Post a response (should be one paragraph or more) to a critical thinking qs by 12/02. Respond to a question which is not answered so far to get credit for the response.
Read a current science article and post a summary using the following format
on the online learning log using your secret number.
Remember to have the above mentioned parts clearly labeled in your response.
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This artical is about how deforestation may be able to slow global warming. Deforestation is the cause for 15% of the worlds green house gases. Trees contain carbon so when they are burned or cut down they release it back into the atmoshpere. Every year the Amazonian rainforest locks in about 1.5 gigatons of carbon dioxide. Without this 1.5 gigatons of carbon dioxide our planet would be much hotter than the world we live on now.
My reaction to this article was astonishment because of the amount of carbon dioxide that the Amazonian rain forest supplies. I honestly never knew that there was such a thing as gigatons. The fact that the Amazonian rainforest supplies 15% of the worlds total green house gases. If we continue to cut down trees we can have the danger of altering our worlds climate even more. Deforestation should be a job that is eliminated from the choices of future employees.
I chose this artical because i have noticed that our weather lately has been a bit wacky. I wanted to try and figure out a possible reason for these freak events of weather. Now that i know that deforestation is damaging our atmoshpere i am irratated that we continue cutting down trees. Another reason for choosing this was the title of Deforestation might slow warming, it was very interesting. This article was a good read to find out about you green house gases.
Some information that i learned was that deforestation is the cause for 15% of the worlds green house gases. Another excerpt of information i learned was that the Amazonian rainforest locks in about 1.5 gigatons of carbon dioxide. Also without the 1.5 gigatons our world would be a much hotter place to live in. Two ways to help save these gigatons is to one stop deforestaion. Two expand already existing forests to increase the amount of gigatons.
http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/11/16/how-some-deforestation-might-slow-warming/
What else could be done to help our atmoshpere?
The atmosphere on Earth can be improved in a variety of ways. One is to start using renewable fuels in the car and in the home.
If we used fuels that did not cause the greenhouse affect then the atmosphere would be better off. Another way is lowering our thermostats in the winter. If we lowered them by even 2-3 degrees then we would save tons of fuel. This may not sound credible but think about it, if every one in the whole world participated then imagine how much gas and energy we save. In conclusion, there are a variety of ways that we can save the atmosphere besides stopping deforestation.
Something that could be done to help improve our atmosphere is by using friendly energy sources, such as electricity instead of fuel in cars, or solar-panels instead of gas for homes. As I think about the picture of global warming more and more, I realize humans us a lot of harmful gases that are speeding up global warming. As you said in your article, cutting down trees is harmful to our planet, but that isn’t the only thing that is hurting Earth. Oil is a big part in the play of global warming too. But, as I said before, something that could be done to help our atmosphere is be using friendly energy sources.
A bunch of different ways to save our atmosphere and slow global warming:
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,Use Less Heat and Air Conditioning,Change a Light Bulb (To an eco-friendly one), Drive Less and Drive Smart (By smart I mean carpool, public transportation), Buy Energy-Efficient Products, Use Less Hot Water, Use the “Off” Switch, Plant a Tree, Get a Report Card from Your Utility Company and Encourage Others to Conserve.
http://environment.about.com/od/globalwarming/tp/globalwarmtips.htm
There are so many things we can do to help our atmosphere. For one we can simply turn off lights and electronics when we are done using them to save energy. We can start using more energy efficient cars, like solar powered ones to cut down on poloution. One more thing we can do is to recycle and be more concious of our human impact on the world.
Another way we could help our atmosphere is by using ecofriendly cars. It would be benneficial if everyone used electric cars!
we could always help our atmosphere by saving energy. Possibly having green houses and more. We could also have different usages on our car. conserve more water. Another thing is use energy saving light bulbs.
In the country South Sudan, and Haiti, cleanliness is a huge problem. Fatoma Dia, a worker at the Hilton Hotel, states that, “This (being a bar of soap) is valuable where I come from.” She ones one of the residents in South Sudan and one fortunately one of the few who had soap, but could barley make it by one a day’s wages. 2.4 billion people in our world today don’t have a way to receive or even reach a sanitation area. Because of this, and estimation of 1.5 million children die every year because of the horrible living conditions, due to lack of sanitation. The water that isn’t clean, contains a illness known as cholera, which is drunken by many people, who then could die from it because of their lack of immunity to it.
Fatoma Dia takes extra hours out of her day to pick up lightly used bars of soap from guest rooms, to send into countries like South Sudan, for no cost at all. Several hundreds of soap are collected each month, and given to the Global Soap Project, who then ship them to the countries in need. Although many countries need soap, we are on of the few who don’t. We don’t even think about when we use it to take showers, wash our hands, wash dishes, and even drink it. This gives us one main advantage though, that we can and should wash our hands after going to the bathroom, and before eating to prevent getting sick.
This article surprised me a lot for many reasons. One of them was the content. I never knew that we threw away so much soap, which is kind of gross. It stated in the article that many people who stay at hotels don’t use soap!!! That’s just wrong. I mean wouldn’t that bother that you are sleeping in the same bed area as some you doesn’t use soap. Then another reason that surprised me was that there is actually a soap program for countries in need of it. I think that our school should have a donation box for soap for this program.
Question:
What do you think could be done about the lack of soap in poor countries? Explain.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/15/health/cnnheroes-soap-hygiene/index.html?hpt=he_t2
We could make a charity to save up soap to give to poor countries. With the soap they can sanitize themselves and not be dirty most of the time. I’m sure it will help them a lot.
We could help raise more money for soap by doing fundraisers or collecting soap to help donate to countries like South Sudan.
i think that other countries could help with the soap problem by bringing over other soap from other countries so it will be clean and ready for the people to use
answer other qs to get credit for the assignment
I think we should donate soap for South Sudan and Haiti to people who live under unsanitary conditions. I think it will benefit them by providing them with a healthier environment to live in.
It will help prevent illness and disease.
other countries can contribute and mail them soap but you would have to make a fun raiser.
The article that I read was about a “tornado” or a bad storm. Weather men are not able to tell just yet what it is. All they know so far is that it is not a normal storm that usually happens. This is going on in Alabama, Mississippi, and other states. So far it has only killed one person but injured twelve (a dozen). That is good but people are still keeping a look out. There have been many power outages from trees knocking down wires. That is what this article was about.
When I read this article I felt bad for them because, I know what it is like while going through a bad storm, my power being knocked out, people being killed from the storm. At least it was only one person that died but to me that is still a lot. All in all, I was sad/ i felt bad for the people in the article.
The reason why i choose this article was because, i thought it was weird that the the weather men were not able to tell if it was/ if it is a bad storm or a tornado. I also wanted to know what was going on to the people that were actually there and they are actually going through it or went through it. The things that i learned in this article were that storms can be pretty severe and it is sometimes hard to determine weather or not it is a bad storm or a tornado.
If you want to read the article go to: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i54Xf9beEFjrLjtKQ1nNMx1CA6mA?docId=8380fb013fc24ec0980b40f1a790e665
Young scientists come to Washington
(In the newspaper)
Summary
The article i read is about a science competition. On a cool day in october 28 middle school students became finalists for a science competition called The Masters Compettition. The contest was three days long, and top scientist students across the country were selected to participate. Researchers chose 30 people amongst 1500 applicants from all over the United States and Puerto Rico. Winning Posters are displayed at the National Geographic Society. The winner will receive a one million dollar research grant to further their studies. After speaking with judges participants looked at their projects in a new way. All winning projects reflected the creators inner thoughts.
Reaction
I think this article is great and inspiring. Its amazing how students my age can be so interactive in the scientific world. Its astonishing that they went to washington D.C to do this. I wish that i could have applied, because i am so intrigued by the amazement in science. I love science, and applying it to world wide situations.
Reason For Choosing
I chose this article because, it really connected with me. Since i enjoy science, i like reading about the opportunities there are for middle school students such as myself.
Information Learned
I learned that their are so many ways to interact and be involved in science, although we are so young. As they say the opportunities are endless!
If you could would you have applied?Why?
Yes I would have applied beacuse it would have been a great opprtuinty to get a great job and have a good career and make a good living throught out your life.
I definitely would have applied to enter this contest. I’m not into all aspects of science, for example I get a bit woozy when I look at internal organs and blood and stuff like that, but I really enjoy the engineering and math aspects of science like with buildings, gravity/force, and basically just creating stuff while keeping in mind all the forces that need to be balanced/unbalanced. It sounds like this competition lets you pick a topic that you’re into so I could make my project into something I feel is important. Maybe if I won the million dollars, I could research something like a car powered by air or something and try a prototype. Then again, I might pull for research on Cancer, because I feel like if we find a flawless cure, which we might not find ever, we could really make a TON of people feel safe. So yeah, I would definitely have applied to this contest basically because it’s a chance to give society more information about something you’re passionate about with no cost to you!
i would have applied because i am good at science and it would be a good oppurtunity for me. A lso the winner wins a one million dollar grant.
Recently, scientists from the University of Texas have found a body of liquid water the volume of North American Great Lakes in Jupiter’s moon, Europa. The water was locked inside the icy shell formed around Europa. This could mean there is life since there is water. It could create a new habitat for living creatures. The lake that was discovered is covered by floating ice that is collapsing providing a way to transfer nutrients and energy between the surface and the ocean that seems to already exist below the thick ice shell. Some people believe that if the ice shell is too thick, it is bad for biology since it is hard to create a habitat since the surface is not communicating with the ocean. Although there is evidence that even though the ice is thick, it can mix with a strong force giving Europa and its ocean a better chance of producing a habitat.
Scientists are using a Galileo spacecraft to produce images of Europa’s surface terrains. While the lakes are still several kilometers below the surface, the only true way of discovering if the scientists theory is true is from a future spacecraft mission designed to probe the ice shell. This would have to be produced and planned by NASA. On Earth, we use radar instruments image similar features, so they are planning to use the instruments for a future Europa mission. Overall, this discovery would never have been made without observing Earth’s ice sheets and shelves over the past 20 years. The scientists are hoping they have achieved a new finding!
This article was very interesting. I love learning about space and new findings. I hope they discover new things! I would love to travel to space when I get older. I enjoyed learning how there might be water on Europa meaning there might be new life! I feel scientists should look into this soon, before it changes, because sometimes the ice shelves can close up killing the life that was once there. IF they look into it soon, they might be able to discover a new species and observe how it lives on another planet! Overall, it was very fascinating to read this article.
I chose this article because I enjoy reading about different discoveries in space. I love picturing what it would be like to travel into space! It was the one thing that stood out most to me because it looked interesting. I learned a lot from this article. I learned that Jupiter’s moon, Europa is covered in ice, and that it was recently discovered that the ice is breaking apart. This could create habitats for life. I also learned about how the scientists want to construct a plan with NASA to create a spacecraft to visit Europa. Overall, I learned a lot from this article!
Critical Thinking Question: If there was a lake on Europa, do you think it would make an ideal habitat for life to survive? Why or Why not?
Website:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111116132914.htm
I don’t think Europa would be an ideal habitat to survive on. Even though there was water, there isn’t enough oxygen to live on without helmets or air tanks or other equipment astronauts have. Also, if the water was frozen in a sheet of ice, that tells me that the temperature is very low, so this is not an ideal place to survive.
I don’t think Europa would make an ideal habitat. I don’t think it will because there is not enough oxygen on Jupiter. The temperature is also very cold and it makes it impossible for any living thing could excites. Also if the water is covered by a sheet of ice, it shows that it is very cold on Europa. I’m not sure if there is gravity on Jupiter but if there isn’t, that also complicates it for a living organism to live on Jupiter.
This article talked about one thing and one thing only. It talked about the 3 new crew members that would be joining that international space station. They said that the space station is nearly doubling in size, until next week when 3 of the current people on it head back to earth. The names of the people going up are Shkaplerovd, Ivanishin and Burbank. To sum it up the article talked about the people going up.
I thought that this article was interesting. It was not my favorite science article with inventing or discoveries. However I feel it is good to see an article that includes some what normal everyday things to remind us that there is not an amazing phenomenon everyday. I chose this article for two reasons, first being that it was an the front page so I figured it would be interesting. The other reason I chose it is because I remember talking about that international space station in school. Thise are the two reasons I chose this article. Lastly I also learned a lot from this article. I learned that the space station has a 6 man crew. Also I learned that the peopl up there stayed up longer then intended. Since they had a problem with the launch they had to delay it 2 weeks.That is what I learned form the article.
Critical Thinking Question
I wonder how it must feel to be constantly falling and knowing in your head that you are never truly falling?
I think that it would be a very sickening feeling, almost as if you are constantly falling on a roller coaster all of the time. I would think that after time, astronauts would get used to the feeling. A while ago I saw an interview on T.V. about an astronaut’s first trip into space. He described the various contraptions he had to train on to prepare his body for the dramatic falls that he would experience. However he said that no device could ever prepare the falls. He described the falls as if your insides were doing backflips. I get dizzy very easily so I think that being an astronaut is out of the question!
The article i read was about Hula painted frogs coming back from extinction in Israel. One of Israel’s Nature Park’s Authority spotted a frog in the Hula Valley and the frog has been placed in a protective facility. Only five Hula painted frogs have ever been collected. Most of the frogs habitat have been turned into nature reserves. These frogs have a dark belly and white spots and some of these frogs have a dark olive-grey and grey-black. These frogs started to appear when more water was diverted to the Hula region.
Question: How many Hula painted frogs have ever been collected?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/17/us-israel-frog-idUSTRE7AG1AO20111117
My reaction to this article was that i was very interested. I didn’t think that keeping an animal from going extinct was that important. It also interested me when i read about the color of these frogs. The reason i chose to read this article is because the title grabbed my eye. I have never heard about this type of frog before. Also I didn’t hear anything about these frogs coming back from extinction.
Only 5 Hula painted frogs have ever been collected.
redo your critical thinking qs.
There have been 5 hula frogs collected in the whole world. And they are all in nature reserves
this qs is already answered. answer another qs to get credit.
This article was really interesting because i love frogs and i really want to get one
. There are about 5 hula frogs that have ever been collected. Great job on your article!!! 
only 5 hula frogs were collected
The article that I read was about a meteor shower that will be occurring on the dawn of November 18th. A meteor is created when space junk flies in to our atmosphere and rises. As the junk rises, the heat will make the junk so hot that it will burn up, thus creating meteors. If you did not know, a meteor appears as a quick smear in the night sky. You can see it for a second and then it disappears. When the streak of light is longer and brighter, you know that the junk that burned up was larger.
Meteor showers occur partially because of comets. Comets also go around the sun, just as Earth does, but usually they don’t cross into the same path. However, meteor showers occur when there is a larger amount of debris from comets that goes into Earth’s atmosphere. This is why there are meteor showers.
I learned that if you are in a rural/suburban area, on an average night you can see about six meteors. I also learned that a comet follows the same path as Earth, in the sense that it orbits the sun.
The reason I chose this article was because it was interesting. A few times at camp I saw meteor showers and they were so cool! My bunk mates and I were dazzled by the “natural fireworks” that the meteors were giving off! I’m glad that now I know how these “fireworks” are made.
Critical Thinking Question: How is a meteor created?
http://perryhall.patch.com/articles/behind-the-clouds-leonid-meteor-shower-will-dazzle
Meteors are small pieces of rock or dust that enter the earth’s atmosphere. They can be formed in a number of ways. They could be the remains of collisions between asteroids, or parts of a comet that have broken off.
Meteors are created by hitting other parts. They are the debries from a bigger astreoids. They are knocked up and a part of the rock starts its own orbirt. That is how a asteroid is made into its own asteriod
Meteors are created when junk in space flies into our atmosphere and rises. As it rises, the heat causes it to burn up creating the meteor.
