Butterfly Lab Response

In Yellow science class last week, all the students made butterflies and colored them so that they would camouflage into the classroom. We timed a predator(teacher) to come in and try to find them wherever they were hidden. Most of the butterflies were found in time, but some like mine was never found. There were four rounds, the first two were in normal classroom light, the 3rd one was in the dark, and the last one we had to hide the butterflies out in the open! It was entertaining to see the "predator" running around trying to find the last of the butterflies; especially when I hide mine on the back of the door that the predator came through!

Symbiotic Relationships Response

In yellow science class, I learned about symbiotic relationships and how they are important. There are three types of the symbiotic realtionships. The first one is mutualism, a mutualism relationship is where both the organisms benefit from the realtionship. For example, a human and pet dog both benefit because the dog has proper shelter, food, and the right enviornment; and the human gets a trustworty companion out of it. The next type of relationship is commensalism, this relationship is where only one organism benefits, and the other one is unharmed, basically a neutral. An example is a hawk which rests on a branch, the branch is unharmed, and the hawk gets a break. The last relationship is parasitism, this is where one benefits, and the other organism is harmed, bothered, or affected health wise. Fleas on a dog would be a perfect example because the fleas benefit from having somewhere to live; but unfortunatley, if the dog itches too much, it could get an infection through all those scratches. Though there are ups and downs to these relationships, it is important to the everyone and everything because these realtionships are how some organisms live, some remain the same, and some don't.

The "World's Most Relaxing Room"

Professor Richard Wiseman is a Phsychologist who has designed a large-scale multi-media space that is supposed to calm you down. Your mind gets soothed by starting out laying on soft matting, and your head on lavender-scented pillows. Then green lights surround you, trying to give you that environmental feeling. A specially composed soothing soundtrack will start to play, and then you're looking at an artificial blue sky. The point of this room is to relieve you of all your stress. Such as students that are stressed about all their exams, and the financial crisis for the adult. Some research suggests that the blue sky creates a mild form of deprivation that helps to distract the people from all their stress.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081020192707.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081020192707.htm

Surfing The Web Helps?

New studies show that adults middle-aged or over, could increase their brain function by surfing the web. Scientists suggest that if they read a certain subject, it triggers that category that it goes under; and getting your brain more active leads you towards better decision-making. For example, if your reading something about the weather, then it would trigger the memory of weather in the past, and natural disasters. Scientists say that several functional changes occur, including atrophy, and reductions in cell activity; but keeping your brain active by staying online and thinking up topics to search preserves their brain's health. Studies also show that playing simple video games with their grandchildren, or even doing crossword puzzles will help.

source: www.ScienceDaily.com
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081014111043.htm

Math Is...

Math is way more important to me now then it was last year because I've learned so much. Like percents, decimals, mean, median, mode, scientific notation, finding variables, graphs, inequalities, solving for x, fractions, probability, and much more. And what's good about all this is that I could apply it to real life situations where I don't have a calculator. An example would be percent increase and decrease. If I need to find out 20% of some clothes or something, I would be able to quickly and mentally figure out how to do it, then solve it. Also, I'm not so good with finding the area, but after all the hard work, I understand it much more now and am prepared for next year.

EC: Falling Snow

Falling Snow

See the pretty snowflakes
Falling from the sky.
On the walk and housetops
Soft and thick they lie.

On the window-ledges
On the branches bare:
Now how fast they gather,
Filling all the air.
Look into the garden,
where the grass was green;
Covered by the snowflakes,
Not a blade is seen.

Now the bare black bushes,
All look soft and white,
Every twig is laden—
What a pretty sight!

Author Unknown

The Weather is used to help explain a beautiful sight. The poem no longer is just a poem, it seems more because it includes weather. In this case, snowflakes are used in the poem, so the time of the year would be Winter. I would say that the poem might not seem as descriptive, because it is more creative to use weather. Rhyming is used in the poem to put a catchy tune to it. And, a lot of descriptive words are used which explain a lot more. The poem doesn't further my knowledge about weather except for making me realize that there is a lot more to think about when weather occurs. Like, just thinking of how everything looks different or feels different.

Kites

Over the past few days,I have learned some very important facts about kites and how they fly in class. we discussed that because of the kites unique shape, it can fly. Because a kite is so light, it can easily be lifted to flight. But what exactly lifts the kite? Wind does, in fact wind helps with many other objects and items. In this case, the wind is so strong that it controls the kite, except for the fact that you have a string attached to it. But what makes the wind? Simply, the different temperatures and air pressures of the atmosphere causes convection currents. Convection Currents move the air around which makes the kite move. As you can see, there is a lot to learn about kites and how they fly.

Arctic Tale Class Response

In Science class, we watched a movie on how we might be affecting polar bears, walruses
and more. It showed how over time, the ice is melting more than usual. This is called Global Warming, its like a greenhouse effect. All the species,could go extinct because there is nofood they could get to, or at all. For example, the melting of the ice decreases the amount of space for the polar bears to walk on. And even though polar bears can swim, not very long. Its already hard enough to find food in the Arctic, when you have little room, it makes it way more harder. Remember,global warming also affects the walruses, because they use the ice to rest on and get away from danger. But with little ice, they barely get rest. And ice is where the walruses hide underneath. Now they don't have anywhere to hide. As you can see, Global warming has a great effect on many animals, and we could do a little to help.

S.S. Culture and Technology

I believe the dishwasher has made the biggest impact on our society because everyone uses it nowadays. The dishwasher is convenient in so many ways. It could be done in less time then using hands; then you could attend to other business. And it works better by getting more stains off. Dishwashers aren't complicated at all, which makes it easy. The good thing about dishwashers is that new features will keep getting added, and new models will keep getting manufactured. Overall, I think the dishwasher is one of the greatest strongest inventions that has changed the lives of mankind.

Frog Lab

In science class, we dissected a frog. My group and I were lucky when we started to open the frog because ours wasn't that big compared to others almost twice the size. That means that we didn't have a lot of fat to take out. After taking out the little fat, we came across the organs. The organs looked so disgusting. The organs consisted of a heart, stomach, lungs, liver, and bladder. There was no blood because the frog had been preserved. The frogs smelled really bad because of the preservatives. The back legs were muscular because they were the rescue legs that helps a frog escape from a predator or get out in any situation. The legs were also longer than the whole body itself! Over all, the frog lab was really fun, but at the same time it was disgusting.

Cloning

Cloning is a huge topic on everyone's mind these days. There are several types of cloning, Molecular Cloning which separates a defined sequence of DNA and getting multiple copies of it. The second type of cloning is Cellular Cloning, in this cloning, its deriving a population of cells from a single cell. The next cloning system is Therapeutic Cloning where the object is to harvest stem cells that can be used to study human development. The last cloning system is Organism Cloning where the procedure is to create a multicellular organism, that looks close to another. Organism Cloning is an asexual form of cloning. It is also the most common type of cloning, used to clone animals like cows and pigs for food. Cloning is an important topic because it helps to make more food out of animals. This information has been out since February 2007.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloning