Response Blog ;)

In class, we did an experiment on plasticity. To start, we mixed corn starch with water. This created a substance that looked as if it were liquid, but acted as a solid. When put into my hands, and rubbed into a ball, the substance acted as a solid. After I stopped rubbing it into a ball, the substance flattened out almost immediately, showing liquid properties. This is an example of how the earth's mantle is. When heat and pressure are added to the mantle, it takes on the role of a solid. When it is taken away, it takes on the role of a liquid. Without the heat and pressure pushing on the earth's mantle, it would take on the role of a liquid, evidently, making us sink towards the center.

October Sky

Recently in school we watched the movie October Sky. This movie dealed with a lot of science/math, as well as character education traits that we have been learning about in school. The rockets, of course, were connected to science and math. This is because to find the right chemicals to mix to launch the rocket, it took science. Considering the Homer Hickam got into trouble for something he didn't do, he needed to find the trajectory of his rocket to prove that he did not start the fire in the forest. In the coal mines, health risks were a big issue. While mining for coal, dust particles are inhaled by the workers. This is extremely risky because this can lead to Black Lung, which is what Homer's father evidently died of. Homer and his friends showed cooperation in a few ways. In the beginning his friends were reluctant to participate in the science fair. Eventually they turned around, and cooperated with Homer, and helped him win the science fair. Homer showed assertion because he stepped up to the plate and showed everyone how bad he wanted to win that science fair. This movie made me realize that if I want something bad enough, like Homer did, I can do anything. It was a very inspirational movie.

RESPONSE! FROM SICKLE CELL ANEMIA (by uhmmmidk.)

I recently read a blog informing me on sickle cell anemia. Basically, it was explaining that there are certain blood cells that have sickle shapes to them. This can sometimes make the cases develop into anemia. The word anemia alone is a pretty frightening word. What I do not understand, however, is what the word jaundice means. Also, the blog explains that the cells break down faster, leading to infections. Personally, I feel that infections are horrible things (as I am sure most people do). Again, relatively normal humans take things for granted, such as normal blood cells, which we are not always aware of. Relatively normal people just go about their lives, not thinking about things such as 'sickle cell anemia' and 'down syndrome'. I think we all need to be a little more aware of our surroundings.

For the complete article, go to :
www.uhmmmidk.blogspot.com/

DOWN SYNDROME

Have you ever seen a child whose face is somewhat flat while having a short neck? Perhaps their ears are abnormally shaped, or they have small hands and feet? These are symptoms of a person with a condition called Down Syndrome. These people also have complications inside them. These consist of loose ligaments, skeletal issues, eye problems (such as cataracts) as well as hearing issues. Down Syndrome was first noted in 1866, however, the cause was not discovered until 1959. When a person has Down Syndrome, have an extra chromosome 21. There are three of the chromosome, instead of the normal two. Older woman who have children are more likely to have a child with Down Syndrome than a younger woman who is having a child. About 1 in 1,250 women over 25 years of age are at risk of having a child with Down Syndrome, whereas a woman over 40 has a risk of 1 in 100. On average, 85% of infants with the condition live longer than one year, and 50% live longer than the age of 50. Unfortunately, Down Syndrome is not a curable condition. However, the children with this condition benefit more with special education, speech therapy, occupational therapy, and special exercises. New treatments are not noted at this time. I feel awful for children with this condition. It must be extremely difficult to try to live with Down Syndrome. As a relatively normal people, humans take so much for granted, such as the shape of our face, our hearing and other elements such as those. Like they always say, nothing is real 'til it's gone.

For more information, go to:
www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/Down_Syndrome.cfm
and
www.emedicinehealth.com/down_syndrome/article_em.htm

WOMAN WITH A FAT BELLY!! >:-0

Have you seen pictures of the absolutely crazy woman who just gave birth to octuplets?!  If you have, you would most likely have heard the even more crazy story to follow.  This woman went through a procedure called invitro fertilization, more commonly called IVF.  This procedure consists of a doctor implanting embryos into a woman's uterus.  For this specific case, a certain doctor implanted a whopping six embryos into a woman named Nadya Suleman.  Normally, the embryos only have an extremely slim chance of evolving into a child.  In Nadya's case, two of the embryos split, and she now has eight more children aside from the six children she already had.  To Americans, this is the most absurd thing they have ever heard!  I agree with this.  Since Nadya is only a single mother, there is no way she can take care of fourteen children on her own.  Some people have been saying that they are taking some of her kids away from her, and they should.  Her children should be put with couples who cannot have children, who are longing to have them!  They are more deserving than her.  Others have been saying she is doing it for the money.  Only an ignorant person would bring innocent children into this world for the greed of money.  Selfish.

My Roller Coaster Website

Dudettes and Dudes

A very large portion of Americans have knowledge about the war in Iraq. Also, a very large portion of Americans have lost loved ones to this war. Many terrible things have happened over there and we all know it. I'm sure we can all agree we want our troops out of there. With our new president Barack Obama, there are plans that are being made to withdraw the troops and evidently make our troops safer. President Barack decided he would make a slow withdraw that will take approximately sixteen months, which would end up to be around the year 2010. If all goes smoothly then I think things will be more peaceful.