Scientists found that deforestation in the boreal region, north of 45 degres latitude, results in a net cooling effect. While cutting down trees releases carbon into the atmosphere, it also increses an area’s albedo, or reflection of sunlight. Surface temperatures in open, nonforested, high-latitude areas were cooler because these surfaces reflected the sun’s rays, while nearby forested areas absorbed the sun’s heat. At night, without the albedo effect, open land continued to cool faster than forests, which force warm turbulent air from aloft to the ground. They are depating on what to do plant trees which could heat the enviorment because it is darker then other vegatation so it will contract solar heat.
But cutting down trees also takes away carbon and air from the enviorment. Which is also bad for the enviorment so they are conflicted with a tough decison. Cutting down tree’s north of minnestota caused a drop of 1.5 degrees on average. But cutting down south of north carolina caused it to get warmer. So they are getting mixed results. So overall the cooling effect is linear with lattitude.
My reaction to this article is that it’s very interseting whats going on because it gets colder up in the north when you cut down trees but warmer in the south. So it is conflicting what they should do plant more trees or let people cut down more trees. So when I was reading the article it was very intersting to hear the data they collected.
My reason for choosing this article is that I was very inrtriged by the title and I wanted to learn more about what they would write in the article so I was very intrseted in the title so I went right into the article. I was right the article was very intreing.
What I learend from the article is that cutting trees doesn’t just take air away from the enviorment it could make the tempature drop rise according to the lattitude. If it is above 45 degrees lattitude then the tempature goes up and if it less then 25 degrees latitude then it will get warmer. And also planting tree’s could make it warmer because it is darker then other vegatation ehich would make the enviorment. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111116132910.htm. Question: What is the lattude of the point where cutting down trees makes the enviorment warmer.Why?
i am going to say the lattiude point where cutting down trees makes the enviroment warmer is below 25 degrees.
Why?
The reason why is that in the summary of the article the person says that less then 25 degrees is warmer.
The article that I read was announcing a new sort of plastic that is not easily damaged, so its now being put into cars, boats, or paints. Once the plastic is finished of use, it can be recycled into basically anything from plastic moldings to eye contacts. To make this plastic, they took the original type of plastic and added a few ingredients. After the adding is done, they put it through an obscenely high temperature where it is molded to the desired shape. This new plastic can be used from anything, then recycled over and over.
My reaction to this article was basically joy. If this plastic is used for more and more things then recycled, it can do the whole world a lot of good. My reason for choosing this article is because I’ve always been a proud recycler and this article caught my eye on the home page of this website. I’ve learned from this article that new things are being invented everyday to help our earth, our home. New ideas are blossoming everywhere and soon we’ll have a healthy environment again.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/336181/title/Plastic_isn%E2%80%99t_over_yet
Critical thinking question: If you could reinvent something that would help out the earth, what would it be?
I am glad a new form of plastic has been invented because it will definitely help out the environment and prevent global warming. Plastic is a material that is used for so many things, so it is great that we can now use a safer, more environmentally friendly form of it. If I could reinvent something that would help out the earth, I would change air conditioners or electric heaters so that more of the the energy that is released will be used to cool down or heat up an area. Using solar panels instead of electric cords would use natural energy to heat up or cool down an area. Also, the manufacturers could use recycled materials to create the machines, or a certain type of power could be used to make more of the energy released useful, like an LED light bulb. I think this would be a good way to reinvent air conditioners or heaters because it would be more helpful to the people and the environment.
If I could reinvent something that would help out the earth it would be that cars don’t run on gas. They would run on a more natural material. That would put less pollution into the air.
I choose to find out about the vicious physiology of stress and Dr. Rajita Sinha is the director of the Yale Stress Center. She started to research this topic because she was already studying emotions of the human body. When she began her research she to see stress connections to maladies, ranging from addiction to chronic disease, diabetes and obesity. While she was doing her experiments she realized that people do not experience one emotion they a have a combination or mixed emotion. In the article she also talked about good stress and that it does exist she told CNN that it helps overcome your challenges that you have in life and learn a lesson from them. My reaction to this article was that this is a good research topic because many kids and grownups experience whether it is at home or in their job. I think that her research will help people deal with stress more efficiently and turn bad stress into good stress. I chose this article because I do have stress as a student and I wanted to know how to deal with it and what bad things can happen if you have to much stress in your life. The information that I learned is that there are two types of stress and emotions can be linked to activities you do.
What would the world be like without any stress?
Enayati, Amanda. “The Vicious Physiology of Stress – The Chart – CNN.com Blogs.” The Chart – CNN.com Blogs. 16 Nov. 2011. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. .
A world today without stress is hard to imagine, and honestly I think it would ruin society. We’re where we are today simply because we have rules and goals in life. If you have goals, at some point you have to put pressure on yourself to meet them and I have no idea how you could put pressure on yourself without stress. It sounds cool, a world without stress, but I think if that existed we’d never get ANYTHING done. Chances are, we’d never hand in our homework, cops would never feel like answering the phone, grocery stores would never want to stock their stores. We need stress, because without it what’s there left to hold us to our commitments?
‘Plastic Isn’t Over Yet’
Summary: The article I read was all about how scientists discovered a kind of plastic that doesn’t get beat up easily, is simple to break down and recycle, and can be reshaped when heated. Scientists are very excited about the discovery, and are saying that it can really make a difference in the world of plastics. The scientists added zinc and another extra ingredient to the traditional plastic compound (called epoxy resins), which resulted in the new plastic! When added to the epoxy resins, the zinc and other ingredient make the plastic able to be reshaped at high temperatures, and, all of these ingredients together form a plastic that can be easily broken down and recycled. The individuals who worked on the project explained that it was a difficult experiment, but it was worth it in the end! They believe that they have found a truly amazing plastic!
After examining the plastic, the scientists were able to compare the form of its molecules to the molecules in other plastics. Most plastics that are very durable are molded and then ‘cured’ so that all of the molecules are linked together. The formation in which the molecules are linked is what enables the plastic to be so durable. Softer plastics don’t have these kinds of bonds between the molecules, but when heat is applied to them, they melt. The new plastic is called an ‘in between’ plastic, which means that the molecules aren’t permanently linked together, but won’t melt when heat is applied. The molecules are ‘holding hands with each other,’ and are always switching who they are ‘holding hands with.’ When the plastic is heated (a good temperature would be about 200 degrees), the molecules begin ‘switching who they are holding hands with’ extremely quickly. When this is happening, the plastic is able to be reshaped easily. All in all, the scientists who worked on this project are very proud of their work, and are especially excited about the fact that the plastic can be used to do almost anything with, and can be recycled easily.
Reaction: To me, the information in this article wasn’t very surprising, but it was interesting. It didn’t shock me that scientists were able to discover the kind of plastic that they did. The people who work in that field are very skilled and smart, so to me, this discovery didn’t seem very complicated or complex. In fact, I began to wonder why, with all of the fancy equipment that we have, this plastic wasn’t found earlier. I do think it’s interesting that this plastic can be remolded so easily, but it’s also easy to recycle. Overall, I wasn’t surprised, but I was interested when reading this article.
Reason for Choosing It: When I was searching for an article to do this post about, I wasn’t looking of any topic in particular. When I did my search on Google, a few articles about a new kind of plastic came up, so I thought that it must be recent and interesting and important. When I began reading one of the articles, I realized that it was interesting and easy to understand. I knew that at the moment, it was the best article that I was going to be able to find, so I chose it!
Information Learned: Since I have never really known much about the way plastics are made, most of the information in this article was new to me. To begin, I learned that the most common base for plastics is something called epoxy resins. I also learned about molecular formations, and how different kinds form different strengths of plastic. Really, all of the scientific information in the article was new to me.
Link to Article: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/336181/title/Plastic_isn%E2%80%99t_over_yet
Critical Thinking Question: In the article, it was said that the new kind of plastic can be used as if it were wood, or it can be used for parts of sailboats, because it is able to be remolded so easily. Why do you think that its ability to be reshaped so easily allows it to have so many uses?
The fact that it can be reshaped so easily gives it a lot of uses. It will allow manufactures to build things like cars out of a stronger material that won’t dent as easily. Not just for cars though people typically don’t like it when things break and that would be great if this new type of substance is more durable then plastic and cheaper then silicon.
The newer plastic can be used for many different tasks. Reshaping can help because when, lets say, a plastic sailboat is scrapped, you can reshape the plastic quickly to form another product, like water bottles. This is more efficient then smelting the plastic and then molding it.
I read the article “Surprising Sunken Islands Discovered Near Australia” which talked about how two islands around Tasmania have been discovered underwater in the Indian Ocean. Researchers believe that the islands used to be part of an ancient continent called Gondwana. According to the article, the islands were discovered while the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) were on a boat to map the floor of the sea of the Perth Abyssal Plain. The researchers definitely knew the island was above water at one point because the top was flat and after testing some rock samples, they found granite, gneiss, and sandstone containing fossils instead of basalt which would usually be found in underwater rocks. Thanks to researchers finding these ancient islands, we can understand how India, Australia, and Antarctica broke off from Gondwana at one point. The proof from the island shows that when Gondwana started to break apart into India, Australia, and Antarctica, little parts of the island chipped off and were abandoned in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
After learning about these underwater islands that have recently been discovered, I was amazed. I never knew that India, Australia, and Antarctica used to all be one large continent. I also learned that the researchers had multiple ways to prove their theory about the islands’ histories based on rock samples and the shape of the island. I chose this article because I am always fascinated by new discoveries that could potentially change the way we think or used to think about history and the world. The fact that these small islands were discovered in the Indian Ocean makes me wonder if there are other islands in the world that have not been discovered yet. Like the researchers from CSIRO, I know in the future we can learn so much more about the history of Earth by using similar techniques like testing rock samples and analyzing geography. You never know what else could lie beneath the waves.
http://news.yahoo.com/surprising-sunken-islands-discovered-near-australia-155612029.html
Critical Thinking Question: Do you think there could be other undiscovered islands in the world? Why do you think this?
After reading this response, I do think that there could be more undiscovered islands. Thousands of years ago, there could have been so many places and tribes of people that never recorded any information. That would make them unknown to us now. But, some day, even the smallest clue like bone preserve or a certain rock could spark up talk about an ancient an island. Taking clues and turning them into a discovery project would increase our knowledge of ancient geography.
I think there could be other undiscovered islands mostly because of the technology of today. Techniques used are much better than they were a hundred years ago. Therefore, revisiting ideas brought up by old historians could lead to something. We will never know absolutely everything that happened on Earth. A place like an island could be hidden from us very well because of Earth’s natural processes. But, as years go by, we will continue to learn more and more.
I do think there could be an undiscovered island in the world. Im sure that there are even more then one. There are probably little islands around big countries that have not been discovered yet because of their size, or where they are located. They also might not have been discovered yet because there are no living creatures on the island, or no plants for scientists to study. There are probably a lot of islands in the world that we will never even no exist.
Chimpanzees have very similar qualities compared to humans which make them valuable for research. Research on chimps helped create a vaccine for Hepatitis B and is aimed to also create one for Hepatitis C as well. The US and Gabon are the only two countries that perform invasive research on chimps. The Humans Society as well as other animal groups declare wild and captive chimps endangered and that they new proper protection. The Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act which in now in congress would ban invasive research on all great apes. There are 1,000 chimps living in research facilities in the US alone. There are many contradicting opinions on this subject. Some believe research is expensive and procedures are painful for chimps. While a handful of others believe that a decreased rate of drugs being made could harm the human race. No matter what the outcome of this subject, everyone seems to agree that chimps make up only a small percentage of animal testing.
I chose this article because animals are a big topic of interest for me. I was surprised because so people are so upset about the chimps being tested on. Although I don’t approve of animal testing, they are being tested on to improve the human race. With the ability to test new drugs on animals with such a similar DNA structure, we can improve the life expectancy of humans with fetal diseases. From this article, I learned how similar humans are to chimpanzees. I also learned that although there are other great apes similar to humans, if we completely stop chimp research, we could have a rapid decrease in drug production.
Question: What is your opinion on animal testing?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/science/chimps-days-in-research-may-be-near-an-end.html
I believe in animal testing. Even though it is horrible, it could save lives. I don’t believe in testing things like cosmetics on animals though. This is simply not worth a potential animal death and I am against this.
I dislike animal testing. Some testing procedures may harm the chimps while others may not. Regardless, the chimpanzees shouldn’t be tested on. There is always the chance that it will harm the chimps and these chimps don’t deserve to be hurt. These chimps are also endangered, which mean that should be taken extra care of, not tested on. This is why I don’t like animal testing.
I have varried point of views on animal testing. I think it is awful to do to the animals. Aniaml testing is very benificial to all humans though. We will discover new solutions and save many humans lives. I do not encourage animal testing because i love chimps and all other animals and I feel horrible for them. I would, though, encourage animal testing only for one reason. Only to save the human population is why many poeple don’t agree with animal testing.
I believe in animal testing. Even though it could harm the animals the results could save peoples lives. In the response it states that testing on animals could save humans with fetal diseases. What i would not like is that if the animal was seriously harmed or abused or even killed then i would be against animal testing.
My article was about a lab that found neutrinos that were moving faster than the speed of light. Neutrinos is any massless electrically neutral leptons. Leptons is any elementary particle that interact on weak force but not strong forces. Everyone thought it was not true so they did the experiment again. The new results are the same as the old ones. It was repeated 20 times with the same results every time. The next thing to do is to have other labs do the experiment. Then as they say “they can start rewriting the textbooks”.
My first reaction to this article was:What is a neutrinos? After I found out I thought it was pretty cool that they discovered something new. I was supised that it was so unbelivable that people didn’t belive the lab that did it. Also I suprised that it would have a big impact on textbooks. That means the discovered something that was always wrong in textbooks.
I choose this article because I thought it was cool that they discovered something so new that it would change everything. Also my sister recommended it to me(even though I did’nt ask her to). I learned that things still can be discovered and what neutrinos are. I also learned that its hard to make other labs belive in your experiments.
Critical Thinking ?: Would you belive in an experiment that you have never seen? Do you think that there is a reason why other labs would’nt belive?
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-11/repetition-controversial-experiment-neutrinos-beat-light-speed-once-again
I would believe in a experiment that I have never seen because just because I haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it hasn’t been an experiment before. There are many experiments that only some people do in specific labs. Other labs may not believe in another experiment because they don’t have the equipment. Since they don’t have they equipment to do it they have never tried it. Then since they never tried it they never will believe it . However it may even get better results than any other experiment.
Have you ever seen Star Wars? If you have then you are familiar with the handheld 3-D projection devices that they use. Now what we thought was outlandish about those devices is wrong. It is possible to create a 3-D projection without a screen. And it’s here today and I am going to shed some light on it (that was a pun).
Rather than using a screen to generate the apparition of three dimensions. Aerial 3D is a laser system that uses beams of light projected from the bottom that generate plasma excitation in the atoms of oxygen and nitrogen in the air. Aerial 3D can create 50,000 points of light per second. This gives the image quality of a somewhat unstable frame rate of 10-15 frames per second. They are still working to get the image quality up that way it can slightly resemble television. This image can be viewed at 360 degrees. Although this tech is great, the quality is far behind modern day pixilation, it is years behind affordability and portability without a cable.
I am pleasantly surprised when I read this article. I had not realized that we had already created a basis for three dimensional projections. As far as I knew we were years behind this technology. I learned that the human intellect will always surprise me. I chose this article because I did not believe that we had created light projections. This new tech does raise some questions. How can we incorporate this tech into touch screen technology? Could we have tablet that were mere projectors, the screen to be projected in front of us? I have so many questions that I hope will be answered soon.
