Calendar for Mr. Woodhall's Classes

Friday, February 19, 2010

G.9 Science - Awareness Article #1_Period E_Feb 2010

Awareness Article #1 is due Monday, February 22, 2010.

Reminders:
1. Make sure you follow the format, a significant portion of your marks are based on proper format.
2. Complete the article in a word document and save it. Then copy and paste the content into your blog post. This provides you a backup in case an error occurs during the post.
3. There are a number of valuable sources found under the Science Links.

12 comments:

Anna said...

Title: Greenland’s glaciers disappearing from the bottom up
Author: Shanta Barley
Date: February 14, 2010
Website: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18520-greenlands-glaciers-disappearing-from-the-bottom-up.html
Submitted by: Anna L.

Summary: This article shows how much global warming affects our world and how it endangers the Earth. Currently, the ice that comes off of Greenland’s glaciers is more than five times its speed during the 1980’s, and is increasing every year. Due to the rising temperature of the water, tons of ice is lost not only above the water, but it is said to have over 20 times more ice lost underneath the water than at the surface! Greenland’s glaciers are now receding by 0.7 to 3.9 metres underwater per day, and that may cause our sea level to rise. With glaciers melting, it also changes the lives of the inhabitants of Greenland. The mining of oil might increase, thus creating more CO2 in the atmosphere and again increasing the temperatures in Greenland. What can we do to help?

Additional Sources
Source 1: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-050
Source 2: http://panokroko.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/greenlands-glacier-is-speeding-towards-tipping-into-the-ocean/

Unknown said...

Title: In Learning, the Brain Forgets Things on Purpose

Author: Cell Press, via EurekAlert

Date of Article: February 19th 2010
Website: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100218125149.htm

Submitted by: Laura A

Summary:
The article is saying that in order to learn new things our brains must erase old memories/things. Scientists did tests on flies to see how much they could remember. They would use a certain odor and then shock the fly. Over time the flies would avoid that odor because of the shock associated with it. Then the scientists reversed the experiment, they would shock the flies with the other odor that was not originally associated with the shock. They continued doing this but the flies did not avoid the new odor. When a small protein from a molecular pathway known as Rac is blocked flies remember new information for a longer time than normal.

Two Additional Sources on Related Topics:

Source 1: http://machineslikeus.com/news/learning-brain-forgets-things-purpose

Source 2: http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1825309/in_learning_the_brain_forgets_things_on_purpose/index.html

Unknown said...

Title: Young Musicians Get Smarter, Study Suggests
Author: Jeanna Bryner
Date: 11 Noverber 2008
Website: http://www.livescience.com/culture/081111-music-lessons.html
Submitted by: Shannon K.

Summary: This article is about the research with 59 kids, ages 8 to 11, done by Gottfried Schlaug and Ellen Winner that had shown children who study musical instruments for at least 3 years have higher scores then thoes who don't study any musical instruments. The 41 kids who had studied musical instruments had better marks on vocabulary and non-verbal reasoning by each 15 and 11 percent than the others. Moreover, the kids who study the musical instruments, have better memories. However,according to the researchers, the further studies are needed because it could be the kids who stick with musical trainings are already good at those skills. On the other hand, it could be training that improves the skills. Winner said, it would make sense, if they find a link between music and brainy tests because music and non-verbal reasoning task both involve grasping patterns.

Unknown said...

Title: The Latest on Hacking the Planet
Author: Eli Kintisch
Date: February 20, 2010
Website: http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/02/the-latest-on-hacking-the-planet.html
Submitted by: Corinne H.

Summary: The Latest on Hacking the Planet is an article about cooling down the planet manually. David Keith has come up with the idea of spreading sulfur in the stratosphere, he believes by doing this we can block a small fraction of sun’s rays. Scientist came upon a problem, how can you even out the tempter changes with the changes that geoengineering might cause? This includes rainfall and snow patterns which may change the balance of radiation that hits the ground. Other tries to block the sun rays have been likely to heat up the poles and cool down the equator. A geochemist named Ken Caldeira has made way of evening out the side effects of geoengineering, he thinks by dubbing preindustrial CO2 concentration, that we can counteract severe warming, but if we do that we lessen the chances of rain. Caldeira says “In a high global warming world, more people would be better off with geoengineering, but some people would be worse off,”. Which would you pick?
Additional Sources
Source 1: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=1120
Source 2: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=geoengineering-how-to-cool-earth

Unknown said...

Title: Olympic Science: The Physics of Ski Jumping
Author: Anonymous
Date: February 19, 2010
Website: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/02/19/olympic-science-physics-ski-jumping/
Submitted by: Jade R.
Summary: This article shows all the ways in which ski jumpers can succeed. There are four major areas that a ski jumper must take into account when ski jumping; the position your body is in when you start your jump (how stable), the amount of speed you have when you start your jump, the position your skis are in while you are in the jump (the best position is a V shape, and the position your body is in while you are in the air. These areas are all important but possibly the most important area is your weight. The competitors and coaches have figured out that the lower the weight, the farther you fly. This fact may have caused the competitors to become even thinner than normal, some even anorexic. So, because of this, The International Ski Federation now has rules in regard to the body mass index in relationship to the height, and if these rules are not followed the skier will be disqualified. Where does this stop if people are harming themselves just to win a competition?

Emily said...

