Tuesday, May 26, 2009

By: Madison Norris

Link: http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-diseases/influenza-article.html

Summary: The most common contagious human disease is influenza. It usually occurs most during Winter. Vaccines for this disease is very important for elderly old people and also the sick. They have a much higher risk of flu-related health complications than the young. Birds are most likely to blame because that is where the flu orginated. The swine flu started to outbreak during the spring of 2009. it is caused by INfluenza A virus and can affect pigs year round.

Why I chose: It was interesting to read about the orgin of the swine flu and about other types as well. I also chose it because there has been a lot of news on the swine flu

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Sun Oddly Quiet -- Hints at Next "Little Ice Age"?

By: Griffin McKinzie

Link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/05/090504-sun-global-cooling.html

Summary: The sun has weirdly been dimmer than before. In the last couple decades this is the only time that it has been this weak. Scientists want to see what’s going to happen next. They want to see if anything out of the ordinary is going to happen. Something out of the ordinary would be if the sun turned off, the sun exploded, the sun lost its juice, or if the sun was blocked off by some space cloud. If any of those things happened it could be hard for the Earth. What do you think? Is the Aztec calendar correct? Will the world end?

Why I Chose this Article?-I chose this article because I was looking for an article and I thought this one would be good. Also other people have been talking about space and I thought I could help out. I think this could be really bad.

"MISSING LINK" PHOTOS: New Fossil Links Humans, Lemurs?

Name: Robby C.

Link to Article: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/05/090519-ida-primate-fossil-link.html

Summary: "Ida" was found in Germany. Ida could be the missing link in primate evolution. Ida, which is a fossil known as Darwinius masillae has a lemur like skeleton with opposable thumbs and clawless fingers with nails. Before, scientists were unsure where the primate group that included lemurs split off from the primate group that included humans. Ida could be the missing link between the two. Also, the fact that Ida was found in Germany is interesting to some scientists because it contradicts the fact that most primate evolution came from the African continent. Ida's fossil is so well preserved that scientists are able to pick through bones, fur, and even what she last ate.

I chose this article because I always think its interesting when they discover something new. Also, it was the first article I came across.

Asteroid Attack 3.9 Billion Years Ago May Have Enhanced Early Life On Earth

Author: Will

Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090520140403.htm

Summary:
A Study done by the University of Colorado at Boulder shows that although there were meteors the size of kansas hitting the Earth, it may have actually helped early life. The results from the study push the initial 3.9 billion years ago date of life on earth all the way back to 4.4 billion years ago. The bombardment of Earth with meteors was said to have lasted anywhere from 20 million years to 200 million years. Researchers concluded that subterranean microbes living at temperatures of 175 to 230 degrees may have flourished during the bombardment period. Planetary scientists also believe that a planet the size of mars glanced off of Earth 4.5 billion years ago. This event would have effectively hit the Earth's reset button.

Why I Chose this Article:
I chose this article because I am really interested in space because it is so vast and large and full of things unknown to humans. I love learning about the events of Earth's early life. I also find this article scary, and that somehow draws me towards it.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Fingerprinting Slow Earthquakes And How They Relate To The Big One

By:
Kelsey

Link:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090423142322.htm

Summary:
This article is pretty much what the title says. Carnegie Institution's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, has found that an unusual layer at the top of a subducting plate coincides with the locations of slow earthquakes and non-volcanic areas. Slow earthquakes take days to release built-up energy instead of just minutes as in regular earthquakes. The scientists have been recording 20 years of seismic data for southern Mexico, where the Cocos plate is slipping beneath the North American plate. Other plants and things on the ground are slipping away in and around other areas as well. Scientists found that slow earthquake areas and the "ultra-slow-velocity" layers cluster together, and that regions of non-volcanic areas are near/next to those clusters. Scientists believe that this all may be subducted oceanic crust at unusually high levels of water saturation. The cause of such "anomalously high pore pressures" is unknown, but a clue might come from the fact that non-volcanic tremors are concentrated in areas with temperatures around 840°F.With all of this pressure and heat, these small earthquakes are just showing signs of possible big earthquakes in the near future. The plants that are slipping away underground also show major movement of tectonic plates.