1. Could we have a tablet that was a mere projector, the screen to be projected in front of us?
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-11/3-d-projection-tech-makes-images-hover-mid-air-no-screen-necessary
Yes, i think that this could be possible. today new inventions just keep comming out and it is becoming very interesting. i wonder if they will one day create glasses with screens on the inside of them so you could use them to surf the web or something else.
yes i believe that this is possible. With all our technology and smart people now-a-days we can definatly do something like this. If we really work on 3d projections for a long time i really think that we can end up drasticly enhancing it to the better
This article was about a new spacecraft that was recently launched. This spacecraft is headed for the International Space Station, and it was bringing supplies and a team of 3 members. There were many difficulties while trying to launch this spacecraft. The crash of a smaller Russian spacecraft, filled with food and fuel (no crew members), gave a warning about safety. Another crash took place when a rocket did not reach orbit. After a while, they figured out the problem, which was a manufacturing flaw. Last month, they launched a Progress ship successfully, and another launch will take place in December. Team members have full confidence in the launches.
I thought this article was very good. It was interesting to hear about its flaws, but I am glad that the flaws were fixed. I found it really cool that there have been so many attempts to send a rocket, and so many crashes, but they kept working at it. I chose this article because anything involving space really interests me. I have always found space and spacecrafts really fascinating. I learned a lot of information about spacecrafts. I never knew how difficult it could be to launch a spacecraft, and I would have never expected that there would be this many attempts to send the spacecraft.
http://timeforkids.com/news/space-station-relief/19816
Critical Thinking:
Would you ever wish to be a part of the International Space Station, or a part of NASA’s crew? Why?
I would absolutely love it if I could become a part of NASA’s crew! Like you, I am amazed by outer space and spaceships. All throughout my childhood I’ve been the odd one out of my friends, who looked through space books about the moon and the solar system and other planets, while everyone else read story books like “Junie B. Jones”. I have thought about being an astronaut, but recently I have learned a few interesting facts about what some astronauts have had to experience, and it scared me off, a little…
. Otherwise, I definitely would wish to become a part of NASA’s crew! It would offer so many great experiences and would create so many mind-blowing memories. – Like the view of Earth from another planet, for example.
World’s smallest car fuels nanotech advance
A tiny nano-sized car which is powered by electrical pulses has been created by scientists in the Netherlands. It is the size of a single molecule. It’s maiden voyage was exactly six nanometers and it needed 500 millivolts every half revolution to move. The electric current that powers the car excites the motor and drives the car forward. This is a great discovery because it demonstrates that single molecules can use external electrical energy into motion.This discovery takes scientist closer to understanding and mimicking nature’s molecular robots. They’ve already made a nano car but say that they still need to understand the principles that make these things possible.
I was amazed when I read this article. I didn’t think that it was possible to make a car that was the size of a molecule. I am happy that scientists are able are advancing so much that this is possible.
I chose this article because I thought it was so amazing. I didn’t know that this was even possible and wanted to spread this.
I learnt a lot from reading this article. I learnt that electrical pulses activate molecules and that it was even possible to make a nano-sized car.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/18/tech/innovation/nano-car-electric/index.html
Where do you think a nano car can be used in life?
I think a nano car can be used in life if you are maybe not on land. If you want to go to space and observe some very small or interesting particles or features of something in space, it can be used. Say if that thing is small, you might need something even smaller to observe it or to conclude things from that. Then, maybe the nano car could be launched and the car could observe some things in space which are also small, but important to the scientists. In addition, if anything else is small and vital for the scientists, it could be used there. So, to observe small things like particles or other scientific “friendly” stuff, a nano car could be used.
My article was about how NASA is sending a new rover to mars this week. After years are planning and a two year delay they are finally ready to send it to mars. The rover is about the size of a car and is going to blast off on November 26 from Florida. The weight of the rover is 1 tons. The price of this rover is almost 2.5 billion dollars. This is the reason as to why there will not be two rovers. There are usually to rovers but because of the money set back there will only be one. They are also worried that since it is hard to land on mars that there will be some issues but they said that they will address them along the way.
My reaction to this article is shock. One because of how much it cost. I never thought something that was the size of a car would cost 2.5 billion dollars. Also that we are sending yet another rover to mars. It seems that we just keeping sending them there. I choose this article because I love to learn different the different things that are happening in NASA. It is all very interesting to me. What I learned is that we are sending another rover to mars and that we hope to learn something from this.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45389165/ns/technology_and_science-space/
Critical question: why are we not sending rovers to other plants?
I think that we are not sending rovers to other planets because scientists want to study planets one at a time. If there are too many planets studied at once, it may because confusing and unorganized. In addition, I think that scientists really want to focus on Mars because they have found little information on it and more people are interested. I think it would be cool though to find out about other different planets.
I think scientists aren’t sending rovers to other planets because they already have so much information on the planets we already discovered things on and it would be wasted work to just forget about the planet because they could send more rover and then water emerges on a planet that we left and they would never know
My article was about the iceman Otzi’s death. There are many theories, but one thing to say for sure is that he died from an arrow hitting him in the right shoulder blade. He also had a cut on his left eye, so scientists think that he fell after he was shot and cut his eye. Which at a very high altitude, is very dangerous. Lastly, their final conclusion for the moment was that he was shot by an arrow, fell down, and bled to death.
I thought that this was kind of cool. I never herd of an iceman, but I find it cool that they actually do exist. I also thought that his death was mysterious. Why would someone shoot him with an arrow? Another question I wonder about is if the person who shot Otzi with an arrow was fighting with Otzi? If so, what was the fight about. I think that it is sad that Otzi had to die that way. If anything, I think that people should die naturally and with age.
I chose this article because I thought that it was interesting. I have never herd of an iceman before so I was interested to here about one. Although I still don’t know what iceman did, I do know that they fought like the rest of us. I also chose this article because I thought it was a good way of showing how scientists figure out how people die. Sometimes the injuries of the person’s death tells part of their story.
I learned how to find out how someone died. I also learned that iceman roamed this earth and actually lived in very high altitudes. From reading this article, I feel like iceman were buried under the snow. That it why Otzi was found in a melting glacier. Lastly, I learned that there are so many different kinds of lifestyle in this world through out the years.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45389089/ns/technology_and_science-science/
Critical Thinking Questions:
1. Why do you think Otzi was shot with an arrow?
2. What do you think Iceman do, and how do they survive?
1. I think Otzi might have been shot with an arrow by accident. He could have been mistaken for a sort of animal and been shot. Maybe somebody had hunting with a bow and arrow that day.
2. I’m not exactly sure what an iceman is to begin with but they must build some sort of home to keep them warm, and they probably hunt since there isn’t any supermarkets.
1. I think that Otzi was shot with an arrow because he was in an intense battle with someone. Personally, I think it would be another iceman who he’s in battle with. Maybe they were both fighting over the same location to live at or maybe they were fighting over the last bit of food, but I think Otzi won and the other guy became upset.
2. I think that Iceman try to learn more about the colder weather. Yet survival is also very important when doing so. To survive, they must have a lot of warm clothes, but they need to hunt for food and find shelter – most likely an igloo – for safety.
On November 17th, 2011, an Ozone rock fracture occurred which could lead to an earthquake. Ozone is a natural gas that can cause rocks to break under pressure. Prior to the earthquake, pressure began to form in underground faults. These pressures caused rocks to break and produces detectable ozone. Scientists are now studying ozones to detect rock fractures.
I am shocked to learn that an earthquake may occur due to these ozones. I was also amazed by how these natural gasses cause pressure underground. This causes the rock to break. It is brilliant that scientists have discovered this because now, we are more aware of an impending earthquake.
I chose this article for two main reasons. First off, I wanted to know why these ozones could create pressures underground. Secondly, I read this article to be more aware. Now, I know if my street has separated into some rubble, then I know to be ready for an earthquake.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111117154635.htm
What are other signs that a earthquake may occur?
(Information learned)
The information I learned was that ozones cause rock fractures by causing pressure underground. These also lead to earthquake signs. I also learned that many scientists are studying to see if these fractures could mean an impending earthquake. So far, they have some evidence that support their theory, but the question still remains.
I know it sounds crazy but some things have said that pets can feel vibrations in the ground better. There are some signs to see if an earthquake comes. For one, some pets run away when they feel an earthquake coming. Others will try to get out of the house. You will here them barking and scratching the door. You can also look at lakes and see if the water levels have gone up. There is no completely accurate way to tell unless you are a scientist of course. Those are just some ways that people can tell if there might be one coming.
Fatty Foods Encourage Overeating
Studies have shown that fatty foods increase the risk of heart disease which is the #1 cause of death in America. Recently scientists have done an experiment on rats to see just “why these kinds of food are so attractive.” When eating fatty foods activate something in the body called Endocannabinoids. Endocannabinoids are molecules in the body which tell us when it’s time to eat. So therefore that is what causes people to overeat fatty foods. Knowing this knowledge encouraged them to experiment with the rats again but this time a different way. This time they split the rats into four groups and fed them all different diets. When they finished the experiment, the results showed that when eating a lot of a certain food it causes not only people, but animals to over eat. Because of this people are becoming obese, so scientists are trying to create a drug for people to be able to take to lose weight.
Critical Thinking Question: What happens when Endocannabinoids get activated?
When the Endocannabinoids become activated, they tell your body that it is time to eat. The endocannabinoids are molecules that send a message to your body when you are hungry. Results show that fatty foods activate these molecules In an experiment, scientists split rats into four groups and fed rats in each group foods with different fat contents. Scientists noticed that rats that ate fattier foods ate more. Currently, scientists are developing a drug that will help people that glut themselves with fatty foods to help them loose weight.
The article I read is about Paleontologists in Chile that have resently made a discovery in the desert. They found what appears to be a “massive graveyard of whale bones’ in Coiapo. It’s more than half a mile from the ocean. They found more then 80 whales and 25 complete skeletons. They were found in one of the driest deserts in the world. Scientist believe that the bones could be between 2 million to 7 million years old. They don’t know how the whales ended up so far away from the ocean but they have some ideas. Some think that there might have been a lagoon there that dried up, or a big wave carried them on to land. Or a giant earthquake sealed them off. The Paleontologists also found a dolphin carcass with walrus like tusks. They said that this as given them a glimp’s of the ancient sea life. My reaction to this article is that I thin kits really cool how they found all those fossils because usually they don’t find the whole animal, they could only find a few of the bones but with this whale, they found nearly every bone from the whale. I was also wondering how the sea animals could have gotten so far away from the sea and how did they all die in the same place, or nearly the same place. I learned that they can figure out how old something is by just looking at its bones, like they did with the whale and dolphin.
So how do you think the whale and dolphin ended up so far away from the ocean?
I think that they ended up so far away because there used to be an ocean in that area. If that long ago, there was a large body of water, it is possible that the animals lived there, and the water dried up. There were periods a long time ago in many areas that used to have large bodies of water, but disappeared over time. This would explain the million year old skeletons so far away from the ocean. That is how I think they ended up that far.
The article I have currently read is called A Rare Isotope Helps Track an ancient Water source by Felicity Barringer. This science article is about how this device that is put in aquifers only in Libya. This device is called Krypton 81 Isotope. They said that they used this device to clean water, but the physicist found out that this device was looking for something else in the aquifer. They found this secret water source found in Libya. They believe that it was ancient and holy water from the great powerful gods. But many scientists think that this water source has been coming from the core of the earth leading to the surface or ground of the aquifer. They also took samples and ran a test. This water was proved to be the cleanest and freshest water known to man and the world. They believe that Libya has extraordinary water underground.
Moreover, my reason for picking this article is because the picture really interested me and there was a great title to it so I got very interested in reading this article. Also I read some of the captions and sub titles and it said that this was the new water source that was the freshest, cleanest and most expensive ($15-$20) or more). Also, my reaction to this article was interested and curios and most of all fascinated. I was very fascinated with this article because I can’t believe that of all states, Libya had the cleanest water in the whole world now ad it was supposed to be ancient and holy from the gods.
In conclusion, the information I learned from this article I that the cleanest water is in Libya and it is worth more than ($20). I would “die” to taste that water. It must be really good tasting and cold. I also learned that underground water from anywhere especially Libya can be a really fresh water source to satisfy a human, or anyone else such as bugs or animals. Furthermore, the link to this article is http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/science/rare-krypton-81-isotope-helps-track-water-in-ancient-nubian-aquifer.html?ref=science
Lastly one critical question I had is…
would there be any other sites in this world that would be ancient or holy water that is underground.
Looking at this question, I realized there might be other sites. The auquifier only found one place in Libya. There are many places it could still test, so there could be a potential possibility. The core of the earth leads to anywhere, not just Libya, so there could be more than one spot. The holy water could appear in other places too, depending how you interpret how the water truely got there. Overall, I believe there probably are other places with the cleanest water in the world, we just might not have found it yet!
Scott White an engineer, proposed his idea of a “battery that can repair itself” at a meeting in January. Why do batteries eventually not charge? Well, as a battery gets older, tiny cracks form in parts, blocking the electric current. This explains why eventually, your cell phone may stop charging. The new battery is a type of lithium- ion battery. They are commonly used in small electronics. These batteries are made up of three parts: the cathode, which has a positive electric charge, the anode which is negatively charged, and a liquid called an electrolyte. This liquid carries the charges between the anode and cathode. When a crack is detected, tiny bubbles filled with a substance called gallium indium is released to seal the cracks, thus allowing the battery to conduct electricity again.
This article was very fascinating to read. When you read that scientists have created batteries that can repair themselves, you think wow, that must be a really complex device! But in reality, bubbles made from cheap plastic are doing all of the work.
To be quite honest when I read the title I thought that it was going to be about batteries that can heal wounds…really. Although my prediction was incorrect, I still learned a lot from this article. I learned that this idea can help build safer batteries that will not overheat and catch on fire. The plastic bubbles are designed so that they will melt if the temperature of the battery gets to high.
Question: By having these batteries, what other improvements can be made regrading the environment?
Link: http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2011/04/battery-powered-to-heal/
well I think that these batteries could really help the enviornment in many ways. Like for one, it can definitely help with the waste factor in the world. When a battery dies and is useless then you have to throw it out but if they created more energy efficient batteries then there would be much less battery waste. Overall, I found your article really interesting.
Sleep doesn’t help old folks remember
Have you ever heard of the saying “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. Well that is true for humans. New research has found that older people have a harder time remembering after a full nights sleep then younger people do. After young people sleep, we are able to remember what we did the previous day, recall words, colors and physical objects. But older people have trouble doing so. Rebecca Spencer at the University of Massachusetts conducted an experiment. She got a group of 18-30 year olds and a group of 50-80 year olds. Their task was to remember 10 colored doors. They first tried remembering the doors after 12 hours without any sleep. They each made a number of mistakes. Then they tried it with a full night’s sleep. The 18-30 year olds cut their number of mistakes in half. But the 50-80 year olds made about the same amount of mistakes as they did the first time. Scientists think that this happens because of their sleep pattern. Older people have shorter sleeping patterns then younger people do. And older people get up more during the night. So in the morning when they get up they are still tired.
I picked this article because of the title. It made me think of what happens to our brain when we sleep at night. What I really liked about this article was how interesting it was and how our brain function changes as we get older. I have learned from reading this that maybe while I am young I should get as much sleep as possible to keep my brain snoozing. After I read it I was amazed at how sleeping affects your memory.
Question: If you are getting enough sleep, name one thing on the reading strategies chart on the wall in Ms.Dharmi’s room?
http://www.sciencenews.org
The article I read was called 8 Baby Penguins Touted as the ‘Real Chicks of Central Park’. This article is about how eight penguins are trapped in the Central Park Zoo. While some think this is a bad thing, Central Park Zoo is a hue tourist attraction so many people will pay much attention to these adorable penguins. There are four gentoo penguins and four chinstrap penguins that have entered there new home at the central park zoo. I chose this article because I love all animals with the exception of all rodents. When ever I read something new about animals I just want to read more and more. I always want to learn facts about animals current lifestyles. I was very surprised by ths article because I didn’t think they would take in such yong penguins. The little chicks are only tiny babies and they have already entered a zoo.
