents of young children and toddlers have been cautioned once again to limit the time their children are in front of a television, computer, educational video games, and parent’s grown up shows. Time infront of a screen provides no educational befits for children. Parents are asked to limit the time because it has a crucial impact on the child’s growth.
At a survey given to parents by pediatricians across the country, parents were asked what planet do you live on. This is to show parents that in a total count between TV’s, computers, smartphones, tablets, and iPads, this averages a house to have more the 10 screens. Children observe these screens and basically get the life sucked out of them. Kristen Gangier, a doctor, stated that her kids are disinterested on everything else except for their favorite show ‘Yo Gabba Gabba!’
Reaction: I was shocked to learn that people are being told to not use technology to their advantage. It saddens me because we should use it to our advantage.
Reason of choice: I chose this article because it showed that our current entertainment system is being shot down by other people who use it everyday.
Learnt: I learnt that children under the age of 2 should not watch tv.
Cite: NY TIMES
Question: What is the average amount of screens a household owns?
This article has got to be one of the wierdest I have ever read. The article is about a newly proven study that your friends can change even erase your memories. In the end the article expands and puts into detail more information. I was truely amazed when I read this article. I would have never guessed that changing a person’s memory would be as easy as telling yours.The reason I chose this is because the title attracted my attention.The most important information that I learned in this article is that you can lose memories by listening to other people’s.
On Thursday, the European Space Agency’s orbiting Herschel observatory revealed what is used to create a new planet.
When stars are formed, there is a circular disc around the star. It is said that water vapor is a part of what formed the disc, but water vapor has only been found near the center of the disc where the temperature is higher.
TW Hydrae, a star scientists have been studying, has a lot of water vapor near the edge of the disk. Data shows the amount of vapor can fill the oceans several times!
Since the water vapor was found near the edge, it supports the theory that asteroids and such were the first things to deliver water to planets.
The ice that forms in the disk help scientists learn more about how the Earth got its water. When planet Earth was first formed, it was too hot for water to be there. Scientists think the water may have come later.
Now, knowing that water is the key to the formation of Earth, it will help scientist learn more about how planets are formed.
I found this article to be very interesting. I never knew water would be the main thing in forming plants. I chose this article because I wanted to know more about plants and how they came to be. I was always interested in how planet Earth came to be and how animals and human began to live here.
Question: What else do you think is needed to form a planet?
This article is about how a planet was found with a temperature “like a hot summer day in Arizona”. The “planet-like companion” is actually the COLDEST object ever directly photographed outside our solar system!! It’s actually 6-9 times the mass of Jupiter! In a way. So, in a way, it’s more of a star, but it’s hard still hard to believe. So this planet is like a star, but has an atmospheric temperature like our very own Earth. This planet is actually a brown dwarf, which means it was formed as a star, but failed, so its core is not able to heat it up, creating it into a star. So in that way, it has a cool temperature. However, even though it is cooler, its temperature of the surface is still a good 80-160 degrees Fahrenheit. The solar system of this dwarf is 63 light years away, which is in a way closer to ours compared to most solar systems we know of. The orbit of the dwarf to its star is much larger compared to Earth to the Sun. That is what this article is about.
This article interested me a lot. My previous article was also about space and planets. However, the two articles are very different. This one focuses on one planet. It’s really cool how scientists are able to find planets such as this one mentioned in the article. A year or two ago, I never would have had a single thought about it. But to think of how there may be a planet out there that we could possibly live on, really makes me interested. The dwarf in the article may not be able to sustain us, but the mere thought of it excites me.
I chose this article because of how interested I am in space. I tend to love science-fiction novels and shows, and some are about living on other planets. This article shows that there are in face planets out there that could possibly sustain life. I saw the title of the article and knew I had to read it. This article interested me, and had some pretty cool information.
In this article I learned a couple things. One is what a “brown dwarf” is. Before, I had never even HEARD of it. Also, I learned that when stars from, some are never able to complete the process and just become a failed star. Another thing is that even though a planet may have an atmospheric temperature close to ours, but that still doesn’t mean we are able to live on it. This article made me learn a lot of things.
Critical Thinking Question:
Do you believe there is a planet out there that could sustain life? Why or why not? Explain.
The article I read was about how scientist found coral reefs that would rather be in the shade, and not the light. It explains how this coral that they found, demonstrate genetic differences that reflect adaptations to different environmental conditions encountered at different depths. The scientists looked at 3 different habitats of coral reefs, the back reef, upper slope, and the deep slope. The coral in the deep slope appeared to grow faster with access to some light. It says how the different corals they looked at exhibited distinct physiological differences. These coral reefs definitely expressed differences, to how they each adapted to different amounts of light.
My reaction to the article was surprised. I was surprised because I thought that coral likes to be in light, and that it needed light to grow. I wouldn’t think that coral could live in the dark. I chose this article because it seemed interesting. The title popped out at me because like I said I wouldn’t think that coral could live without light, so it just grabbed my attention. From this article I learned many things. I learned that not all coral needs light to survive. Also that different types of coral adapt differently to different amounts of light.
My article is about a worm that could live up to three or four generations. Scientists have disovered that round worms are able to live up to many years. The roundworms genetic background is making them mutant which could make them live up to 3 or 4 generations long. The role that plays this part is also a chemical inside of them called Histones. Scientist have also discovered that the round worms DNA strand is far more complex then the homo sapien type of DNA. These studies and tests were done at Harvard university.
My reaction to this article is a positive sign because it is interesting to learn extreme things. Learning more about scientific studies makes our research better and technology. I also think this is a good article because it shows more nature in different types of species
or mammals. I hope to read more articles like these. My reaction on the scientists is positive because it is interesting how they did it and what they used to find out the genetic background of the round worm.
My reasoning for choosing this article is the interesting facts behind it. It was interesting to learn about the chemical Histones and
also how these chemicals made this mutation for these worms to live longer. Another reason why i chose this because its suprising detail and also because i love learning about DNA and genetics.
Live Long pass it on/science new
Critcal think question: Do you think this genetic trait is Recessive or Dominant?
The article i read mentions how a spaceship owned by a british billionaire named Richard Brandson is the first person to offer spaceship rides and NASA has allowed him to do that. He can send up to 1300 pounds of equipment. Virgin Galactic the company owned by Richard Brandson hopes to put someone in space next year. The ship will go 50,000 feet where the ship will separate then go 60 feet above earth’s surface so they experience weightlessness and see earth. The price per person will be $200,000.
Reaction:I think this is amazing how now normal average people can just go in space. Before we thought that just the idea of sending someone into space was amazing but now we can send anyone just for money to me that is amazing!
The reason I chose this article was because flying and space interest me and since this deals with space shuttles I chose it. I learned that mankind now actually has the technology to make shuttles that aren’t funded by the government and this could one more step to something bigger. I cant give a link because this was found on paper.
I read an article that was about the new study’s of Uranus. NASA may be sending a mission to Uranus to explore more about this strange planet. This planet is odd because it contains a mixture of water, methane, ammonia, and carbon dioxide, while most other planets are gas planets. The seventh planet from the sun is tipped over on its side. Scientists believe that it is tipped due to a series of collisions very long ago. Its 27 known moons are all named after Shakespeare’s plays and the poems of Alexander Pope.
I thought this article was very interesting. Anything about space really fascinates me, no matter what. I thought this article was good because it talks about a planet that we don’t hear much about. I chose this article because, once again, I really think space is interesting. I learned so many new things about Uranus. I learned all about its moons, and which ones are the most popular. 2 of these moons may have oceans beneath their surfaces, and scientists are trying to find out for sure. Overall, this article was very good and interesting, and I enjoyed it very much.
Critical thinking:
Why do you think we don’t know as much about this planet as we do with other planets? Explain your answer.
Scientists Reveal Surprising Picture of How Powerful Antibody Neutralizes HIV
The article I read was about the HIV disease. This disease is harming millions of people and targeting their immune system. Recently, researches have found a vaccine that neutralizes the effects of HIV. It is called PG128. It works by bonding to the HIV cells and stopping them from infecting other cells. Since the 1990s research has gone on to try find a cure for HIV/AIDS. Up until now, this is the first. It attacks glucose, or sugar in the cells, that are affected without harming any others.
In my opinion, this could be a very beneficial find. For many years now, people have died from AIDS. This intriguing discovery shows that there is hope for those infected. I am very surprised that this discovery was made so soon. I personally thought it would take much longer. Now, millions of peoples lived can be saved.
Question: Why do you think it takes so long to find a cure for diseases?
I choose this article because it really interests me. I am always trying to help others and this is what someone else did. I learned a lot of terminology about HIV and other diseases.
Quickly, science is becoming an action. The quote “Science is a verb” does a great job demonstrating just this. This quote meant that when you are working on anything evolved with science you are always completing an action. In my opinion I believe this is true. In every situation, I have ever had in science I have had to either solve a problem or complete a task. Because science evolves so many different components, there is always something you are “doing.” The writer is trying to express that science is a very user oriented subject and anyone can try expatriating.
The speaker is addressing the teachers and students. He/she is telling them to enjoy and make the best of science. To the teachers he is showing how their lessons should be taught or expressed. For the students he is saying to enjoy science and all parts of it since it is a great subject. The speaker used these bold words to give a stronger meaning. It accurately describes hoe the quote should be felt.
In my life this quote came true. In science class, in school, this relates. We do many experiments and are always working and trying new things. There is never rest or stops in science just action, action, action. In addition, in textbooks, there are always experiments to constantly keep you busy. From this quote I will take that science is always new fresh, and full of action and happenings.
– i just realized i never handed this in
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111019183007.htm
Summary:Us. Rivers and Streams are Saturated with Carbon. They are releasing more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere then previously thought before. The carbon is absorbed by plants and forests through the air and is now leaking into streams and rivers. More then 4,000 rivers are affected by this. It is equal to a car burning 40 billion gallons of gas. Researchers are trying to figure out how to stop this and it is still unknown how much carbon is being released.
Reaction to the Article: I was not surprised because of how everyday humans pollute the earth more and more. Eventually Earth will run out of air and the carbon is not helping at all. People should be more careful what they do to the environment. Soon oceans might be affected not just rivers and streams.
Reason for Choosing it: I chose this because the title seemed interesting. The article went to explain how our rivers and streams are releasing a lot of carbon into the air and how bad that will become if the problem continues on.
Information Learned: I learned that 4,000 rivers are affected. Plants and forests gather Carbon in the air then release it into water and eventually the carbon will go into the atmospheric. It is also equal to a car burning 40 billion gallons of gas.
Critical Thinking: How do you think researchers find carbon in the water?
The article I read was very interesting, it said that at least twice in the past 3 million years, a gene called SRGAP2 has been duplicated within the human genome. Studies show that extra copies of this gene may cause thicker brain cortex where thinking takes place. Studies have previously discovered that SRGAP2 is one of 23 genes duplicated in humans but not in other primates. Just having extra copies doesn’t mean the gene is evolutionarily important. Scientists examined the gene is 150 people and found that the copy made 3.4 million years ago was missing some people, but the younger version of the gene had been fixed in many people. This was a very interesting article because I have never heard of anything like this before.
I enjoyed reading this article although it confused me at some points. The article was very interesting because I have never heard of anything like this and it was something I never thought about. I was surprised that it is making the part of people’s brain where they think bigger.
I chose this article because it was something I had never heard about before and I was interested to see what it was.
Info learned: There are many different parts in the brain but not all duplicate.
Question: How many times in the past three million years has the gene duplicated?
Astronomers found a new planet. It is called Kepler-16b. Kepler-16b has two suns. It is the size of Saturn. A year on Kepler is roughly 226 earth days. The astronomers say that every day there is a new sunrise and sunset because there are two suns.
I think it is really incredible that there is a telescope strong enough to see the slight dimness in stars and detect planets moving in front of them. I think we should study this planet more closely to discover if there is any form of life on this planet. If life could be sustained on Kepler 16b it would be an amazing break through.
Polar Bears Ill from Accumulated Environmental Toxins
Summary: This article was about how Greenlandic polar bears are suffering from the toxic chemicals that end up getting mixed in with the water and air currents, that eventually get transported to the Arctic. Not only that, but the chemicals contaminate the sea’s food chain, and is affecting the polar bears the most because they are the top predators. However, not everyone realizes that polar bears are now getting diseases that damage their bones and organs, from the contaminated food that they are now eating. Furthermore, experiments show that Arctic foxes and Greenlandic sled dogs suffered as well from the chemicals (they had similar symptoms as the polar bears). Fortunately, though, Christian Sonne and the faculty at Life Sciences is conducting more tests, and they are trying to make people aware of the situation by writing several articles.
Reaction: I was pretty surprised when I heard how horribly the chemicals were affecting the polar bears. It made me realize that while we live prosperously, the poor animals of the Arctic are not only getting poisoned, but global warming caused by us, as well, is wrecking their only home. Why are people so oblivious to the fact that there are other species that live on this world as well? All these companies just want to make money. After reading this, I thought about the book: The Lorax. I remember reading about how the Lorax wanted to make money, so he cut down all of these trees to make clothing, but in the meantime, he caused the fish, birds, and other animals to go away because of all the filth that clogged their environment.
Reason: I chose this article because I love animals, and I really wanted people to read this and see how we are hurting them. We are also hurting ourselves by burning holes into the atmosphere with all of the pollution, and are even causing species to go extinct.
Information Learned: I learned that polar bears we at the top of the food chain. I thought the top animal would be the white leopard, or something like that. Also, I never knew that there were such things as Arctic foxes and dogs. That really surprised me when I read this article!
Critical Thinking Question: Do you think factories will ever realize what all of their chemicals are doing to the world? If so, when will they realize that, and what will they do to not let the situation get even worse?
88% of the U.S. citizens are over the recommended amount of having salt. The recommended amount is 2,300 milligrams and we average over 3,513 milligrams. That is over 53 percent than what is recommended. If you are over 50 you were recommended to have under 1,500 milligrams. 99% of people go over this amount. Researchers were not surprised and said that health official need to help cut this number down. The companies Kraft, Goya, and Subway signed a contract to reduce sodium in thier food by 25%.
I feel this number is outrageous. People can die or get diabetes from to much sodium and we need to stop this problem now. We can get a little over what is recommended but not 50%. Or 100%. Some people have doubled thier intake before they even pick up a salt shaker. We need to pass a law to end this problem or mostly solve this problem now. People can die.
What I read about is the disease, P. lateralis which has been killing trees across the United kingdom for some time now. The government is acting now, what happened about 41 years ago could happen now. In 1970, 30 million trees died across the UK. This disease originates from the Northwest Americas and British Columbia. 7 British Pounds have already been donated to research this disease. This is the Woodland Trust Orginization’s top priority. The government has already restricted plant cutting and selling, as this disease’s spores’ are spread through soil and water. Surveillance teams in helicopters are already looking for the disease, as the UK wants to minimize the threat of this disease.
Reaction: I was really suprised, because this is the first time I’ve ever heard of P. lateralis. I am also worried about the environment. We already have made it a priority to save trees. This disease is killing the trees, increasing the CO2 levels in the air. I hope that the scientists can come up with a cure because trees are a part of our everyday lives, and we need to give them life, as hey give oxygen to us.
Reason: I chose this article because I wanted and international article and something unique. This article was very interesting and it makes you think. How did the disease get from West America to England (UK)? That is why I chose this article.
Summary: The nose is the starting point in the respiratory system, when one inhales. The two main functions of the nose are to filter the air being inhaled, and to provide a sense of smell. The structure of a nose is shaped with fibro fatty tissues, bones, and cartilage. The type of nose depends on the positioning of the cartilage and the bones. Human races can be identified by the type of nose; for example, most European noses have long, narrow, high-tipped noses, sometimes with vertical nostrils. The lower part of the nose and the bridge of the nose are both made up of cartilage. Both the greater and lesser alar cartilages give the basic shape of the nostrils. There is hair in everyone’s nostrils. The hair helps to filter the air being inhaled. Also, both the nostrils and the nasal cavity hold mucous membranes and cilia. They both filter the air and prevent any particles from getting inside of you, such as microorganisms and dust. The bones on a face around the nose have sinuses. Sinuses are hollow air cavities that are lined by mucous. Basically, the nose is responsible for our ability to smell and breathe.
Reaction: I enjoyed reading this article. I have always wondered why everyone’s nose is shaped the way it is, and now I realize that it has to do with where they came from in the world. I learned a few new things from this interesting article, and I hope that I can learn about the structures and functions of other human body parts as well!