Title: Warming is Seen as Wiping Out Most Polar Bears
Author: John M. Broder & Andrew C. Revkin
Date: September 8, 2007
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/08/science/earth/08polar.html
Submitted by: Emily M.

Summary: This is an article explaining on how global warming has not only affected ourselves but made a species threat to our polar bears. Although they have tried to prevent ice from melting, its hard to stop something once its already begun. The ice that’s melting is a problem but also, waste is beginning to wash up around the arctic. Other wildlife that polar bears like to eat such as seals are now becoming more difficult for polar bears to catch for there aren’t as many. Since there isn’t enough wildlife they are beginning to eat the waste. They may have adapted to eating this waste but it doesn’t mean that it’s good for them. Action for saving the environment has taken place, but by 2050 the arctic will decline more then 40 percent. Polar bears are only threatened by us, if we don’t stop what we are doing then we will surely wipe out the entire species. All there is left to say is do we really want to be the cause of their death?



Source 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bears
Source 2 : http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/bear-facts/

Unknown said...

Title: Nothing But Net: The Physics of Basketball Free Throws
Author: North Carolina State University
Date: November 8 2009
Website: Science Daily
Submitted by: Tyler D

Summary: This article talks about ways to improve your free throw shooting. One point that they stated was that you need to have backspin on the ball when you shoot. Three hertz to be exact, this is about three full rotations of the ball before it gets to the rim. Another way to help improve your free throw shooting is where you aim. Dr. Chau Tran and Dr. Larry Silverberg, two mechanical and aerospace engineers say that you should aim for the back of the rim instead of the middle. The last way to improve your free throw is the angle your actually shoot the ball. Drs. Chau Tran and Dr. Larry Silverberg said that 52 degrees is the best angle to shoot the basketball. So in conclusion the next time you step to the free throw line and have to make two clutch shots, think of these tips and you will make them.

Additional Sources
Source 1: http://www.ehow.com/how_2271995_improve-free-throw-shooting.html
Source 2: http://ezinearticles.com/?Basketball-Free-Throw-Shooting&id=1056521

Unknown said...

Title: Big Bang
Author: Wikipedia
Date: Feb. 23/2010
Website: http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/b/big_bang.htm
Submitted by: Tomas R

Summary: This article is on a theory of how the universe started. At some point in time a "fireball" occured which created everything that you see now. Scientists can test this theory by using mathematical modles. This theory states that space is ever expanding at a very fast rate. The discovery of cosmic microwave radiation in 1964 also supports this theory. The relative proportion of light elements, the formation of light in the universe explains light. Scientists have come up with a expression to show the expansion of the universe(13.7 ± 0.2 billion years). All this supports the big bang theory.


Additional Sources:
Source 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang
Source 2: http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/b/big_bang_nucleosynthesis.htm

Unknown said...

Olympic Science: the Physics of Ski Jumping

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/ski-jumping/news/newsid=2201.html

http://www.fuzilogik.com/index.php/Sports-Library/Ski-Jumping/Ski-Jumping-Rules.html

Unknown said...

Title: Why some animals glow
Author: Emily Carlson, NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Date: February 04,2010
Website: http://www.livescience.com/researchinaction/ria-100204.html
Submitted by: Min Jeong Kang

Summary: I read the article about ‘why some animals glow’. First thing I know is that the animals that glow have the fluorescent proteins in their cells. Many species are bioluminescent. I knew that most are marine organisms, but some such as the firefly and the glow-worm –live on land. They fluoresce to spook predators, lure prey, attract mates and even communicate. I knew that one of the most famous glowing creatures is the jellyfish for scientists. Fisher man off the North America noticed that some jellyfish gleamed in the water. When researchers looked closer, they found small organs along the rim of the jellyfish that sparked green pinpricks of light. In 1962, scientists identified a protein called GFP (for green fluorescent protein) that helped the jellyfish glow an emerald green.

Unknown said...

Title: Why some animals glow
Author: Emily Carlson, NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Date: February 04,2010
Website: http://www.livescience.com/researchinaction/ria-100204.html
Submitted by: Min Jeong Kang

Summary: I read the article about ‘why some animals glow’. First thing I know is that the animals that glow have the fluorescent proteins in their cells. Many species are bioluminescent. I knew that most are marine organisms, but some such as the firefly and the glow-worm –live on land. They fluoresce to spook predators, lure prey, attract mates and even communicate. I knew that one of the most famous glowing creatures is the jellyfish for scientists. Fisher man off the North America noticed that some jellyfish gleamed in the water. When researchers looked closer, they found small organs along the rim of the jellyfish that sparked green pinpricks of light. In 1962, scientists identified a protein called GFP (for green fluorescent protein) that helped the jellyfish glow an emerald green.

Unknown said...

Title: Exerciers Drink More Alcohol
Author: By Dan Peterson, LiveScience's Sports Columnist
Date of Articles: Oct.01st.2009
Website: http://www.livescience.com/health/091001-sports-alcohol-exercise.html
Submitted by Amber P
Summary:
If you drink alcohol before you exercise a little harder to say exercise is shown. Also more sweat.
But not health if you drink more alcohol.
Sick of people who drink alcohol drink properly to exercise than people without did not take 50% more is shown.
For this reason, the people are drinking alcohol, have thinking more exercise. The most important thing that happened is going to drink appropriately.