I learned so many things from this article. The first thing I learned from this article was that more than 70% of penguin species are in a devestating decline in their population. Also, chinstarp and gentoo are two different types of penguins that aren’t declining in population, and they are the two types that have been taken as babies in the zoo. The Central Park Zoo is conducting a fundraiser to raise money to donate t to the care for peguins. They are only excepting $10 dollars or more per doner and are thinking that this charity will be a success.
Critical Thinking: Do you think that people will donate a lot of money for the baby penguins or do you think there are animals in greater need?
http://www.dnainfo.com/20111115/upper-east-side/8-baby-penguins-touted-as-real-chicks-of-central-park
Im not really sure if people will donate money. I think they should, because trapping penguins in a habitat that is not good for them could cause many bad things. Im sure there are other animals in need, but atleast most other animals are in a habitat that is good for them. I dont think people know enough about this topic and what is going on, so i dont think that many will donate money. All penguins are in danger due to global warming, and global warming is our fault. Why dont we solve the problem we created?
Is Empathy In Our Genes?
Recent studies have shown that personality traits like being open and optimistic are linked to a gene variation. This variation is very obvious, and it causes random strangers to realize whether or not you have the gene. Several personality traits have already been linked to this gene, which receives oxytocin, a chemical that contributes to emotions. These traits are empathy, anxiety, and affection. Some people have two “G” variations of the gene are more optimistic, but people with “A” variations have a harder time dealing with stress, and are more likely to develop autism.
This is the first time that scientists have ever seen a direct link between genotype and personality, so this is definitely a big deal. For the experiment, scientists took twenty three couples and had one person discuss a difficult point in their life, while the other person just listened. This was videotaped, and the tape was shown to a group of 116 people who didn’t know the people in the tape, and these people were asked to say whether or not the listeners were empathetic. Scientists expected there to be some similarities between the people’s opinions and the genotypes of the people, but they were shocked by how similar the results were. Of course, genetics aren’t always the reason for personalities, but a good majority of a person’s attitude is related to their genotype.
This article makes me glad that scientists have finally realized the genotype-personality connection, which has always been something I agree with. Of course, sometimes people are bitter or optimistic just based on their personal experiences, but some personality traits, in my opinion, are obviously connected to genes. Some people are just so disgustingly bitter that it’s obvious it’s not just them. I’m just glad that people have finally realized that personality is partly genetic.
I chose this article because, as I said above, I’ve always been interested in what part of personality genotype plays a role in. It’s something that I’ve strongly believed in for a while, so I was very interested to read this article.
I have learned from this article that personality depends more on genotype than anything else. Also, the two genes are the “A” and “G” variations, and the “A” variation is the one that causes bitterness and stress. The “G” variation is the one that causes optimism and openness. Finally, the gene variation is one that is so obvious that strangers who don’t know the person can usually tell whether or not they have the variation.
Critical thinking: Do you believe that genotype plays a role in personality? How much of a role, and why or why not?
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/15/health/empathy-genes/index.html?npt=NP1
I don’t think you need scientific proof if you are nice or not, I think the genes may have something to do with it, but you don’t always know why someone is mean or nice or whatever. Maybe the way you think about things could be from the genes but I don’t think personality in general.
My science article was about scientists experimenting on how the first sighting of a faster-than-ligth neutrino could have gone wrong. The experiment left them with one possible explanation on how it could have gone wrong. In order to prove their studies right, they have to preform more experiments having the same conclusion as the one used to discover the first after-than-light neutrino. They are all convinced it is true but they need more scientific evidence.
I chose this article because we were talking about this subject a little bit in English.When I recognized the term it interested me a lot. I was interested to see how many after-than-light neutrinos there are int he world and how people even found them. The article just interested me a lot and that’s why I chose to use this article.
This article was very interesting to me. I realized all of the hard work scientists had to go through just to prove they are right. It can’t just be a one time discovery you have to prove yourself multiple times. I admire that about scientists in general, all of their handwork and determination.
The information I learned was that scientists found about faster-than-light-neutrinos. I never knew that before and it was cool to learn that. The critical thinking I came up with is When was the first after-than-light neutrino discovered and how many have scientists found after that.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/21/us-science-neutrinos-idUSTRE7AJ0ZX20111121
I’m pretty sure this is the article I used
It was about how people now know that caffine strengthens the brain cells. This was found to happen in the most unpredictable part of the brain. Scientists reported saying that it stimulates effects and it my be that it may decrease the likelyness of brain disorders. They tested on rats how they would they react to it. Serena dudek said that it sends little electrical waves in slices of brain tissue. More specificly the seahorse shape next to the ear this is wherethe most concentrated area is. It said that it sends the caffines eletric pulse to the more deeper parts of the brain. The part CA2 got the biggest electrical jolt from the caffine.
I was shocked to hear that this sort of things happen when you drink any source of caffine. I would have had no idea that this electrical jolt of energy surges through my brain and gives it more power then before.
I chose this article becuase i never heard of something like this before. So i started reading it and got really intrested. Without reading this i would have taken on sip of coffee the same way again
“Cancer” or “Weird Cells”: Which sounds deadlier?
Summary: This article was about cancer and how deadly its factor may be. The word cancer frightens many people itself. Cancer is used in conditions from Stage O Breast Cancer to glibastomes. Cancer sounds like a mental illness. The idea that cancer will kill cells dates back to the 19th century. A German pat holist took cells of dead people and discovered they were killing cells. However, now, scientists are taking cells of living people and are examining it. The medical investigators say that the probability of a tumor is deadly. The cluster of cells during breast cancer may spread or may not even. It may even go away. Sometimes, doctors fear there may be cancer in a body but it is just some different types of cells, so the word seems daunting. Stage O breast cancer name overwhelms many people. The same situation has also happened to cervical cancer.
Reaction: I was surprised to learn about all of the ways, which the name ‘cancer’ may sound scary or frightening. I thought that scientists and medical investigators should focus more about finding cures and preventing cancer than trying to change the name. I thought that is was also a little interesting/weird that they take cells from living people instead of dead now, but I can see why this is useful. Also, I thought this article was informative and gave a lot of facts about Stage o Breast Cancer.
Reason for choosing it: I chose this article because I wanted to learn more about cancer. I was curious about this subject and I wanted to find out about the process, which the scientists have done, so far. I thought it was informative about the cancer categories ad it fit well into the category of “Most deadliest medical issues.”
Information Learned: I learned all the varieties about cancer. I learned more about breast cancer and the way the name “cancer” scares many people. I also learned what scientists do to experiment about cancer cells. Lastly, I learned how cancer cells can influence your body and people.
Link to Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/health/cancer-by-any-other-name-would-not-be-as-terrifying.html?ref=science
Critical Thinking Question: Why may the name “cancer” scare other people and does it scare you and why?
The word cancer might scare people because they could be at risk of getting it. Also maybe a loved one had it and they saw what it had did to them. This word doesn’t scare me. Even though I can get it, it is a very low chance.
The name cancer scares other people because we’ve all heard so many cancer horror stories that just the word is enough to frighten people. Furthermore, it’s a terrifying disease. When we hear it, we’re automatically afraid that either we or our loved ones will get it. It’s sort of been implanted in our brains as a terrifying word, just like “blood” or “death”, and it frightens people because of every bad thing that they’ve ever heard about the disease.
The word cancer definitely scares me, mostly for the reason why it scares everybody else. I’ve heard so many horrible stories baout people with cancer and what they go through, and so I’m permanently afraid of it. It makes me worry that someday I’ll get it and won’t be able to do anything. Also, I know people who have had cancer experiences- some have survived, and some haven’t, and even though i was young at the time, I still remember how scary it was. So yes, cancer does scare me.
My article is about how a double dose of mom’s depression may do a baby good. The article is called “Babies may benefit from moms’ lasting melancholy” by Bruce Bower. It says that kids whose mothers stayed depressed from the fourth month of pregnancy showed that in their first-year mental and physical development was faster to those of whose mothers stayed emotionally healthy for the same time.A fetus that gets thrown a caretaking curve upon leaving the womb tends to struggle developmentally, at least for the first year.What is best for the mother may not be best for the fetus or infant.
I was surprised when I read this article. I thought that if the mother is depressed during their pregnancy the baby. This might not be true but if it is, then it will be astonishing news. I chose this article because from the second I read the headline I was interested to read more. The name of the article attracted me because it lead me to think that what i was taught could be wrong. I learned that how a mother feels while she is pregnant can affect the baby after it is born.
Article link: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/336332/title/Babies_may_benefit_from_moms’_lasting_melancholy
Critical Thinking Question:
Do you think your mother’s emotional health while she was pregnant affected you?
Summary
In the article I read about scientist have discovered how flies genetic muscles work when they are in air and are flying. The fly’s gene, also known as spalt is what is causing them to fly at ultra fast speeds with their muscles. Without the gene known as spalt the fly would only build muscle in their legs and not be able to fly. In order to fly efficiently fly’s have to flap their wings very fast to go around very fast which can cause a buzzing sound. This sound has a frequency of 200 hertz and can be annoying. Spalt is one of the reasons why fly’s buzz. This is one of a fly’s gene.
Reaction to the Article
My reaction is that it was interesting to learn about how fly’s fly and spalt. I think that genes may be very intriguing to me.
Reason for Choosing
I don’t really have a reason for choosing this. I just needed an article and I found this one and I thought it would be interesting so I choose it.
Information Learned
I learned a lot from this article. I learned a lot about the fly gene spalt. I also learned a lot about how fly’s fly. This is what I learned from the article.
Critical Thinking Question
What would the world be like if flies didn’t have the gene spalt?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111117081341.htm
I flies didn’t have the gene, Spalt, then they wouldn’t have any use for their wings. Since they can’t fly without Spalt, the strength in their legs would increase, making them better crawlers.
The article I read talked about recently invented robot called the TELESAR V. This robot allows a person to see, feel, and hear whatever the robot sees, feels, or hears. The person who is controlling the robot wears gloves that transmit temperature and texture, a helmet with full field of vision screens and speakers, as well as other gear to allow the person to control the robot. The only thing this robot is missing is legs. The robot is a body without any legs.
I thought that this concept was really cool. This idea could have so many uses. It reminds me of the movie “Avatar.” Using this robot is almost like having a second body. I chose this article, “A Steerable Remote ‘Telexistence’ Robot That Transmits Sight, Sound, and Touch to the Operator,” because I wanted to learn more about this robot. This robot interested me because it sounded like something from a science fiction movie. I learned that robots can actually feel, and not just record, temperature. I also learned that sense of touch could be transmitted through robots.
What are some of the ways you think this robot could be used?
To see this robot in action and read more, go to the article using this link:
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-11/video-telexistence-robot-conveys-sight-sound-and-touch-user
This robot could be used for people with disabilities, who need help to see and hear. Also, you could send the robot out instead of yourself to go out and enjoy say a movie from the comfort of your own home. It could also be used for spies/FBI because you can see and hear everything the robot does. It is a cool invention and probably has a lot more ways to be used.
In 2006, we found a sea composed out of liquid ethane and methane on the moon orbiting Saturn. This is the only body of water that we have found besides our own planet. Now NASA is considering to send a probe called TiME to the waters of Titan. In May the TiME project had received a 3 million dollar contract. The TiME will launch in 2016. It will be there in the year of 2023. By then it will be in the major seas of that moon. As many NASA representatives say, “There are endless questions to knowing about these seas.
I thought this was the most revolutionary thing scientists have discovered. Finding water on a moon orbiting jupiter could show signs of life. If the TiME lands there, we could really prove if there is life on other planets. Also, we could actually survive on this planet with some exceptional help from technology. We will not be able to discover anything about the waters until it actually lands in 2023. We will just have to wait and see. I leaned that this project has been going on for a long time. It is good that it is starting to make some progress.
Popular Science Article Space boat
What other revolutionary ideas will our country come up with?
The reason that I chose this article was because i thought this was a world changing discovery. The minute I just saw the title of the article I was drawn in from the start. It blew my mind knowing that there was actually water on other planets. When the space boat lands on the moon called Titan, I will be very excited to see those pictures. But sadly when the space craft lands it will be 2023. Another reason I picked this article was because I believe that there could be some sign of life on that moon. They might not need oxygen or food but they do have waters that could keep them quenched.
This is a add on to the paragraph above
This article was about how dolphin’s dimples detect electricity. They have limited senses, so can help them find fish at the bottom of an ocean, even in murky waters. The dimples are called vibrissal crypts. The scientists used a device that creates an electric field. They took a dolphin and taught it to swim away if it detects the electric field, but stay put if it doesn’t. When plastic was put over the dimple’s, the dolphin didn’t move. When there was no plastic on it, the dolphin swam away.
My reaction to this article was that I was really amazed and impressed. Dolphins really are such unique creatures. I always knew they were smart, but the way they can detect electricity is so cool. Even the fact that scientists were able to train the dolphin in a way that could help them study it is also so awesome. I truly never thought dolphins intellect expanded that far.
I chose this article because I was intrigued by it. I really like animals, so I knew I wanted to read something that had to do with animals. Also, I don’t really know all that much about dolphins. I wanted to learn more about them. Also, I didn’t really know what the article would be about, so when I read it to find out and I found it so impressive, I knew I wanted to write about it.
From this article, I learned what magnificent creatures dolphins are. I also learned how smart animals other than just people are. I don’t even think it’s possible for people to detect electricity in that type of way, so it was simply amazing.
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2011/08/dolphin-dimples-detect-electricity/
Critical Thinking Question: How do you think scientist can use this information that dolphins can detect electricity to learn more in general?
I think they can use this information to learn more in general in many ways. For example we can use this and experiment and learn about different electrical forces. The scientists can make the electrical forces strong or less strong and see what happens. There are many ways to use this and learn more in general. This information will be very helpful.
The article that i read was about a Nubian aquifer and how a man found an ancient water source. A man named Pradeep Aggarwal runs a water source program. He has been looking at different means of fingerprinting water. He has been studying bodies of water. I think this was a very interesting article and it had alot of interesting facts to go along with it. The reason i chose this article is because its not just an ordinary article. So i wanted to write about a unique article. I learned that the Nubian aquifer the oases in Egypt and Libya that stretches across 770,000 square miles of northern Africa. I also learned that the aquifer is the worlds oldest. The cite source is http://nytimes.com/2011/science. A crtical thinking question is what else can u say about the man named Pradeem?
redo your critical thinking qs
add more details to your summary from the article.
cite:http://news.yahoo.com/chinese-medicine-driving-rhinos-extinction-201606784.html
This article is about how Asian Rhinosorous are alittle too close to extinction. People in China are taking off the horns and using it for medicines. But they aren’t only doing it to rhinos. They are taking parts from other animals and using it for medicines and foods. I think that its ok to do this but you have to limit yourself. From this article, i learned that there are a lot of uses for animal parts. But my question is What else, besides animals, can we use for medicines?
Scientists say that millions and millions of years ago there may have been a big planet in our solar systems. Scientists have computers that show how the solar system formed and they say that planets flung another planet through gravitational force. Scientists looked at 6000 different scenarios that could’ve possibly lead to how our solar system looks now. They found a model that had 5 giant planets that was somewhat likely to lead to our solar system. Scientists say that 600,000,000 million years ago the solar system was really unstable and had several unorganized planets scattered around it. Basicly scientists all over the world are examining planets that could have possible been in our solar system and thats what my article talks about.
I was really shocked when i read this. Space is my favorite subject and i know alot about it and i really didnt know that there were so many other planets. I really enjoyed reading this article and i learned so many new things while reading.
I chose this because i thought it had to do with a new planet. when i found out it didn’t i still read it because it was really cool. I really wish that this article was longer so i could read more.
I learned alot of things while reading. I learned about the technology that scientists use. Also i learned that there used to be more planets in our solar system.