Reason for Choosing It: I chose this article because it seemed like an interesting and exciting topic that nobody else would’ve chosen. No one puts much thought into noses, even though we see them every day in the middle of each others’ faces.
Information Learned: I learned- - our nose is made up of cartilage, bones, and fibro fatty tissues.
-you can tell what race someone is by the shape of their nose.
-the nose is the starting point in the respiratory system.
Fast food is awful for anyone. You can hurt your health and double your chance for heart failure. This will hurt a lot of people if America continues to eat this junk then we will have a lot of obese people. Fast food is not the best food for someone to eat. It affects your health by liver fatty and raises your cholesterol. It also gives you mood swings and headaches when you don’t eat the food. It also makes you gain a lot of weight and it makes your cholesterol rise and makes your risk for heart attack . I think they should enforce new rules that force the fast food restaurants to make their food healthier so America healthier.. I always thought fast food was bad for you but never this bad. To make some healthier food choices you can start to eat salads instead of burgers. Instead of ice cream you can have a granola bar and a yogurt. When you go to McDonalds you can have a salad instead of McNuggets. When you go to McDonalds you need to stay away from the Big-Macs and have a healthier choice instead of a burger. This will make everyone healthier. In conclusion fast food is awful for a person’s health. I think that all people in America should stay away from fast food as much as possible. It will make America a much more healthier place. I choose this artical because I wanted to be aware of the risks of eating fast food. http://janicewhite.hubpages.com/hub/why-fast-food-is-bad-for-you
Critical thinking question:
What are some of the risks of eating fast food a lot?
I learned that fast food is not a good idea for your body and can make other peoples body react diffrently. From ow on when I go into a fast fooo resturant I will try to stick to the healtier chooses.
My reaction was that I was shocked that there were so many risks to eating fast food a lot. I think everybody should read this artical before deciding to eat fast food so they know the risks they are putting there body’s though.
Is friction dominated by electrons or by lattice vibrations? A nano-contact experiment shows that on smooth surface friction is decreased than on a rough surface. This not a new study, this has been studied since the beginning of time. Leonardo da Vinci started studying friction by using sliding friction. Scientists most often still work attentivatly on this topic. Now a days scientists have a lot more of equipment to experiment with so it is easier. The newest thing scientists have done is they have started using things to probe atomic scale phenomina. The insight into the atomic world gives the opportunity to study the microscopic origins of friction, which, even today, are poorly known. Studies are trying to find out how electic and other type of other materials respond to friction.
When i first read the article I was just shocked because honestly i thought they found out everything they could about friction. I had no clue you could attach tiny sensors to an object and track it. I found it so astonishing.
The reason for choosing this article is because in school we are doing right now friction and how friction is determined and what affects friction. We made the study that speed of an object going on another solid object does not affect how much friction there is. Although we did find that, speed does not affect it, but mass and surface texture do.
If you were a scienctist what would you do to find more about friction and how would you conduct the experiment.?
Studies of Universe’s Expansion Win Physics Nobel.
Dennis Overbye
Studies of Universe’s Expansion win Physics Nobel, three American astronomers named Saul Perlmutter, Brian P Schmidt and Adam G. Riess working on two different teams were awarded Physics Nobel for discovering that the universe is being separated by an unbelievable force called dark energy.
Initially the scientists were using exploding stars known as Type 1a supernovae as a cosmic lighthouses to limn the expansion of the universe. They would measure how fast the cosmos has been slowing down since the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago. They would use that information to find out if the cosmos would fall back together or drift apart into darkness. Unexpectedly, these scientist found out that the expansion of the universe was actually increasing in speed instead of slowing down. In 1998, the scientist using cosmological measurement concluded that this force called anti-gravitational dark energy is pushing the galaxies apart. They believe the most logical explanation for this is the fudge factor Albert Einstein introduced into his equation in 1917 to stabilize the universe against collapse and then abandoned it as his greatest blunder. Questions were raised by many physicists that if empty space has such strong repulsive forces Einstein dream of a single final theory of nature is wrong and now one would conclude that there may be multiple universes with different properties. Astronomers say that if the universe keeps accelerating to quickly the universe wouldn’t be able to communicate with one another and all the energy will be sucked out of it. Many questions still remain to be answered about this dark energy and much more work needs to be done.The scientist that have discovered this all were rewarded for the discovery. Dr. Perlmutter received half of a $1.4 million reward. The other half went to Dr. Schmidt and Dr. Riess.
To me this dark energy seems like a sci-fi movie come true. It seems like this because If the universe does expand to quickly all energy will be sucked out of the universe. It is also very exciting that this discovery has been made.
I have chosen this article because I love to learn about the discoveries in space.
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Do you believe that there are other universes that could support life?
Well, I think that there may be a chance of there being life in other planets. I mean, if you think about it, you’ll realize that we can’t be the ONLY species in the universe. There could be some sort of life somewhere else, we just don’t have the technology to figure it out yet. And I thought you’re article was really interesting by the way.
Scientists used to think cycads were the last remaining members of a plant lineage that went extinct with the dinosaurs. Now scientists believe modern-day cycads diverged from a more recent common ancestor. A new study suggests that although the cycads’ once primary dispersal agents went extinct 65 million years ago, the plants later experienced a renaissance due to a global climate shift. Living cycads branched off and started to move about 12 million years ago. To estimate the divergence time of living cycads, researchers used a technique called molecular clock analysis. They first measured the genetic differences separating 200 living cycad species. Certain genetic happen at a fixed rate once species radiate from a common ancestor. Scientists were able to use this cycad DNA data to predict a much more recent divergence.
When I read this article I was interested by the name. I wanted to learn more about cycads. After reading this article I learned that cycads are plants that have existed for a long time. I had seen these plants in tropical islands before. I was amused that scientists had made a mistake about the cycads.
How do you think scientist study a plant’s past?
Response To:
Artistic mega-octopus may topple ichthyosaur from top of Triassic food chain by Kate Melville
This article summarized the studies about the existence of a huge octopus, with self-awareness existing during the Triassic period. At Berlin-Ichthyosaur state park in Nevada, a group of Ichthyosaur (Triassic air breathing aquatic reptiles) vertebrae were found, seemingly organized into the shape of an octopus. Some scientists, like Mark McMenamin believe this may be an ancient octopus’ self -portrait. The vertebrae were separated and organized to resemble suction cups. The vertebrae seem to have been broken indicting a snapped neck, and the skeletons of the Ichthyosaurs have many broken ribs, as if they were pulled down and drowned. Scientists have not yet concluded the depth of the water when this would have occurred though. This theory’s plausibility depends on the depth of the water, because in shallow water, stranding or toxins often cause mass death. The vertebrae of the Ichthyosaurs indicate snapped necks and broken ribs. This could mean that the octopi killed the Ichthyosaurs by drowning them. McMenamin believes that this behavior is not much of a stretch from that of modern octopi, as they are also quite intelligent.. Mark McMenamin’s theory may never be proven though. Since octopi have soft bodies, they don’t fossilize well.
This article blew me away. I have heard about how smart dolphins and whales are, but never octopi! If a prehistoric giant octopus had these capabilities, then their intelligence would surpass modern day sea mammals. I was also amazed that the cephalopods were able to drown or even snap the neck of a large sea reptile. Overall this article was shocking.
I chose this article because the tile: Artistic mega-octopus may topple ichthyosaur from top of Triassic food chain instantly attracted me. The introduction, which immediately brought up the possibility of a prehistoric self-portrait reeled me in further. The article was also full of the different possibilities surrounding this case. Finally, the picture of the tentacle-like fossil from Ichthyosaur bone was very intriguing. I chose this article for its introduction, title, possibilities mentioned, and pictures.
From this article I learned that modern octopi are very intelligent. I also learned that Ichthyosaurs were sea reptiles that breathed air. This was interesting because only sea mammals breathe air and live in the ocean today.
This article is about a rouge satillite that could possibly crash into earth on the weekend. Apperintly, the german organization that launched into space over 10 years ago lost communications with it a few years after the actual launch. I feel a little scared, but scientists also say that there is a greater possiblity that the debris lands in the ocean. I chose this article because it looked extremely interesting to me. I learned that not everything can go as planned.
How could the group loose coomunication to the satillite?
The article I read was about how the German satellite is going to fall back to earth late Saturday night, or early Sunday morning The debris are very heavy, and the heaviest part of it is the 1.5 ton mirror on it. 1.5 tons is equal to 3,000 lbs, but the heaviest piece of debris that was known to fall was a 300lb lens. Citizens have been warned not to touch anything that hits the ground because it will be extremely hot. Also, people were warned to duck if they saw a fiery item plummeting towards the earth.
At first, the article made me a little bit scared, because I do not want my house to get hit with a fiery piece of metal. Later, I realized that the chances of my house getting hit were about one in a million. I chose this article because I have heard about the satellite before, and I wanted more information on it, where it will hit, and also when it will hit the earths surface. I learned that the satellite will hit in between 53 degrees latitude north, and 53 degrees latitude south. According to the article, the injury risk is about 1 to 3,200. Also, I learned that any piece of fallen debris, no matter where it lands, is property of the German government.
Link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/10/111019-satellite-fall-earth-rosat-space-debris-nasa-science/
What do you think caused the satellite to fall to earths surface?
The filling stations, NASA calls them propellant depots, would refuel a spacecraft in orbit before it headed out to the moon, an asteroid or eventually Mars. Currently, all of the fuel needed for a mission is carried up with the rocket, and the weight of the fuel limits the size of the spacecraft. The propellant depot would be launched first, and then other rockets would carry fuel to the depot before a spacecraft arrived to fill up. The total cost needed for the project from 2012 through 2030 would be $60 billion to $86 billion. Last month, NASA announced the design of the Space Launch System, the new heavy-lift rocket. The plan is for it to lift 70 metric tons on its first unmanned test flight in 2017, and to able to lift 30 tons. The blueprint for NASA’s direction for the coming years, passed by Congress last year and signed by President Obama, calls on the agency to develop the rocket. Propellant depots carry risks, too. Fuels like liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen must be kept at ultra cold temperatures and, unless the depots were heavily insulated, would boil away over time. Transferring fuel into space is not straightforward, although possibly setting the depot and spacecraft into a slow spin would generate enough force to push the fuel into the spacecraft.
This article surprised me because this seems like an easier way of traveling into space and this article also mentions a trip to Mars! Although this is years away, we have began the thinking and planning process. It is also amazing what scientists are able to come up with. I chose this article because things involving going into space always interests me because it means we have become more advanced with our technology. After reading this article, I have learned that it cost so much money to send us into space, which is part of the reason it takes so long to plan.
Why do you think it costs so much money to go into space?
Everyone knows about x ray technology. We all do. Well they have created a device that can seriously help for dentistry. It is called the cone beam commuted tomography, (CBCT). It has helped 16 year old Violetta by showing the orthodontist that there were two hidden teeth that could have caused major complications. Besides that story involving the CBCT, many people find it a hazard. Like all other x ray machines, they use radiation. This machine uses much more radiation un like its previous models. By using this machine as a kid, there is a 1 in 10000 chance that those kids will have cancer in the next 10 to 20 years. The good out weighs the bad though. Many will avoid this machine but others will decide to take the risk and use it.
This article was very interesting. I thought it was very interesting how it benefitted Violetta. On the other hand I am a little scared because people will use the machine more and more often making it used by all dentists. I chose this article because it was very attractive and color and the title drawn me in. I learned that this machine will make 1 in 10000 kids get cancer in 10 to 20 years from when they use it. Also I learned about societies strong feelings about the use of this technology.
Chimps Play Like Humans: Playful Behavior of Young Chimps Develops Like That of Children
Playful behavior is widespread in mammals, and has important developmental consequences. A recent study of young chimpanzees shows that these animals play and develop much the same way as human children. The authors of the study, Elisabetta Palagi and Giada Cordoni, of the University of Pisa in Italy, found that chimpanzee solitary play peaks in infancy, while the time spent in social play was relatively constant between infants and juveniles. However, the type of social play changed quite a bit as the animals grew up, in terms of measures like complexity and playmate choice. In comparing these behaviors to previous work conducted with humans, they found that both species show significant quantitative and qualitative development in play behavior from infancy to juvenility.
Moreover, both chimps and humans consistently use playful facial expressions to communicate and build social networks. They also analyzed playmate choice and found that both humans and chimps prefer peers for play partners. Dr. Palagi explains that this is the first research comparing the ontogeny of play behavior in chimpanzees with that of humans, in a standardized way. It is important, because this kind of human data often comes from psychological research, not from ethological research.
My reaction to this article was surprised. I knew chimps where like humans, but I never thought it would come to this certain point. I chose this article because it sounds interesting and I like to learn about animals. What other animal do you think has human like qualities or is similar to a human?
My article was about a recent study done on video games. According to the University of Michigan playing video games might not be as horrible for you as traditionally thought. Apparently video games get your creative juices flowing. The study started by surveying 500, 12-year olds. They were asked to draw a picture from a shaped curve and create a story around it. They discovered that the use of phones and computers did little for the kids, but video games improved the scores. The researchers hope to hone in on what specifically triggers this creativity. This way they can combine these factors and foster kids’ creativity.
I really enjoyed this article. It was pretty interesting. After hearing all negative things about video games for all my life it was a refreshing turn of events. I was hopeful that they would continue this research and possibly make new developments in this field.
My reason for choosing this article was interest at the title. It said “Can Playing Video Games Make You More Creative? Hmmm…” This title sparked my curiosity. I decided to read it. This is my reason for reading the article.
In this article I learned that video games are able to spark creativity in ways no one has thought of before. I also learned that phones and computers do very little to spark creativity. http://dogonews.com/2011/11/9/can-playing-video-games-make-you-more-creative-hmmm
Do you think video games have positively or negatively influenced your life???
I read a very interesting article on the possibility or rather probability of an ocean under the ice covering Europa the moon of Jupiter. It is almost completely certain that their is water under the ice caps of the moon Europa. The only question now is how much ice separates the water from the surface. There are two theories about the separation between the water and the surface. One, is the ice might just be a few kilometers deep which is exceptionable shallow, or it could be as many as 50 kilometers which is very thick. Both theories have good ways to explain the geysers that explode on the surface.
I read a very interesting article on the possibility or rather probability of an ocean under the ice covering Europa the moon of Jupiter. It is almost completely certain that their is water under the ice caps of the moon Europa. The only question now is how much ice separates the water from the surface. There are two theories about the separation between the water and the surface. One, is the ice might just be a few kilometers deep which is exceptionable shallow, or it could be as many as 50 kilometers which is very thick. Both theories have good ways to explain the geysers that explode on the surface.
I learned a lot from this article about europa. First I learned that water is under the ice caps of europa so that to me was the most interesting part of this article. Second is that to me there is only one thing thing we can do to know for sure how much ice is on the moon of europa. We must go and see. I find that very exiting, we are finaly going to see water on a planet besides earth. A major scientific break for all man.
I picked this article beacause of how interesting it looked. I felt in the future it could be a very important article.
Question: Which theory do you agree with and why?
The article I chose to read and summarize for my homework was about self-cleaning clothes. The two scientists who have designed a major part in this process are, Mingce Long and Deyong Wu, both from prestigious colleges in China. They say that these clothes will take only a few hours on a clothes line under the sun to clean. The trick is a 3 substance mixture that reacts under sunlight. One substance is coatings that is in tattoo ink and helps sunscreen block the sunlight. The problem with the self-cleaning clothes is that one of the chemicals can be harmful if it makes its way into the lungs. That’s the only “road block” in the path of Long and Wu’s self-cleaning clothes.
I think that this is a great article. It was very informative. The self cleaning clothes will definitely have an effect on electric bills and water bills. I think that’s very important because my parents always yell at me because I take “long” showers. Hopefully my “long” showers won’t be as much as a problem in the future.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/researchers-trace-roots-europes-black-death-plague/story?id=14722342
Summary: A bacteria called the black plague started in 1347 and killed 50 million people in Europe in just 5 years. It started as harmless bacteria and got worse over the years. The strain arose no more than 140 years before the plague started. When we as humans go to a different country, we tend to get sick because we have had no contact with the animals or pathogens that are there. Nowadays we can treat most of our sicknesses with the medicine with have now.
Reaction: This article scares me because no one wants to be killed by a virus in the air that I don’t know about.
Reason for choosing: I made a connection to the Black Death from when Mr. Picciottoli mentioned it in class.
Information learned: Never travel to another country knowing you are not used to what they have there like water and food.
