Science Extra Credit

After watching the live camera feed of a mother with her baby owlets and nursing them, I was so intrigued! It really is so beautiful to see nature in this new and creative way.These innovative ways of using technology to observe animals helps students and pretty much everyone anywhere learn about the habitat of an animal and the lifestyle it leads. Animals are very much like people and some find that hard to believe. However in the live camera feed provided of the mother owl and her owlets, one can really see how the mother owl cares for her babies and in the same way, humans care for their babies with just as much concern and love. This should definitely be allowed because the cameras provide insight on the lives of animals, however, we have to make sure that while doing so we do not disturb the lives of the creatures. People put these types of things up because they are just SO interesting and it really is great to share such things with the world. Some people can probably study the animals environments better with these live camera feeds, and this way no one has to disturb the animal's habitat. I looked online to find more links just like it and here are a couple.

Flamingo Cam This is a live camera feed of a flamingo in a zoo going about its daily routine. Sometime the flamingo cannot be seen because it wanders off and since this is a live camera feed there may be times u cannot see the flamingo.

Panda Cam
This live camera feed in of a panda bear that also lives in the same zoo as the flamingo. Likewise, the panda is shown going about it's daily routines. Its so cute!

I think that all three of the live camera feeds are very good links because they all are very informative while not intruding on the animal's life. I really enjoy watching these videos because I love animals and getting to see them like this is really amazing!

Current Event: "Cell Phones aren't making us dumb"

The human brain is an intricate part of our system that manages to store so much information. The brain manages to access these pieces of information at different speeds and stores the information in several different sections. Although, the stronger a memory is is based on how frequently the memory is used and how important the information is. On the other hand, computers are based on an adaptive software and is not affected by memories from the past like humans are. So, the question has arisen that will these fancy gizmos replace our memories? Bill Nye provided enlightenment on this topic and declared that it is good to have such devices to keep complicated pieces of information stored separately and this way space is freed up in in the brain. Bill Nye is basically saying that cell phones are not harmful to us and do not make us dumb, they are useful and allow us to free up space in our brains so we can store different information. I find this information to be comforting because I have heard so often that technology will be the death of us all and we need to rely on our natural abilities instead of fancy cords and buttons. It is good to know that having technology around technically makes it easier on our brains.We can successfully store information in iphones in addition to our brains without getting mixed up and going completely insane trying to remember things. Nevertheless, as humans we shouldn't doubt our brains and we should keep in mind that having technology is indeed helpful, however there are some things that even computers can't do. We must understand that "the quality of a computer memory is only as good as the instruments that are feeding it" while the subconscious aspect of the human brain makes it easier to access information. In conclusion it is imperative that we don't get caught up in the technology era and still utilize our brains, because they can store the information a computer can store just as well and whats the point of having a brain if you're not going to use it?

I found the article here

How Global Warming Relates to math

For the past few weeks I have been immersed in a research task. My, topic for this task was global warming. As i researched, I discovered just how much math and global warming were related. To begin with, scientists observe the earth each day, trying to examine the changes that global warming has inflicted upon the environment. Sea levels are observed and scientists believe that there is a 90 percent chance that sea levels will rise along the coast. In addition it is believed that the sea levels will rise around the world, rising 8.3 inches above the mean sea level because of human induced climate change. As scientists continue to make these calculations, they understand how much of a threat global warming can be to the earth. If the sea levels continue to rise, the oceans will engulf many nations in water, killing so many. Humans continue to ruin the environment with self generated gas emissions that will cause more disasters such as droughts and hurricanes. Inevitably, more people will be left homeless forcing more and more money will have to be contributed in order to pay and restore the losses. Many graphs were shown to provide people with insight on how global warming may continue to affect us, with line graphs displaying the increase of greenhouse gases and increase in sea levels. Over all, math and global warming are connected in many ways, and without math scientists would never have been able to comprehend just how much global warming was affecting us.

Class Response: Cnidarians and Sponges

In science class we have been learning about sponges and cnidarians. During this time, I learned quite a lot. To begin with, both cnidarians and sponges reproduce both asexually and sexually. Budding in how the two animals both reproduce asexually, which is when an organism duplicates itself. Sponges and cnidarians have two different cell types that allow them to trap food. Sponges have collar cells and cnidarians have stinging cells. The stinging cells paralyze a cnidarians prey, thus allowing them to eat they prey as their food source. Sponges and cnidarians aslo have two distinct body structures. Cnidarians have radial symmetry, tentacles with stinging cells and two basic body forms:vase shaped and bowl shaped Medusa. Sponges on the other hand, are like hollow bags with pores. They are invertebrate animals with spikes for defense. Based on all of this information I have gained, I ended up feeling satisfied with knowing so much about sponges and cnidarians. This was an interesting topic to learn about, and surprising to see that the 2 animals reproduce the same way. I don't think I can watch "Spongebob" again without remembering all of the facts I learned in class!

Chef

My podcast is an interview with a chef and they discuss the education and science involved in this career.
http://omegapride.podomatic.com/player/web/2009-12-11T09_06_19-08_00

Turkeys On Turkey Day

Thanksgiving is one of the best holidays ever, and the food is probably one of the reasons why it is so loved. Turkey on Thanksgiving has been a tradition for many for centuries, however "the odds are 99-to-1 your holiday spread won't include a traditional gobbler but rather it's mass produced cousin" after reading this sentence in The Sunday Star-Ledger newspaper I was shocked! According to the article, It is very unlikely to find a pure bred turkey now a days. Instead we find ourselves eating "a white feathered bird that's been bred to grow breasts so plump it has lost the ability to fly." However, New Jersey and many other states happen to be raising heritage turkeys even after they were almost near extinction. Now that farmers have started to raise these birds, more people are buying them and tasting the succulent taste of a nicely bred heritage turkey. This connects to science because farmers need to know about genetics in order to produce more heritage turkeys. They would probably need to know about dominant factors in a turkey and how the offspring would turn out to be. I chose this article because it appealed to me and seemed interesting how heritage turkeys were being bred again, and all this time I had thought that all turkeys were the same! My opinion on this situation is that I am very pleased that more heritage turkeys are being raised, and its always a good thing traditional meals on holidays like Thanksgiving. In addition I hope that the rate of heritage turkeys for the 100 farms that possess these turkeys goes up and that they will spread to other farms so that more natural heritage birds can keep being bred, and they won't face extinction.

I found this article in The Sunday Star Ledger Newspaper.

Extra Credit: Quote

The quote "in science the credit goes to the man who convinces the world not to the man whom the idea first occurred" means exactly what it says. In science, there are so many assumptions made and ideas that pop into one's head at any given time, however you cannot be positive about hypothesis until that hypothesis is proven. For example, Nicolas Copernicus was the first who came up with the theory that the the Earth was in motion and that the Earth revolved around the sun, not the other way around. However, Nicolas did not have the tools to prove his theory and everyone in his time thought that he was insane. However, Galileo Galilei managed to prove to the world that Copernicus's theory was correct with plenty more theories and fancy math jazz. And to this day, people recognize that name for being the one that proved the Earth was definitely in motion.So in the end, it all comes down to whether or whether not one can prove his or her hypothesis, and then that person will be recognized for their outstanding achievements.