Link:http://www.livescience.com/17110-extra-giant-planet-solar-system.html
Critical thinking: how do you think gravity could have flung a planet across the solar system.
Gravity could have flung a planet across the solar system if there was a very strong gravitational force. Maybe some explosion or some other occurence in our solar system caused a huge mass of gravity to build up, hence flinging the planet across the solar system. Additionally, even if this planet was huge, it could have a small weight because it was made out of lightweight gases. I wonder where that planet is now?
Lastly, the planet could have been flung across the solar system because of a very large explosion. The energy set out from the explosion could have hit the planet and set it in motion across the solar system to another unknown location.
The article I read was called “Why Is It So Hard to Go to Mars?” by Mike Wall. It talks about space craft being sent up into space, attempting to go to mars, but failing.
It also talks about NASA preparing to launch its huge new curiosity rover toward Mars on saturday, the current travails of robotic Russian probe stranded around Earth offer an uncomfortable truth: getting to Mars is tough.
“I’m not sure Mars is harder on average than other places,” said JPL’s Richard Cook, MSL deputy project manager and a veteran of several previous NASA Mars campaigns. “We’ve been there a lot, or relatively a lot, so we have maybe enough statistics to talk about it.”
My initial reaction to this article was, how hard could it possibly be to get to mars? But as I kept reading on, my original though started to change. Mars is complex and far away, understand how it would be tough to get to it.
I chose this article because I thought it was cool, the pictures drew me in. Also I just like space in general.
I learned many things. One being that Mars is hard to get to.
Link:
http://www.space.com/13698-mars-missions-hard-nasa-rover-russian-probe.html
Summary:
Scientist have discovered that a dose of caffine can actually sharpen the brain for rodents. If the scientists can get a clearer understanding of this then they could use it to help with brain disorders. The scientists have been using more caffine then in the morning cup of coffee but it could still get them to a major breakthrough. Scientist Dudek and her team looked at effects with a smaller amount of caffine. They targeted the hippocampus which is deep inside the brain and found that it jolted the rats brain, Incredible!
Reaction:
I couldn’t believe this article. Most people thought caffine made you more energetic but now smarter! Maybe I should start drinking coffee.
Reason:
The reason I chose this article was that it caught my eye. I saw coffee delivers a jolt and clicked on the link straight away.
Information learned:
I learned how coffee can stimulate the nervse in the brain. This then makes the brain more sharper and smarter.
Link:
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/336359/title/Coffee_delivers_jolt_deep_in_the_brain
Critical thinking question:
How could scientist make this a safe way to give people a more sharper brain?
It has recently been discovered that caffeine can strengthen brain cell connections with rodents. This means the same thing probably happens to us.
A better understanding of how caffeine strengthens brain cell connections could help scientists treat some brain disorders. Scientists gave the rodent their equivalent of two cups of coffee. This triggered a big jolt in a brain area called CA2.
If scientists can find out more about this they may be able to help with memory loss. Although scientists are saying that they are a long way away from being able to use this to help humans yet.
I chose this article because I found it very interesting that caffeine may be able to help cure brain diseases.
Reaction: I found it amazing that could potentially cure brain diseases and strengthen brain cell connections
I learned about how coffee can do more to us than keep us awake.
critical thinking qs : Is it right to do these tests on rats.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/336359/title/Coffee_delivers_jolt_deep_in_the_brain
I believe that it is in fact inhumane to do these types of tests on lab rats. These poor creatures should not be subjecting to endless tests and experiments, especially if it causes these creatures harm. But, I can also see good in testing these rats. The tests supply us with new insightful information that help us better understand ourselves and the world around us. All in all, both sides have pros and cons, but the ultimate decision should be left up to the businesses and organizations who are using these rats for testing.
My article was about how there might be live on one of Jupiter’s moons. It is called Europa and it is its smallest moon with a global ocean and lakes under a crust made out of ice. Some scientists say that the crust is two miles thick. The thicker the crust is, the less likely there is life. Even with a thick ice crust it’s still possible because the lakes are churning which means life forms can use them to go from under the crust to the surface. It’s estimated that the lakes are 2 or 3 miles underneath the ice crust and the oceans are about 30 miles down. NASA learned about Europa from the Gallileo spacecraft.
I chose this article to read because it looked really interesting. It made me wonder if there could be life on Jupiter’s moon. I wanted to read to find out more. I wanted to know hows it was possible to have life on Jupiter and what clues NASA has. When I found this article I was surprised that there was possible life on Jupiter. I wondered when scientists will find out more or prove that life exists on Jupiter.
Do you think it will take a long time to prove/disprove life on Europa?
Coffee delivers jolt deep in the brain
Most caffeine addicts would tell you that coffee sharpens the mind. A clearer idea of caffeine’s affect on the brain allows scientists to take advantage of its effects and perhaps even alleviate some symptoms of brain disorders. So far, most of caffeine’s effects have been illuminated by studies using does much high than an average person’s cup of coffee.
A scientist named Serena Dudek of the Nation Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C has been studying this. Dudek and her team are looking at the effects of smaller hits of caffeine on a small part of the hippocampus. After feeding rats (as an experiment) the equivalent of two human cups of coffee, the team measured the strength of the nerve cells.
My reaction to this article is that I drink coffee but not that much and I was scared while reading this. I never knew that coffee could do this much damage to your body. My mom also drink coffee and I told her to read the article and she says she has to limit her drinking coffee all the time
The reason why I choose this article is because as I was searching through sciencenew.com I found a really good title about coffee. Since I love coffee I wanted to see what it was about and so I read it and did a summary on it.
The information that I learned while reading this article is that caffeine not just in coffee but in other things like soda could affect your brain cells. Also I learned that when they tested the coffee on the rats they had to see the rats stimulates to see what happens.
http://sdharmi.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/science-article-summary-due-112211/
Why do you think that Dudek and her team tested it on the rats and not a normal person?
here is the link sorry i forgot it
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/336359/title/Coffee_delivers_jolt_deep_in_the_brain
I believe that Dudek and her team tested the coffee on rats and not a normal person because of possible problems. It would be unethical to test on humans, because there are many things such as irregular heart rhythm which could occur if a person is given caffeine. If this occured, it would be devastating. If a human reacts negatively to caffeine, the test could potentially cause permanent damage . People don’t want to hurt animals. At the same time, it is immoral to test on other humans with the possibility of injury.
Sky Show Thursday: Leonid Meteor Shower to Peak
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/11/111115-leonids-meteor-showers-shooting-stars-space-science/
Summary: In this article I read that a meteor shower will be on Thursday 11/17/11. These meteors are called Leonid.and you’ll know that the meteor shower will come when you don’t see the moon rising. The moon will rise up after midnight so you can look at the meteor shower easier. At midnight you’ll see the meteors coming from the east point of the horizon. Astronomers say that the Leonid meteor happens when Earth breaks up debris left in the wake of a comet orbiting the sun. This occurs every 33 years when it gets closer to the sun.
Reaction: After reading this I can’t believed that I missed a meteor shower. I wished I could of read this article last Monday, anyway after reading this I was shocked that this meteor showers happens every 33 years. I thought a meteor shower happens at least every 40 years. Anyway I thought this article was very interesting because I never read anything books on meteors.
Critical thinking: When was the last Leonid Meteor Shower that happened before November 17, 2011?
After reading this article, I can conclude that the last Leonid Meteor Shower was around 33 years ago. The article also states that these showers happen continuously every 33 years. I find it very interesting that a certain meteor shower can occur at a constant rate.
New York Times: Official Seek New Ways to Cull Bison
During migration 360 wild bison are killed by hunters in Montana by slaughtering or while shipping them elsewhere. Under a proposal from Yellowstone National Park officials are finding an alternative to the indiscriminate slaughters of previous years. Officials are adopting the idea of selection to reduce the parks bison population. This Idea came about when Montana officials wanted to rein in the size of Yellowstone’s bison herd.
Many people say that the bisons should roam freely and let nature take its course on the problem. Letting the bisons develop into larger groups could cause an easy spread of a disease called brucellosis. This could kill many bison and keep on growing and could possibly spread it to other animals. Also ranchers would loose much grazing land as more bisons are there. Possible ideas to get rid of these large populations are by selling bison that are sick or possibly contaminated to research and allowing hunters to hunt in Yellowstone Park, bisons could also be relocated or a selection of 200 female bison, 50 calves and 50 yearlings would be hunted.
I think that it makes no sense for the bisons to be in the Yellowstone Park if they would still be killed. Might as well just let them roam free away from the park where they could be hunted, but have restrictions as to killing them like only kill for food. Nature would do damage too because migration some times is so long for the bisons that they die on the way. I chose this article because it is about animals. I always enjoy learning about animals. Reading this article taught me that there is an over population of bison in Montana and officials are coming up with proposals to decrease the number of bisons in the area.
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What do you think is the best way to decrease the amount of bisons?
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A new mars rover will depart from earth in 5 days. It is being sent to the red planets to study for signs of life at any time. John Grotzinger said this rover will be far superior to the other mars rovers. They believe that mars once had water since many of its landmasses look to be shaped by water. Curiosity the rover is almost double the size and 2 the scientific power of its predecessors. The rover is said to reach mars by august 2012 after an eight month journey through our solar system.
I think it would be interesting to know if Mars has life or had life on it. We could potentially colonize it if it did sustain life. Which could lead to saving many resources on our own planet? The only problem is that we would need to find a way to transport it pretty fast. But the most interesting thing about it is all the space on mars we would uncongest much of earth. Moving 2 billion people there would help both places.
I choose this article because mars have always fascinated me. To find out that the planet has had life at one point could lead to many new things for humanity. We could start to colonize and ship back resources. Also Mars is the closest planet to us we should very well be able to colonize it. Mar can hold much value to the human race.
I learned that Mars could have contained life. Also that we are still exploring Mars. There hasn’t been much in the media about space exploration. It takes a rover 8 months to get to mars which seem to be a very long time. I also learned that rovers are much bigger than they look in pictures. Could Mars ever be colonized with that much distance between us.
http://www.tgdaily.com/space-features/59784-nasa-s-mars-rover-launches-on-november-26
With the help and collaboration of the companies HRL, CalTech, and UC Irvine, these researchers have created a material that is nearly 100 times lighter than styrofoam. This material is lighter than a material known as aerogel, another very light object. The material is only 0.01% that is solid, that has hollow tubes that are 100 nanometers thick. It is said to be that it is very strong and shock absorbent. It was inspired by actual structures such as the Eiffel Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge, structures that are very light yet very strong. This project was undertaken for DARPA, which says that this material could be used for battery electrodes to energy damping in addition to insulation, the main use for the prior lightest material aerogel.
I found this article to be really amazing. I never knew an object/material could be so light, yet work in many objects and structures. Also, in the picture, it shows the material on to of a dandelion, and the dandelion still doesn’t move. It also says that this material is 99.99% air! I chose this article because it seemed very interesting. I also never knew that something could be so light and be used in such strong materials!
Critical thinking question: How could such a light material be so strong?
link to article: http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-11/worlds-lightest-material-9999-percent-air
I think a light object can be very strong because if an object has less mass it can be strong depending what you are doing with it.
The article I read is called Surprising Sunken Islands Near Australia. It’s about how two sunken islands were found in the Indian Ocean. They were found during a voyage to map the seafloor of the Perth Abyssal Plain by a group of researchers. The rocks found there hinted that the islands weren’t always underwater. The islands show how Australia, Antarctica and India broke off of the ancient super continent, Gondwana. A detailed analysis can show the age of the rocks, which will help identify how they “fit into the Gondwana jigsaw puzzle,” as the article states. These islands called micro-continents had separated from landmasses and became stranded in the ocean.
This article was interesting. It’s cool how much we can learn from just a couple of rocks! The layers of the rocks not only show basic ocean rock stuff like basalt, but continental rocks like granite and more. Scientists and researchers have really advanced in their studies.
I chose this article because the title interested me and I’m interested in the ocean. Also, the whole separation of continents sounds really cool!
I learned that you can tell the age and location of rocks from the layers and fossils inside of the them. Plus, I never knew about Gondwana until I read this article!
Here’s a critical thinking question:
What do you think happened that caused continents to separate?
http://news.yahoo.com/surprising-sunken-islands-discovered-near-australia-155612029.html
This article is about how mice can have a similar reaction to the result of stress. The scientist did an experiment with one female mouse and 5 male mice. One male mouse would win the battle and he would continue to win the battles because the other mice would get so defeated. The four male mice that were beat divided into two groups; a group that had a passive reaction to the loss, and a group that had an active reaction to the defeat. The active group would run away every time the mouse with the victor came around. That way they put up a fight and didn’t feel completely defeated. This group of mice had no symptoms of depression. The other group, the passive group, showed more symptoms of depression because whenever the winning mouse would come around they would stay completely still. This made them feel completely just beat and useless. For example when teenagers fall into depression and feel like the only way out is suicide, they think, ‘why even try to fight back?’ That’s how the mice feel.
In response to reading this article I thought about how much I can connect this to everyday life. I related it to my brother and I. when I am having a bad day I know he will beat me on the PlayStation so when he asks to play FIFA I just decline so I don’t waste time. Also I connected to the world as I did above. I even tried to connect it to text but I couldn’t do that easily. I think this is an interesting article. I was always interested in how diseases can be developed like that. That’s why I chose this article; even the title grabbed me into it!
I also learned that, for the future, I need to deal with my stress better. I can’t ever be defeated; even if that means running away from my problems. If I run away that mean that I can at least have a chance at winning. I put up resistance and even if I feel defeated I subliminally know I have a chance. If I give up then I can have depression creep into my life.
When the mouse is defeated why can’t it ever beat the first mouse? What are the two groups of reactions that the defeated mice could split into? What are the reactions each group has?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111114093409.htm
It is sad and feels it is useless to even try. Passive and active. One group runs away. THey think they can survive if they run. THe other group wont move. They think its a waste of time and would raither be beaten.
Particle Smasher Hints at Physic’s Breakthrough
Summary:
This article was about matter and antimatter. It talked about how there is more matter than antimatter in the universe. If you think about it, shouldn’t there be equilibrium of matter and antimatter. Such equilibrium is impossible due to the fact that they would just cancel each other out. Many scientists are trying to figure out a reason. The Large Hadron Collider is possibly going to help a breakthrough in this puzzling matter of physics.
Reaction:
I have heard of antimatter and its explosive reaction to matter. It intrigues me that there is an unbalance in antimatter and matter. It might take a while before we know the answer to this bamboozling question.
Reason:
I have heard of the large hadron collider and antimatter before. They have interested me for some time now.
Info Learned:
• People believed the LHC would destroy the world in 2008
• There is an majority of matter compared to antimatter in the universe
Link: http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/11/particle-smasher-hints-at-physic.html
CT question: Why do you think there is an unbalance in the amounts of antimatter and matter?
Recently, scientists in Europe have discovered some particles called neutrinos that are faster than light. Physicists have believed for a very long time that nothing like this had existed. In early stages of their experimenting, scientists found these particles too fast to be true. They are considered superluminal, or faster than light. The universal speed limit currently stands at 670 miles per hour. Scientists believe that as these particles traveled, they should have lost their radiation so it doesn’t make sense that they are faster than light. So far however, they have found no errors in their experiments.
After reading this article, I was surprised. I did not know that there was anything faster than light! I think that it is really amazing that scientists have discovered this particle. However, I was also surprised that scientists can’t figure out whether it is accurate or not yet. I think that it must be true or the error would have been detected by now. I chose this article because I am really interested in sciences that involve space, atoms, and subjects like that. I think it is really fun to learn about and the most intriguing and mysterious subject in science. There was a lot that I learned in this article. For instance, that superluminal means faster than light. Also, that the universal speed limit is 670 miles per hour. I can’t wait to find out if this theory is true or not!