Critical thinking question: What type of medicine can cure this plague?
http://news.yahoo.com/why-shouldnt-fear-science-even-particle-physics-021013242.html
This article is asking the question are people afraid of science? It talks about how people are not necessarily afraid of science but just the unknown. This article is a written up interview with scientist named Lisa Radell. She is also a professor at Harvard. As well as a physicist. She study questions like string theory and particle acceleration to try and solve the question, when will and how will the universe end. Also a lot of people don’t care about that or don’t have time to care about that with there jobs, and mortgages. She doesn’t want to tell people what to feel and care about but she feels that a lot of people do care about this and she feels that they should have access to the most current information out there which is why she wrote her book.
I had several reactions to this article. I get that people might be afraid of change and while that is normal it is a problem. Lets say you are out somewhere and something doesn’t make sense to you, instead of walking away from it why note take a closer look and try to see why it is doing that and even if you don’t care that much don’t care about it don’t just drop it, try to report on a blog on online because it is possible you may have discovers something new. Also I chose this article for one reason only it looked interesting. Most articles I will do will be about a discovery not about something like a question for example why are people a afraid of science. Lastly I chose this because I curious why people were afraid of science. I learned that even though a lot of good can come from something people are more afraid of it. Also I learned that a theory is a possibility. For example the theory of the universe is probably wrong but it works and it is more then likely that a very small part of our theory is correct.
My question is do you think there will ever come a day when we can be sure we know the therapy of the universe?
I read the article “In African Cave, Signs of an Ancient Paint Factory” by John Noble Wilford, which was about how archaeologists have recently disocvered a 100,000-year-old workshop in a South African cave. They found ancient tools and ingredients showing that these early modern humans mixed some of the first paint. Archaeologists found stones for pounding and grinding colorful dirt (which was made redder with an iron oxide known as ocher) that revealed that paint was made here. This is the oldest discovery of how long there has been paint because previous studies only went back 40,000 years to 60,000 years. The color was very symbolic, representing life and death by its blood-like color. Finding these stones and shells, which were used as a container or a palette for the paint, showed that early modern humans were beginning to think like we do. They used the paint on their bodies for symbolic reasons, as decoration, or they used paint to leave messages or paint walls.
I thought the article was very interesting because it is amazing that even 100,000 years ago, humans were starting to think about inventions and ways to make life easier and better. I chose this article because new discoveries always draw me in and I couldn’t believe that so far back in history, humans were becoming more advanced. From this article, I learned about what was used to make the paint, which was just colorful dirt and the iron oxide, ocher. I also learned that the color was used so much because it was symbolic to the people living in South Africa. Overall, I enjoyed this article because it was interesting for me to read and it showed me how far humans had come, even 100,000 years ago!
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/science/14paint.html?pagewanted=1&ref=science
Critical Thinking Question: Why do you think paint was important during this time?
I think that paint was important during this time because, it says what some things are…. like in the summary it said that red was the blood. Also i think that maybe they thought one day someone will see our cave and find out many things about us so we should tell them! those are some of my thoughts.
Hearing Bilingual: How babies sort out language
Summary:
The article I real about how different people are researching what the difference is between a baby that is brought up in a bilingual house and baby that is brought up in a household speaking only one language. In this article it said that when researchers at the University of Washington studied babies using measures of electrical brain responses to compare the two different types of babies. In addition, I read about a professor at the University of British Columbia who studies how babies perceive language. That professor came to a conclusion that babies born to bilingual mothers not only prefer both of those languages over the others, but they are also able tot register that the two languages are different
Reaction:
My reaction is amazed because I never knew that babies were this smart. I never knew that it was able babies to register everything in just six months. It’s really interesting because these babies are able to distinguish everything at such a young age. By looking at an infant, I would never think this.
Reason for choosing:
My reason for choosing this article was because I’ve never read an article about this subject before and I thought it would be interesting to learn about it and to share with everyone about. In addition, I didn’t know a lot about this topic so I thought I would read it. At the end, it was a really good article!
Information learned:
Information that I learned from this article is the babies are actually thinking more than we think they are. In addition, I learned that many scientists study babies different habits and compare and contrast them to other babies.
Question: What is your opinion on bilingual babies?
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/health/views/11klass.html?_r=2
Last Tuesday, three astronomers won the nobel prize in Physics. The three astronomers discovered that the universe was being blown apart by a mysterious force called dark matter. Originally, the three men led two teams of scientists who were using stars called type 1a supernova to help outline the expansion of the universe. Instead in 1998, the two teams found that the expansion of the universe was in-fact, speeding up. The dark matter is pushing galaxies apart. Both teams of scientists came up with the same answer, which was surprisingly odd to both groups of scientists.
I chose article because like my article last week, this discovery was a huge breakthrough in science history. From this article I learned that the universe is expanding so quickly because of dark matter. What I found even more interesting was that scientists can’t actually describe what dark matter is. When I read this article I was extremely fascinating. This discovery will change the way physicists view the universe. I believe that many more discoveries in space will be made due to this recent discovery.
Question: Why do you think that scientists can’t describe dark matter.
(I found this article in the New York Times)
I think that scientists can’t describe dark matter because they are not sure of where it comes from or exactly what is is. Also, since they probably can’t physically see it, they can’t describe its physical apperance or what it looks like.
Sharks are one of the most famous animals. Sharks play extremely important role in marine food chain as the top predators. This means that if their population continues to shrink the entire balance of the marine food chain will be put under great jeopardy. Since the over fishing of sharks has be happening this will decline the population of sharks. The recent estimate says that about 100 million sharks are killed a year from over fishing.
My reaction to his article is all though I don’t really like sharks because they do scare me this is really sad. I wish people would help and save the sharks that they are overfishing. If a shark gets stuck in the net the people who are fishing should help and save the shark. For example put the shark back into the water and if it is hurt see what you can do to try to help the shark get back to normal. Something I learned from this article is that about 100 million sharks are killed from people overfishing. The reason why I chose this article was because as I saw the title of it which is why are a shark in big trouble these days? As I read this I thought sharks are tough how can they be in trouble.
Critical thinking question: How do you think we can save people from stop overfishing
http://sciencefactsandarticles.blogspot.com/2011/10/why-are-sharks-in-big-trouble-these.html
We can stop them if we put a maximum sign where people fish because many people will listen to it and put a fine if they don’t follow it.
Science Article Summary
The article that I read talks about how babies born with extremely low birth weights have a higher risk of developing autism later on in life. Studies on this topic began in 1984, when scientists tracked 1,105 babies who weighed less than 4 pounds, 7 ounces at birth, and discovered that 5% (about 55) of the babies had signs of autism by age 21, which is about 5 times higher than the risk of autism in children with normal birth weights. This is alerting scientists to have children screened for autism at an early age, in order to start treatment immediately. About 3% of babies born in the U.S. are underweight, and if all of those children have a higher risk of autism, then screening must begin immediately. Unfortunately, scientists cannot be sure that it is the low birth weight that is attributing to autism, because so many things could be involved- and, of course, plenty of premature babies can have brain disabilities and yet not have autism. The important thing is to screen babies as early as possible, in order to start treatment.
It freaks me out a little that babies who are born too tiny could develop autism later on, because I know how many babies are born premature. Little babies are already prone to so many medical problems as it is that there doesn’t need to be another thing to be worried about. If I knew someone who was going to have a baby, I’d be worried enough that the child would be premature, and would be even more concerned if that child could easily develop autism.
I chose this article because it sounded interesting. Autism has always daunted me a little, and developments in the disease intrigue me because I want to know if any new treatment has been found. Furthermore, my aunt was an extremely premature baby, who has had mild cerebral palsy her entire life, and I made a connection when I read this article. By reading this article, I learned that premature babies have a higher risk for autism, and other brain disorders. Also, 3% of babies in the United States are born prematurely, meaning that they are very prone to brain problems. Finally, children who have autism will typically have symptoms of the disease by age 21.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/17/health/low-birth-weight-autism/index.html?hpt=he_c1
Critical Thinking Question: Do you have any personal connections to this article? If you do, describe them, and how does this article make you feel based on any personal connections?
My article is about how green vegetables can help your immune system. The vegetables assure that your gut and skin are getting the proper functions they need. When a scientist stopped eating healthy for about two weeks, he noticed that about 70 or 80 of the protective cells that the vegetables gave him had disappeared.
The compound of the vegetables can prevent the bad cells to coming and destroying your immune system. That as well is another theory that some scientist have to for a conclusion. Either way, eating right can help your health and protect your immune system as well.
This article was really interesting to me. I really liked learning this. I always thought that protecting your immune system would be much more scientific rather than just eating right. I thought that the cells would have interact with the outside world to become infected and to stay healthy. I was actually wrong and figured out that really, all you had to was eat your vegetables. That surprised me the most.
I chose this article because I was interested when I saw the food for the picture. I was confused as to how food could help your immune system fight off disease. But after reading the article it actually became very clear to me.
I leaned a lot front his article. Like that not only can eating healthy protect your immune system, but how eating junk food or having a poor diet can very much hurt your immune system. I never really thought about it like that.
Critical Thinking Question: Are there any other theories as to how other things can help your immune system?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111013121509.htm
New Mystery on Mars’ Forgotten Plains-Science Daily News
This article was about a surface on Mars called Hesperia Planum and how this flat uninteresting landscape could possibly rewrite the planet’s history. Scientists usually do not study the flat lands, and especially not this one since there was only a small volcano on it. Carolyn Roberts, a scientist, was studying the Hesperia Planum and realized there were no other volcanic flows in this area. She thought that she couldn’t see any active volcanoes because of the thick dust that blankets Hesperia Planum like snowfall. She then realized there were about a dozen narrow sinuous channels called rilles just a few hundred meters wide and a few hundred kilometers long. They were not all clearly volcanic. Everyone assumed it was lava flows but now looking at it twice, it could be a lake deposit. They could have carried water, lava or something else at one point. She also noted that the craters of the Hesperian marked a transition between the Noachian (a time of liquid water on the surface and the formation of lots of impact craters) and the Amazonian (a drier, colder Mars). Making this discovery could change the history of Mars. If Carolyn Roberts discovery happens to be true, Hesperia Planum can potentially be a good place to look for life since water and volcanic heat and minerals are the starting key for getting life started. Overall, this is a new and important discovery made which can change everything we know about Mars.
This article was very interesting. In enjoyed learning how new discoveries are made every day. If scientist’s theories are true, it could change our history. I think it is very important to acknowledge the theories and discoveries made because we could learn a lot from it. I chose this article because I like to read about space. I enjoy learning about planets and thought this article would interest me. I learned that Mars could potentially have water on it. If it did there could be signs of life. That would mean it would be the first known planet besides Earth to have living creatures on it.
If there was water on Mars, do you think scientists would find animals or other living creatures? Why or Why not?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111012083440.htm
Summary-
Whales have been caught and killed since ancient times. I read the article, “With Powerboat and Forklift, a Sacred Whale Hunt Endures” by William Yardley and Erik Olsen of the New York Times. Whale hunting was a more popular activity in ancient times, when the blubber, meat and bones were very valuable and resourceful. But, Inupiat Eskimos in Barrow Alaska recently caught a twenty-eight foot bowhead whale. Before commercialized products reached Barrow, the bowhead was a key source of food, spirituality sense, and energy.
Preparing a whale is no easy or clean task. The crew carefully hauls the whale with a bulldozer, and then it is chopped up to pieces. A whale like this is a big celebration for the community, and the crew who had the honors of catching it will offer the whale part for the next couple of days. But, the crew in Barrow, bringing even more joy, caught another whale. The bowheads are endangered animals, so that worries many; but their population is increasing. Animal-rights people are continuing to deem this cruel, but the Eskimos claim it is all a misunderstanding; their ancestors did it for thousands of years, so it is symbolic of their community.
Reaction-
I think that whaling is an interesting sport. Whales are such giant creatures, that I cannot imagine who came up with the idea to haul them on to shore, especially back in ancient times. It is harsh to kill these whales and then cut them up in front of the whole community. I personally would not enjoy a giant, bloody whale body being down the street from my house. But, I respect that this is an ancient tradition. Animal rights activists will probably continue to shame this, but at least these Alaskan Eskimos only harvest 1 percent of bowheads each year. I would not want to be associated with this type of activity, but I am glad it is controlled.
Reason-
This article stood out to me because of the intriguing picture. It captured the whale being distributed in pieces along the beach in Barrow. I chose the article after reading since it focused on how some people’s ways of life have still remained the same, but also changed. I think it is fascinating how animals play a role in science, from studies, tests, and production. I know that certain types of whales have been on the verge of extinction. So, I wanted to know more about this whale and how it is used in this Alaskan town called Barrow.
Information Learned-
The article was compelling, and I learned a few things. First, that whaling still takes place! I thought it was very rarely done, or that there was some type of law against it. But, it still happens, just not so frequently. Next, I learned that a crew hauling in a whale is a great thing. It calls for people to gather and congratulations to be given to the family of the crew. Lastly, I saw that whaling is a family tradition. Some people have passed on their knowledge from generation to generation, even since the 1800’s.
Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/17/us/in-sacred-whale-hunt-eskimos-use-modern-tools.html?ref=earth
Critical Thinking Question:
Do you think whaling will continue on as a tradition? If it does, do you believe whaling will stay in desolate areas or branch off and become popular again?
Science Article
The article “Long Lost Lake Agassiz” is about a Lake that used to be as big as the Hudson Bay, however now has vanished. The lake was formed by melting glaciers but has been evaporated. The Lake Glacial Lake Agassiz used to cover most of Canadian providence. Thousands of years ago were the last ice age and suddenly now the weather gets hot and then it changed back to cold. Mr. Lowell said that he studies rapid climate change and it is weird how the temperature went from being cold too hot to cold in the last 30 years. There are still many more questions about the lost Lake Agassiz that haven’t been answered.
I think what happened to the lake is so weird. Although of course things would change over time because how we are affecting the environment in a bad way. I decided to choose this article to read about because I never heard of the Glacial Lake before. Also I never knew it was one of the many lakes that disappeared from global warming. I learned that over the past 30 years the weather has gone from cold too hot to cold. I’m not sure what will happen in the next 30 years or even 15 but I hope it’s nothing bad.
Critical Question: If the weather is changing that fast and the weather doesn’t change like that for about 1000 years then what do you think will happen in the next 30 years or even 15?
Link: http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.aspx?id=14355
A Delivery From Space That Made A Big Splash:
Summary: During the observations made by the telescope, astronomers found water ice on a comet named Hartley 2. Water has been found on other comets as well, however, they had a different ratio so it was unlikely that the water is a source of Earth’s water. However, this water on comet Hartley 2 matches the chemistry of Earth’s oceans. Researchers believe the water came from the Oort cloud, a light year away from the sun. This comet, scientists think came from the Kuiper belt, 1,000 times closer to the Earth. The Kuiper belt is larger than the asteroid belt; therefore, that enlarges the possible source of earth’s water. However, researchers still have to compare this comet with others to confirm this discovery. “However, this proves that the solar system may have to be revisited,” said Paul Hartogh, a researcher.
Reaction: My reaction is that this really does mean we have to revisit the solar system. I thought that this was an interesting discovery and it shows that there may be more sources of water. I was surprised when I read this article because I knew scientists were struggling with other sources of water, especially on Mars, but this is great news that we may have found water on a comet. I was also happy because if fresh water does run out, and the ratio of the water does match Earth’s water, we will still be able to survive.
Reason for choosing this article: I thought that this was important news, which more people should know about. This article does show hopes that there may be other sources of water. Also, this article is a good example that there are still plenty of more discoveries to be made. Just because someone discovers something vital, does not mean that there aren’t more things to discover. Now that we have some evidence of another source of water, scientists and researchers still have to back this fact up and need to do more exploring. Also, I thought that this was a prominent discovery made.
Link of article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/science/11comet.html?_r=1&ref=earthplanet
Critical Thinking Question: If there really is some of Earth’s water on the comet, how do you think we would we reach that source, what are some possible ways to transport that source to Earth so we will be able to use it, and could there be a downfall with using that water?
My article was about searching for life in space. Later this decade, NASA will begin a mission to bring Mars rocks back to Earth. Many people believe that this mission will be the one that finds “ET.” If we don’t find aliens in our solar system, then they will be somewhere out in the other solar systems. Here on Earth is what is called the “Allen Telescope Array”, which is completely devoted to finding extraterrestrial intelligence
I found this article to be very interesting. This is because I had never known about the Allen Telescope Array that is just devoted to finding other life in the universe. Also, I found that NASA is going to do another space mission to be interesting. I chose this article because I thought it was going to be interesting. Also, I enjoy space and the new things space has to offer. What I learned from this article was that the NASA program wasn’t yet over. Also, how they find ET, with the Allen Telescope Array.