For more information go to:
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/

CANCER! :O

Today, many cancer patients are having an extremely hard time paying their medical bills that save their lives. Bills are now reaching new heights at over 1 million dollars, lifetime. Some people are saying that the stress of paying the bills could end up killing them, if they let it get to them. This issue needs to be addressed, and fast. What happens when people can no longer pay their bills? Are they going to let them just die? I think not.

For more information go to:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/05/cancer.spending/index.html

State News. ;p

Recently, a man named Chris Christie has publicised his campaign for the position of Governor of New Jersey. Christie says that New Jersey is a 'broken' state and it needs to have action taken upon it to be fixed. There are people who do agree with Christie's methods of change, but others are opposed. The people who oppose think he is just like a George W. Bush. One change he wants to make is to reduce the amount of income and cooperate business taxes. This sounds like a good idea. Although we need a change in our society, we need to be extremely careful with who we choose to change it.

For more information go to:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/chris_christie_promises_change.html

INAUGURATION '09! :D

Last week on Tuesday January 20,2009 Barack Obama made history by become our first African American president. Millions of Americans watched in Washington D.C. to experience the magic while others watched from their hometowns. So many interesting things happened that day. We had the Inauguration, the Inauguration Luncheon, and the Inaugural Balls. Among many other exciting activities. One of the main issues, although, was the tunnel leading to the Inaugural activities.
Leading up to the excitement, around two million people gathered at our nation's capital, Washington D.C. Many of these people came and slept on sidewalks because there was no room left inside hotels. To get into the area, there was only one tunnel to get people through. Crowds waited in that tunnel for over four hours! A hand full of people were extremely frustrated at first, but their spirits were lifted when a random group of people started to sing our National Anthem. After this happened, many moods lightened and the wait became a little more pleasurable. Although this is one event that happened that day, there is more excitement to come.
After the big day Barack Obama had, he had to attend ten Inaugural Balls. Many celebrities like Beyonce, Jay-Z, Faith Hill, Shakira and Alicia Keys attended these balls, singing for our new president. These balls were; the Neighborhood ball (open to the public), the Homestate Ball (Illinois and Hawaii in honor of President Obama), the Commander-In-Chief Ball (for the military), the Youth Inaugural Ball (for ages 18-35), the Homestate Ball (Delaware and Pennsylvania in honor of Vice President Biden), the Mid Atlantic Ball, the Western Ball, the Midwestern Ball, the Southern Ball, and the Eastern Ball. By the time President Barack arrived at his last ball, it was later than 12:35 am. Each of the balls were special in their own way. By the end of the night (morning), I would presume Barack's day was extremely fun filled.
This particular day shows that our country really is ready for a change. We can tell by the millions of people who attended this spectacular event, and the balls. Waiting in a tunnel for over four hours, shows patriotism. Attending those balls even if our President was there for just five short minutes, also shows a great deal of patriotism. It is amazing that our country is so large, but we can all come together to share an event so powerful, that it brings tears to all of our eyes.

For more information go to:
www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/23/inaugural.tunnel/index-htm?iref=newssearch
and
www.cnn.com/POLITICS/01/20/inauguration.balls/index.html?iref=newssearch

ELECTROMAGNETiC SPECTRUM! (:

Another topic we have been recently been studying in class is the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum is all of the electromagnetic waves that are put in order of smallest to largest frequencies. The electromagnetic spectrum consists of infrared waves, radio waves, visible light, ultraviolet rays, x-rays, and gamma rays. Radio waves have the longest wavelengths and lowest frequencies. An example of something with radio waves would be a microwave, or a television. Infrared waves are waves with shorter wavelengths than radio waves. An example of something that uses infrared waves would be a thermogram (a device that shows the heat of an object using colors). Next, is visible light. Visible light is the colors you can see. The light has shorter wavelengths with higher frequencies. An example of visible light would be the rainbow! After visible light, comes ultraviolet rays. Ultraviolet rays are electromagnetic waves with wavelengths a little bit shorter than visible light. If you go tanning, you are using ultraviolet rays to change the color of your skin. X-rays have wavelengths shorter than ultraviolet rays. People use x-rays to look at bones, to see if there is anything wrong with the structure. Lastly, there is gamma rays. Gamma rays have the shortest wavelengths, but the highest frequencies. Sometimes to kill cancer cells, gamma rays are used. I find it pretty interesting to learn about the electromagnetic spectrum to get a better understanding of things on our planet.

Wave Lengths!! (:

In class, we have recently been studying waves. A wave transfers energy from place to place from a disturbance in something. For example, if a human jumps into a pool, their body (being the disturbance) makes the water move in up and down motions. Those up and down motions are the waves. Each wave has a crest (the highest point of the wave) and a trough (the lowest point of the wave. Each wave has a wave length, a frequency, and a speed. The wave length is how far the wave can go before it reaches its end. Its frequency is how many waves pass a point in a certain amount of time, and the speed is how fast it goes. In society, waves are important because although you cannot see them, they are everywhere. Sound waves, waves in the ocean, etc. etc. Even if you cannot see them, they are always there.