Do you think this particle is really faster than light? Why or why not?
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2011/11/neutrinos-not-so-fast/
Summary-
Studies are now showing that there is a close link between thyroid problems and psychiatric issues. It has been evident that these two issues are related, but now research shows that they may cause one another. For example, thyroid diseases have been mistaken for depression and anxiety, and then the patients don’t receive proper treatment right away. The article featured a young woman who over ten years ago was on antidepressants. It turns out now, she was experiencing thyroid-related problems. Depending on the range of hormone abnormality, thyroid treatment could clear out correctly or incorrectly diagnosed psychiatric illnesses.
Yet, there is much controversy as to how to go about and treat people. If thyroid hormone treatment is used when it may not be necessary, it could lead to heart conditions or osteoporosis in women. On the other hand, leaving the thyroid unattended to can also harm the heart, and possibly increase the risk of Alzheimer’s. Overall, the connection between thyroid troubles and psychiatric illnesses will continue to be discussed and researched.
Reaction-
I think the article I read is very fascinating. It shows me that diagnoses aren’t always accurate. That would be awful to go for so many years thinking you had mood and depression problems, only to find out you were fooled by your symptoms. At least it is a good thing that people can opt for other options and tests to get to the bottom of their illness. I hope patients and doctors can responsibly decipher between treatments.
Reason-
I chose this article because it had a suspenseful title. The title tied in two problems that I never knew were related. Therefore, I wanted to see what the article was all about. Also, the picture of the thyroid in the body drew me in once I clicked on the article page.
Information Learned-
There was much to absorb in this article. First off, the big idea of the article was new to me. I did not know that thyroid and psychiatric studies were grouped together in studies. Next, I learned how thyroid problems are measured. There is a scale with a range of numbers that indicates the activity of the hormones in the thyroid. Lastly, I learned that thyroid hormones play multiple roles in a range of the body’s processes.
Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/health/for-some-psychiatric-troubles-may-begin-with-the-thyroid.html?ref=science
Critical Thinking Question:
Do you think doctors and researchers will come to a definite answer on this topic? If so, what do you think will end up being the result?
This article is about how 15 fossilized remains of dinosaurs in Mongolia have been found. This nest of fossils are actually the first ever found of its kind! The nest was bowl-shaped, and had and 2.3 foot diameter! Finding these things they call juveniles are extremely rare, and finding 15 in tact, is even harder to find. The 70-million-year old nest was analyzed, and it turned out all 15, and at least 10 were complete, were the same size, age, and had the same development. This had suggested that they were all from the same mother. These dinosaurs were found to have been cared for a lot by their mother as well. These Protoceratops could actually grow to around 6 feet long, and took around 10 to grow to their full height. Sadly, the Protoceratops found were less than one year old when they had died.
My reaction to this article was that it was absolutely amazing. To find fossilized remains of a creature most have never heard of, and to have almost all of the fossils to be complete(as in nothing is missing), is stunning! This article had plenty of facts, and a lot to interest me.
When I read this article, I felt immediately pulled in. Even though I don’t know much about dinosaurs, they interest me when it comes to these things. I have no idea what these Protoceratops were, or what they had possibly looked like, and this article gives me a bit of an idea. Also, the facts were really interesting.
In this article, I learned a lot, One thing is how long these dinosaurs were, and how long they took to reach full size. Also, I learned what these were in general. Most people know the T-rex, triceratops, etc. However, the Protoceratops are something I have never heard of whatsoever. I also learned how these scientists found out all the information on these amazing creatures.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111121104144.htm
Question:
If you were to find fossilized remains like the ones in this article, what would you do and why?
If i was to find the fossils? I would most likely give them to some sort of scientific research center. Since i couldn’t do anything with them other than let them sit on my shelf. It would benefit man kind a lot more to be studied then to sit on my shelf. That is what i would do if i found the fossils.
Summary:
To summarize this article, it was pretty much about how having a mutation, known as DISC1 — an abbreviation for “Disrupted in Schizophrenia-1” which puts people at a greater risk for psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Studies of this have shown that it can altered brain struture. In a genetic screen of 750 people who were both healthy and some of whom had psychiatric diseases, they found different types of DISC1. Even though the mutation can disrupt brain struture, it doesn’t mean you wil necessarily get the disease. The DISC1 gene regulates a cell signaling pathway known as Wnt. “What we found is that DISC1 actually maintains the integrity of Wnt signaling,” says Tsai, director of MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory.“So if DISC1, for whatever reason, is lost, then Wnt signaling is impaired. This also resulted in impaired neuroprogenitor proliferation and brain development.”
Reaction:
I thought this article was interesting because of the fact that this is a break through in how people get psychiatric diseases. It was very factual and descriptive and I learned a lot from reading it. I enjoyed learning about it and will see what other studies are being done on this subject.
Reason:
I choose this article because it seemed to be a very fascinating and intriguing article. This is because it has many facts about the subject and the subject matter itself, is very fascinating because it has to do with people’s minds and how they think.
Information Learned:
I learned that many people, healthy people even have this mutation in their brain called DISC1 that can lead to as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Not everyone gets it from this mutation, but you are put at a higher risk to get it if you have the mutation.
Link:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111117140422.htm
Question:
Why do you think you are put a greater risk of getting a psychiatric disease when you have this mutation?
Summary: A paleontologist has found a fossil nest of the dinosaur Protoceratops andrewsi in Mongolia. A protoceratops was a small dinosaur about the size of a sheep with a frill at the back of the skull. The fossil nest contained 15 juveniles and was the first found for this type of dinosaur. It is very rare to find juveniles in a nest; usually eggs can be found. The juveniles were all from the same mother and show that young dinosaurs often remained in the nest for a time after hatching – in this case about one year. The dinosaurs were probably killed by a desert sand storm.
Reaction: I find it very weird that scientists had not already known that dinosaurs stay in the nest a long time. I wonder if this is the case for all that type of dinosaur, or whether it is a rare event. I also wonder if other dinosaurs stayed in the nest for this long. I can’t imagine a T. rex of one year in the nest – it would be too big.
Reason for choosing: My father recommended that I look at sciencedaily.com. I looked through the current stories and found this one interesting, because I like dinosaurs and I don’t read much about them. I didn’t know that scientists still look for dinosaurs. When I read that a nest of 15 had been found I was hooked.
Information learned: I learned that scientists still look for dinosaurs. I also learned that there can be up to 15 hatched Protoceratops in a single nest, all from the same mother. In addition, I learned that juveniles can stay in the nest for up to one year of age. The article relates that Protoceratops grew to about 6 feet long and took 10 years to reach this size. I also found that many different dinosaurs roamed Mongolia, including Velociraptor who may have eaten Protoceratops.
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111121104144.htm
I think this also strange. Normally scientists specializing in a specific vocation should know such a thing. I also find it very funny that since the first fossil found, we still haven’t found all of them, even though we’ve practically walked on every part of Earth.
add a critical thinking qs
Critical thinking question:
Why do you think it is so unusual to find so many juvenile dinosaurs in their nest?
‘Cancer’ or ‘Weird Cells’: Which Sounds Deadlier?
New research is being pursued on the deadly, never ending cancer stride, and the term ‘cancer’ is beginning to be out of date. As doctors are explaining, ‘cancer’ is too much of a common term. It can go from a stage zero breast cancer, to a deadly brain tumor. Now, some doctors have erased the word from the memory when telling a patient their fatality; whether fatal or not.
Dr. Robert Aronowitz, a professor of history and sociology of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, definitely agrees that the definition of cancer has changed. Many medical investigators are using the term ‘tumor’ instead of ‘cancer’ because of the differed definitions. Cancer is more of a shrugged off word, when it comes to a sickness that’s fatal, like a tumor.
Breast Cancer treatments are really the target of today’s medical attention, as well as leukemia, colon cancer, and brain tumors.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/health/cancer-by-any-other-name-would-not-be-as-terrifying.html?_r=1&ref=science
Reasons for Choosing: I’ve always been intrigued by cancer, and it’s way through any medical field. Even though the title didn’t quite exactly meet up the expectations of the article, it was something that popped out to me.
Reactions: I think both words, ‘cancer’ and ‘tumor’ are absolutely terrifying. All the same, I think doctors are changing up the two words, and separating them when telling a patient they have cancer, is because one is a more radical type of cancer, is which the tumor, unlike a stage zero case breast cancer.
What I learned: I learned that breast cancer is now the leading disease in any medical hospital, and amongst doctors individually as well.
Question:
When being told that you have cancer, which would sound like a lighter load to carry; having cancer, or having a tumor?
Surprising Sunken Islands Discovered Near Australia
This article I read about was about how researchers and scientists have found two sunken islands in the Indian Ocean west of the Australian city Perth. They found these two islands during a recent see voyage. They discovered that there was an island because they mapped the seafloor and they found rock samples and steep slopes. These islands are covered by about a mile of ocean water. The scientists expected to see common underwater rocks but they surprisingly found continental rocks like granite, gneiss and sandstone. Those sandstone contained fossils which made it more clear that dinosaurs once roamed the Earth.
My reaction to this article is surprised because there must be many more sunken islands throughout the world. In addition, this article made me interested because using little evidence, scientists were able to make assumptions that might be true. I chose this article because you don’t hear about news like this everyday. It was surprising and very informative. Things that I learned in this article was that there are a lot of underwater things that scientists are yet to discover. Also, I learned that with a lot of background knowledge, scientists are able to analyze and make many inferences.
Critical thinking question:
What else do you think is in the ocean floor that scientists have yet to discover?Reason for your thinking.
Link:
http://news.yahoo.com/surprising-sunken-islands-discovered-near-australia-155612029.html
I am sure that there are other undiscovered creatures and wildlife on the ocean floor. There could be a specific type of something that they have yet to discover. There also could be a species living inside another species. There are new discoveries all the time, so i am sure they will find something new.
The article I read was about how scientists at the Max Planck Institute found the genetic switch that regulates the formation of flight muscles in flies. The gene is called spalt. It is essential for the generation of the ultrafast super muscles of the fly, the article explains. It says how without spalt the fly builds only normal leg muscles instead of flight muscles. In order to fly efficiently flies have to flap their small wings, very fast. This causes the familiar buzzing and humming you hear coming from the small animals. The flight muscles in their body are a big part of how these flies fly.
My reaction to this article was interested. I was interested because I wanted to know more of how these little flies take flight. I never knew of how these flies flew, other than the obvious reason of them just flapping their wings, and then taking flight. I learned that there is much more to it than just flies flapping their wings and they fly. I learned about all the different muscles that are involved in this process. Lastly I learned about the specific gene that is within these flight muscles.
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111117081341.htm
Critical Thinking Question: What other muscles do you think have to do with flies flying?
Very interesting article that is. To answer yout critical thinking question i would probaly have to say that the muscles to fly the wings. The muscles have to be lightweight and also aero-dinamic. That is what muscles i think flies need to fly besides their leg muscles!
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2011/11/snake-blood-boosts-mouse-heart/
In the article I read, the Burmese python’s blood can increase the size of the heart of the animal it eats. In a lab the scientists were studying the python’s digestive system. They discovered the python’s blood attacks the mouse and increases the size of the heart inside the mouse. This causes the mouse’s heart to beat faster and faster until cardiac arrest. It makes the snake’s meal more nutritious. With this tool the snake can wait longer between meals. It could take days even weeks before the python finds its next meal. I chose this article because I thought it would be interesting. I always wanted to have a profession that involved animals.
What would you think if we as human had blood like the burmese python?
My article was about light created by vacuum cleaner. From scientific study dust particles from the vacuum cleaner forms light
particles. It is also said that one of the most important principles of
this is quantum mechanics.The deadly part about vacuum particles
created to light is radiation. Vacuum fluctuation might possibly be
caused by dark energy which is powered from the universe. Scientist
believe the light particles will be hard to see.
My reaction to this article is positive. It is positive because it is interesting and fun too learn about new types of things. This article
is also surprising because i would never think that light is connected
to vacuum dust. I have never heard of light particles ethier which is
interesting to know for the future.
The reason why I chose this article is because i like articles which surprise me. Surprising articles are more interesting to read because I am learning and discovering new things in science. Another reason why I chose this article is because I like learning about how light and particles work. Those type of subjects interest me because it shows the real background of how the light is powered or particles move and form.
I learned a lot from this article. I learned how regular dust particles could form into visual particles which could turn into light.
I also learned how the light that could be formed in a vacuum cleaner
stays for a little bit and dissaperears as it begins forming again. The
last thing i have learned was about how “dark energy” could be related
to the fluctuation of the vacuum cleaner.
Could Not Let Me Post Article:
Science Daily: Light Created From Vacuum.
Critical thinking question:
Do you think the Visual particles (light) could only be seen inside the
Dust particle or outside of it?
Summary: DEET is a repellent that messes with a mosquitoes sense of smell. It can prevent bug bites by messing with the smell but it also prevents the bug from landing on land. Scientists say that they don’t have noses to pick up smell. They have spots, or receptors, on their antennae that can pick up the oder in the air. The DEET affects that and it makes it think that humans don’t smell like humans which prevents them from biting them. DEET proves that it is extremely effective,
Reaction: I felt happy because mosquitoes bites are really annoying, DEET looks to be very promising, The only thing that i worry about is that it might have dangerous chemicals that most bug sprays have, The article did not mention that so i hope there isn’t any lethal chemicals inside.
Reason for choosing: I was browsing through the articles and this one caught my eye. I never knew of a effective insect repellent that would work, I hope that make more in the future
Information Learned: I learned that there are many effective repellents but not as good as DEET. I also learned that insect have a unique sense of detecting odors in the air. It shows how far humans have gone and repelling insects with a simple bug spray.
Link:
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2011/10/deet-confuses-mosquitoes/
On Monday, the U.N. weather agency says that the three largest greenhouse gases were increasing rapidly each year.
Next week, world leaders are going to meet in South Africa to discuses this issue. But, scientists say that the Earth might not be able to withstand the warming up to the target that was decided two years ago.
Scientist aren’t sure up to what degree the greenhouse gases are safe enough. But, some people believe that if the climate continues to rise, then the Earth’s ice sheets will melt and the sea level will increase by several feet.
The U.N. World Meteorological Organization states that the amount of carbon dioxide emissions have increased dramatically in 2010, setting a record. Even though the 1997 Kyoto agreement says that it will cut emissions, there is still rapid rise in temperature.Japan, Russia, and Europe have cut the emissions, but the U.S, China and India have never reached it.
Ever since the beginning of the industries,the temperature has risen 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
My reaction to this article was that I was very concerned. If we don’t start to try and stop the greenhouse gases from rising right away, then it would be a big problem. Hopefully, the meeting with the world leaders will help this problem somehow.
The reason I chose this article was because I was curious about global warming and the greenhouse gases. I don’t know much about this topic, so I wanted to learn more about it
What I learned from this article was how severely this issue is going to have on the Earth and how the world is reacting to solve this problem.
Link:
http://news.yahoo.com/greenhouse-gases-soar-no-signs-warming-slowed-220224145.html
Critical question:
What do you think we should do to solve the rising of greenhouse gases? Explain.
I dont think the rising of greenhouse gases can be solved. I think the problem has gotten so out of control that it’s not possible anymore unless drastic measures are taken. To contribute to stopping it, though, many things can be done such as walking instead of taking a car somewhere, not littering, using solar panels on your house, etc. Basically, to reduce greenhouse gases you just have to stay away from doing any type of polluting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/science/witnesses-recordings-help-investigators-explain-air-accidents.html?_r=1&ref=science
With modern technology becoming readily available to almost every American, many people are recording anything they think might help detectives. Andrew Vos, like many others, recorded clips on his cell phone when he thought his plane would crash. The reactions from everyone completely varied on the research end. Some people who receive and analyze these videos claim that they are helpful to investigations, while others find that they are a burden to look through each and every time. The money being spent to look further into every video keeps increasing, as there is over four times as much information coming in from regular peoples’ sources than five years ago. Is all this extra information a gift of god, or just a burden from the over-eager public?
This article bothers me. I mean really, whoever said that’s its just too much work to analyze everything is ridiculous. There’s no way they’ll learn everything from a few videos and the families of those who are lost and definitely going to want detailed explanations. Shouldn’t they be happy they’re having more and more data to form a conclusion with? After all, more information results in a higher percentage of accuracy. I say that they can totally weed some videos out, but they should always be thankful for all of the free outside assistance.
I chose this article because I like learning about current events. I was surprised that so many people were willing to take the time to record stuff and send it in. i also liked that it touched on a scientific topic that most people today understand, technology. The main reason I chose to read this article though was that I was surprised by the reactions of a few of the employees who research what goes wrong in accidents where deaths occur.
I learned for starters that people analyze video clips to learn what went on in unusual situations. Also, I learned that people can get overwhelmed with an excess of information but can also be thankful for outside tips. The most important thing I feel I’ve learned though from reading this article is that there is almost always an explanation out there for the unexplained.
In your opinion, do you think that a lot of information is a burden to go through or would you rather have all of it to sort through so you’d have a more accurate explanation to events. Why?
I am undecided on whether a lot of information is a burden or a curse. On one hand, a lot of information would take a lot of time to sort through and that could possibly cause investigations to take longer. Every second wasted is a second the criminal could use to cover their tracks. On the other hand, if they use less information, they might miss a clue that is vital to the case. There are pros and cons to both sides of the argument.
My article is about the smallest car ever made. It was 1 molecule in size. IT does though have a chassis and it has wheels. It took a while do build and a scanning electrion microscope was used to build a really small car. it only went 6 nanometers. but for a car that small that is alot. it took500 millivolts to make each wheel go half a rotation. So the car didnt save energy using electiricity.
I feel this is useless. Noone is ever fitting in that car so it is a waste to build it. It took lots of time and money to build it and its a waste. We used to much energy on it and we should work on world hunger not this. People should work on curing diseases not this. Its cool but very irrevelavant.
Life on Europa?
The article I read about was on scientists believing that space telescopes have found subsurface oceans on one of Jupiter’s moons, Europa. Europa is slightly smaller than Earth’s moon. Though all missions have just flew by Europa, scientists say they have found something strange. The Galileo Mission in 1989 provided a lot of information about Europa. It’s atmosphere is mostly made up of oxygen, and it has limited cracks and bumps on the surface. Because of this fact, scientists believe that Europa might have subsurface oceans.
I picked this article because I thought it was interesting. we are always looking for life on other planets, and I thought that it would be cool for everyone to know this.
I picked this article because I thought it was cool, and I am interested in topics like these. I always wanted to know more about the universe, so I like these type of articles. I mean, how often do you see a planet or moon with the ability to sustain life? It is very interesting.
Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/solarsystem/moons/europa_%28moon%29#p0069v8r
Critical Thinking: Do you think the sun will be a factor on judging whether there will be life on Europa of not?
Yes, I think that the sun will be a factor on judgng whether there will be life on Europa. I think that because if Eurpoa is too close to the sun, it’s not possible that there can be any life on it. However, if it’s not close enough to the sun, that would be another reason for there to be no life on Europa. We can all live and survive on planet Earth because it is the perfect distance from the sun-it’s not too close and not too far. If Earth was too close to the sun, it would be too hot for humans to live on. It if were too far from the sun, it would be too cold for humans to live on. If Europa is too far away or too close to the sun, there can’t be life there.
Article Summary:
Many are beginning to believe the theory that listening to the sounds that stars make can help us determine what they look like on the inside. In December 2006, a spacecraft named COROT was launched on a mission. This craft was to use asteroseismology, the study of vibrations that are created from the inside of a star. This method/tool was going to help astronomers determine the age, mass and chemical composition of the stars. This theory was thought up long ago by a man named Pythagoras. He had said that the universe was based on harmony, and that the spinning of planets and stars created music. Even though no one truly believed him then, now we know that his view on the sounds the universe makes were somewhat true! Even Earth makes sounds… like in an earthquake for example.
Reaction to Article:
I really enjoyed reading this article! I never knew that stars made sounds; let alone the fact that astronomers are using their basic senses to discover new and interesting facts about each star! Reading a little about the history of this method was very exciting too!
Reason for Choosing This Article:
Ever since sixth grade when we were first introduced to the field of astronomy, I have loved learning about space! I think stars, moons, meteors and other planets and galaxies are really fun to learn about! Most of my classmates may not agree but… I love it.
Information Learned:
From this article, I learned that we can learn about the structure, age, mass and chemical composition of other substances and objects all around us just by listening and detecting vibrations!
Link:
http://www.firstscience.com/home/articles/space/music-from-the-stars_7229.html
Critical Thinking Question:
What was the name of the man who proposed the idea of the singing stars?
Title: World’s Lightest Material is a Metal 100 Times Lighter Than Styrofoam
Summary: Recently, researchers from UC Irvine, HRL Laboratories, and the California Institute of Technology have developed the world’s lightest material that has a density of 0.9 mg/cc, which is about about one hundred times lighter than Styrofoam. The new material has unique “micro-lattice” architecture, and therefore, redefines the limit of lightweight materials. The material consist of 99.99% air, and 0.01% solid. This is done by fabricating a lattice of interconnected hollow tubes with a wall thickness 1,000 times thinner than a strand of human hair. The material’s architecture allows unexampled mechanical behavior for a metal, and even includes a complete recovery from compression exceeding 50% strain and extraordinarily high energy absorption. Lorenzo Valdevit explains that materials get stronger as the dimension are reduced to the nanoscale. Moreover, this material could be used for battery electrodes and acoustic, vibration or shock energy absorption. By bringing this concept to the nano and micro scale, we are revolutionizing lightweight materials.
Reaction: I thought that this article was so fascinating! The data was so mind-blowing, too, because I can’t even imagine how thin the wall thickness of the tubes are. Also, the fact that most of it was made of air was interesting. I wonder how that works, though. I can’t believe that this material that is super-light is as strong as metal! You probably wouldn’t even notice if the material was placed on your arm. Lastly, a picture that was attached to the article showed the material balanced on top of dandelion seeds. That was definitely impressive as well.
Reason: I chose this article because the moment I came across the title of the article, I was hooked. I always love to read about “the biggest….” or “the smallest….” thing in the world, and topics like that. Therefore, when I saw that scientists had come up with a way to create the lightest material that was also very strong, I was interested. Then, I read the article, and decided that it would be a fun topic for everyone who reads this post to look at.
Information learned: I learned tons of things from this article. First of all, I learned that most of it was made up of air, which does not seem possible, since there is air all around the material, so wouldn’t it just be a solid? Anyway, I also learned that the material was as strong as metal and was so light, that it could be placed on dandelion seeds without crushing them. Finally, I learned that the strength of a material greatly depends on the architecture of the object/material.
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111117154643.htm
Critical Thinking Question: Do you think that this material will benefit humans, or will not be used because of the hard process required to build the material?
I think this material can benefit humans in many ways. Heavy weight material can be replaced with this material, making it much easier for us in our everyday lives. In addition, the fact that this material is also strong is also very beneficial. Even if the material is difficult to make, I still believe it could be used. It will just take a long time for there to be enough of the material for humans to use in their everyday lives.
This Friday (Nov. 25), a rather large partial eclipse of the sun will be on view — but only for a relatively small audience. This will be the fourth time that a new moon will orbit between the sun and Earth to cause a solar eclipse in 2011, just one eclipse shy of the maximum for the number of solar eclipses in a given year. The first eclipse on Jan. 4 coincided with sunrise across Europe. On Friday, the moon’s penumbral, or outer, shadow will brush the southern belly of the Earth, initially touching down in the South Atlantic Ocean, about 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) a southwest of Cape Town, but only managing to encompass the southern and western portion of South Africa, completely missing Lesotho and barely grazing the border of Namibia. The sun will be seen rising with a dent in its upper right rim.
I dont really have a reaction to this. I was not aware of it. I do know that solar eclipses are rare. I chose this article because this article interested me and it was one of the first articles listed on google news.
This is a very interesting article on how the Russians had to take control of the international Space Station (ISS). After the U.S.A ended their space era with space shuttles, Russia has a lot of expectations. This can be either good or bad. Good for taking full control. Bad for not exceding the expectations.
I chose this article for some reasons. Those reasons include, it was interesting. Another is that space just intrests me a lot! Also, That i was extreamly interested when the U.S.A shut down their era in space. I had read about 3 articles on it too! That is why i chose that article.
My reaction is that this is a cool article. I feel very good for Russia. This is because they are continuing this great era of space! I truly hope that they continue this for a long long time. Another reaction i had was a question. That question was is Russia going to make a new space station? This was my reaction to this article. Lastly, i had learned that only Russia will control the space world. That is great for Russia! Besides that i didn’t really learn anything new.
http://timeforkids.com/news/space-station-relief/19816
Critical thinking question:
How long do you think Russia will control the ISS?
Extra information!!
Some extra information in this article is that Russia lost 3 navigation satellites when a rocket didn’t make it to orbit. This had delayed them 2 months! Now they can launch on November 21st! Another great deal of information is that in December they are planning on bringing 3 more crew members to the ISS. This is to bring the ISS back to its 6 men crew. This is just some of the information mentioned in this article!
A new study has shown that when people are coming together and are acting greatful as a whole they tend to be less provoked. The behavior patterns are altered when a certain mood of meloncholy is set. “If you want to sleep more soundly, count blessings, not sheep,” Dr. Emmons advises in “Thanks!” his book on gratitude research. I think at terrill everyone should try this to see if it would work. “Do one small and unobtrusive thoughtful or generous thing for each member of your family on Thanksgiving,” she advises. “Say thank you for every thoughtful or kind gesture. Express your admiration for someone’s skills or talents — wielding that kitchen knife so masterfully” possibly the tone will change in your life that way it can go a lot smoother.
Reaction: I think that this was a heart warming article. Knowing that thanksgiving was right around the corner people should always be helpful and thankful no matter what.
Reaason: I chose this article because the illustration it provided was very eye opening.
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/science/a-serving-of-gratitude-brings-healthy-dividends.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=science
Question: WHat will you do to make your thanksgiving more thankful?
Even though i am replying to this article after Thanksgiving I did make sure my thanksgiving was more thankful! I made sure to tell my mom how much I loved her cranberry relish and I even helped her make it this year.
My response to 222′s entry;
I agree with you that it doesn’t make sense for the bison in Yellow Stone to still be killed. I thought that those bison where supposed to be protected from being killed. One possiblity to bring down the bison population could be not to reduce it, but spread them out in a wider area. Instead of killing them, just move them around. So the basic idea is to keep the bison population the same, but just spread them out in a wider area, this way they aren’t as such of a big impact on that one over populated area. This could also help the spread of diease.
I read an article about night blooming flowers. Scientists found a new type of plant that grows in the dark. It is also a very unusual plant. This plant is found in island of New Britain, near Papua New Guinea. It was called a Bulbophyllum nocturnum, and as soon as discovering it scientists made a great discovery. They found that it blooms at night.
I read this article since it was of a topic of interest. I am an avid gardener, and I have one at home. It would be cool to have a plant like this at home.
I was surprised since I thought plants needed water, soil, air, and most importantly, sun. I don’t know how they can still grow.
What do you think this plant uses instead of photosynthesis to get energy?
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/11/22/142664419/scientists-discover-first-night-flowering-orchid?ft=1&f=1001
I think that it blooms at night because it absorbs sunlight during the day, and stores the energy until night. It probably still uses photosynthesis, but just in a different way. Maybe it does this so that it is not noticed during the day and isn’t eaten.
What makes a fly fly? Spalt would be the correct answer. Spalt is a certain type of gene. When spalt and muscle are mixed together it creates the ability to fly! When a fly does not have the gene, it builds regular leg muscles and prevents it from flying. When spalt is mixed with muscle it is known as a flight muscle. Flight muscles contract to keep the fly’s wings in motion. Flight muscles are not only regulated by impulses but are also triggered by tension. This is why flight muscles are so unique! Flies can still survive without spalt; they just won’t have the ability to fly. Scientists are now wondering if spalt has to also do with the heart, but they did not come up with a conclusion for that just yet. After reading this article, I don’t have that question of what makes a fly fly and more. It was interesting how the fly has to have a certain gene, which creates a muscle. I was also surprised how the muscle contraction is also triggered by tension since that isn’t common. I had never known there are flies out there that can’t fly because they didn’t get a gene- I didn’t even know that was possible! I chose this article because I was curious after seeing the title. I don’t have too much knowledge on flies so I thought I would expand the knowledge I had.
CC: Do you think there is spalt in the heart?
“How the Fly Flies: Scientists Discover Gene Switch Responsible for Flight Muscle Formation.” Science Daily: News & Articles in Science, Health, Environment & Technology. Web. 22 Nov. 2011. .
Well, thinking that fly’s need spalt to fly, they naturally have it. Whereas to human beings, I don’t think the heart needs spalt because the heart its self is well put on its own. As for a fly, its heart is already cooperating as to when it flies or not. Spalt is really only, mandatory for how flies, fly.
My science article was about scientists experimenting on how the first sighting of a faster-than-ligth neutrino could have gone wrong. The experiment left them with one possible explanation on how it could have gone wrong. In order to prove their studies right, they have to preform more experiments having the same conclusion as the one used to discover the first after-than-light neutrino. They are all convinced it is true but they need more scientific evidence.
I chose this article because we were talking about this subject a little bit in English.When I recognized the term it interested me a lot. I was interested to see how many after-than-light neutrinos there are int he world and how people even found them. The article just interested me a lot and that’s why I chose to use this article.
This article was very interesting to me. I realized all of the hard work scientists had to go through just to prove they are right. It can’t just be a one time discovery you have to prove yourself multiple times. I admire that about scientists in general, all of their handwork and determination.
The information I learned was that scientists found about faster-than-light-neutrinos. I never knew that before and it was cool to learn that. The critical thinking I came up with is When was the first after-than-light neutrino discovered and how many have scientists found after that.
Response to:
About Pepper Spray
By Deborah Blum
The article I read explained the dangers of pepper spray. A scale to measure pepper burn intensity was created by a pharmacist named Wilbur Scoville a century ago. While the hottest pepper in the world (ghost pepper) is rated at one million scoville units, U.S grade pepper spray is rated at two million (for civilians) to 5.3 million (for police officers). For a while it has been known that pepper spray cannot only stop an angry crowd in their tracks, but also adversely damage health. When exposed to pepper spray, some people have been known to go into asthma attacks, vomiting, and even death. These all can happen because capsaicin, the “hot” chemical causes and intensifies allergic reactions in the lungs, stomach lining, throat, and anything that the capsaicin reaches. The results of pepper sprays harmful effects have truly been a huge detriment to “occupy” protesters. On the 20th, paramedics treated eleven protesting students when police officers sprayed them, and two were taken to a Sacramento hospital for more intensive treatment. The dangers of pepper spray are becoming more and more apparent, and change in pepper spray regulations is likely to soon occur.
This article shocked me. The fact that pepper spray can be 5 times stronger than the ghost pepper left me aghast because if you see peoples’ reactions to the ghost pepper, they are almost torturous to imagine experiencing. I am so surprised that pepper spray is even legal at all, due to the adverse effects it causes.
I chose to read this article because I have been paying attention to the occupy movements, and know that the use of pepper spray has been an issue. When to use it, and how it is used, and what strength pepper spray should be used. I wanted to know how pepper spray can harm people, and this article explained it quite well.