Critical thinking question: How do you think that the rocks from Mars will further them into finding ET?
Article: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-09/searching-life-all-right-places
Laser analysis betrays diamonds origins
In Minneapolis on October 14th, 2011 an extraordinary thing happened. Scientists brought diamonds to a lab in Minneapolis. With new technology scientists were able to use a special laser to find out were in the world the diamond came from. How this works is the laser takes off a minuscule of the diamond and it then creates plasma. The plasma from the diamond gets hot enough to give off a bright pattern of light that tells the scientists what it is made of and possibly what country the diamond came from. With this method the scientists might even be able to tell if the diamond is a “conflict gemstone” or a diamond that was obtained legally.
I think that this article is very neat. I think this because it shows how far technology has gone and how advanced it is. I really like how the scientists are able to find out where the diamond came from. I choose this article because it sounded the most interesting to me. This method is not ready to be brought to companies who deal with gems, but one day hopefully it will help them make sure that they are not financing the bloodshed that happens when conflict gems are involved.
Question, Do you think that in the future scientists will be able to tell who or what touched the diamonds?
article link?
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1187829-overview
Insomnia is a condition where you are unable to sleep or have great quality of sleep in an reasonable amount of time. There are three types of insomnia, these three types refer to the amount of time you experience the symptoms of insomnia. One type is transient insomnia, which is often known as adjustment sleep disorder. Transient insomnia occurs when you are under a great deal of stress or anxiety, it will go away once those stresses are resolved but is likely to reappear. Another type is short-term insomnia that lasts 1-6 months. It can be caused by stress or may be due to your surroundings such as noise or light. Lastly, the next insomnia is called chronic insomnia, which is any insomnia that goes on over 6 months. This insomnia usually comes in a package with other sorts of disorders and is not likely to happen otherwise. To be called a disorder, insomnia that is, it must come with these symptoms afterwords, tired in daytime, loss of interest and motivation, irritability and worries about sleep.
A family member of mine has struggled with insomnia before so reading this article, I didn’t have a necessarily strong shocked reaction. My reaction was more interest then anything else. My reason for choosing this article is that when I was searching for an article, the heading for this one appeared on the sidebar and it intrigued me so I clicked on it.
Critical think question:
How do you think insomnia may affect people’s lives?
I think that insomnia may affect peoples lives because if you are unable to sleep it can really have a terrible affect on you. You are fresher and readier to learn when you get a great night sleep so when you don’t sleep at all, your ability to learn goes down to almost zero. Sleeping is so important and eventually if you don’t sleep ever, you could die. So it is not a good condition to have, and should be checked out by a doctor ASAP.
The article I read about was a malaria vaccine that was tested between the 14 month flow. They found out from the new England journal of medicine that it occurs from ages 5 -14 months in more than 6000 African children. Mostly for rabies vaccinations. It has taken so far 25 years to get this far. Many doctors resgniened from doing this any further. Most said just to acept the fact that this is part of african life. This was waht my article was about
From Tropics to Poles: Study Reveals Diversity of Life in Soils
Summary: The soils of the world are full of bug and insect life. This is the conclusion that scientists have come to after going around the world and studying the different amounts of insect life in the soils. Before this research was found, most scientists had accepted the thought that most life on the planet is found near the hot equator, and the least amount of life exists in the cold areas of the poles. However, this discovery shows that that isn’t always true. Researchers traveled to locations such as the dry grasslands in Kenya, the tropical forests in Costa Rica, and the frozen grounds of Alaska and Sweden and found that many amounts of nematodes, mites and springtails existed in the soils of those places. One scientist mentioned that some of the best ways to understand the biodiversity of life on Earth is by studying the smallest life forms. The study really shows the range of ecosystems on the planet. The different amounts of each insect they found at each site helped to explain each location’s diverse species, and that all of the insects contribute to the soil. They help to develop nutrients in the soil and that’s great help for farmlands. All in all, the insects that inhabit the soil can be found all over the world.
Reaction: After reading this article, I wasn’t very surprised by the information it contained but was still interested. What I was surprised to read was the fact that these scientists went to so many locations around the world to collect this data. I know that scientists do things like that all the time, but they usually travel like that for much bigger projects. To find out that these scientists went all that way to find information about life in the soil was a bit surprising, and it was surprising in a good way. By the time I finished reading this article, I was amazed that the researchers had done so much traveling for the project, but happy that they did it because the discoveries they made are very important for people to know.
Reason for Choosing It: Before I found this article, I knew that I wanted to read something about life on planet Earth. To me, this topic is the easiest to understand and write about. When I read the title, I became interested and began reading the article. Before I knew it, I was done reading and felt like I had learned quite a lot! I was sure that it would be a waste of time to search for another article to read, when I just finished and understood this one. Overall, I chose it because it was about a topic that was simple to understand and interested me.
Information Learned: Although I had known prior to reading this that insect life existed in the soil, I hadn’t known that lots of insect life could be found in the soils near the earth’s poles. I had always figured that most life could be found closer to the equator, like what was said in the article. When I read that the scientists were discovering life in the soils of the poles, I knew that I had learned a new piece of information. Mainly, I learned about different places where insect life could be found in the soils of places that I didn’t expect there to be.
Link to the Article: http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/10/18/from.tropics.poles.study.reveals.diversity.life.soils
Critical Thinking Question: How do you think it’s possible for all of this insect life to exist in the soils of places such as Alaska where it’s so cold?
An interesting article I read talked about the Foambot: a robot that can build itself into any kind of robot fairly quickly out of foam, making it adaptable to any job. The Foambot consists of a mobile “mothership” platform that makes the robot, and several joint modules that move the robot. To make the robot, the mothership lays the joints out on the ground and sprays them with a mixture of chemicals, known as reagents, that react with each other to harden and expand into a solid urethane foam. Once the foam is connected to the joints, the mothership uses software installed in it to find out how the robot can move based on the way it is built. This was very interesting in my opinion. I couldn’t believe a robot could make itself and adapt to how it is made. Imagine in how many different ways this concept could potentially be used.
I chose this article because the title “Foambot Creates Itself Out of Sprayable Foam, Becoming Whatever Robot You Need” really popped out at me. I wanted to know how this was possible. The concept of a robot adapting itself for any job was interesting to me. I learned that it was possible for a robot to create itself. Another fact I learned was that there was such a thing as foam that expands and hardens. As you can see, robots can be made to do just about anything.
To see the Foambot in action click this link: http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-10/foambot-creates-itself-out-sprayable-foam-becoming-whatever-robot-you-need
Critical Thinking Question: How do you think this robot can change society? Explain.
The article I read was about how wind produces electricity, but it may not be worth the money to go greener. In 2030, if the United States kept up it’s rate of greating wind mill things, then we would be saving about 20% of electricity! But, it would cost over 2.3 billion dollars to do this. Also, people are predicting that if we did do this, then people would be taking granted of their elecricity and become greedy about it and buy more electrical appliances. The wind mill things could become useless on less windy days, and instead of having a few electronics work, a lot won’t work. I think it is amazing that people can calculate this. Also, I think that we should go fourth with the wind mill things, but we should have a limit on electrical appliances per household. Obviously, at the time, we have a delightful amount that keeps electricity going without power outs ever day, but if we had the wind mill things, we could go above. The thing is, we shouldn’t go up too many electrical appliances. I chose this article because I think that we should be going green. We have done little things for many years, but now I think it’s time to take a stand in the world and actually do things to help out our enviornment. This article is an example of a failed attempt to go green, but we learn from our mistakes. Maybe next time, we will figure out how to make this be cheaper and we may also figure out how to keep the amount of electricity we have know and not go overboard with electricity so it doesn’t get out of hand. I found this article in my dad’s New York Times newspaper. What are some ways you are going green? What is one big thing you would do to really impact how green the world is?
In this article, it discusses a recent discovery in Scotland. Archaeologists found the remains of a Viking chief buried with his boat, sword, ax and spear. This was one of the most significant finds ever found in Britain. The grave was believed to be over 1,000 years old and a lot of it had rotted away, but scraps of wood and hundreds of metal rivets held the vessel together. This grave was 16 feet long and is the first intact site of its kind to be discovered on mainland Britain.
I think this article was very interesting. It’s cool that people can dig things up that are as old as 1,000 years. Although they are rotted away, you can still tell what they are which i think is amazing. From this article I learned that the sword, spear, ax, boat, and the Viking Chief are all called artifacts, and the people that find them are called archaeologists. I chose this article because we talked about this topic (archeaologists and artifacts) in Social Studies, and i wanted to learn more.
Link: http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20111019/EU.Britain.Viking.Ship/
Critical Thinking Question: If an artifact rots, how do you think archaeologists can tell what the object is?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/health/19babies.html?_r=1&ref=science
We’ve all heard someone claim that TV and other electronics can rot our brains. While that may not be entirely true, it isn’t very useful for educational purposes. According to my article, children under the age of two years old learn little to nothing from even the most educational programs. In fact, by spending time in front of the television it cuts down on their social skills like playing with other toddlers. Television is everywhere, the average house has ten screens alone under their roof. While there is no proof of long-term setbacks, electronics don’t succeed in the education department. Infants are completely clueless on what educational messages are coming from Sesame Street or Yo Gabba Gabba, and while school age children can understand it they learn faster by being taught by a teacher or doing the work on their own. If nothing else, children should be spending most of their time with actual people because it improves their language skills drastically compared to the TV. In the future, our doctors may be recommending limits on media for youngsters.
I was a bit surprised by this article. Sesame Street has been around forever, and I just thought that it was an essential for teaching kids about life. I even learned some Spanish by watching Dora The Explorer when I was little! The fact that people are so reliant on TV to distract their kids for brief moments of time confuses me because it doesn’t do much for them educationally. I guess in years to come people might stop handing their toddlers an iPhone to play with and instead a coloring book.
I chose to read this article because it caught my eye. After seeing all those “Your Baby Can Read” ads and educational programming on television, I was convinced it was a new phase of education but who could have guessed that it actually didn’t educate as much as conversations with other humans. I learned something new by reading this article and I think others can too.
Overall, I learned that nothing beats flashcards and books for learning. People have tried everything, from TV shows to iPhone apps, but clearly they haven’t proved as effective! Also, who could have guessed that by kids “learning” with TV they could also damage their social skills? I wouldn’t be surprised if the number of electronic education opportunities lessened.
My critical thinking question to you is this:
What might be in store for alternate education of the future? Explain!
The Flying Squirrel
This article was about the flying squirrel and its 43 species tribe. In the article it talks about how the squirrel can fly. This animal will launch its self off the top of the tree and extend his flaps. Then the squirrel can glide its way down. It uses its tail as a stabilizer for steering. This article was cool because you don’t really hear about lying animals that don’t really have wings. It is so cool how a squirrel can fly with out having to flap its wings. My reason for choosing this article was because it was interesting. The information I learned was that the wrist bones in the squirrel are small cartilaginous bones.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/f/flying_squirrel.htm
Q: If you could pick any animal that cannot fly yet, what would it be?
Giant Pandas mainly eat bamboo, but how they digest it has been a mystery until now. Scientists have found bacteria in the panda intestines that can degrade cellulose, the main component of bamboo. The idea is that the bacteria digest the cellulose for the panda and then provide them with nutrients that they can use. Scientists found these bacteria by sequencing panda dung.
I found this article interesting because it explains how panda’s can grow up to 350 pounds on a plant diet. I have always thought that pandas and cute and interesting and it was cool to get to know more about them. I chose this article because almost everything in it was new to me: that you can identify bacteria in their dung, and that people can’t digest cellulose. I also learned that some plant eating animals, like cows and sheep, have multiple stomachs. There are bacteria in these stomachs that help them digest plants.
I learned that you can determine the kinds of bacteria in a sample by looking for the sequence of RNA in ribosomes. Also they found genes that can break down cellulose in bacteria called Clostridium.
The name of this article is “Revealed: Why giant pandas can stomach bamboo” and the link is http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/10/17/scitech/main20121563.shtml.
Here is a critical learning question: Just because cellulose-degrading bacteria are in the Panda gut, does that mean they are the ones who digest the cellulose? Maybe the scientists are being fooled and something else digests the cellulose.
The article I read was about how there is a new radar that scientists created so you can see through walls from a good distance away. How it works is that there is a ray that shots through the wall detects a motion like a animals send out waves to detect motion.so it goes through the wall detcets it and it comes back and gives you the picture.
When the scientists were testing they were having a problem 99% of the waves didn’t get through then on the way back 99% didn’t get through again. So only 0.000025 of the signal strength got through from the orignal. They said this was not only the main problem.This was created for the army so people could see if there was enemies on the other side of the wall. But it wouldn’t work if you got one image every 20 minutes and you would have to stand next to a potetionaly dangerous building so the scientists built it so that you can use it from 60 feet away. So what the scientists thought of was that the longer the wave the more it could get through the wall. They made it so if your 30 feet from a target it sends out a 30 kilohertz the wave. The radar can only detect moving objects but even a person standing still has a slight movement it will detect it. As of know humans show up as a blob and as a bird’s eye view.
My reaction to this artcle was that it was very cool that you can detect something through a wall. Because nobody has been able to create anything like this so it was very cool. And know they can use it in the army so it will help save lives in the army which is very helpful.So I really liked this idea and article and I am thanking the scientists for this.
My reason for chosing this article is that I thought the title was very cool and it intreiged me to want to read the article. And the other article’s that were there did not excite me and make me want to read it/
What I learned about in this article is that scientists can now see through walls and army’s can use it. And also to get through a solid abjuct as a ray will go through a solid if it is longer. And thats what I learned in this article.
critical question
what was the percent of regular rays going through a solid wall?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111018102703.htm
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2011/10/ozone-hits-a-new-low/
In the article I read this week it talks about the ozone layer. Scientists have found out that the ozone layer has reached as new low. This is because of all the global warming that is going on. The ozone layer protects us from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. Without the ozone layer we will all be in trouble.
I was really suprised at how low the ozone layer was. I knew it being damaged but not at the rate it is being destroyed. It won’t be long before it is not there any more.
I choose this article because it really took me by suprise. If we don’t do anything about our global warming problem we won’t live much longer.
In this article I learned that the ozone layer is up in the stratosphere. Also, that the thickness of the ozone layer changes throughout the year.
Critical Thinking Question:
How can we reduce the amount of global warming a year?
Studies of Universe’s Expansion Wins Nobel
On October 4th 2011, three astronomers were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for learning that the universe is rapidly being blown apart by the mysterious force that is dark energy. Saul Perlmutter, Brian P. Smidt, and Adam G. Riess are all being awarded this prestigious award. They are all attempting to see what the fate of the universe will be, if the “Big Crunch” will happen or we could drift off into the depths of the cosmos. In 1998 nobody believed their theories but those people where proved wrong. Surprisingly, every test they have done was inline with the Einstein’s theory cosmological constant.
Opinion: I found this article intriguing and I thought it was mind-blowing to find out that a mysterious, and almost scary, force, called dark energy, is blowing us apart. I have watched many shows on the Science channel going into depths about the strange force.
Learned: I learned a lot in this article dark energy should be 10120 times more powerful according to Quantum Theory.
Reason for Choice: Mrs. Lasher provided articles for Social studies and the article i got applied to science as well.
Source: New York Times
Critical Thinking Question: How do you think the Universe might end? Will we drift off into the unknown or crash together in a “Big Crunch”?
Hailey’s Comet
If you just happen to step outside in the next week or so, you just might be able to catch a glimpse of some “cosmic litter” that had been discarded by Hailey’s Comet. This year the shower will reach it’s highest point around sunrise on October 22. These meteors are know as “Orinids” because of the facts that these fireballs seem to fan out from the north of Orion’ s second brightest star can be found. This particular shower usually will produce 20- 25 meteors per hours, under a clear and dark sky. These will begin to increase around October 17th, and then after the peak which occurs on October 22nd, the numbers will slowly increase. The best time to watch this event is from 1-2 a.m., until around dawn.
What are comets??? That is a question that you may be asking yourself after the first paragraph. Comets are leftovers of the solar system, which may consist of odd bit and pieces of gases such as methane, ammonia, carbon dioxide, and water vapor. The reason why they become shooting stars is because when they reach Earth’s, and they collide with it, friction from our atmosphere makes them eventually turn into white heat, and cause the effect of shooting stars. These fire balls travel at a speed of 41 miles per second, and are just a tab faster than most other comet’s remains.
