Emily N.

Floating Play Dough.
This experiment tests different shapes of play dough on the flotation of the dough. It states that a ball of play dough dropped in water will sink, but if you flatten the dough it will sink.
IV:the shape of the playdough
DV:if the dough floats or not
C:size of bowl, amount of water
This experiment was pretty good with the idea. The author didnt describe it in grate detail so it was alittle confusing. They were not spacific on how much dough or water. They could make it better by being more detail.

Drew C.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091214200952.htm ScienceDaily, Dec. 15, 2009

Studies show that even on well maintained playgrounds there are over 200,000 injuries, doctors and scientist believe that most of these injuries resulted in falls on granite sand or wood engineered fiber. over the next two in a half years scienctist randomly studied 19 schools various playgrounds. The IV was the type of sand in the playground. The DV was the amount of injuries from each playground. I believe this experiment was not a very good one. One way it could be improved is by making sure all the kids participate in playing on the playground.

Sarah Alnaif

"The Effect of Brain Bootcamp on Smartness." Jack Penland. December 31, 2008. sciencecentral.com.

Over the years many people have had to remember phone numbers and passwords, but who would have thought that remembering the letters and numbers could actually make smarter? Well that was an experiment performed at the University of Michigan. They created these brain excersises where the person would have to remember colored squares and match them with ones previously seen and also letters and numbers. After doing so 40% of the volunteers got smarter. This was not permanent though. The IV is whether or not the person went to the bootcamp and the DV was if they got smarter or not. This experiment could be improved by testing a broader range of age groups. As a follow-up experiment I would suggest to try this with different ethnic groups.

Charlotte Maurno

http://www.sciencentral.com/video/2009/03/16/go-play-outside/

This experiment tested the effect of cold weather on your brain. The scientists found out that sometimes when you like you have a bad headache you could go outside in the cold and it will feel better. Also, they tested if the cold weather would make you smarter. For the conclusion, they did find that the cold weather did have an effect on your brain. I believe the experiment could be improved by having kids of all ages try it. For a follow up experiment, they could text if the warm air could have an effect of your brain.

Bennett Artman

http://http://www.sciencentral.com/video/2009/05/13/money-vs-happiness/ Money vs Happiness by Joyce Gramza Science Central.

This experiment was conducted among recent graduates of Rochester University. It tests the effect of achieving the "American Dream" opposed to achieving personal goals on physical well-being. The researchers followed reports of illnesses and happpiness rates of the graduates and one of them, chose one of the many job offers that would put him near his family; the graduate Asher Persigian said, " Without people....to share your life with, I really don't see the point." The studies show that the students were psychologically well while they were succeeding in personal goals and almost had no psychological health affect when they were doing well in terms of the "American Dream". The success in the "American Dream" seemed to increase things such as anxiety in graduates lives. A survey was released upon the graduates to test levels of intrinsic/personal goals and extrinsic/American Dream goals. It also charted the psychological position of the person being surveyed. The study finally concludes that success in the American Dream has relatively zero effect on the person compared to that of a person who achieves many personal goals.

This experiment perked my interest because I have always wondered if I should become totally independant come time to be an adult, or to be still in touch with my parents. This stimulating experiment revealed to me that I should keep in touch with family and friends so that I can maintain a healthy psychological mindset.

Ginny Blair

http://spot.colorado.edu/~basey/photocolor1.html Cassidy Davis and others, 2003

This experiment tested the iv (different colors of light) on the dv (photosynthesis in plants). The three colors were red, blue, and green. The blue light caused the most absorption in the plant. This was a good experiment because there were many factors used to prevent error in the experiment. This experiment could be improved by having more trials and keeping the experiment going for a longer time to just make sure that the blue/ violet was the best for photosynthesis in plants. It could also be improved by using different color lights to see more interesting results. The results in this experiment surprised me. I hypothesized that the red light would cause more absorption in the plant because it is a close color to yellow like the sun. This was a very interesting experiment and i would like to try it myself.

Ben W.

"The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Brain and Behavior." Sarah Ledoux. December 14, 2009. brynmawr.edu.

In order for your body to continue functioning, you need to sleep. Your brain has to rest and the only time for it to rest is when you are sleeping. Muscles can continue working without sleep as long as they are resting. Eventually, enough sleep deprivation can lead to death.
In this experiment, the independent variable is how long the person stays awake. The dependent variable is the damage it does to the body, the brain especially. Although this is not an actual experiment, the tests have come up with the conclusion that the less sleep you get, the worse your behavior is because of the deterioration of the brain. The only way this experiment to be improved is to test people on how much sleep they get and what it does to their brain. This is not the best experiment because it is taking other experiments and using those conclusions to make theirs. A good follow-up would be to see how much sleep a person needs.

Jeremy Cobb

"The Benguela Current Expirement." Seward Johnson. Dec. 14, 2oo9. CNN.com.

The Benguela Current is located in the south Atlantic. This experimant is to study the pathways, velocity and any changes in the flow of the current. Over 100 floats (independent variable) will measure the flow of the current (dependent variable). This experiment has no conlusion or results yet. This is a good experiment. It tests what we actually know about these currents and helps us learn more so maybe we can use these rivers under the sea to our advantage. The experiment can be improved by tracking the floats instead of just trying to run across them. A follow up experiment could test how far this current goes before it ends.

Anne Hayes M.

"Do plants grow better in different light?" Plants experiments for kids.

This experiment talks about if you change where a plant is set in the sun it will change how it grows. The I.V. is where the plants are put in the sun. The D.V. is how the plant grows. Some of the constants are the pot, the type of plant, and the type of surface it is put on, flat, hilly, bumpy ext.. This is a good experiment because people of age can do this project. Even pre-schoolers can do this. The one thing that could be improved is the specific type of pot used. The article said that paper of plastic cups could be used, I believe that the pots should be glass. The follow up experiment should be what type of plant grows better.

Brianna R

"Molecule Madness"education. com .Inc 2006-2009

This experiment talks about water molecules and how they are positive and negatively charged. The experiment they did was putting water into a bowl and trying to float paper clips on top of the water. Once they floated some on top of the water they got another bowl and filled it with water and dropped two drops of dish soap into it. Then they tried to float paper clips on top again. The IV was the soap water. The DV was the amount of paper clips that floated. The constants were the water, the type of bowl, and the type of paper clips. 

I do not feel that this was a good experiment because they were not very specific with the type of items they were using. They also did not explain the results very well at all. Explaining and being more specific with the information could improve the experiment.

Jessica P.

Naps and Creativity. September 29, 2009. Joyce Gramza. sciencecentral.com

In this experiment scientist tested to see if naps helped creativity. Volunteers were given a test in the morning and a test in the afternoon with creative problem solving. In between test scientist hooked the people up to a machine to see their brain waves, which showed their sleep stages, and after that half of the volunteers got a nap and the other half didn't. The half that didn't sleep got to sit on a couch until the next test. This revealed weather the sleep affected the memory of the people and if the people were able to utilize the problems from the morning to help them in the afternoon. The independent variable would be the amount of sleep you got(if you got a nap or not) and the dependent would be if the amount of sleep affected your memory or your ability to utilize the information in the morning in the afternoon testing. The conclusion was that the napping did not affect the memory but did help the people utilize the information from the morning in the afternoon testing. I thought this was a good experiment because it showed how sleeping affected you memory and your ability to use previous information learned in later circumstances. It could be improved though by making sure everyone gets the same amount of sleep because it takes different people a different amount of time to fall asleep and different people sleep better than others. A good experiment to follow this one would be to see if how long you sleep at night affects how you function during your daily activities.

Wim Quier 12/13/09-The Effect of Soda on Tooth Enamel

http://www.ask.com/web?qsrc=2352&o=0&l=dir&q=the+effect+of+soda+on+teeth



This article is about how the acidity in soda erodes your tooth enamel. The IV in this experiment is the type of soda. Some sodas have more acidity than other. The DV would be the amount enamal that erodes. If a drink has a acidity of 7 it is neutral anything less can erode enamel. The result of this experiment is the sodas with less acidity erode more enamel.

Jessica S.

"The Great Sodium Disaster Of 1998." Ask.com. 12/1/09.

This article talks about an experiment that tested the reaction of sodium metal with water. Sodium will react with a lot of things, including the oxygen in atmosphere, so their experiment needed to be safe. Their plan was to lower a block of sodium metal into a PVC pipe which led into a container with about 4.0 L of water. They placed probes inside the container to record the data. The IV was the sodium metal and the DV was the reaction of the water mixed with the sodium metal. The results were, they said, disappointing because the force blew the bottom of the container off.

The experiment was quite interesting and I learnt many things about sodium and sodium metal. I don't think the experiment was a very good one and I don't know why I think that.I think it is partly because the article did not give enough information about the experiment or it's results.

Assignment #3: A Science Experiment Current Event

As we discussed in class, for this report, I want you to focus on an article that talks about a science experiment. When you summarize the article I want you to name the independent and dependent variables and discuss the conclusions reached. In reflecting on the article explain why if was/was not a good experiment. How do you think the experiment could be improved? What would you suggest to be a follow-up experiment?

Be sure to hyperlink the title of the article (which is written at the top of your post) to the actual article. Remember to put your name (first + last initial) in the title line.

The article post is due Tuesday, Dec. 15. Your responses to 2 other student’s articles are due Friday, January 8. When you post your responses, include your ideas for follow-up experiments if you have a different idea and if you disagree with anything the student said, explain why you disagree.

As always, be sure the article was written in the last 6 months and be sure to use an appropriate news site.

Charlotte Maurno

My roller coaster project was a challenging experience. First I had to change the whole design because my original one didn't work. The hardest part was building the base part because I couldn't find a way to get the wooden sticks on the board. It was a stressful project, but it was also fun to do.

Bobby Rogerson

My roller coaster project was fun and kept me intertained through out the whole unit since while learning physics I could compare it to my roller coaster. The promblemms i ran into were my tubing was kinked and the ball would not go through and we went out and bought hard plastic tubing. The other promblem I had was marking my roller coaster so i googled most of the words and found a diagram to help me label it. This project was fun and it also taught basic physics in an easy and fun way.

Roller Coaster Project-Wim Quier

My Roller coaster was both challenging and fun at the same time. Some of the problems I had were the tubing kinked up and the large ball bearing wouldnt go through and finding the correct angle for the hill and loop. There was also some fun parts though like when we test them in clase and time how long it took for the ball bearing to go through. I also liked how the different segments were spread out and had different due dates. This was a fun and challenging project.

Jessica Pieroni

This roller coaster project was a lot easier and more fun than I expected. While building my coaster the first problem I had was the tubing already had a lot of kinks in it when I got it. To fix that I stretched the tubing out across the floor and taped both ends, this got most of the kinks out. In my first design, I had a loop in it. Once I started to work on it I realized that the ball might not have enough force to make it through with a loop. Instead of the flip I did cork screws down the hill and that worked well. The ball bearings worked well, and I tested it a lot of times to make sure I ran smoothly. It actually suprised me how quick the ball went through. Over all I thought this project was pretty easy and fun.

Bennett Artman

Will Our Universe Collide With a Neighboring One? by Zeeya Merall, Discover Magazine, November 4, 2009 http://http://discovermagazine.com/2009/oct/04-will-our-universe-collide-with-neighboring-one

The article I have read says that our universe went through an enormous expansion at an unbelievable rate. The universe now bears the scars of that incident and of a possible impact with another a very long time ago. The question of many scientists is if it will happen again. The scientists pose a multiverse theory which says that there are more universes than ours. Some universes expand at rates faster than the speed of light and this extremely gast motion would create a mirror of the light. These future universes may contain physical forces the likes of which have never been expierienced in ours. Howecer the possible death by bubble fate for our universe is rare according to the calculations of Alan Guth a scientist from the Physical Institute of Moscow. Guth and other scientists have considered trying to find a way to see an impending attack on the galaxy. The scientists plan to use a microwave probe to detect an oncoming universe. The death by bubble thought is indeed a scary one, thankfully, the chances of this ever happening is extremely low.

I thought that this article was very informing and complex. I was before familiar with the multiverse theory which I never really paid much attention to. After I had rad this article I was feeling a little anxious to realize that we could be vaporized at any second. This fear along with the Sun expandiong to far and vaporizing Earth. I am just so glad that this explains the slim chances of this incident ever happening. I enjoyed the article because of my new found knowledge gained from it.

Jessica S.

Making this roller coaster project had its ups and downs. Things like finding the materials and creating a good design was easy. My Dad had most of the tools I needed and materials were not hard to find at Lowe's. Drilling the holes in the base was fun for me because I got to use the drill for the first time. After I glued the wooden dowels into the base, using Gorilla glue, and letting it dry overnight, I began to build the design I had created. It was then that I came across a few problems. The polythene tubing I had bought had a lot of kinks in it and would not let the ballbearing go through in certain places. I tried heating out the kinks with a hair drier but it didn't make much difference. Later on, after letting it sit for a while to relax the tubing it began to do what I wanted it to do. The design had to be changed a little because of sizing and getting the ballbearing through to the end of the roller coaster would have been impossible if I had the second hill. I took out the second hill and made the loop smaller. The way the loop went around needed to be changed so instead of taping it down I had to let one side stick out. After every change I made I tested it three times to make sure it would work and when I eventually found a good design I taped it down. The labeling was not hard and did not take very long. All that was left to do then was to copy the key, and tape it and my name onto the base. Even though making this roller coaster was hard I still had a blast doing it.

Ginny Blair

Doing the roller coaster project had difficult parts and easy parts to it. The biggest ball bearing was tough to get through all the tubing. All the other balls were a breeze when I got the track to work right. The tubing did not kink for me so that was a plus. After I finished the project, I had a party at my house and little would blow into the tubing when I wasn't looking, so i had to take the whole coaster apart and attach a piece of a paper towel to wire and get all the water out. It was gross but the ball would not run through the track unless i dried it. I got to use some power tools so that was pretty fun. The rollercoaster was easier than i thought. The downward spiral was a difficulty because i drilled the holes into the wood in the wrong places. That was the most difficult problem I had. I think the project was very stressful along with all our other school work. I think that NSA should have supplied the tubing instead of making the parents go out and buy it. Overall, it was a very creative and fun project. I enjoyed it.

Drew Cowen

The roller coaster project was a lot easier than I thought it would be and even though I ran into a few problem building it, I thought it was a fun project. My original plan was to tape a bunch of paper towel containers on top of each other as the main support and even though it stood up it was not sturdy enough to get the ball over the hill. So my dad came up with the idea to tape and old lacrosse shaft to the paper towels and even though it made it sturdier the ball would still not go over the hill. We finally came up with the plan to drill three hooks into the base of the roller coaster and tie strings around the support that made it just sturdy enogh to get the ball over the hill! Though it was difficult at times I really enjoyed building the coaster.

Anne Hayes M.

The roller coaster project was a lot easier then I thought. In the process of working on it i had a little trouble with kinks in the tubing. Although the kinks were one of the major problems I was able to get the ball bearing through the entire roller coaster more then once. I had more problems in the kinks with the largest ball bearing. It stopped a couple of times in the middle of the project but I was able to blow out the ball. This project a lot of work but a lot more fun then I had expected.

Sarah Alnaif

While doing my roller coaster project I did not run into too many problems at home, but the problem I did run into was when I had too many loops. This cause the ball to stop in the middle of the coaster. Another problem i ran into was all those kinks. Because of these kinks I had to cut a lot of my tubing, but luckily I had bought 20ft. so cutting of a few kinks did not affect the length so that it would be too short to even use. My roller coaster worked perfectly at home, but I think the bus ride did greatly affect the outcome because of all the bumps and taking it on and off the bus. Doing this project did teach me a lot of how much trouble real engineers have with making a real roller coaster. Overall, I liked it because it was fun and taught me many things about physics.

Emily Neuburg

While doing my roller coaster project I did not have many problems. The main problem was the tubing. At Lowes the tubing was sold already wound up in a circle shape. This caused kinks in the tub. It make the ball bearing stop in random places along the track. I think many people had problems with this as well. Another problem I came across was that the ball had to have enough speed on the first drop to get through the whole coaster. I had rearrange my loops and turns a couple of times but, it turned out okay. This project gave me a little idea of what real roller coaster builders go through in there everyday life. This project was very fun and interesting. :)

Ben W.

Building the roller coaster for science was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I hit a couple of bumps in the road when my coaster would not make it all the way through. I figured out that the kinks in the tubing were slowing the ball bearing down, making it difficult for it to get all the way through it. I did not even think to use a blow-drier so I just held the tube until the kink was gone. The kink and the failed attempt were the only problems I faced in the construction of my roller coaster.

Jeremy Cobb

My roller coaster was really fun to make and was not at all very difficult. I did run into some troubles on the way though, but I learned how to fix them. The first thing we did was go out to Lowe's to get some of our supplies. We got a 2' by 4' board to use as the base. I wanted a bigger coaster because I didn't think the 1' by 3' was big enough. Then I went to find the tubing. We got everything we needed from there exept the green turf, so we used spray paint instead. Once we got all of our supplies, we spray painted the board green and the wooden dowels yellow. We let them dry and then glue the dowels on with wood glue, but we had to screw in the tall one because it was wobbly. After that, we found these little black holders that we used to string the tubing. We glued them at first, but then we ran into a problem. the tubing had so mauch torque that it popped the holder right off. So then we did it again with some yellow tape along with the glue. It seemed to stay on this time. So we started to make the loop. This was very tricky because the tubing wanted to go its own direction. It was so strong that it ripped the entire dowel off the board. We had to think of something else because it was going to stay. This was a challenge for me. I thought all the next day school. when My mom came home from work, she had cork that she had in her office. I thought it was a briliant idea. It would hold it down. It was a little bit big, but we fixed that by taping four popcycle sticks to it and sticking it in there. But there was still a problem. The ball wouldn't always go up the second hill. I found out at school when we had to take it in, that the reason it didn't go over every time was because there was a little space between the loop and the second hill where the track wasn't spported. So when I let the ball down I suported it with my hand and it went over every time. I was really happy with the way my roller coaster turned out. Even though I had a few problems, I got a chance to fix them and it really taught me a lot about physics.

Bennett Artman

My roller coaster project wasn't particularly difficult during the construction process. A friend's father provide much of the materials I would need. He gave me a piece of plywood and an industrial glue gun from his shop which I immediately put to use. With the glue gun I attached the dowels for the first drop, after letting them dry I attached some of the polyetheline tubing with duct tape for the track. I then tested loop heights to follow the drop of the coaster. I used my ball bearing to test the height, and when I was done I made a short distance of track to finsh the coaster. I then made two slits in my tubing. In these slits I placed fake credit card pieces for stopping and starting gates. When I was done with the technical work I got on the computer to type a key and my name. I printed these out and mounted them onto the coaster base while also mounting the labels. I did not find this hard, but I did think it took a while. It was a dreaded project, but turned out to be fun.

Assignment #2: Roller Coaster Project

How is Your Roller Coaster Project Going?

For this post I want you to write 3-5 sentences about your project. What has been difficult? easy? surprising? Did you have any problems?  How did you solve them? How many changes did you make from your original design?  What have you learned along the way? 

You do not have to answer all of the above questions--they are just ideas.  Use this post to tell me about the work you've been doing at home.  Sometimes the best learning occurs when you've had to tackle problems on your own.  Tell us what you've learned!

Remember to title your post with your name. And feel free to post comments to other people's post. If you had similar problems, let them know! And if you have an idea for a solution, tell them!

 

Charlotte Maurno

Eight Bionic Animals

In this article there is a female elephant that lost her leg stepping onto something harmful. Years following that she was living without a leg. Finally she was treated at the Elephant Hospital of Northern Thailand. Now she still lives a happy life, even though she has a fake leg to live on.

I thought this article was interesting because i didn't know that elephants could be treated for that, too. I admire this elephants bravery to try to life a normal life and to have a fake leg at the same time.

Wim Quier-Current Event 10/2/09

At Least 1,100 Dead from Indonesia Quakes-cnn.com

Earthquakes are very devastating to mankind. Earthquakes can be caused by shifts in the tectonic plates. These earthquakes were at a 6.6 magnitude. The place that got most of the force was the western sumatran capital padang, which there is an estimated 376 people dead.


