Flamingo's Iconic stance

Flamingos are astonishing and beautiful birds that happen to be very unique. They have he most unusual stance that you may not find in other exotic birds. They have a one-legged stance that has had many people baffled including Matthew Anderson of university of Philadelphia who has conjured two very intelligent theories that may explain this peculiar behavior of these magnificent birds. His first theory was that the stance of the flamingo is dictated by the fatigue felt. Therefore the one legged stance reduces muscle fatigue. In addition, standing on one leg prevents both legs from stiffening and or causing exhaustion, therefore, if a predator were to come the flamingo would be able to escape swiftly and quickly without much hesitation. This theory was evaluated by timing how long it took the flamingo to to begin moving in a unipedal or bipedal resting position. If the flamingo took their first couple steps in the unipedal position the theory would be considered correct. However the flamingo did not do so, therefore the theory was ruled out. The second theory was based upon thermoregualtion, the maintenance of body temperature. Both the legs can cause significant heat loss in birds, with one leg close to the body the bird would conserve their heat. To test this theory, the examination of the weather conditions played a significant part. If the weather conditions in which the flamingo was resting was warm they would stand on two feet. If the climate was colder they would stand on one leg. It was seen that the majority of the birds stood on one foot during the cold climate. So according to Matthew Anderson, the theory of thermoregulation plays a huge part in the one-legged stance of flamingos. In addition "it doesn't rule out other benefits of the posture, such as minimizing contact with parasites and fungi that might be present in the water they are wading in" as stated in the article where all this information was found. My opinion on this matter is simply that flamingos are fascinating creatures, and their iconic stance has had many befuddled. I believe that thermoregulation plays a crucial part in the reason why they stand in such a way, in addition to posture and exhaustion. I mean with legs like that wouldn't you wanna relax one of them by standing on one leg? I sure would. This article was found here.

October Sky: Connections To Science And C.A.R.E.S

In the movie October Sky, science and admirable actions were displayed. Homer was a teenager living in West Virgina and was inspired by the fist Russian rocket called the Sputnik. The Sputnik was the world's fist orbiting space ship that helped identify the upper atmosphere's density as the pressurized nitrogen allowed us to detect meteoroids. In addition to helping the world discover the wonders of outer space, the Sputnik provided Homer with inspiration to create his own rocket to submit in the National Science Fair. Along with an unlikely helper, Quintin, Homer displayed cooperation by building the rocket with a person he would normally not be seen with. In addition respect was shown when a teacher supported the work they did. Homer was determined to follow his dreams although his father had no faith in him and did not support him, thus his self-control was displayed whenever his father would tell him he had no chance in succeeding in the National Science Fair. However, when his father was working in the coal mines he had gotten a serious injury. In order to ensure his family's well-being, Homer had to step up and take his father's job in the coal mines. As the movie progressed the viewers were enlightened about the atmosphere of the coal mines. Coal was used as fuel generation, and also for steel manufacturing. Although coal mining provides us with these things, it is very harmful. Gas poisoning is a hazard in coal mining and so is suffocation and gas explosions. Al in all, the movie October Sky displayed instances of character education numerous times varying from the relationships between the characters and the conflicts that arose time after time displaying the self-control in some characters and respect in others. Science played a huge role in the movie from the history of the coal mines, to the launching of the Sputnik.

Tay Sachs Disease

I read recently about the cruel disease called tay sachs disease. This disease is caused by lipid storage disorder and is then built up in the tissues and nerve cells in the brain. The people effected by this disease are infants in the north-eastern countries. The devastating fact is that infants effected with the disease do not live past the age of 4 or 5 years old. The people most likely to be effected with this disease are people of Eastern Europe and Askhenazi Jewish decent. The terrible symptoms of this disease can be mental and psychical deterioration, paralysis, blindness, and more painful experiences. The tragedy is that there is no treatment for this disease and it will continue to harass people. I am frustrated and devastated to learn that there is no cure to such a horrific disease. It bothers me deeply that some people must wake up in the morning and have to deal with such a disease and be put through so much pain and suffering, and I hope that soon the victims of this disease are put out of their misery and presented with a cure and treatment for his disease.

Information on Tay Sachs disease found here

Genetic Disorder: Sickle Cell Anemia

The disease sickle cell anemia was discovered and explained in 1904. The symptoms of this disease restricts blood flow to an organ which can cause ishemia pain. It can also cause organ damage. The signs of this disease can be fever, chest pain, difficulty breathing and pulmonary infiltrate. However,the treatments for this disease can be hydration and analgesics. The people affected with disease can be both male and female and are expected to live from 42-48 years of age. This disease can affect the world population with 1 in 5,000 chances. The population that is most vulnerable to this disease are the African Americans and 1 in 500 blacks are affected, in addition one in 36,00 Hispanic children have sickle cell anemia. The molecular level for this disease is that copies found in this disease is only one copy of the genes, or mutation. In order to develop more treatments they need to understand how the sickle cell anemia effects the bones, so a medicine can be created and therefore stop the disease from destroying bone marrow.My opinion on this horrendous disease is that it is unfair and cruel for people to undergo such a painful disease, however I hope that there will be more cures for this disease that are much less painful.

Click here to see the information about sickle cell Anemia.

Science:Dreams...Another Realm?

Who:People

What:Dreams, don't mean as much as we think. In fact, less than we think.

When: Present day

Where: all over the world, where everyone dreams and tries to discover the meaning of what they are dreaming.

Why: Some people believe that dreams maybe a another realm of unconsciousness, and after they dream they try to find out the meaning of the dream by making up silly, irrational assumptions about why we had a certain dream.

My opinion on this matter is that humans do in fact make silly choices and tend to think too hard about dreams, and read far too into them. In the article it states that dreams are merely a complex "interaction of proteins and neurons" so clearly dreams are much less meaningful than we tend to think. The last paragraph in the article talks about how people see a good dream and think that it is meaningful to their life and when they see a bad dream about themselves they find it to be less meaningful to their life. You see, dreams are basically just "uncontrolled cellular activity." To read the article click here

Social Studies Current Events: Recession Affecting The Buisness Owners

The recession is affecting everyone and putting some to tears as they realize that they have to close down their business because of the lack of costumers. In this article, a few restaurant owner's opinions and views are described, telling how the atmosphere in their business has instantly changed because of the recession. Because of the recession, the owner of Pierre's tells that he had to make quite a lot of sacrifices in order to save his business. The sacrifices included reducing hours and staff because of the lack of costumers. People are now trying to eat more at home and less out because they want to save their money. Because of this decision by many, small business owners like Pierre Hageboutros and larger business owners Theo Zervos of Theo’s Family Restaurant are losing so much business and are in a quandary as to what to do. My opinion on this matter is quite simple, we cant really do anything about this matter until our economy is stable again, and people are a bit less worried about eating out to save money. It's a shame that local business owners have to undergo such pain of losing costumers and reducing the number of hours and staff due to this horrid recession. I hope that everything in our economy will soon be stable. click over here to see the article

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