I really liked reading this article. Last year and in 6th grade I got up to see meteor showers, but on every night that we went out it was cloudy!!! I was so mad and now I have a third chance to see one. I chose this article because my mom was reading about it on a website and she sent it to me to read, and so I found it quite interesting that they fall at 41 miles per second. I also never knew how they got to be shooting stars, or what thy where made out of. These two facts also interested me a lot.
Question:
Do you think that all meteors appear to be white?Explain.
Link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44908882/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/halleys-comet-meteor-show-due-next-week/#.TpmL5vJ00Tw.email
A retired German satellite is coming back down to Earth, and they cannot get in touch with it. This is a problem because some on the pieces could crash down on the Earth has early as friday. (tomorrow) Experts are not sure exactly where it will land.
When I read this article, I was very surprised about what was happening. I never really keep up with learning about space/scientific things, so I never thought the first article I read would be about a dangerous satellite coming to crash into the Earth. At the same time, I am kind of mad at this. I feel that this is annoying, and that this should never happen. The satellite is now putting people in danger, because it was “retired” in space. In my opinion, I think retired satellites should be taken out of Earth’s orbit so these types on things don’t happen again.
I choose this article because I do like reading about space and when I saw this article it looked interesting to me. I did find it very short for my liking but i thought the topic was good.
Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/world/europe/german-satellite-on-its-way-back-to-earth.html?ref=science
Critical Thinking Question:
If you were a scientist that was trying to get in-touch with this satellite, what would you do?
Knot of Worry Tightens for Fishermen
In Seattle people are worrying because scientists have found out that wild samon found in the british columbia area has been infected with anemia. It is a deadly deadly virus that devastated farm fish in Chile. It is not contagious to humans but now people in fish markets don’t want to buy the salmon. People are upset that this has happened because it is on the endangered species list. Wild samon are also a cultural symbol.Fisherman blame hatcheries for “stealing” thier livelihood.
I thought that people are overreacting. If the virus is not contagious then whay would’nt people eat it? That just makes it harder for the fisherman. Well,I guess I would’nt want to eat a fish with a virus either. I choose this article because I didn’t understand why people would’nt eat it. Also I didn’t understand the title. I learned that scientist can track viruses and that alot of people like salmon.
Critical thinking question: Would you eat the wild samon?Why?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/science/20salmon.html?ref=science
http://news.yahoo.com/hawaii-astronomer-captures-image-forming-planet-230958310.html
The article that I read was about a man named Adam Kraus who has spotted a new planet being formed. Apparently the planet has been forming for 50,000- 10,000 years. They are calling it for now LkCa 15 b, and it is the youngest planet that has ever been observed before. Kraus said that he had caught the object at the perfect time, because now he can see it actually forming into a planet. This new sitting will help other scientist answer questions like whether planets form early in the life of a star or later. He also thought that other planets might be forming around the star as well, and he is hoping that they are. It has always been hard for scientist to actually see a planet forming because of the bright light of the star, but Kraus used a method which was to change the shape of their mirror to remove light distortions created by earth’s atmosphere. Another method was to put masks over most of the telescopes mirror. When they used these two methods, it allowed them to see the planet forming perfectly. Kraus told NASA about his discovery, and they will keep researching the star until it is fully a planet.
My reaction to this article was astonishment. I didn’t really think that planets were still forming in our solar system. But I think that its really cool that something like this is actually happening. Im really interested to learn more about the new and upcoming planet. It would be cool to see what the planet will look like and what the living conditions might be, whether we would be able to breath there or not. I chose this article because at first I didn’t really understand that a new planet was forming, so I clicked on it to find out more about it. I’m glad that I did pick this one because I learned something that I didn’t even think could happen. I learned that new planets can form in our solar system, and that they are made from very old stars. This article was really good and very informative.
Do you think that there really are other planets forming from the same star?
My article was about a new fruit in African has become America’s favorite fruit. This fruit is called the African mango. And we Americans don’t just like it because it taste good which it does. But this mango helps people lose weight. In one mouth Dr. Tanya Edwards, M.D lost seven pounds just by taking the pill that has this fruit extract in it. She didn’t change any other habits like eating or exercise. She calls it the miracle pill. It’s the extract that is making people lose all this weight. But it doesn’t stop there. This fruits extract also helps lowers there cholesterol, triglyceride, and glucose levels.
My reaction to this article is excitement. I love all science things and this is just one of the greats. I know that they have said that this one pill works, and if u eat this food you’ll lose weight But this extract is really going to changes people’s lives. There is a lot of data to prove that this works. And there is only going to be more because everyone is going to start to use this miracle. And they said small things can’t make a different. I chose this article because it caught my attention. A fruit that helps you lose weight? No way. But it’s true. What I learned from this article is that there are a lot of things out there that can help you. You just really have to look for them. I also learned that most great discovers are not found in American. My critical thinking question is can anything bad happen to you heath wise if you use this product? If so is it long term?
http://www.healthdiscoveriesmag.com/
On October 19th, 2011, scientist’s discovered something absolutely extraordinary. They discovered a planet sized object as cool as Earth itself orbiting a dwarf planet outside our solar system. The scientists have given this planet an unusual name. Its name is WD 0806-661 B. The temperature of it’s surface is between 80 and 160 degrees farenheit. This is possibly as cool as a human! Astrophysical Journal states that “It is the coldest object ever directly photographed outside our solar system.
My reaction to this article was pure amazement. This classified “brown dwarf” is about the size of an actual planet! Also, it is probably the coldest object in the deep thresholds of space. It could probably be even colder than a human being, which really surprises me, to say the least. I hope scientists wil be able to perform more research on the brown dwarf.
My reason for choosing his article was that space has interested me for many years. To learn something new about space always persuades me to research the topic. Since this article was something new, i really wanted to read it. After reading the article, I was left captivated and satisfied with my new knowledge. It was such an amazing discovery that just had to be read.
The information that I have learned from this article are that scientists have been trying to find new record holders for cold brown dwarf planets since 1995. Also, I learned that the scientist shad to go through many photos to discover this object in space. They searched through photos of six hundred stars to find this brown dwarf. They found the brown dwarf in two photos taken in 2004 and 2009. This was a very interesting article and a blast to read.
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111019165226.htm
Critical thinking question: How do you think scientists are able to discover new objects in space?
The article I read was about fruit snacks, and how they are not as healthy as you might think. Stores, and brands advertise fruit snacks, as a healthy snack kids will love. It is true that they are very tasty, but they are definitely not the healthiest product you could give your child. They are almost identical to the sugar coated gummy bears snacks that kids love. Though fruit snacks are made partially from actual fruits, they are much closer to being candy then fruit. It’s a fact that fruit snacks have fruit flavors, but the ingredients used are not as healthy as expected. Some people think because fruit snacks are made of sugar cane, or sugar from fruit that it is still healthy, since the sugar originated from fruit. When it comes down to it sugar, no matter where it comes from is still sugar.
There have been many complaints, and even a lawsuit on this subject. The manufacturer is lying by saying they are healthy snacks for kids. People are complaining that fruit snacks are candy advertised as fruit. They think it is unfair to sell a product, and call it healthy when the truth is there are a lot of other snacks out there much healthier. Before you buy a product, you want to know exactly what it is you are allowing into your body. Fruit snacks are not clear, or accurate with there ingredients, which is beginning to cause controversy.
Overall, I think it is not fair to the customers buying the product. People think they are buying a healthy snack for their child, when really they are giving them a ton of sugar. Trying to pass a product as fruit, when it is similar to candy is not the right way to try and get people to buy it. I think the ingredients on the back of the packages should be changed to better fit what is actually in it. That way people can know what they are consuming. I found this article very surprising, and upsetting. I had no idea anyone would lie about what is used to make a product. I think you are always better off telling the truth, and selling the product as it is.
Critical thinking question: Do you think it is okay for manufacturers to say fruit snacks are a healthy snack? Why/why not?
http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/10/the-candification-of-our-food-the-case-of-the-fruit-less-fruit-snack/246913/
Summary: In Orlando, close to the launching site that is home to the many achievements of space travel, drew hundreds of people in a conference to discuss ideas of how to travel in space. Many participants were engineers, scientists, fans or students. Dr. Breeden raised the idea of an engine-less spaceship. His theory is that the starship will follow an asteroid and its orbit around the sun. Next, it will get caught up in the asteroid orbit and then flung into space. It will be powered by gravitational pull instead of an engine. NASA could make something like this in the future. Besides the engine-less spaceship they are trying to work on different ways to power an engine. Nuclear powered engines are helpful because they are radioactive. Also, they are trying to create nuclear engines with electric generators to give spaceships extra power.
Reaction: My reaction was that I thought it is very impressive of how NASA and scientists come up with these ideas. Through the years we’ve had many improvements in space travel. This article made me realize how important it is for them to have conferences to think of ideas. Every invention starts with an idea.
Reason: The reason I chose this article was that I thought it looked very interesting. When I saw this article it made me want to read it and find out how there can be a spaceship without an engine.
Information Learned: From this article I learned that an idea for NASA is an engine-less star ship. I also learned that they are trying to use different ways to power an engine. NASA’s different ideas help improve traveling into space in some way.
Critical Thinking Question: Why is it important for NASA to have conferences where people come and think of ideas?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/science/space/18starship.html
The article i read is about cars of the future. Google is usually known for its search system,and mail, but this article talks about how google invented a new line of cars. These cars are safer, smaller, smarter, and high tech. The cars run on two wheels only, and are suited for a driver and passenger. These fascinating cars are safer. They have video cameras on the outside so that the car can yield to pedestrians and avoid crashing into cars. Also, they can alert a driver when there is traffic. Six of these tiny cars can automatically park themselves into one normal parking spot. The cars are not only safer, but they are eco-friendly. These cute cars are electric. They are battery powered. When they are running out of battery, the car automatically sends a text to the owner of the car. Also, these wonderful cars return to the owner with a push of a button on your cellphone. For example if you parked your car in a sea of cars and you don’t know where you parked it, you can click a button on your phone and it will turn on and automatically drive to your location.
I think this is a really interesting article. I was fascinated by how intelligent these cars sound. They are geniuses created by geniuses (Google). I really enjoyed learning about this cute tiny cars. They can perform so many tasks. On a test trial they worked perfectly.Also i hope to see this cars more often. I want to hear about it and see more articles about them. Finally, someone has created a eco friendly smart mode of transportation. Its just absolutely amazing.
**Critical Thinking Questions**
1) Do you think these cars are a good idea?Explain.
2) Also do you think these cars will influence society in a positive or negative way? Explain
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2011/10/cars-of-the-future/
Sorry the article link did not post so here it is!
A new way of measuring blood sugar for diabetics has been discovered. Instead of having to prick a needle into your skin you can now measure your glucose levels with laser beams. But it will have to be proved that it can be used on humans first. Scientists have tried to use this for 20 years now but the glucose was easily smudged because of background noise from other molecules found in blood.
Scientists from the University of Toronto have discovered a way to turn off the background noise by using two beams of infrared lights at slightly different wavelengths. The glucose in the blood absorbs the light giving off heat which can be measured. this can then give the diabetic a blood glucose reading. Another problem is that this is very complicated and hard to produce the laser beams. They will have to find of making it so that people can buy from the shops and use it at home.
My reaction was that this would be great. My mom and one of my cousins have diabetes and it would be a lot easier if they did not have to use a needle to measure there blood levels.
Summary:
I read the article, Parents Urged Again to Limit TV for Youngest and found it was very intriguing. It turns out that American Academy of Pediatrics says to limit the amount of screens, which includes TVs, computers, iPads, iPhones, iTouch, cell phone, blackberries, TV shows in the backround etc. for very young children, normally under the age of two. The warning is not quite as harsh as the one back in 1999, saying the screens should be banned, but that the amount should be limited. This is because they have found that these children learn almost nothing from watching anything on the screen. Even what we call “educational television” doesn’t let these extremely young kids learn anything. For older kids, yes but toddlers cannot comprehend what is being put in front of them. The AAP says that these children learn more efficiently from real-life interactions, with people like their parents or babysitters and things. The report from the AAP say that for every hour a child under 2 spends in front of a screen, he/she spends about 50 minutes less interacting with a parent, and about 10 percent less time in playing. How much time should be limited though, is up to the parent.
Reaction:
I thought that this article was very knowledgeable. It was chock full of facts and connections, as well as real people giving their feedback on the matter. I also felt that is was very intriguing because this subject is very important nowadays with all of our new technology on how to handle it and when to stop using it and get outside and have real-life interactions.
Reason:
I choose this article because I felt this subject would be very intrersting to read about in today’s times. There is so much new technology out there that sometimes you need to put a limit to it or else it could get out of hand.
Information Learned:
I learned that children under the age of 2 can’t comprehend was it being put in front of them on a screen. Also I learned that this warning is not the first of them and that the AAP has also put a warning out about limiting your child’s screens in 1999, but that warning was much harsher then this on
Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/health/19babies.html?_r=1&ref=science
Question:
Do you agree with the fact that children under 2 shouldn’t watch screens? Why or why not?
My article is about a new planet that is going to form. Far away, in the winter constellation Taurus the Bull, a star has been born – and scientists now say they have photographed what they believe is a new planet in orbit around it, perhaps the youngest ever seen in the process of forming. Adam Kraus who is a young astronomer at the university of Hawaii made the find. He worked with Michael Ireland of Macquarie University in Australia. They have named the planet LkCa 15 b. It is the youngest planet ever found and about 5 times younger than the previous record-holder. It is 450 light years from Earth, and, like the young Earth as it took shape more than 4.6 billion years ago. My reaction is that I’m surprised. I was not aware of this new planet forming. I think that is pretty cool occurrence. I t is not very often that a new planet forms. The reason I chose this article is because it was very interesting and I actually learned something from the article. I learned that it is about 11 times farther from the star it circles (11 AU, or Astronomical Units) than we are from our sun. It is giant, probably about six times as large as Jupiter, and Kraus said it’s about 2 million years old. It’s a baby. A two million year-old baby? Check it out!
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/birth-youngest-planet-images-keck-observatory-hawaii/story?id=14778712
Question: if you found a planet, what would you name it?
There is a mysterious small planet named 2007 OR10 in our solar system near Neptune. Scientists nick named this planet snow white because it has a thin layer of ice covering it. It is part of the Kuiper belt and Its real color is red, but half of it is covered with water ice. Scientists say that its reddish color probably comes from methane gas. it was discovered in 2007 and its about half the size of Pluto. Lastly this is just like many other dwarf planets in the solar system.
I found this article pretty cool and interesting. I was shocked that there was a form of water on another planet. Also i was surprised by how small this dwarf planet was. Lastly i wondered if there was any form of life on that dwarf planet.
I chose this article for many reasons. First space is my favorite topic to study in science. Second when i saw the picture of a red planet is automatically grabbed my attention. Also the title sounded like it was be an interesting and factual article. That’s why i chose this article.
Critical Thinking: If there is a for of life on that planet, is an atmosphere required?
Link:http://www.livescience.com/16634-snow-white-dwarf-planet-water-ice-methane-atmosphere.html
The science article that i read was called rapidly inflating volcano creates growing mystery. This article is about how a volcano in southwest Bolivia is growing. Not tall, but wide. It is growing at a rate of 2cm per year and it has been growing for nearly 20 years. That would be equivalent to 40cm or 16in! The worst part about this is that scientists thought that the area was essentially dead! This article is mostly about the volcano and scientists opinions. One of their opinions is that the volcano won’t erupt, and it is just growing. I believe that this is a very interesting article and that everyone should read it just for fun.
My reaction to this article is very simple. I believe that this is again another volcano that is extremely interesting. Volcano’s always hold mysteries on how they function and where the lava goes. Scientists can’t just dive into the lava and see where it ends. Also, they can’t just go into the volcano and research all the rocks that are in the cave and what treasures might be in the volcano. Overall, i think that this is a good article to read for fun and that everyone should read it. Lastly, this article proposed many cool facts that everyone would be interested in. For example, this was a scientist who said that volcanoes hoard magma for about 300,000 years before they erupt. That’s very interesting because the volcano erupted about 300,000 years ago!
I chose this article because this tittle just caught me. It seemed very interesting that the volcano is growing rapidly. Also, that the pictures were interesting. Another reason why i chose this article was because after i read the first paragraph i was hooked and just read the whole thing without realizing it! For me, that only happens when something really catches my interest. That is why i chose this article.
