Symbiosis Everywhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In science class we learned about symbiosis. Symbiosis is a relationship with two living organisms. There three types of symbiotic relationships. The first one is mutualism which is a relationship when both organisms benefit. The second one is commensalism which is a relationship when one organism benefits and the other is neutral. The last one is parasitism which is a relationship when one organism benefits and the other is harmed. In parasitism there is a parasite and a host. The organism benefiting is the parasite. The organism being harmed is the host. An interesting fact about parasitism is it has many forms. Some parasites kill their host. Some keep their host surviving. Half of all animals have at least one parasitic phase in their life cycles. I believe that symbiosis is one of the most interesting parts of the world. Animals depend on this kind of relationship to survive.

The website I used was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbiosis

Boom Blox!!!!!!!

In my science class we played Boom Blox, a popular Wii game created by Steven Spielberg, on our Smartboard. You may be surprised but the game is a fun problem solving game! This game contains many problems and puzzles. There are problems where you cause a chemical reaction, there are puzzles where you hit as many blocks as you can in a number of throws, and there are games where you hit the blocks as fast as you can. With each block you hit you receive points. Depending on your points, time, or throws you get medals. The medals resemble Olympic medals. There is a bronze, silver, and gold, medal. These problems test your brain on how well you can solve a puzzle. The more you practice the better you get! While researching on this fun and educational game I found out that this game contains action- packed interactive creativity, and fun for kids and the entire family. Not only that, but players can build anything they want virtually! Their designs can then be shared with their friends or used to challenge others to their new puzzle using the Wii's WiiConnect24. I believe that this game is very fun and challenging just by my own experience. Kids like me would have a blast by playing as the wacky characters but also challenge themselves by the puzzles and problems.

I got my interesting information from http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/wii/boomblox

Star Hosts Three-Rings!!!!!!!!

A nearby star has been found with two rocky asteroid belts and an outer icy ring or halo. It is a three-ring circus. The inner asteroid belt looks like a virtual twin to the belt in our solar system. Astronomers say that the presence of the rings around the star, known as Epsilon Eridani, suggests hidden planets lurking there. They say the planets confine and shape the rings. The star is part of the constellation Eridanus and it is 10.5 light-years from Earth. The star is the ninth closest star to the sun. Epsilon Eridani is slightly smaller and colder than our sun. Not only that, the star is younger. The sun is approximately 4.5 billion years old while Epsilon Eridani has been living for about 850 million years. Astronomers believe that the rings formed when the solar system was very, very young. They say it was likely collisions between planets and small bodies resulted in the chunks of rock that resulted in the 3 rings. They also believe that the gaps were formed by planets with gravitational forces which could remove the excess material that was floating away from the belts and keep the shape of the rings. Astronomers say that planets in our solar system exert similar shaping effects.

I think that this was a very big discovery. Since this star is younger than sun and is similar to it we can observe what happens to it when it ages. I believe that we won't forget this star for a long time. Scientists will observe this star for a long time.

Here is where I got the article http://www.livescience.com/space/081027-mm-solar-system-twin.html

Glowing Jellyfish Wins Scientists Nobel Prize

Three Scientists who researched the mysterious green glow of a jellyfish earned the Nobel Prize for Chemistry this year. Osamu Shimomura of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole Massachusetts; Martin Chalfie of Columbia University; and last but not least Roger Tsien of the University of California in San Diego were these men. They earned the prize for their discovery and development of a green fluorescent protein aka GFP. Since each of them contributed in the discovery each one of them will receive a third of the prize. This protein was observed in 1962 from a crystal jellyfish which drifts in currents off the west coast of North America. The protein has become very important in contemporary bioscience. Using the protein scientists have created ways to watch processes that were previously invisible, such as the development of nerve cells or watch how cancer cells spread.

I believe that this breakthrough can lead to many solutions to problems such as cancer. For example, since the GFP can lets scientists watch the way cancer cells spread, we can stop it by stopping the cells spreading. If someone knows how it will spread, we see the weakness or a way to stop it. These men deserve the prize and they should be very proud.