This was interesting to me because it shows how powerful nature can be, and also how devastating it can be. Also it makes me think what i would do if i was in the position of the sumatran people which have no home and not cities because of the force of the earthquakes.

Cullen Schaubach

Global Warming 9/29/09

Global warming could be a cause of climate disasters. The ECA report says that climate disasters a have risen at the same time global temperatures have. By the year 2030 developing countries could lose up to 12 percent of their GDP. Higher world temperatures are likely to cause falling crops and lack water. up to 40 to 100 percent of the damage meant for 2030 can be stopped by cost-beneficial adaption measures that have been tested. The method has been positive so far but even though there is a plan help doesn't mean that governments don't have to help.

Jessica S.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/science/space/29mars.html?_r=1&ref=science
Red Planet May Be Better Known as the Wet One. 9/28/09
New York Times

This article talks about the amazing discovery of ice water on Mars. When scientists studied photos from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter when they noticed the surface had power burns, which was left by a meteorite that stuck Mars in the first few months of last year. These tiny burns or craters, which were between 1.5 to 8 feet deep, contained blotches, which scientist later realized was ice.

I thought this article was very interesting because I have always loved space. The article gave me a lot of information and what I found the most interesting was how much they actually knew about the ice water on Mars. I would like to know how much water there is and if, in the future, it is usable.

Anne Hayes M.

The case of the headless ant by Science News for Kids 9/29/09
This was an article about how ants get their heads cut off. "For years scientists have known that flies can decapitate ants." Flies usually are just lucky and find a weaker ant then a normal one but fire ants have a poison that makes them some of the lucky ants. This is a normal unlucky ant that the lucky flies got to first.

The fly is actually smaller then the ant in most cases such as this picture. I would rather be one of the luck ants.

A) I enjoyed this article. I thought it was very intresting. I would have never thought that a fly had more power over an ant.
B)What surprised me the most was that a fire ant had poison that protected itself from the fly.
C)My only question would be how exactly would the fly cut its head off? I would like to know more about what the fly is thinking while killing the ant.

Bennett A.

"A Whiff of Water Found on the Moon," September 24, 2009. http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2009/924/1

Lunar scientists have found H2O deposits in lunar rocks. These discoveries lead to so many new possibilities for the future of work on or with the moon. It opens up a future for moon communities and and astronauts alike. The future astronauts, "moon pioneers" as i like to call them, can use this water as a way to transport their rockets and as a drinking source like the future communities. This bt of H2O that has everyone excited was discoverd by India's M3 spacecraft that has been orbiting the moon for quite some time. Future ambitons of NASA and other space reasearch organizations include new moon examinations and research. NASA plans to crash one of their older crafts into the moon to create maybe a geyser or at least a summoning of water to the surface.

I really enjoyed reading this article because it got me pumped up about the fact that there is a large revolution in store for mankind. There are endless oppurtunities it opens for mankind as we know it. There isn't even any pollution, wars, or over population to worry about. I'm excited to see what is in store for my generation and the generation ahead of me, to see what we can do to clean our world and maybe create a new one.

Sarah Alnaif

"There is Water in Lunar Soil." Cnn.com. September 25, 2009.

This artical tells you about water that was recently found on the moon. Although it is not actually that recent. This is because moon rocks from the Apollo mission had traces of water, but scientists thought that it was just contaminated.

I thought that this artical was very interesting because before I read it I would have never guessed that was was water on the moon. From reading this artical I would like to further know if there might also be traces of life forms on the moon too. Overall, this artical really amazed me because the thought of water, or maybe even life forms, could be on the moon.

Drew Cowen

"A Damp Moon: Water Found Inside and Out." Ron Cowen, 9/23/09. sciencenews.com
This article is about how scientist found a small amount of water on the moon but also how it got there. hte article says their is about a quart of water per ton of materieal however the water does not remain on the moon. ot comes and goes with each lunar day. I liked this article because It made me think that we could actully start living much more easily on the moon.

Ben Wilson

"NASA: There is water in lunar soil." Deb Krajnak. September 25, 2009. cnn.com

This article talks about how researchers on the moon have found about one quart of water hidden within the rocks and craters of the moon. The scientists say that this water could be made in to larger amounts and could eventually support human life. Other pockets of water have been found throughout the surface of the moon. In the early 1990's, the scientists found pockets of hydrogen, which they believed had combined with oxygen to create the small amounts of water.