I learned that volcanoes actually can grow. Not only grow but grow as rapidly as the one in this article. Another piece of information that i learned was it takes about 300,000 years for a volcano to hoard magma before they erupt! That fact really interested me. The last fact that i thought was really cool was that it is growing over 10 times faster than any other volcano!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44976093/ns/technology_and_science-science/
Critical thinking: Do you think that the volcano mentioned in this article will erupt? Explain.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/s/sleep.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep
Summary: My article was about sleep. Sleep exists in all humans, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Sleep is the state of natural rest which the body needs for survival. There are certain drugs such as sleeping pills and alcohol that can make you fall asleep quicker. This is the type of sleep in which most dreams occur. The hours of sleep you need are 18+ when you’re a newborn and drops as you age. This is my article summary of sleep.
Reaction: My reaction is that it is very interesting to learn about the many facts about sleep. Like how even fish sleep.
Reason for Choosing: My reason for choosing is because I remembered that my grandpa takes sleeping pills so I figured I could do sleep for my topic.
Information Learned: I learned many facts about going to sleep. I kind of want to learn more.
Critical Thinking Question: When do you think fish sleep [because every time I’m looking at them even if it’s in the middle of the night there always swimming around]?
The article I read about was that there were comets spotted in the distant solar system. The Spitzer space telescope detected icy comets raining down on the solar system. This downpour of comets resembles our solar system billions of years ago during a time period called “the Late Heavy Bombardment.” They say this could have brought water and other life-forming ingredients to the Earth that’s what some scientists say. The telescope has spotted some comets being torn to shreds when spotted colliding with a star.
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2011/10/19/Comets-spotted-in-distant-solar-system/UPI-37491319061587/
Critical thinking: what type of comets were spotted?
The article i read was about DEET and how it confuses insects sense of smell so that mosquitoes,ticks, and chiggers. DEET confuses an insect such as a mosquitoes antennae so that instead of it sending brain waves to the brain about the smell it elminates the whole process for the mosquitoe to even know there is a scent. My reaction to this article was amazment because i get repeatedly attacked my mosquitoes everyday and can not stop itching now i can destroy that problem from ever happening. I chose this article because I very much despise mosquitoes so when i found out that DEET can help me stay bite free i had to read it. I learned that mosquitoes do not have noses they have an anteenae that picks up on scents in the air and sends waves through its nerves to the brain to alert the body of a future meal.
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2011/10/deet-confuses-mosquitoes/
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/birth-youngest-planet-images-keck-observatory-hawaii/story?id=14778712
Today, I chose to review the article “Birth of a Planet: First Pictures of Youngest Planet Yet Seen”. This article was enthralling because it was about how a young astronomer named Adam Kraus photographed the forming of a new planet. The new planet, which is forming around a new star inside of the Taurus constellation, is the first of it’s kind. This new planet was named LkCa 15 b. According to Kraus, LkCa 15 b is the youngest planet ever found, being approximately five times younger then the previous planet. Additionally, he noted that the planet is a gas ball, similar to the make up of Jupiter and Saturn. The new planet is approximately 450 light years away from Earth and about eleven times farther from it’s sun then we are. This discovery helped show how scientists believe solar systems are formed in swirling clouds of dust and debris in space. This is truly a ground breaking day for science.
After finishing this article, I was amazed! Adam Kraus must be exhilarated with his ground breaking discovery. I know I would be! Seeing a planet form must be a once in a life time event that few people ever get to see. Also, I thought that this must mean that there are other planets forming out in the abysmal recesses of space. Just think about how many planets are out there right now!
I chose this article because I am, and always have been, highly interested in astronomy. I think it is a rich subject that is full of surprises and fascinating discoveries. Additionally, I felt that an article about the birth of a new planet is, in of itself, a worthy read. I was hooked from beginning to end, and it really got me thinking.
I learned a lot from this article. To begin, I learned more about how planets are formed: in swirling masses of space dust and debris. Additionally, I began to grasp distance in space more. In terms of distances in space, LkCa 15 b is relatively close to Earth. While still unimaginably far, LkCa 15 b could still be in our grasp of reaching, granted we are given centuries of space travel to reach it, of course.
My critical thinking question is this: Based on the observations of Adam Kraus, what do you think we can learn from the newly forming LkCa 15 b?
DO you think that DEET actually works?
Studies of Universe’s Expansion Wins Nobel
On October 4th 2011, three astronomers were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for learning that the universe is rapidly being blown apart by the mysterious force that is dark energy. Saul Perlmutter, Brian P. Smidt, and Adam G. Riess are all being awarded this prestigious award. They are all attempting to see what the fate of the universe will be, if the “Big Crunch” will happen or we could drift off into the depths of the cosmos. In 1998 nobody believed their theories but those people where proved wrong. Surprisingly, every test they have done was inline with the Einstein’s theory cosmological constant.
I found this article intriguing and I thought it was mind-blowing to find out that a mysterious, and almost scary, force, called dark energy, is blowing us apart. I have watched many shows on the Science channel going into depths about the strange force. I believe I chose this article because it sparked my interest in Cosmology and Physics. I learned a lot in this article such as the fact that dark energy should be 10^120 times more powerful according to Quantum Theory. I have always had an interest in Cosmology and Physics I enjoyed reading this article
.
Source: Ny Times
Critical thinking: How do you think the universe will end?
Summary: The article I read was about how in the future cars are going to be a lot more advanced and some may even be able to drive themselves. Cars have been made that can drive themselves, but they have not come out to the public yet. Google recently made a car that drives itself and they did a test drive with two people in it to give it instructions. Plans for future cars also include texting you when it needs to be charged (if it runs on electricity), talking to other cars, parking themselves, and returning to their owners when a button on their phone is pressed. General Motors company also built a vehicle called EN-V. It is a very advanced vehicle much smaller than a car. Similar to the google car, it also has the ability to drive independently.
Reaction: My reaction to this article was that I was so amazed at how technology is going to become so advanced in a few years. In the mid 1900′s people had such expectations for what future technology would be like, but we failed to meet most of the expectations like flying cars. Self-driving cars will finally show how our technology has advanced greatly.
Reason: My reason for choosing this article was that when I saw the title “Cars of the future,” I was very intrigued and interested in what it would be about. Cars that drove themselves was only something I had imagined and I never thought that scientists would actually be attempting to create it.
What I learned: From this article, I learned that in the coming years, big advancements in technology will be coming to cars. Everything will be easier to use and more eco-friendly. I also learned that a lot of testing goes into creating something for customer use. It says in the article that this has been studied for quite some time now and just in this past year did anyone actually test out one of these vehicles that can drive themselves.
Link: http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2011/10/cars-of-the-future/
Critical Thinking Question: Do you think it would really be possible for everyone to have cars that drive themselves, and do you think it would be safe?
http://www.weeklyreader.com/node/2110
A Hot New Discovery
In this article I read about how the scientists are finding life on another planet. They say that the planet is not that hot and not too cold. The planet is 3.6 times bigger than Earth. The scientist say that the temperature may be up to 85 degrees or higher. The planet only has 60 days in a year. It surrounds stars by the constellation Vela.
In my opinion I think this article was very cool because there will be a new planet with life on it. I think it is so cool that the scientist were observing the planet. In this article they didn’t mention the name of the planet. I really dislike that about the article, but everything else is interesting.
Critical Thinking Question:
In the article the writer doesn’t mention the planets name. What would you name it and why?
I did my article summary on Gorillas.Gorillas are apes and, since apes are man’s closest relatives, they have a fascination with humans.There is only one species of Gorillas. Gorillas are the biggest primate. They are herbivorous. And have 6 times the strength of a body builder. There habitats are jungles. My reaction to this article was i was interested the whole time i read this. I didnt know much about Gorillas until io read this.
The article I read is called Saturn’s Rings Tell A Comet’s Tale by Nadia Drake. It’s about how in the 1300s, a comet flew past Saturn and disintegrated, leaving dusty clouds behind on the rings. These are called rippled cometary footprints. These ripples can be detected from space using probes to beam back radio waves from the rings. By doing this, we can tell what hit the rings and when. Scientists found out that two comets hit Saturn, each separated by 50 years. After these two, however, no more went near Saturn.
I thought this was really cool. To think that the technology we have today lets us find the date that a comet hits Saturn! It’s pretty amazing.
I chose this article because it looked interesting. Also, I love learning about the solar system; it’s one of my favorite science topics and I greatly enjoyed studying it in 6th grade.
I learned what” rippled cometary footprints” are by reading this article. I also learned all about the ripples on Saturn’s rings. For example, they are 600 years old!
Here’s a critical thinking question:
Why is it important to know how long ago these ripples were made?
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/335059/title/Saturns_rings_tell_a_comets_tale
The article i picked was called Not such a Stretch to Reach for the Stars. In this article it talked about an engine without a Satrship without an engine. Scientists are thinking of a mix of ideas of how to oraganize and century long project. They are also talking about how they can produce a better starship. I think this was a very interesting article. I got to learn new things about a starship and it just had alot of cool information. The reason i chose this article is because i like to learn new things about space. It is cool to learn about things you wouldnt hear on a daily basis. I learned that i guy named Dr. Breeden was the one who thought of the idea with the engineless starship. Lastly I learned that the British society put together a fushioned powered starship in the 1970s. the cite source of my article was http://nytimes.com/2011/10/18/science/space/18starship.html?_r=18ref=science.
My critical thinking question was why did they decide to build a new starship? Explain your answer.
Hawaii astronomer captures image of forming planet
Summary: Recently in Honolulu, astronomers spotted the first images ever of a forming planet. About 450 light-years away from earth, it was seen as a circle of dust and gas around a two million year old star. It is estimated to have started to take shape around 50 fifty thousand to 100 thousand years ago. This planet is called LkCa 15 b and is the youngest planet ever observed. Scientists Adam Kraus and Michael Ireland discovered it through their telescopes and are trying to answer questions about the planet and if more planets are going to be forming. They suspect that more will form around the same star but are unsure because it was difficult to see because it was so bright. To see more clearly, they changed the angle of the mirror on the telescope to remove the light distortions from the earth’s atmosphere.
Reaction: I was very surprised that these scientists were able to find this forming planet. I think it’s really cool that we can see a real image of the gas and dust forming around their center of gravity- the 2 million year old star. It took so long for it form, I didn’t realize that it took almost a hundred thousand years for it to occur! I am really curious to see if more planets form around this star, and if they keep orbiting around it.
Reason: I chose this article because I am very interested in astronomy. When I grow up I think it would be a lot of fun to use telescopes to study the mysterious space above us. Also, the image shown above the article of the planet forming looked extremely vivid and clear and attracted me to read this informative article.
Information: I learned a lot in this article. I was not aware that it took over 50 thousand years for planets to form! Additionally, I didn’t know that stars can just start creating new planets at 2 million years old. Lastly, I learned that even if planets form around a certain star, they can still change their orbiting pattern.
Critical Thinking Question: Why do you think scientists were finally able to get an image of an extremely newly formed star?
http://news.yahoo.com/hawaii-astronomer-captures-image-forming-planet-230958310.html
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2011/06/germy-weather/
I read an article about how bacteria affects hail. The article talks about how in Montana USA, there was a hail storm. The balls of hail were about the sixe of golf balls. A scientist took samples of the hail and divided them into four different layers. He said that what was in the middle was some type of bacteria like dust or pollen. When the bacteria gets water on it (high in the air) it freezes and turns into hail or at least that’s what the scientists claim. My reaction to this article was that it was very interesting to learn what actually cause hail. But it was kind of confusing because it didn’t really give a specific experiment that the scientists performed. I chose this because I saw it and was like “cool”. It sounded cool to me. I learned that hail can be caused by pollen and dust. Also that ball of hail can be huge.
What is the height in the sky/atmosphere can bacteria become frozen?
The article I had just read is about a shark with one eye. There are many species with this condition known as Cyclops. Fisher Enrique Lucero León had caught a pregnant female dusky shark, legally and cut his find open to find the Cyclops shark. The rest of the shark embryos, all nine of them were normal. Enrique caught the female shark near Cerralvo Island. Not expecting to see an abnormal male embryo, Leon was shocked and amazed he said and I quote “This is incredible-Wow.”
Once the information was found out on Facebook by Marcela Bejarano-Álvarez a biologist, his and his team asked Leon if it was ok to see the Cyclops shark to do some research on it. Leons agreed and the shark was sent off to Alvarez. To make sure this shark was really a Cyclops the scientists got to work and researched other species and conditions dealing with being a Cyclops and x-raying the fetus. The little shark was proved to be an actual Cyclops. Scientist had also come to a conclusion of why they do not see more Cyclopes sharks all grown. They said the reason for this was that simply they don’t survive for very long.
I chose this article because after reading the first word in the title Cyclops, I was curious since I have only heard that word when talking about aliens and such. Also I saw a picture of the Cyclops shark and I was wondering what that was since I have never seen anything like it before.
Once I read this article I was kind of surprised. I didn’t know wasn’t a rare thing for species to be Cyclops’. I also thought it was pretty interesting how many Cyclops sharks don’t live very long due to the fact that they aren’t able to survive like regular sharks. I would most likely have the same reaction that fisherman, Enrique Lucero Leon had since it’s not every day that you see an animal with one eye (even though it is common). There for, this article taught me knew a couple of new facts and fascinated me.
C.T.Q: How do you think this will effect peoples out look on the word cyclops?
Photographing New Planets
Astronomers have just captured the first direct image of a planet bieng born. This has not been possible before because the stars that the planets orbit outshines them. Astronomers changed the shape of their mirrors (to remove light distortion) and put masks over most of the telescope mirror. Adam Kraus and Micheal Ireland used keck telescopes on Mauna Kea to find this planet. They say that they found it just at the time when other planets are probably forming. The planet they photographed is called LkCa 15 and is being formed out of dust and gas while orbiting a 450 million year-old star. These pictures and methods can help answer questions about the formation of planets.
I was fascinated by this article. I know that scientists don’t know everything about the universe. I am eager to learn and want to know more about this. I also feel that the scientists were very ingenious when coming up with ways to see new planets.
I choose this article because I want to learn more about the way the solar system works. I love space science. I was intrigued by the title.
I learned about how planets form and how solar systems begin. I also learned that there is still so much to learn about the world.
http://news.yahoo.com/hawaii-astronomer-captures-image-forming-planet-230958310.html
What do you think scientists will learn based on this?
What do you think scientists will do with this information?
I read the article New Tactics and Billions to Manage City Sewage which is about the contaminated sewage water in New York City. New York City feels that the sewage water that is untreated flows into the New York City water ways. The government of New York wants to use new technologies to clean the sewage water so it doesn’t contaminate the water ways of New York. This machine will help the underground storage tanks and tunnel systems. Parking lots, water parks and green roofs. The biggest water problem in the Metropolitan area is sewer water overflowing. People believe that this machine will create better living conditions in New York. Environmentalists of New York feel that this machine will start the largest green infrastructure systems in the country.
Critical Thinking Question: Is New Jersey in need of this machine? Do you think it should be sold world wide?
reason for choosing it, reaction to the article, information learned from the article?
I chose this article because ever since learning about sewage systems last year I have been curious. Many questions that were unanswered last became clear to me after this reading this article. I was curious to whether there was a way to clear out the contaminated sewage water with out the ocean being an option. The article is about the enviroment, and that is what I enjoy reading about in science most. Enviroment intrests me deeply.
This article did teach me many things, but I wasnt too shocked about the issue. Underground sewage systems can’t be to clean because of the subways and all of the other things going on below the surface of the city sidewalks. I was very surprised to see that they had created a new machine to clean out the filthy water. I wish they had thought of this earlier so the oceans didn’t have to become so contaminated. Even water parks that little kids play in is effected by this growing problem.
I learned so many facts from this article that will help me in the future. I learned that the sewage systems in New York are in great need, and are effecting the water ways of New York too much. The article made me think maybe all of the states in the country should own this useful machine. The machine will lead to many incredibly positive outcomes. I know realize how important sewage systems are and how they effect the water ways and oceans of our major cities inside the country.
Parents Urged to limit TV for Youngest
Parents of young children and toddlers have been cautioned once again to limit the time their children are in front of a television, computer, educational video games, and parent’s grown up shows. Time infront of a screen provides no educational befits for children. Parents are asked to limit the time because it has a crucial impact on the child’s growth.
At a survey given to parents by pediatricians across the country, parents were asked what planet do you live on. This is to show parents that in a total count between TV’s, computers, smartphones, tablets, and iPads, this averages a house to have more the 10 screens. Children observe these screens and basically get the life sucked out of them. Kristen Gangier, a doctor, stated that her kids are disinterested on everything else except for their favorite show ‘Yo Gabba Gabba!’
Reaction: I was shocked to learn that people are being told to not use technology to their advantage. It saddens me because we should use it to our advantage.