Here is where I got the article
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/10/08/nobel.chemistry/

More Posts!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guess what guys! I'm posting more this year! whoooooo!

blog 2

In my science class we had an activity where we played out the water cycle. What we did was there were plastic containers which represented the water resources. We got cards to show where to go and we either got plastic cups or spoons. The cups showed the clouds and the spoons is the evaporating water. Then we sat down and added human water resources and got big cups to show the humans taking water. Soon enough the water in human resources became overflowed with water. The other resources were gone. I learned that humans are taking water at an alarming rate and that we need to do something about that. If we don't act now we would lose all the water and the cycle will be broken

I movie

In my science class, we were told to pair up with 3 other classmates to work on an I movie. We were told to make the I movie on a natural resourse of our choice. My group chose coal. We worked hard in getting research for the project. Then we worked on our story board. After finishing our story board, we worked on our script. Then we finally started to film. Filming took about a week maybe a week and a half. After we finished filming we edited it. When we finished we handed it in.
When I worked on this I relized that it takes a lot of time before for filming and it is really hard working with other people. But in the end my group finished.

Social studies

My moms says that for her the biggest impact on technology was the internet. She says it is amazing how someone can get any amount of information at seconds. Someone can send a message that will be recived in a second. Someone can look for a job or house and can find one that they like. She says that the internet was the best invention for technology for the world

Monster T-rex of the SEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

During the summer of 2006 a team of Norwegian paleontologists discovered a 150 million year old fossil of a pliosaur, large reptiles with tear-shaped bodies and short necks, a body plan that let the ancient animals glide easily through the oceans during the Jurassic Period (from 206 million to 144 million years ago. They had found the bones on a remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. Now the fossil represents a new pliosaur and it is the largest of its kind. The team discovered 40 fossils at the site. Many marine reptiles were there. The leader stated that is was rare to find a graveyard of giants preserved for millions of years. This monster was a length of 50ft. and powerful paddles extending 10ft. This creature represents the many giants that inhabited the seas at the time. In addition, the marine animal showed bone crushing teeth the size of cucumbers that rival the T. rex’s. These bones can help an animal very much to take out the meat and bones of the prey. There is no current evidence that the new pliosaur of being attacked or attacking the other marine live at that time. But they know that they were chewing on each other because they found the same animals tooth in another animal in the same area. Wow! I think that is really cool to dig the bones up. This just tells us that there were many different kinds of monsters out there. It is amazing that these scientists were able to figure what it was and what time period it lived in with just bones. The site I went to was http://www.livescience.com/animals/080228-monster-pliosaur.html

Blog 2

Scientists have found a technique to restart a rat heart. They discovered this by trying to find heart treatment. They are hoping to be able to restart a human heart. But it could be years till that could happen. It is an amazing discovery but it would dangerous to restart a human heart. Scientists have worked for years for ways to grow body parts. There have been many efforts to replace the plastic or animal valves that wear out after being implanted in humans. If this new technique works, the 50,000 people who die annually waiting for a transplant could be save. What the team did to the rat heart was the scientists took 8 newborn rat hearts and removed the cells. What was left behind was gelatin-like matrix shaped like a heart and containing conduits where the blood cells were. Scientists then inserted cells into this scaffold- muscle cells and endothelial cells, which line blood vessels. The muscle cells covered the walls and lined together, while the endothelial cells found their way into the blood vessels. The heart was stimulated electrically. By two days they saw tiny, microscopic contractions. By seven to eight day there were contractions large enough to see with the naked eye. But the hearts could only pump liquid at about ¼ of a normal fetal rat’s heart. Scientists believe that they will be able to work with human hearts. They had tried it with a pig’s heart which is the same size as a human’s heart and they were successful. It is amazing but I do not think that they would be successful with a human heart. If they weren’t completely successful with a rat heart how will they be able to do it with a human heart? But there could be a small chance they could do it. I say that time will tell. My source, http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=4135541&page=1 says that it will take at least a decade to even thinking about testing it on human hearts.

Happy New Year!

I wish you all a Happy New Year!!