I think this discovery will be essential if humans are ever going inhabit the moon. It is one of the greatest discoveries in many years. 

Emily Neuburg

"Study Predicts Heavier Rainstorms Ahead Due to Global Climate Change." Science Daily. September 27, 2009.

Scientists recently studied the climate patterns of the world. Scientists from Science Daily seem to think that heavier rain storms and more severe weather is coming in the near feature.

I picked this article because weather and climate are my favorite interests in science. This article was also very interesting. It states that weather will be more severe in the tropical regions and less severe in the subtropical regions. I would like to know why scientist think that all of a sudden everything is going to change about the weather and climate.

Jeremy Cobb

"Brain Scans Reveal What You've Seen". Brandon Kiem. 9/25/09. CNN.com.

This artical shows how they are 1 step clser to reading peoples mind. Hired researchers tanslated recorded patterns of activity into pictures of what test subjects have seen. " The research builds on earlier work in which they used neural patterns to identify pictures from withen a limited set of options". So they are trying to identify what you have seen by the pattern of waves your brain is making once you have seen it. this is as close as humans have gotten to reading minds

I really liked this artical, and it was very interesting. It surprised me to know that somone can read our minds. If I could ask them questions, I would like to know how far they are on their project, if they have learned how to hear what someone is thinking. That would be cool.

Jessica P.

163 new species found in Southeast Asia. September 26, 2009, Emanuella Grinberg, CNN Science

This article tells you about the 163 new species that were found in the Greater Mekong area in southeast Asia. The types of species found include 100 plants, 28 fish, 18 reptiles, 14 amphibians, 2 mammals and 1 bird.

I liked this article because I think it's neat how people are still discovering a variety of different species. Something that surprised me was how so many diverse species can live in an area with really wet conditions and forest. Since 1997 about 1,200 species have been found in that area so what I wonder is how that area is being affected and has changed since so many of them are not similar.

Brianna R.

" The World's Largest Lizard is Venomous Too" Chris Kegelman. July 15th 2009. Science News For Kids.

The article told about the worlds largest lizard which is the Komodo Dragon. Scientist Bryan Fry has figured out that a komodo dragon is as venomous as a snake. Brayn and his team gave a Komodo dragon and MRI ( magnetic resonance imaging) and found that they have six venom glands. The glands can hold up to 1.2 mL of venom.

I thought that the article was very intersting. I liked it because i learn something new. I had always thought that Komodo dragons were just large lizards that would make cool pets. Now i know that they can kill you. I woould like to know if you can really buy a Komodo dragon.

Ginny B.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8267523.stm
Smoking bans 'cut heart attacks'
BBC News

The article discusses laws that state that in some public areas smoking is banned and it has decreased heart attack rates by as much as twenty six percent each year. Scientists explain about possibly banning smoking one hundred percent in public places and also how second hand smoke effects other people's health.

I am around smokers so this article really got my attention and I have always thought smoking was a very disgusting addiction. The article was very informative and interesting. I liked it very much. What interested me was that laws might be changed so smoking could be banned in all public places. I would like to know if the smoking laws will actually be changed.

Assignment #1: Current Event Summary

The purpose of this assignment is to 

develop your ability to 

read and write about science.

 

The assignment:

You will find a science related article that is interesting to you. It can be about any topic, not just whatever we are studying in class. Then you will write a report which has these three parts:

1) Citation: Here you will put the name of the article, the author and where you found it (for example, the New York Times or Science News for Kids) and the date it was published. You will then hyperlink the title to the webpage where you found it so that a reader can click the hyperlink and go directly to the actual article. Articles should be no more than 3 months old.

2) A brief summary: Here you will summarize the article in one or two sentences. This is to give your readers (including me) a sense of what you have read.

3) Reflection: This is the biggest part of your report. I am interested in your response to the article. Please address the following questions in your reflection:

a) What did you think about the article? Did you like it or not? Why?
b) What interested you or surprised you about the article?
c) What questions do you have about what you read? What would you like to know more about what you’ve read?

Posted by Mrs. George at 10:54 AM 0 comments