I chose this article because we are learning about earthquakes and volcanoes. I have also been feeling some earthquakes lately so i thought it was relevant to do some research on them. But for the most part, i just enjoy learning more about earthquakes.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

NASA grows algae for biofuel, treats waste

Name : Emily

Link : http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30767086/

Summary : Some scientists have discovered algae is good alternative for fossil fuels. They want to grow freshwater algae in nutrient-rich waste water inside plastic membranes. They think that "the natural salinity of the ocean will draw the freshwater out, retaining the plants and nutrients. The membranes prevent saltwater from getting inside and killing the plants, while ocean waves keep the algae mixed and healthy. The process treats the sewage water, which is then released into the ocean." There are some problems with this concept though, like that waste water that had been treated so much would not produce good algae for the whole project. Another problem is that theirs not enough of algae that they've found to replace some oil companies.

Why did you choose this article? I chose this article because I think its very interesting that people are trying so hard to find a replacement for oil usage.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Creatures living on violent undersea volcano give climate change survival clue

By: Mckenna Pearson

Summary:
There is a volcano, underwater, near the island of Guam that erupts so frequently that it has built a new cone 131ft high and 984ft wide in the time span of three years. Bill Chadwick, a volcanologist at Oregon State University said: 'that's as tall as a 12-story building and as wide as a full city block.’ This amazing volcano, named NW Rota-1, has created a habitat in which shrimp, crab, limpets and barnacles, have thrived on. Chadwick said: 'they're specially adapted to their environment and are thriving in harsh chemical conditions that would be toxic to normal marine life.' NW Rota-1 has created a heat source so the animals living on it can thrive and mate at the appropriate times. The animals that have already been living here have adapted to the toxic conditions and can live happily on NW Rota-1. A biologist from the University of Victoria, said that two species of shrimp had revealed intriguing adaptations to volcano living. Her name is Verena Tunnicliffe. Tunnicliffe said 'the 'Loihi' shrimp has adapted to grazing the bacterial filaments with tiny claws like garden shears.’ The second group of shrimp is a new species as well. They are like the first group when they are young, but, when they grow to their adult stage, their front claws grow and, instead of being the prey, they are now the predators. 'The new species attacks the Loihi shrimp and preys on marine life that wanders too close to the volcanic plumes and dies. Tunnicliffe said: 'we saw dying fish, squid, and so on, raining down onto the seamount, where they were jumped on by the volcano shrimp - a lovely adaptation to exploiting the noxious effects of the volcano.'


Why I chose this article:
I chose this article to write my current events journal on because it's interesting and it is also what we're studying, in class, at the moment. I didn't know that volcanoes could erupt under water though. I though that if they did, then the lava would cool so fast that the volcano wouldn't have time to erupt at all. But they can! And I though that was cool. That's why I chose this article form my current event journal.


link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1177886/Creatures-living-violent-undersea-volcano-climate-change-survival-clue.html

Magnetic Twisters "Dance" Across Mercury, Study Says

Name: Evan S.
Summary: A period of strong solar storms on another planet predicted to start in 2012 could interfere with satellites and disrupt power grids on Earth. Scientists say that we are in need of a better understanding of how solar wind is a pressing need. They say that Mercury's magnetic twisters are created when solar wind—which is really a stream of electrically charged particles—set off a process on the tiny planet called a magnetic reconnection. On Earth, energy from these magnetic reconnections "lights up" atoms in our much thicker atmosphere, creating the shimmering auroras at our planet's poles.
Why did I choose this article? I chose this article because of a couple reasons. One, because it was the front article on the National Geographic Channel's website. And two, because it was just an interesting article overall.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The Hungry Blob at the End of the Universe

Name: Annabel R.

Link:  http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20090429/Feature1.asp

Summary:
On a Hawaiian mountain, scientist used a telescope, and saw a glowing object deep in space.  This glowing object is called a Lyman-alpha Blob and scientists aren't sure what it is exactly.  Scientists believe that it might be a far off galaxy caught in a "feeding frenzy."  Some scientist think that the blob is a bunch of little galaxies merging together, while others believe that the blob is a cloud of gas heated by a giant black hole.  It is 76.1 billion trillion miles away and is the fourth most distant object ever observed.  The blob is at least 12.9 billion years old.

Why I Chose This Article:
Like I have said in a couple of my posts, I really enjoy learning about space.  I also like the concept of a blob.  If scientists figure out exactly what the blob is, I think that it would be a great step forward in space exploration.  Over all, I really enjoyed reading this article.