Reason of choice: I chose this article because it showed that our current entertainment system is being shot down by other people who use it everyday.
Learnt: I learnt that children under the age of 2 should not watch tv.
Cite: NY TIMES
Question: What is the average amount of screens a household owns?
Popular Science
This article has got to be one of the wierdest I have ever read. The article is about a newly proven study that your friends can change even erase your memories. In the end the article expands and puts into detail more information. I was truely amazed when I read this article. I would have never guessed that changing a person’s memory would be as easy as telling yours.The reason I chose this is because the title attracted my attention.The most important information that I learned in this article is that you can lose memories by listening to other people’s.
How do you think this might affecte you?
add details to your summary(elaborate using information from your article) from the article.
add more details to your summary from the article.
On Thursday, the European Space Agency’s orbiting Herschel observatory revealed what is used to create a new planet.
When stars are formed, there is a circular disc around the star. It is said that water vapor is a part of what formed the disc, but water vapor has only been found near the center of the disc where the temperature is higher.
TW Hydrae, a star scientists have been studying, has a lot of water vapor near the edge of the disk. Data shows the amount of vapor can fill the oceans several times!
Since the water vapor was found near the edge, it supports the theory that asteroids and such were the first things to deliver water to planets.
The ice that forms in the disk help scientists learn more about how the Earth got its water. When planet Earth was first formed, it was too hot for water to be there. Scientists think the water may have come later.
Now, knowing that water is the key to the formation of Earth, it will help scientist learn more about how planets are formed.
I found this article to be very interesting. I never knew water would be the main thing in forming plants. I chose this article because I wanted to know more about plants and how they came to be. I was always interested in how planet Earth came to be and how animals and human began to live here.
Question: What else do you think is needed to form a planet?
http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/20/whats-the-recipe-for-a-planet/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111019165226.htm
This article is about how a planet was found with a temperature “like a hot summer day in Arizona”. The “planet-like companion” is actually the COLDEST object ever directly photographed outside our solar system!! It’s actually 6-9 times the mass of Jupiter! In a way. So, in a way, it’s more of a star, but it’s hard still hard to believe. So this planet is like a star, but has an atmospheric temperature like our very own Earth. This planet is actually a brown dwarf, which means it was formed as a star, but failed, so its core is not able to heat it up, creating it into a star. So in that way, it has a cool temperature. However, even though it is cooler, its temperature of the surface is still a good 80-160 degrees Fahrenheit. The solar system of this dwarf is 63 light years away, which is in a way closer to ours compared to most solar systems we know of. The orbit of the dwarf to its star is much larger compared to Earth to the Sun. That is what this article is about.
This article interested me a lot. My previous article was also about space and planets. However, the two articles are very different. This one focuses on one planet. It’s really cool how scientists are able to find planets such as this one mentioned in the article. A year or two ago, I never would have had a single thought about it. But to think of how there may be a planet out there that we could possibly live on, really makes me interested. The dwarf in the article may not be able to sustain us, but the mere thought of it excites me.
I chose this article because of how interested I am in space. I tend to love science-fiction novels and shows, and some are about living on other planets. This article shows that there are in face planets out there that could possibly sustain life. I saw the title of the article and knew I had to read it. This article interested me, and had some pretty cool information.
In this article I learned a couple things. One is what a “brown dwarf” is. Before, I had never even HEARD of it. Also, I learned that when stars from, some are never able to complete the process and just become a failed star. Another thing is that even though a planet may have an atmospheric temperature close to ours, but that still doesn’t mean we are able to live on it. This article made me learn a lot of things.
Critical Thinking Question:
Do you believe there is a planet out there that could sustain life? Why or why not? Explain.
The article I read was about how scientist found coral reefs that would rather be in the shade, and not the light. It explains how this coral that they found, demonstrate genetic differences that reflect adaptations to different environmental conditions encountered at different depths. The scientists looked at 3 different habitats of coral reefs, the back reef, upper slope, and the deep slope. The coral in the deep slope appeared to grow faster with access to some light. It says how the different corals they looked at exhibited distinct physiological differences. These coral reefs definitely expressed differences, to how they each adapted to different amounts of light.
My reaction to the article was surprised. I was surprised because I thought that coral likes to be in light, and that it needed light to grow. I wouldn’t think that coral could live in the dark. I chose this article because it seemed interesting. The title popped out at me because like I said I wouldn’t think that coral could live without light, so it just grabbed my attention. From this article I learned many things. I learned that not all coral needs light to survive. Also that different types of coral adapt differently to different amounts of light.
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111016212023.htm
Critical thinking question: Do you think the coral in the oceans near us, act the same way?
My article is about a worm that could live up to three or four generations. Scientists have disovered that round worms are able to live up to many years. The roundworms genetic background is making them mutant which could make them live up to 3 or 4 generations long. The role that plays this part is also a chemical inside of them called Histones. Scientist have also discovered that the round worms DNA strand is far more complex then the homo sapien type of DNA. These studies and tests were done at Harvard university.
My reaction to this article is a positive sign because it is interesting to learn extreme things. Learning more about scientific studies makes our research better and technology. I also think this is a good article because it shows more nature in different types of species
or mammals. I hope to read more articles like these. My reaction on the scientists is positive because it is interesting how they did it and what they used to find out the genetic background of the round worm.
My reasoning for choosing this article is the interesting facts behind it. It was interesting to learn about the chemical Histones and
also how these chemicals made this mutation for these worms to live longer. Another reason why i chose this because its suprising detail and also because i love learning about DNA and genetics.
Live Long pass it on/science new
Critcal think question: Do you think this genetic trait is Recessive or Dominant?
The article i read mentions how a spaceship owned by a british billionaire named Richard Brandson is the first person to offer spaceship rides and NASA has allowed him to do that. He can send up to 1300 pounds of equipment. Virgin Galactic the company owned by Richard Brandson hopes to put someone in space next year. The ship will go 50,000 feet where the ship will separate then go 60 feet above earth’s surface so they experience weightlessness and see earth. The price per person will be $200,000.
Reaction:I think this is amazing how now normal average people can just go in space. Before we thought that just the idea of sending someone into space was amazing but now we can send anyone just for money to me that is amazing!
The reason I chose this article was because flying and space interest me and since this deals with space shuttles I chose it. I learned that mankind now actually has the technology to make shuttles that aren’t funded by the government and this could one more step to something bigger. I cant give a link because this was found on paper.
I read an article that was about the new study’s of Uranus. NASA may be sending a mission to Uranus to explore more about this strange planet. This planet is odd because it contains a mixture of water, methane, ammonia, and carbon dioxide, while most other planets are gas planets. The seventh planet from the sun is tipped over on its side. Scientists believe that it is tipped due to a series of collisions very long ago. Its 27 known moons are all named after Shakespeare’s plays and the poems of Alexander Pope.
I thought this article was very interesting. Anything about space really fascinates me, no matter what. I thought this article was good because it talks about a planet that we don’t hear much about. I chose this article because, once again, I really think space is interesting. I learned so many new things about Uranus. I learned all about its moons, and which ones are the most popular. 2 of these moons may have oceans beneath their surfaces, and scientists are trying to find out for sure. Overall, this article was very good and interesting, and I enjoyed it very much.
Critical thinking:
Why do you think we don’t know as much about this planet as we do with other planets? Explain your answer.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44903898/ns/technology_and_science-space/
Scientists Reveal Surprising Picture of How Powerful Antibody Neutralizes HIV
The article I read was about the HIV disease. This disease is harming millions of people and targeting their immune system. Recently, researches have found a vaccine that neutralizes the effects of HIV. It is called PG128. It works by bonding to the HIV cells and stopping them from infecting other cells. Since the 1990s research has gone on to try find a cure for HIV/AIDS. Up until now, this is the first. It attacks glucose, or sugar in the cells, that are affected without harming any others.
In my opinion, this could be a very beneficial find. For many years now, people have died from AIDS. This intriguing discovery shows that there is hope for those infected. I am very surprised that this discovery was made so soon. I personally thought it would take much longer. Now, millions of peoples lived can be saved.
Question: Why do you think it takes so long to find a cure for diseases?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111013141816.htm
I choose this article because it really interests me. I am always trying to help others and this is what someone else did. I learned a lot of terminology about HIV and other diseases.
“Science is a verb”
Quickly, science is becoming an action. The quote “Science is a verb” does a great job demonstrating just this. This quote meant that when you are working on anything evolved with science you are always completing an action. In my opinion I believe this is true. In every situation, I have ever had in science I have had to either solve a problem or complete a task. Because science evolves so many different components, there is always something you are “doing.” The writer is trying to express that science is a very user oriented subject and anyone can try expatriating.
The speaker is addressing the teachers and students. He/she is telling them to enjoy and make the best of science. To the teachers he is showing how their lessons should be taught or expressed. For the students he is saying to enjoy science and all parts of it since it is a great subject. The speaker used these bold words to give a stronger meaning. It accurately describes hoe the quote should be felt.
In my life this quote came true. In science class, in school, this relates. We do many experiments and are always working and trying new things. There is never rest or stops in science just action, action, action. In addition, in textbooks, there are always experiments to constantly keep you busy. From this quote I will take that science is always new fresh, and full of action and happenings.
– i just realized i never handed this in
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111019183007.htm
Summary:Us. Rivers and Streams are Saturated with Carbon. They are releasing more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere then previously thought before. The carbon is absorbed by plants and forests through the air and is now leaking into streams and rivers. More then 4,000 rivers are affected by this. It is equal to a car burning 40 billion gallons of gas. Researchers are trying to figure out how to stop this and it is still unknown how much carbon is being released.
Reaction to the Article: I was not surprised because of how everyday humans pollute the earth more and more. Eventually Earth will run out of air and the carbon is not helping at all. People should be more careful what they do to the environment. Soon oceans might be affected not just rivers and streams.
Reason for Choosing it: I chose this because the title seemed interesting. The article went to explain how our rivers and streams are releasing a lot of carbon into the air and how bad that will become if the problem continues on.
Information Learned: I learned that 4,000 rivers are affected. Plants and forests gather Carbon in the air then release it into water and eventually the carbon will go into the atmospheric. It is also equal to a car burning 40 billion gallons of gas.
Critical Thinking: How do you think researchers find carbon in the water?
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/335200/title/Doubled_gene_means_extra_smarts
The article I read was very interesting, it said that at least twice in the past 3 million years, a gene called SRGAP2 has been duplicated within the human genome. Studies show that extra copies of this gene may cause thicker brain cortex where thinking takes place. Studies have previously discovered that SRGAP2 is one of 23 genes duplicated in humans but not in other primates. Just having extra copies doesn’t mean the gene is evolutionarily important. Scientists examined the gene is 150 people and found that the copy made 3.4 million years ago was missing some people, but the younger version of the gene had been fixed in many people. This was a very interesting article because I have never heard of anything like this before.
I enjoyed reading this article although it confused me at some points. The article was very interesting because I have never heard of anything like this and it was something I never thought about. I was surprised that it is making the part of people’s brain where they think bigger.
I chose this article because it was something I had never heard about before and I was interested to see what it was.
Info learned: There are many different parts in the brain but not all duplicate.
Question: How many times in the past three million years has the gene duplicated?
Astronomers found a new planet. It is called Kepler-16b. Kepler-16b has two suns. It is the size of Saturn. A year on Kepler is roughly 226 earth days. The astronomers say that every day there is a new sunrise and sunset because there are two suns.
I think it is really incredible that there is a telescope strong enough to see the slight dimness in stars and detect planets moving in front of them. I think we should study this planet more closely to discover if there is any form of life on this planet. If life could be sustained on Kepler 16b it would be an amazing break through.
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2011/10/double-sunsets-on-a-distant-world/
Critical think question:
Would you live on a planet other than Earth if it could sustain life?
Polar Bears Ill from Accumulated Environmental Toxins
Summary: This article was about how Greenlandic polar bears are suffering from the toxic chemicals that end up getting mixed in with the water and air currents, that eventually get transported to the Arctic. Not only that, but the chemicals contaminate the sea’s food chain, and is affecting the polar bears the most because they are the top predators. However, not everyone realizes that polar bears are now getting diseases that damage their bones and organs, from the contaminated food that they are now eating. Furthermore, experiments show that Arctic foxes and Greenlandic sled dogs suffered as well from the chemicals (they had similar symptoms as the polar bears). Fortunately, though, Christian Sonne and the faculty at Life Sciences is conducting more tests, and they are trying to make people aware of the situation by writing several articles.
Reaction: I was pretty surprised when I heard how horribly the chemicals were affecting the polar bears. It made me realize that while we live prosperously, the poor animals of the Arctic are not only getting poisoned, but global warming caused by us, as well, is wrecking their only home. Why are people so oblivious to the fact that there are other species that live on this world as well? All these companies just want to make money. After reading this, I thought about the book: The Lorax. I remember reading about how the Lorax wanted to make money, so he cut down all of these trees to make clothing, but in the meantime, he caused the fish, birds, and other animals to go away because of all the filth that clogged their environment.
Reason: I chose this article because I love animals, and I really wanted people to read this and see how we are hurting them. We are also hurting ourselves by burning holes into the atmosphere with all of the pollution, and are even causing species to go extinct.
Information Learned: I learned that polar bears we at the top of the food chain. I thought the top animal would be the white leopard, or something like that. Also, I never knew that there were such things as Arctic foxes and dogs. That really surprised me when I read this article!
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111013121709.htm
Critical Thinking Question: Do you think factories will ever realize what all of their chemicals are doing to the world? If so, when will they realize that, and what will they do to not let the situation get even worse?
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/20/cdc-americans-consume-too-much-sodium/?hpt=hp_t2
88% of the U.S. citizens are over the recommended amount of having salt. The recommended amount is 2,300 milligrams and we average over 3,513 milligrams. That is over 53 percent than what is recommended. If you are over 50 you were recommended to have under 1,500 milligrams. 99% of people go over this amount. Researchers were not surprised and said that health official need to help cut this number down. The companies Kraft, Goya, and Subway signed a contract to reduce sodium in thier food by 25%.
I feel this number is outrageous. People can die or get diabetes from to much sodium and we need to stop this problem now. We can get a little over what is recommended but not 50%. Or 100%. Some people have doubled thier intake before they even pick up a salt shaker. We need to pass a law to end this problem or mostly solve this problem now. People can die.
reason for choosing it ?
UK government launches tree biosecurity plan
What I read about is the disease, P. lateralis which has been killing trees across the United kingdom for some time now. The government is acting now, what happened about 41 years ago could happen now. In 1970, 30 million trees died across the UK. This disease originates from the Northwest Americas and British Columbia. 7 British Pounds have already been donated to research this disease. This is the Woodland Trust Orginization’s top priority. The government has already restricted plant cutting and selling, as this disease’s spores’ are spread through soil and water. Surveillance teams in helicopters are already looking for the disease, as the UK wants to minimize the threat of this disease.
Reaction: I was really suprised, because this is the first time I’ve ever heard of P. lateralis. I am also worried about the environment. We already have made it a priority to save trees. This disease is killing the trees, increasing the CO2 levels in the air. I hope that the scientists can come up with a cure because trees are a part of our everyday lives, and we need to give them life, as hey give oxygen to us.
Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15386617
Critical Thinking: How did P. lateralis get from Pacific America to the United Kingdom in Europe?
Reason: I chose this article because I wanted and international article and something unique. This article was very interesting and it makes you think. How did the disease get from West America to England (UK)? That is why I chose this article.
Summary: The nose is the starting point in the respiratory system, when one inhales. The two main functions of the nose are to filter the air being inhaled, and to provide a sense of smell. The structure of a nose is shaped with fibro fatty tissues, bones, and cartilage. The type of nose depends on the positioning of the cartilage and the bones. Human races can be identified by the type of nose; for example, most European noses have long, narrow, high-tipped noses, sometimes with vertical nostrils. The lower part of the nose and the bridge of the nose are both made up of cartilage. Both the greater and lesser alar cartilages give the basic shape of the nostrils. There is hair in everyone’s nostrils. The hair helps to filter the air being inhaled. Also, both the nostrils and the nasal cavity hold mucous membranes and cilia. They both filter the air and prevent any particles from getting inside of you, such as microorganisms and dust. The bones on a face around the nose have sinuses. Sinuses are hollow air cavities that are lined by mucous. Basically, the nose is responsible for our ability to smell and breathe.
Reaction: I enjoyed reading this article. I have always wondered why everyone’s nose is shaped the way it is, and now I realize that it has to do with where they came from in the world. I learned a few new things from this interesting article, and I hope that I can learn about the structures and functions of other human body parts as well!