OWLS!! :)

In class we are learning about owls, and we are dissecting owl pellets. Owls are the type of bird that swallows their prey whole. After they swallow their prey, the owl digests the softer parts of the body, and then it regurgitates the bones into pellets. During class, every pair of students got an owl pellet to dissect. My partner and I had a hard owl pellet. The dissecting takes over an hour, and you find plenty of bones. Our particular owl had two types of animals the time it regurgitated our pellet. My partner and I suggested that the two animals were either a mole or a rodent. At first, the dissecting is a little gross, but once you get over the fact that it is regurgitated food, you come to find that the remains of the animals an owl eats is very intriguing.

Symbiosis.

Recently in class we have been studying symbiosis. There are three types of symbiotic relationships. The three types are commensalism, parasitism and mutualism. Commensalism is when only one species benefits while the other is not harmed. Parasitism is when one organism benefits, while the other is harmed. Mutualism is where both of the organisms benefit. An example of commensalism is regular ivy grown on a tree. An example of parasitism is poison ivy growing on a tree. An example of mutualism is when a bee takes pollen from a flower. This study is important to society because without things like parasitism the world might be overflowed with plants. Without mutualism we might have enough. Without symbiosis, there would be no cooperation, or or cooperation with any organisms on Earth.

Diabetes

Have your eyes ever hurt while you were reading? Wonder why? Studies have shown people with headaches, eye aches, double vision (etc. etc.) have some sort of eye disability which is referred to as convergence insufficiency. Doctors say this is not a very hard diagnosis to treat, but takes roughly 12 weeks. Many students who go untreated may have an extremely hard time in school because of these head aches, eye aches, double vision (etc. etc.). Doctors also so these treatments can make a huge difference in children who do not like to read. After these treatments studies have shown that many more kids are reading for fun. Without the treatments kids start to become frustrated, and this could affect how they do their homework, if they do it. If kids get the help they need with this, it can make life a whole lot easier.

For more information go to:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27404581/

The Wonders of Monkeys

Recently, scientists have discovered that monkeys can physically be able to use a paralyzed muscle just by using a single brain cell. These monkeys were taught how to play a computer game, and it helped with paralyzed wrists. Scientist say that these certain findings may also be a help to human patients who have had a stroke or a spinal chord injury. This can also mean that many paralyzed people may be able to do things such as grip a hair brush or or a tooth brush and be able to live a somewhat normal life again, says some scientists. This research is led to believe that people who can no longer walk, use their hands or arms (etc. etc.) may shortly be able to by just one brain cell. Studies even say that this research can enable people to posses certain talents that they didn't have before like wiggling ears, or noses. Imagine what it would be like to no longer have some of the senses you have this very minute. If you could suddenly get those back, it would mean the world to you! The human mind can do incredible things, and this is just the start of great, new findings.



For more information, go to: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/10/15/bypassing.paralysis.ap/index.html

Extra Credit -- Poem

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you;
But when the leaves hang trembling
The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I;
But when the trees bow down their heads
The wind is passing by.

Christina Rossetti

Weather is used throughout this poem by talking all about wind. To enhance this poem the poet uses words like "leaves, trembling, wind etc. etc." and this tells us that this also has to do with weather. With using knowledge about weather for this poem it helps you understand better about what she's talking about by creating a picture in the reader's mind. The type of weather discussed is the wind.

The poem would not be the same without the mention of weather because then this poem would not exist without the element of wind. Figurative language is used in this poem when she says "the trees bow down their heads" because trees cannot literally bow down their heads. This specific poem does not further my knowledge about weather because it only talks about the wind passing by.

In-Class Response 2

Another thing we've been studying in class is evaporation. We did an experiment where we took water from natural resources and moved them around, which acted as the normal way the evaporation cycle should work. Then we added recources where humans existed to use the water. At the end of the experiment we learned that humans consume a lot of water and we are losing the water in the other resources that we depend on. Personally I feel that humans use too much of the water for things we don't need. Together we need to find a way to conserve the water so we can have some for later in life. This experiment really opened my eyes about how selfish humans really are.

In-Class Response

In class lately we have been studying wind. We did an experiment with kites and how they flew. The kites didn't fly in the area we were at. I wondered why the kites didn't fly in the open field where as they flew at the beach. I came to a conclusion that there wasn't enough hot and cold air mixed together to create the wind our kites needed to fly. It also didn't help that our kites were heavier than the wind. When the cool air from the ocean and the warm air from the beach collide they create the wind that our kites need to be able to fly. This information can help me in the future if i want to plan a trip to the beach and i would like to fly kites, or do some other activity that involves the wind. If i know where is the best place, it could help save a lot of time.

Social Studies Advancement In Technology

One of the greatest inventions with the most impact on society made from newer technology was the hand held cell phone. Anywhere you turn, someone has a cell phone. This has changed society because it has made everything that has to do with communication a whole lot easier for everyone! You can call pretty much anyone you want to, and it doesn't take to long like the telegraph or letters do. Also, this something that you can take from your house, unlike a regular house phone. The cell phone has made life just an all around easier thing.