Most Diverse Ecosystem Threatened By Climate Change

Author: Ethan

Link to Article:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/05/01/eco.lakebaikal/index.html

Summary:

Lake Baikal, in Siberia, is considered to have the most diverse ecosystem. The slow change in climate could greatly affect the types of species and ruin this thriving ecosystem. The climate change has drastically thrown of the lake's food chain at the very bottom with microscopic algae that feed many creatures low on that food chain. The algae need time to thrive when the lake is frozen during the winter. As it gets hotter the lake is frozen for shorter periods of time and the algae is slowly decreasing every year. Their is no other ecosystem in the world with an ecosystem such as this one and is considered "a treasure-trove to any biologist."
Reports have said that over the years climate has gotten much milder and the amount of annual precipitation is going to increase. All animals are effected in some way by the rising climate.

Why I Chose This Article:

I think it is a terrible thing the a one-of-a-kind ecosystem will be destroyed and I am interested about the effects of global warming. It would be a tragedy for something like this to be destroyed. I think it is important for people to know about these things so we can prevent them in the future.

Cooking up Millions of Viruses for a New Vaccine

Author:
Rose

Link to article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/health/research/06vaccine.html?_r=1&ref=science

Summary:
This article is about Dr. Bucher who, once she heard about the swine flu, began to start trying to make a vaccine. She is using a proccess called "seed stock" where they rapidly grow large amounts of he virus to use as vaccination. By injecting the virus into eggs, they help the virus grow quickly so that labs an study it and use it to make vaccinations. Dr. Bucher says that this vaccination will be seperate from the regular flu vaccine. For some, the vaccination may be needed twice considering how new the virus is.

Why I chose this arcticle:
I chose this article because the swine flu is a very big factor in everybodies life right now. While i think a lot of it has been hype, the fact they there is a new vaccination coming out is good. When I read this article it sort of helped me set things straight about what was really going on.

Lake Tahoe Region In U.S. May Be Due For Major Earthquake

Author: Hayley

Link to the Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090429132256.htm

Summary:
Researchers and seismologists estimate that a magnitute-7 earthqauke may soon occur in the Lake tahoe region. The Scripps research team has predicted that an major earthquake occurs in the region between every 2,000 and 3,000 years. They have found that it has been over 4,000 years since the last major eathquake in that region. The predicted earthquake might cause a tsunami 10 to 33 meters high. A major fault line in in the lake Tahoe region and is called the West Tahoe Fault. The West Tahoe Fault crosses the southern end of the lake and has been found to be over 31 miles.

Why I Chose the Article:
I chose this article because we are learning about earthquakes in Science class and I find them very interesting. I think that it is important to anicipate when the next major earthquake will hit because it will help us to be prepared for it and minimize the amount of people killed in the earthquake.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Cisterns Helping Water Crisis

Author:

Neil Nagano- Young

Link to Page:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/04/17/gsif.rainwater.solutions/index.html

As cities in the west continue to get bigger the amount of pavement gets bigger. The laying of pavement eventually seals natural watersheds wasting millions of gallons of water. To add to this California has several laws that require water that hits the roof to go straight to the storm gutters wasting even more water. An organization has a plan to help California with its water problems through cisterns connected through a network of computers. A study showed that the creation of the cistern would also mean 50,000 new jobs. The collection and filtering of the water would also save millions of dollars in natural gas and electricity use.

I chose this article because I just saw the movie Chinatown which was all about the battle over water in the Southern California area and when I saw this article I thought it would show Jack Nicklaus. I also know that there is economic distress in this country and those new jobs would get a lot more people back on their feet. I also new that the collection of free clean water would be cool for my family as well.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Greenhouse Gases Pose Health Hazard, EPA says

Author:

Julia

 

Link to article:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/04/17/greenhouse.gas.hazard.epa/index.html

 

Summary:

This article is about how greenhouse gases can actually be a health hazard to future generations. An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator says that the concentration of greenhouse gases are now at record levels because of human emissions, and are probably the cause of the increase in average temperatures and climate changes. The EPA also says that climate change due to pollution could affect the national air quality in the future. Some believe this announcement will be a very important step in the efforts towards reducing greenhouse gases and global warming. A new effort toward reduction was recently announced from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, stating that it is scheduled to begin hearings next week on an energy and climate bill, called the American Clean Energy and Security Act.

