Smart Boards! =)

This year we got a smart board in our science room! They're amazing! You hook them up to your computer and then whatever is on your computer shows up on the board. It's so much easier to see the lessons now because it's nice and large. Now class is more fun because we can play more games, too. It's also really cool that you can write on the board with these special markers made just for the smart board and whatever you write on the board will show up on your computer. Technology has come so far!

SQUIRRELS!! =D

In science we are learning about symbiosis. Symbiosis is the relationship between two organisms. The picture above depicts the symbiotic relationship between a squirrel and a tree in a park. The squirrel and tree show commensalism, which is the symbiotic relationship where one organism benefits while the other is unharmed. In this case the squirrel is provided a home while the tree isn't harmed.
Symbiosis is so interesting because it's found everywhere with almost every living thing. I am a part of symbiosis! I think that's so cool!

Paper Beats Steel! =o

Scissors beats paper and now paper beats steel! Scientists have created a new type of paper that looks like ordinary carbon paper but it's a lot better! This new revolutionary paper is called buckypaper. Buckypaper is 10 times lighter than regular paper but can be 500 times stronger when it is stacked and pressed together. This paper could change, (for the better), the way we make airplanes, televisions and so much more! It is made from tube-shaped molecules that are 50,000 times thinner than human hair! Buckypaper conducts electricity like copper and silicon and disperses heat like brass or steel.

Wade Adams, a scientist from Rice University, said, "All those things are what a lot of people in nanotechnology have been working toward as sort of Holy Grails."

There is a lot of hype about buckypaper improving things for us in the future. People from Florida State University are making progress with it so it can become a reality. But for now buckypaper can only live up to some of its standards and can only be sold in small amounts for high prices.

To me this "buckypaper" sounds insanely amazing! I think it's so cool that scientists never run out of things to invent to make our computers faster and our TV's better. I can't wait until it can live up to its full potential and it starts getting put to use!

I got this info from: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/10/17/buckypaper.invention.ap/index.html#cnnSTCText

I got this pic from: http://www.bfi.org/images/content/geodesics/buckypaper2.png

Blackberry Storm Coming Soon! =D

The secret is out. Everyone is talking about the new Blackberry Storm from Verizon that is coming out next month. It supposed to be amazing! It's also supposed to give the Apple's iPhone 3G and T-Mobile's G1 a run for it's money. The Blackberry Storm has so many features on it. Some of those features include: applications like Facebook, a black jack game, a GPS system, and it supports a wi-fi. This means that downloading applications should be faster. On the new Blackberry there is also a cut and paste feature for e-mailing. Along with all of those features, the phone is also a touch screen which a lot of people like now. Also, the Storm's camera is bigger and has video on it which the iPhone and G1 do not have.

Clearly this phone is a big deal. I think it sounds really cool and it's great that Verizon has something like the iPhone (but supposedly better) to offer their customers.

I got this info from: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1847791,00.html?xid=feed-cnn-topics

I got this pic from: http://www.sfgate.com/blogs/images/sfgate/techchron/2008/10/08/BB_Storm_Front_Left271x500.jpg

Global Wind Belts! -> Horse Latitudes and Jet Streams!

While we were in class learning about global winds, the Coriolis effect, trade winds and all that other fun stuff, two categories stood out to me. The first one that I thought was pretty darn cool was the horse lattitudes. I thought this was interesting because we were told that when the horses ran out of food, the captain of the boat, who paid a whole lot of money for the horse, would toss it off the boat. Throwing the horses off also made the boat lighter in weight. The other category that stuck out to me was jet streams. If you were going from the east to west in a plane and went along the jet stream you could get to your destination faster. But if you went west to east along the jet stream it could take a little longer. I find it kind of crazy that some cold weak winds can affect our lives and the weather [in the U.S.] so much.

Kites =D

In science we went out and flew kites. It was super fun, but our paper kites that we made didn't fly that well. There wasn't much of a breeze to carry them. But on our worksheet we pretended there was a breeze and said it was a local winds causing or kites to "fly". While we were outside we learned about the difference between local and global winds. Our kites flew because of local winds that are caused by land and sea breezes.During the day there is a sea breeze becasue the cool air is coming from the sea. At night there is a land breeze since the hot air from the ocean rises and there is cool air coming from the land.

Computers' Impact

Many things have changed and advanced in the past 30 years. I think one of the most important things we have now that they didn't have back then is computers. They are such a great impact on society because they expedite research and many others things. Everything you need to know is right there. Along with using computers and internet for knowledge we use it to communicate too. Within seconds you can e-mail or IM a friend to tell them something. Computers have such a big impact on our generation that I can't imagine life without them.

Devil Toad

Researchers have found fossils of a frog that is the size of a bowling ball! It is ten pounds and sixteen inches. This frog is just like its relatives that live in South America, but this frog was discovered in Madagascar. It was apparently a very dangerous frog. It's possible that it could've taken down some dinosaurs! Some of the bones that the researcher, Krause, has found date back around 70 million years ago. He's been finding bones since 1933. But just recently Krause and his team put together the bones to assemble the frog.






I got this info from:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/02/18/frog.fossil.ap/index.html

Joseph Priestly

Joseph Priestly was the first man to discover oxygen! In addition to that he was also a clergyman, teacher, librarian and a scientist. His science experiments made him the person to invent seltzer/soda pop and erasers. You'd think this man's goal had always been to be a chemist or some sort of a scientist, but it wasn't. He was actually going to be a minister, but that didn't work out because his beliefs were different from the church's. In addition to inventing seltzer and discovering erasers, he also discovered that graphite was an electricity conductor. He discovered this because he became very interested in the study of electricity when he met Benjamin Franklin. Thank God he did meet Ben Franklin and become interested in science because who knows if we'd have soda without him!


I got this info from: http://wawa.essortment.com/josephpriestly_rskm.htm

I got this picture from: http://www.creationism.org/books/TaylorInMindsMen/TaylorIMMccJosephPriestleyM.jpghttp://www.creationism.org/books/TaylorInMindsMen/TaylorIMMccJosephPriestleyM.jpg