Reason for Choosing It: I chose this article because it seemed like an interesting and exciting topic that nobody else would’ve chosen. No one puts much thought into noses, even though we see them every day in the middle of each others’ faces.
Information Learned: I learned- - our nose is made up of cartilage, bones, and fibro fatty tissues.
-you can tell what race someone is by the shape of their nose.
-the nose is the starting point in the respiratory system.
Link: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/anatomy-of-the-nose-human-nose-structure.html
Critical Thinking Question: Why do people have hairs and mucous in their nose?
Fast food is awful for anyone. You can hurt your health and double your chance for heart failure. This will hurt a lot of people if America continues to eat this junk then we will have a lot of obese people. Fast food is not the best food for someone to eat. It affects your health by liver fatty and raises your cholesterol. It also gives you mood swings and headaches when you don’t eat the food. It also makes you gain a lot of weight and it makes your cholesterol rise and makes your risk for heart attack . I think they should enforce new rules that force the fast food restaurants to make their food healthier so America healthier.. I always thought fast food was bad for you but never this bad. To make some healthier food choices you can start to eat salads instead of burgers. Instead of ice cream you can have a granola bar and a yogurt. When you go to McDonalds you can have a salad instead of McNuggets. When you go to McDonalds you need to stay away from the Big-Macs and have a healthier choice instead of a burger. This will make everyone healthier. In conclusion fast food is awful for a person’s health. I think that all people in America should stay away from fast food as much as possible. It will make America a much more healthier place. I choose this artical because I wanted to be aware of the risks of eating fast food.
http://janicewhite.hubpages.com/hub/why-fast-food-is-bad-for-you
Critical thinking question:
What are some of the risks of eating fast food a lot?
I learned that fast food is not a good idea for your body and can make other peoples body react diffrently. From ow on when I go into a fast fooo resturant I will try to stick to the healtier chooses.
My reaction was that I was shocked that there were so many risks to eating fast food a lot. I think everybody should read this artical before deciding to eat fast food so they know the risks they are putting there body’s though.
Friction: Suppression of Electronic Friction On Niobium-Films Below Critical Temperature http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110110053216.htm
Is friction dominated by electrons or by lattice vibrations? A nano-contact experiment shows that on smooth surface friction is decreased than on a rough surface. This not a new study, this has been studied since the beginning of time. Leonardo da Vinci started studying friction by using sliding friction. Scientists most often still work attentivatly on this topic. Now a days scientists have a lot more of equipment to experiment with so it is easier. The newest thing scientists have done is they have started using things to probe atomic scale phenomina. The insight into the atomic world gives the opportunity to study the microscopic origins of friction, which, even today, are poorly known. Studies are trying to find out how electic and other type of other materials respond to friction.
When i first read the article I was just shocked because honestly i thought they found out everything they could about friction. I had no clue you could attach tiny sensors to an object and track it. I found it so astonishing.
The reason for choosing this article is because in school we are doing right now friction and how friction is determined and what affects friction. We made the study that speed of an object going on another solid object does not affect how much friction there is. Although we did find that, speed does not affect it, but mass and surface texture do.
If you were a scienctist what would you do to find more about friction and how would you conduct the experiment.?
Studies of Universe’s Expansion Win Physics Nobel.
Dennis Overbye
Studies of Universe’s Expansion win Physics Nobel, three American astronomers named Saul Perlmutter, Brian P Schmidt and Adam G. Riess working on two different teams were awarded Physics Nobel for discovering that the universe is being separated by an unbelievable force called dark energy.
Initially the scientists were using exploding stars known as Type 1a supernovae as a cosmic lighthouses to limn the expansion of the universe. They would measure how fast the cosmos has been slowing down since the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago. They would use that information to find out if the cosmos would fall back together or drift apart into darkness. Unexpectedly, these scientist found out that the expansion of the universe was actually increasing in speed instead of slowing down. In 1998, the scientist using cosmological measurement concluded that this force called anti-gravitational dark energy is pushing the galaxies apart. They believe the most logical explanation for this is the fudge factor Albert Einstein introduced into his equation in 1917 to stabilize the universe against collapse and then abandoned it as his greatest blunder. Questions were raised by many physicists that if empty space has such strong repulsive forces Einstein dream of a single final theory of nature is wrong and now one would conclude that there may be multiple universes with different properties. Astronomers say that if the universe keeps accelerating to quickly the universe wouldn’t be able to communicate with one another and all the energy will be sucked out of it. Many questions still remain to be answered about this dark energy and much more work needs to be done.The scientist that have discovered this all were rewarded for the discovery. Dr. Perlmutter received half of a $1.4 million reward. The other half went to Dr. Schmidt and Dr. Riess.
To me this dark energy seems like a sci-fi movie come true. It seems like this because If the universe does expand to quickly all energy will be sucked out of the universe. It is also very exciting that this discovery has been made.
I have chosen this article because I love to learn about the discoveries in space.
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Do you believe that there are other universes that could support life?
Well, I think that there may be a chance of there being life in other planets. I mean, if you think about it, you’ll realize that we can’t be the ONLY species in the universe. There could be some sort of life somewhere else, we just don’t have the technology to figure it out yet. And I thought you’re article was really interesting by the way.
Scientists used to think cycads were the last remaining members of a plant lineage that went extinct with the dinosaurs. Now scientists believe modern-day cycads diverged from a more recent common ancestor. A new study suggests that although the cycads’ once primary dispersal agents went extinct 65 million years ago, the plants later experienced a renaissance due to a global climate shift. Living cycads branched off and started to move about 12 million years ago. To estimate the divergence time of living cycads, researchers used a technique called molecular clock analysis. They first measured the genetic differences separating 200 living cycad species. Certain genetic happen at a fixed rate once species radiate from a common ancestor. Scientists were able to use this cycad DNA data to predict a much more recent divergence.
When I read this article I was interested by the name. I wanted to learn more about cycads. After reading this article I learned that cycads are plants that have existed for a long time. I had seen these plants in tropical islands before. I was amused that scientists had made a mistake about the cycads.
How do you think scientist study a plant’s past?
Response To:
Artistic mega-octopus may topple ichthyosaur from top of Triassic food chain by Kate Melville
This article summarized the studies about the existence of a huge octopus, with self-awareness existing during the Triassic period. At Berlin-Ichthyosaur state park in Nevada, a group of Ichthyosaur (Triassic air breathing aquatic reptiles) vertebrae were found, seemingly organized into the shape of an octopus. Some scientists, like Mark McMenamin believe this may be an ancient octopus’ self -portrait. The vertebrae were separated and organized to resemble suction cups. The vertebrae seem to have been broken indicting a snapped neck, and the skeletons of the Ichthyosaurs have many broken ribs, as if they were pulled down and drowned. Scientists have not yet concluded the depth of the water when this would have occurred though. This theory’s plausibility depends on the depth of the water, because in shallow water, stranding or toxins often cause mass death. The vertebrae of the Ichthyosaurs indicate snapped necks and broken ribs. This could mean that the octopi killed the Ichthyosaurs by drowning them. McMenamin believes that this behavior is not much of a stretch from that of modern octopi, as they are also quite intelligent.. Mark McMenamin’s theory may never be proven though. Since octopi have soft bodies, they don’t fossilize well.
This article blew me away. I have heard about how smart dolphins and whales are, but never octopi! If a prehistoric giant octopus had these capabilities, then their intelligence would surpass modern day sea mammals. I was also amazed that the cephalopods were able to drown or even snap the neck of a large sea reptile. Overall this article was shocking.
I chose this article because the tile: Artistic mega-octopus may topple ichthyosaur from top of Triassic food chain instantly attracted me. The introduction, which immediately brought up the possibility of a prehistoric self-portrait reeled me in further. The article was also full of the different possibilities surrounding this case. Finally, the picture of the tentacle-like fossil from Ichthyosaur bone was very intriguing. I chose this article for its introduction, title, possibilities mentioned, and pictures.
From this article I learned that modern octopi are very intelligent. I also learned that Ichthyosaurs were sea reptiles that breathed air. This was interesting because only sea mammals breathe air and live in the ocean today.
http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20110910192412data_trunc_sys.shtml
If a modern octopi were able to perform these feats, what studies would scientists first conduct?
Article:http://news.yahoo.com/falling-german-satellite-could-hit-earth-today-065801397.html
This article is about a rouge satillite that could possibly crash into earth on the weekend. Apperintly, the german organization that launched into space over 10 years ago lost communications with it a few years after the actual launch. I feel a little scared, but scientists also say that there is a greater possiblity that the debris lands in the ocean. I chose this article because it looked extremely interesting to me. I learned that not everything can go as planned.
How could the group loose coomunication to the satillite?
malfunction
The article I read was about how the German satellite is going to fall back to earth late Saturday night, or early Sunday morning The debris are very heavy, and the heaviest part of it is the 1.5 ton mirror on it. 1.5 tons is equal to 3,000 lbs, but the heaviest piece of debris that was known to fall was a 300lb lens. Citizens have been warned not to touch anything that hits the ground because it will be extremely hot. Also, people were warned to duck if they saw a fiery item plummeting towards the earth.
At first, the article made me a little bit scared, because I do not want my house to get hit with a fiery piece of metal. Later, I realized that the chances of my house getting hit were about one in a million. I chose this article because I have heard about the satellite before, and I wanted more information on it, where it will hit, and also when it will hit the earths surface. I learned that the satellite will hit in between 53 degrees latitude north, and 53 degrees latitude south. According to the article, the injury risk is about 1 to 3,200. Also, I learned that any piece of fallen debris, no matter where it lands, is property of the German government.
Link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/10/111019-satellite-fall-earth-rosat-space-debris-nasa-science/
What do you think caused the satellite to fall to earths surface?
I think it was either planned this way or there was a malfunction.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/science/space/23nasa.html?ref=science
The filling stations, NASA calls them propellant depots, would refuel a spacecraft in orbit before it headed out to the moon, an asteroid or eventually Mars. Currently, all of the fuel needed for a mission is carried up with the rocket, and the weight of the fuel limits the size of the spacecraft. The propellant depot would be launched first, and then other rockets would carry fuel to the depot before a spacecraft arrived to fill up. The total cost needed for the project from 2012 through 2030 would be $60 billion to $86 billion. Last month, NASA announced the design of the Space Launch System, the new heavy-lift rocket. The plan is for it to lift 70 metric tons on its first unmanned test flight in 2017, and to able to lift 30 tons. The blueprint for NASA’s direction for the coming years, passed by Congress last year and signed by President Obama, calls on the agency to develop the rocket. Propellant depots carry risks, too. Fuels like liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen must be kept at ultra cold temperatures and, unless the depots were heavily insulated, would boil away over time. Transferring fuel into space is not straightforward, although possibly setting the depot and spacecraft into a slow spin would generate enough force to push the fuel into the spacecraft.
This article surprised me because this seems like an easier way of traveling into space and this article also mentions a trip to Mars! Although this is years away, we have began the thinking and planning process. It is also amazing what scientists are able to come up with. I chose this article because things involving going into space always interests me because it means we have become more advanced with our technology. After reading this article, I have learned that it cost so much money to send us into space, which is part of the reason it takes so long to plan.
Why do you think it costs so much money to go into space?
Everyone knows about x ray technology. We all do. Well they have created a device that can seriously help for dentistry. It is called the cone beam commuted tomography, (CBCT). It has helped 16 year old Violetta by showing the orthodontist that there were two hidden teeth that could have caused major complications. Besides that story involving the CBCT, many people find it a hazard. Like all other x ray machines, they use radiation. This machine uses much more radiation un like its previous models. By using this machine as a kid, there is a 1 in 10000 chance that those kids will have cancer in the next 10 to 20 years. The good out weighs the bad though. Many will avoid this machine but others will decide to take the risk and use it.
This article was very interesting. I thought it was very interesting how it benefitted Violetta. On the other hand I am a little scared because people will use the machine more and more often making it used by all dentists. I chose this article because it was very attractive and color and the title drawn me in. I learned that this machine will make 1 in 10000 kids get cancer in 10 to 20 years from when they use it. Also I learned about societies strong feelings about the use of this technology.
Current science vol. 97 issue 4: The X-Factor
Would you take the risk to use this machine?
Chimps Play Like Humans: Playful Behavior of Young Chimps Develops Like That of Children
Playful behavior is widespread in mammals, and has important developmental consequences. A recent study of young chimpanzees shows that these animals play and develop much the same way as human children. The authors of the study, Elisabetta Palagi and Giada Cordoni, of the University of Pisa in Italy, found that chimpanzee solitary play peaks in infancy, while the time spent in social play was relatively constant between infants and juveniles. However, the type of social play changed quite a bit as the animals grew up, in terms of measures like complexity and playmate choice. In comparing these behaviors to previous work conducted with humans, they found that both species show significant quantitative and qualitative development in play behavior from infancy to juvenility.
Moreover, both chimps and humans consistently use playful facial expressions to communicate and build social networks. They also analyzed playmate choice and found that both humans and chimps prefer peers for play partners. Dr. Palagi explains that this is the first research comparing the ontogeny of play behavior in chimpanzees with that of humans, in a standardized way. It is important, because this kind of human data often comes from psychological research, not from ethological research.
My reaction to this article was surprised. I knew chimps where like humans, but I never thought it would come to this certain point. I chose this article because it sounds interesting and I like to learn about animals. What other animal do you think has human like qualities or is similar to a human?
My article was about a recent study done on video games. According to the University of Michigan playing video games might not be as horrible for you as traditionally thought. Apparently video games get your creative juices flowing. The study started by surveying 500, 12-year olds. They were asked to draw a picture from a shaped curve and create a story around it. They discovered that the use of phones and computers did little for the kids, but video games improved the scores. The researchers hope to hone in on what specifically triggers this creativity. This way they can combine these factors and foster kids’ creativity.
I really enjoyed this article. It was pretty interesting. After hearing all negative things about video games for all my life it was a refreshing turn of events. I was hopeful that they would continue this research and possibly make new developments in this field.
My reason for choosing this article was interest at the title. It said “Can Playing Video Games Make You More Creative? Hmmm…” This title sparked my curiosity. I decided to read it. This is my reason for reading the article.
In this article I learned that video games are able to spark creativity in ways no one has thought of before. I also learned that phones and computers do very little to spark creativity.
http://dogonews.com/2011/11/9/can-playing-video-games-make-you-more-creative-hmmm
Do you think video games have positively or negatively influenced your life???
I read a very interesting article on the possibility or rather probability of an ocean under the ice covering Europa the moon of Jupiter. It is almost completely certain that their is water under the ice caps of the moon Europa. The only question now is how much ice separates the water from the surface. There are two theories about the separation between the water and the surface. One, is the ice might just be a few kilometers deep which is exceptionable shallow, or it could be as many as 50 kilometers which is very thick. Both theories have good ways to explain the geysers that explode on the surface.
Question: Which theory do you agree with and why?
I read a very interesting article on the possibility or rather probability of an ocean under the ice covering Europa the moon of Jupiter. It is almost completely certain that their is water under the ice caps of the moon Europa. The only question now is how much ice separates the water from the surface. There are two theories about the separation between the water and the surface. One, is the ice might just be a few kilometers deep which is exceptionable shallow, or it could be as many as 50 kilometers which is very thick. Both theories have good ways to explain the geysers that explode on the surface.
I learned a lot from this article about europa. First I learned that water is under the ice caps of europa so that to me was the most interesting part of this article. Second is that to me there is only one thing thing we can do to know for sure how much ice is on the moon of europa. We must go and see. I find that very exiting, we are finaly going to see water on a planet besides earth. A major scientific break for all man.
I picked this article beacause of how interesting it looked. I felt in the future it could be a very important article.
Question: Which theory do you agree with and why?
The article I chose to read and summarize for my homework was about self-cleaning clothes. The two scientists who have designed a major part in this process are, Mingce Long and Deyong Wu, both from prestigious colleges in China. They say that these clothes will take only a few hours on a clothes line under the sun to clean. The trick is a 3 substance mixture that reacts under sunlight. One substance is coatings that is in tattoo ink and helps sunscreen block the sunlight. The problem with the self-cleaning clothes is that one of the chemicals can be harmful if it makes its way into the lungs. That’s the only “road block” in the path of Long and Wu’s self-cleaning clothes.
I think that this is a great article. It was very informative. The self cleaning clothes will definitely have an effect on electric bills and water bills. I think that’s very important because my parents always yell at me because I take “long” showers. Hopefully my “long” showers won’t be as much as a problem in the future.
Question: What makes the chemicals react to clean itself?
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2012/01/self-cleaning-clothes/