I learned many interesting facts from this article. Perhaps the most intriguing was that while a super spicy jalapeño has 3,500 to 8,000 scoville points, pepper spray has more than 1,000 times that! I was also surprised by the fact that pepper spray can cause death, and is still allowed. Finally, I was interested when I learned there is an actual chemical that makes things spicy.
Web Site: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2011/11/21/about-pepper-spray/
Critical Thinking Question- What should be used to replace pepper spray that will be powerful but not as damaging if it is retired?
Well I do agree that pepper spray is a little harsh and has been misused on several occasion. Although it may be hard to find an alternative weapon. Also if pepper spray were to retire I think criminals would get a little more confident because it’s another thing that the police can’t use against them. I think police shoudl ahve weapons like these to keep their authority or else the public will commit many more crimes. It’s just a question of whether or not they use these weapons correctly… but to answer your question maybe thet could make some sort of spray that blurs your vision for a while so the police have an advantage and eventually it would clear out but there would be no sting or damage involved. Loved your article!!
Images from NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter showed sand dunes and ripples on the surface of Mars. However there aren’t just two or three but there had been many riffles and sand dunes shifting up to several yards. NASA predicts that both Mars has a lot of gust of wind and that’s what causing the ripples. Although the scientist used to think that the sand was relatively immobile. Also another theory is that they think there are a lot of dust storms around Mars and that’s what caused the ripples. However if there was a dust storm why would it only go about 4 or 5 yards?
Mars has a lot of dust, although if there was a dust storm why would it cause ripples this time and not the other. I decided to choose this article because I know nothing about mars and would like to know a lot more. If it wasn’t for me ever choosing this article I would have never know there were ripple on mars that only went a few yards. I learned that mars has red sand which I never really knew but I also learned that there were a lot of ripples in the sand.
Critical question: Do you think the ripples where causes by the winds? Why?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111121135658.htm
I believe the ripples may be caused by wind, and meters that may have hit because it’s impact would cause mars and the dust on it the move.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/1122/Mars-rover-gets-engine-upgrade-Curiosity-fueled-by-nuclear-power
This Saturday, NASA’s new Mars Rover project is going to be h-h- HOT! NASA has recently switched it’s Mars Rovers from solar to nuclear power, promising longer, more efficiant energy. Curiosity, the newest of the long line of rovers, carries 10.6 pounds of pleutonium- dioxide pellets. These new implements were instilled due to the versitility of nuclear power. In places where the sun is weak or it is impractible to use solar panels, nuclear energy proves to be universally potent when it comes to powering rovers. Additionally, this allows the rover to stay awake a night and also offers additional time for observations.
After reading this article, I was really impressed with NASA’s ingenuity. Honestly, I would have never thought of equiping a rover with nuclear energy: I would have simply believed it not possible and too expensive! Also, I think that exploiting nuclear power’s capabilities was extremely smart, due to it’s versitility and efficiancy.
I chose this article because I have been, for a long while, been intersted in space related subjects. Ever since I heard of NASA’s Mars missons, I have been following it with great zeal. Also, I really was interested in how NASA planned on implimenting nuclear energy onto it’s Mars Rovers. I learned a lot from this article. To begin, I learned how NASA has evolved the science of the Mars Rover’s energy supply. Additionally, I learned the great advantages of using nuclear power over solar energy.
Critical Thinking Question: How do you think nuclear energy can be implimented in modern day society?
The article I read was about how lakes have been spotted on one of Jupiter’s moons, Europa. These lakes are formed like the great lakes in the U.S.A. but they are saltwater lakes instead of freshwater lakes. Also, it is known that an ocean is beneath Europa’s ice-shell. This leads scientists to believe that this could be a potential habitat for the human race. When I first read this article, my initial reaction was that this was good, because we can maybe live on Europa in the distant future. Also I thought this was good because this proves that there is water available and that is a sign of life. I chose this article because I thought that it was interesting to read. Also, I picked it because it informs us that there are other places that have water, besides Earth. I learned from this article that there needs to be a good climate and water for us to be able to live on another planet. Another thing I learned was that Europa has a similar landscape, on the surface, to Earth.
Link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/11/111116-lake-europa-jupiter-moons-earth-space-science-nasa/
Do you think humans will be able to live on another planet or moon? Why or why not?
I think that one day we might me able to live on the moon but not another planet. Any other planet will be too hot or too cold for us. Thats why earth is in thr perfect place. Becasue it nevers gets to hot or too cold.
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft with a three-member team in tow blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday morning. The rocket is bound for the International Space Station (ISS), carrying Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin and NASA astronaut Dan Burbank. The latest launch had been delayed for two months because of these issues. NASA was worried that the ISS might need to be abandoned for the first time in almost 11 years of service if the new crew could not be sent there before the remaining three space station members would need to leave on November 21.
The Flaw Is Fixed
After Russian space officials figured out that the Progress launch failure was due to a manufacturing flaw, they recalled all Soyuz rockets to closely inspect them. After the inspection, they tried again. They successfully launched a new Progress ship last month. That cleared the way for the new crew to be sent to the ISS.
The crew itself said they felt safe with the Soyuz rockets, which have been in use for more than 40 years. “We have…full confidence in our technology,” said Shkaplerov.
Another launch is planned for December. That trip will also transport three team members, bringing the ISS back up to its normal total of a six-person crew.
The reason i choose this article is because i found it the most interesting in the magazine. I found it the most informational and the most informant. Like i found out alot of information in the book.
I learned that there are alot of different things that space crafts are used for. Like it said in the article that they were having diffuculties to get supplies and food and stuff like that to space.
http://www.timeforkids.com/news-archive/science
“Do you think that there are any other ways to deliever supplies to space without sending people?!”
summarize the article in your own words
The article i read was on the hybrid species the Liger. A liger is a hybrid species breed from the Lion and Tiger. It is the largest cat ever recorded in the history of big cat species.The liger weighs a whopping 705 pounds average. While the cat sits down it is 7 ft tall! The liger will any kind of meat. Even dead ones it finds! The liger won’t ever be caught eating vegetables or fruits. Ligers live up to 14 years, 18 years being the most recorded. Ligers live in jungles and open fIelds in africa.
They also need a vast supply of water.
The reason I chose this article is because I like animals and I wanted to do one on an animal I have almost no knowledge on.
The article I read was very interesting. It was about how the winds on Mars are capable of carrying more sand in each gust. Scientists say that while the red dark sand is known for swirling around in storms, it is still very heavy and it is unusual that it more sand is getting lifted in the wind’s gusts. The winds must me very strong because the air on Mars is very thin and the gusts need to be strong in order to move the heavier objects, in this case, sand. The weird thing is that not all of the sand on Mars is moving, some patches of sand have not changed at all for a long time now.
I found this article very interesting because I never really thought about winds on other planets. Now that I think about it, of course there would be winds on other planets I just never thought about it. I chose this article because I thought the title was catchy. Once I learned the what it was really about I decided to read it because I wanted to learn more about the planets that aren’t work. This article was really interesting and I would like to learn more about this topic.
Why does Mars need strong winds to move the sand?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111121135658.htm
I think mars needs winds to move sands because there would be no other force to move the sand. Also because the sands are light, so any wind can move the sand.
My article is about how DNA is now linked to separation anxiety. This gene, GTF21, is what makes this happen. Around 26% of people who have too much of it sometimes have separation anxiety. Others that have too little of this gene talk more. They tested this on mice, and it was true. When they added the gene, then separated them from their mother, they had separation anxiety. Scientists aren’t positive the two link together yet though.
I think this article will be very helpful in the future. It’s very interesting how they came up with this. I would have never though to test this on a mouse, but now that they have, it seems smart. Also, now we will know how we could possibly fix these disorders. I chose this article because I like learning about disabilities. I also think that learning about these disabilities and how they got them is very interesting. How people got them is crazy I think, but it’s cool to know those kinds of things. I learned that autism and ADHD are also from genes in your DNA. I also learned that since they did the mice test, it’s more believable that this the gene is the cause for separation anxiety.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/336222/title/Chromosome_glitch_tied_to_separation_anxiety
Critical Thinking Question: How do you think the found out that it was the gene GTF21?
Currently scientists have discovered the smallest species of frog in New Guinea. The frogs belong to the genus “Paedophryne.” Other species in this category are generally small. These new frogs only measure 8-9 mm in length. This also makes them the world’s smallest tetrapods which are non-fish vertebrates. I also learned that these studies were published in a new issue of “Zookeys.” My reaction to this article was pretty shocked. I always pictured frogs to be big and slimy. So to see pictures of 7-8 mm sized frogs it was pretty cool. That’s like the size of a large bug! The reason why I chose this article was because when I was looking through the titles in kind of just popped out at me. One of my favorite parts of science is researching animals so I always try to choose articles in that direction. I also like learning about new world records such as this one. Also when I was reading the article I was constantly thinking to myself how could they find something so small. I mean if I was searching for something that tiny I would probably accidentally step on it or something. So I found it really cool scientists were actually able to find such a creature. So overall, I think this new small species of frogs is really cool and I enjoyed reading this article.
Critical thinking question: Do you think there is possibly a different kind of creature out there that isn’t a bug that’s smaller then this new discovered creature? If so explain what it looks like or where you could possibly find it. If not explain why not.
Link:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111212123943.htm
Surprisingly I have also thought of this question weather there are other animals out there waiting to be discovered. In my opinion I do believe that there are different kinds of creatures out there that aren’t bugs but are smaller the the new discovered creature. I mean there are many depths of waters not seen and many animals that are unseen by the naked eye. I think the best place to look for it would be in great depths of water. I believe so because scavengers of the deep could be very small. Also there are so much dead fish that may sink to the bottom providing food for possible creatures.
My article is about two species of frogs that are smaller than a penny. These species are called the Paedophryne dekot and the Paedophryne Verrucosa. They are the smallest group of frog’s disvoverd, and the smallest group of animals called tetrapods. These frogs can run about 0.4 inches in length. The frogs are full of warts and have very lumpy skin. They are also brown or red-brown, with camouflaging flecks of brown and blackish triangles on the sides.
I thought that this was very cool. I never knew that there could be any animal smaller than a penny besides the obvious, some fish and worms. I also find it cool that they just discovered it. Now I know that we will always keep discovering new things, until there is nothing left to discover. Which hopefully, will be in a very long time.
I chose this article because the headline caught my eye. I always thought that all frogs were around the size of an average wallet, but now I find out that they can be much smaller! I guess every type of animal can come in different shapes and sizes. I also chose this because I don’t really know anything about frogs, so I found it interesting to read something different. Lastly, I chose this because frogs are interesting creatures.
In conclusion, I learned that just like people, frogs come in different shapes and sizes. I also learned that because they are so small, their fingers and toes are too small to do a lot of climbing, so they found a niche on the forest floor. Because of this niche, their tiny bodies can hide among leaf litter and moss. These frogs might also eat mice. They are also so small, that females from both species can only have two eggs, limiting their reproduction.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45661141/ns/technology_and_science-science/
Critical thinking questions:
1. What do you think about these two species, and why?
2. What would you do if you discovered a new species?
This year was UK’s second-warmest ever
The year of 2011 has been record breaking for the UK. They broke many records, including the fact that 2011 has been the second warmest year for them. Over the entire year the average temperature was 40.5 degrees Fahrenheit. This average temperature was 0.5 above the 1971-2000 average, making it a record breaker. “While it may have felt mild for many so far this December, temperatures overall have been close to what we would expect,” said John Prior, national climate manager at the Met Office. “It may be that the stark change from last year, which was the coldest December on record for the UK, has led many to think it has been unseasonably warm.”
Met office also noted that the UK’s top seven warmest years happened in the last decade starting in 2006. It was the warmest April and Spring on record in 2011, and the second warmest Autumn on record. Also the highest single- day temperature in October has been broken with a temperature of 29.9 degrees on October 1, 2011. This new record had beat the previous one that was set in 1985 with 29.4 degrees. The top temperature of the year was 33.1 on June 27 which was the warmest temperature recorded in the UK for five years. Britain’s hottest day ever was in the Summer of 2003 when the record of 38.1 degrees was reached.
As I was reading this article I couldn’t help but wonder why the UK has been so warm compared to their normal temperatures lately. The answer that kept popping into my mind was global warming. Now I don’t know enough about the topic to say whether or not this the cause of these warm days but I do believe it’s a possible answer. I picked this article because I wanted to get a better understanding of how cold/ hot it really is in the UK. I was shocked to read that the highest temperature ever recorded was 38.1 degrees. I thought it would be much warmer. Anyway, it was very interesting to learn more about the temperatures in the UK.
Question: Do you think the cause of this warm weather could be global warming? Explain.
Link: http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre7bt0n4-us-britain-weather/
Tiniest of Spiders Are Loaded With Brains
By SINDYA N. BHANOO
For the small spider they have a large brain. Of corse they don’t have brains the size of humans but in scale size they are larger than humans. Spiders brains fill their whole body cavities and extend into their legs. When researchers measured the central nervous systems of nine species of spiders in a range of sizes. The smallest spiders had smaller brains but relativity speaking their brains are enormous. The smaller the spider the larger its is. The smallest spiders tested on had a central nervous systems that filled nearly eighty percent of the body cavity plus 25 percent of the legs.
I think that it is weird that it is possible for a brain to stretch through other body parts like legs on a spider. I used to think that their brains only were in their head. Thats why I would think they are not so smart. I chose this article because I like learning about animals. Anything on animals usually catches my eye before anything else.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/27/science/tiniest-of-spiders-are-loaded-with-brains-researchers-find.html?ref=science&pagewanted=print
Do yo believe that there are other animals with a central nervous system that expands into other parts of the body?
Lip Reading Baby’s
Scienctist say that babies begin to lip ready before they begin to talk. They have a mind set thst allows them to understand what we say just by watching our lips move, and they way they curve. When they hit six months they begin to babble, very fast and have their own intimite conversation even though we may not understand them. They are trying to mimic what we have said. Scienctist did an experiment on 179 infants and babies between the ages of 8 to 12 months and up. They made the kids watch videos and they say the kids between 8 to 12 months watched the speakers lips while the kids that could talk watched the speakers eyes for reactions.
This new study that has been conducted and has not only helped them understand how they learn to talk but to understand how disorders evolve. In my opinion, I think it’s amazing how scientists can gather so much information based on these little observations. I chose this article because, as an older sister, it’s nice to know what to look out for being that I have a baby brother. I think it would be fun to try this experiment on my own with my baby brother and see the results in the future. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this article because it was very informative.
link: http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2012/02/lip-reading-babies/
Question: Do you think this experiment was accurate? Explain.
Do you think this experiment will help with future baby’s growth and development stages? Explain.
We have heard of book smarts and street smarts but now there is a whole new intelligence devoted to just sports. In a recent study conducted by Salvatore Aglioti, a neuroscientist at Sapienza University of Rome, they’re researching the concept of brain images and how that relates to the real and virtual world that we make in our heads. The brain cell that helps with this is called mirror neurons. Mirror neurons help players predict what’s going to happen next in a game. Basically what this means, is that when a player is on the court and has limited time to make a decision they’re using a lot of brain power believe or not as opposed to a coach, a ref, or an onlooker. So for example, if a basketball player were to go up against his opponent by using his mirror neurons and watching the other player’s moves they can predict what the player will do next.
I picked this article because I’m personally an athlete and found it pretty interesting. When I play soccer this exact thing happens to me I just had no idea that this was going on in my brain. I can totally relate to that feeling of going up against an opponent and trying to predict what they will do next. The cool part is that to be able to do that you have to take from your own experience. So basically when I’m predicting another player’s next move I’m thinking about what I would do in her shoes and going with that feeling. This process happens without anyone knowing its happening. So overall, I found this really interesting in particular because I’m an athlete.
Link: http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2012/01/the-brain-behind-the-game/
Question: If you’re an athlete, can you relate to this brain process? If you’re not an athlete, do you ever have this process occur to you in gym?