 

Why did I think this was a good article for the Physical Science Current Events Blog?

I chose this article because I’m interested in global warming and how it’s affecting our planet. This article seemed to really relate to what we learned in class a few months ago, so I decided to read it, and refresh my memory of our lesson on greenhouse gases and the environment. This turned out to be a very informative and fascinating article. 

Otter-like fossil reveals early seal evolution

Name: Alexa Gores

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090422/ap_on_sc/us_sci_seal_evolution;_ylt=Alv9_xX6TmZB7y0PYpFnyscPLBIF

Summary:Throughout time, evolution has shaped our world. Scientists have been studying this subject for many years and have uncovered many different species that have evolved. Scientists are now saying that they have found a “missing link” in the evolution of seals and walruses. They have recently found the skeleton of a web-footed, otter-like creature. They discovered that this “newly discovered” creature was developing away from a land life. One expert stated that it fills a gap in the fossil record. They are not direct ancestors of the seal family but are from a different branch of mammals. These creatures are 23 million years old. The fossil of this interesting find was found on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic. The creatures name is Puijila darwini, meaning "young sea mammal.”

Why I chose this article: I chose this article becasue I enjoy learning about new fossil discoveries. I found this article extremely interesting, because I thought that it was very cool that scientists finally found the information that would close the gap in the fossil record, that they were looking for. I think that it is also very interesting that the newly discovered mammal was not a direct ancestor of the seal family.

Earth from the inside out

Author: Tayce Taylor

Link: http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20090128/Feature1.asp

Summary:  For scientists, it is harder to look inside the Earth than out in the universe because the Earth is opaque which means that light cannot pass through it.  However, the mystery of how to look inside the Earth without light has been solved.  Some scientists tried to figure this out using neutrinos which are smaller than an atom that go through space.  Scientists that study the Earth are called geoscientists, "geo" meaning Earth.  The Earth goes through a process called radioactive decay, where the Earth can send off geoneutrinos.  A radioactive material loses some of its energy because it sends out particles.  After this process, geoneutrinos pass through the Earth into space.  Geoscientists want to catch some of these particles to find a way to look inside the Earth.  It's going to be a hard job because they are very small, and there aren't many in the universe.  Scientists have made detectors to catch these particles.  These devices are used underground and contain a liquid that produces light.  With this process, scientists are learning more and more about the Earth.

Why I chose this article: I chose this article because I learn more and more about my planet that I live on.  Finding out more interesting facts about it seem interesting to me.  Also, today is Earth Day, and I thought it would be a good subject because of the coincidence.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

First 3-D Pictures of Solar Explosions Created

Name:

Melanie

 

Link:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/04/090414-3-d-solar-storms.html

 

Summary:

An amazing new technology has been found and can revolutionize our knowledge of space.  Scientists have recently been able to take 3-D pictures of solar storms.  Using these pictures they can predict when these storms will affect our satellites and other equipment in space, as well as the astronauts.  Scientists have been able to receive 3-D pictures of space storms by using STEREO - Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory.  These are spacecrafts that can depict solar storms.  The STEREO can also illustrate the contents and measure the magnetic properties of solar eruptions.  This new technology is helping to improve our knowledge of what goes on in space.

 

Why I Chose This Article:

            I chose this article because I thought the title was cool.  I was searching for an article and this one caught my eye.  Once I started reading I was surprised to see all of the amazing technologies that have been invented these days.  I also didn’t know there was such a thing as a solar storm so that was pretty interesting to read about.  This does not completely relate to what we are learning right now, but it talks about our solar system, which is part of our atmosphere.  The article said that the storms can cause radiation and we learned about radiation a lot.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Name: 
Jack W

Link: 
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-global-warming10-2009apr10,0,2416858.story

Summary: 
The article I chose is about how global warming will effect the production of corn. The hot temperatures caused by global warming will soon reduce corn production by three percent. This will rob Iowa of $259 million dollars per year, and California will lose $4.7 million. Global warming has also been predicted to reduce the amount of other crops produced in the near future. Along with reducing crop growth, global warming has been predicted to increase storms, pollution, weeds, bugs, and diseases.

Why did I chose this article?
I chose this article because I eat vegetables, including corn, very often. I thought it was horrible that so many crops would be lost and that so much money would be thrown down the trash, too. Also I am worried about the upcoming storms, bugs and diseases and I figured the rest of the class should be warned.