Plasticity Lab Conclusion! (:

Recently I participated in a plasticity lab. It was pretty swell. Corn starch was added to water to make this mixture that was solid but acted like a liquid sometimes. When we closed our hand tight with the mixture, it was like a solid and then we opened our hand the corn starch and water ran down our arms and made a mess. It felt kind of like plastic, which I guess is why it's called plasticity. The experiment was controlled because we put a certain amount of corn starch and water. If we put more of one thing and less of another it could have affected the outcome of the plasticity lab. It might not have worked like it was supposed to. The whole point of this lab was to show us how the earth's mantle works. The mantle flows like a liquid but acts like a solid because it supports the crust. This lab was super splendid and taught me more about the earth. Honestly, I don't really know how to apply my new knowledge of plasticity to the real world though. :[

October Sky! =)

Not too long ago we watched the movie October Sky. It was a very splendid movie and had so many connections to math, science and character education. First of all, it connected to math and science with the fact that the teenagers built a rocket! They had to figure out the right type and amount of chemicals to use to make the rocket fly. They also had to figure out the right way to shape the rocket so it would go up. This took a lot of determination to keep trying new ideas when one of them didn't work. Along with that, the boys had been blamed for causing a forest fire with their rocket so they had to prove they were innocent. So, Homer used a lot of math to figure out his trajectory rate and on his paper you could see he used a parabola to help him figure out the course of the rocket. This took persaverence because Homer had to keep trying to get the right coordinates of where his rocket landed and he had to learn a lot of math skills to do this. There was also science in the coal mines where Homer's father worked. The different types of rock they were mining has to do with science and some of the hazards they dealed with, such as the dust they could inhale had to do with science too.
Along with determination and persaverance, cooperation, respect and assertion were exhibited in the movie too. All of Homer's friends cooperated with him when he said that he wanted to win that science fair and get a college scholarship. They thought it was ridiculous at first but they went along with it anyway. Assertion was also shown. Homer's father was assertive when he found out about Homer's plan to launch a rocket. He said no rockets on company ground. He figured rockets would get him nowhere in life. Homer respected his dad's wishes and walked a few miles out of town to some open land where he could experiment with the launches without disobeying his dad.
This movie was super swell and taught me so much! After seeing how hard Homer worked, I now realize that if I really want something, I need to work hard for it.

Response Blog- Down Syndrome =/

Today I read a blog (http://ponderingbacon.blogspot.com/) about the genetic disorder Down Syndrome. Down Syndrome occurs when someone has an extra chromosome. Older women with children are more likely to have a child with down syndrome than younger women. People with Down Syndrome tend to have a flat face, small hands and feet, have eye problems and loose ligaments. As of now there is no cure for it. However, people with this condition receive speech therapy, special education, occupational therapy and special exercises. I am glad to hear that they have treatment for the unlucky people who have this disorder. It must be so hard to live with it. I hope they eventually find a cure for the genetic disorder so that the humans who have it have the opportunity to live a normal life like us.

Breast Cancer :[

A mutation in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene is the cause of breast cancer. This disease, discovered in 2002, is when cells divide and multiply at an uncontrolled rate. The amount of women diagnosed with this cancer is ridiculous. I find it very sad to know that by age 50, 60 out of 100 women who inherit the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes will develop breast cancer. By age 70, 80 out of 100 women will have it! Those aren't great odds for women. And it's not just women who can develop it; men can get it too. Obviously it is not as common for them, but it is possible. Unfortunately for African American women, they are more likely to have this genetic disorder. Their mortality rate in African Americans is twice that of Caucasians. That is crazy! I feel so bad for them. The odds are bad enough as it is for Caucasians. Imagine having twice the risk of it. Sadly, about 1.3 million women are diagnosed with breast cancer in one year. About 465,000 of them will die from it. However the good news is, is that the death rate is dropping steadily every year. There is hope for them and there are quite a few treatments for it. Some of them include to treat the main tumor with surgery or to have masectomy. This is where you have one or both breasts removed. You could also have radiation therapy or take a special medicine that is believed to help protect against breast cancer. The earlier breast cancer is detected, the better. Some symptoms that you might have that can help detect breast cancer are unusual lumps in breast or armpit, sometimes a rash, nipple discharge, pain in nipple, inverted nipple, scaly or pitted skin on nipple and some more sever cases can result in bone pain, shortness of breath, drop in appetite, unintentional weight loss and headaches. Luckily, people are working every day to find new cures and treatments. Maybe one day there won’t even be any breast cancer. I think that would be super swell!

I got this information from: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/disorders/whataregd/
and http://www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp

4 People Killed In Bombing (S.S- international)

On Tuesday in southern Afghanistan, four coalition members were killed when their vehicle hit an improvised bomb. It happened when the coalition members were on patrol with the Afghan National Security Forces. In addition to the coalition members dying, a civilian that was working with them was also killed. Also, on the same day, Afghan National Army soldiers, who were with coalition members, killed sixteen militants. The troops were on patrol and came under fire from various positions. The militants started firing rocket propelled grenades and mortars so the troops used precision strikes to kill the militants. After the incident, the troops cleared a compound from which the militants had been firing and found materials to make improvised bombs. It's so sad that so many people are dying. Some of the people were just using self defense but ended up being killed.

Mammoth Found..in LA! :] (Science)

"Zed", the mammoth found in Los Angeles, was found by an earth mover on a construction site. They were making an underground garage and found a mammoth from at least 10,000 years ago! "It's very exciting for us because each one of these ... could be different ages in the past 10,000 to 45,000 years," project director Chris Shaw said. The workers found pretty much the whole entire skeleton. So in the crates where they put all the bones, there were vertabrae, ribs, a pelvis, the lower jaw and two tusks. In the past when people have found mammoth tusks, they were poorly preserved so it is a real treat for them to have two beautifully preserved tusks. It will take about six to twelve months to open all of the rest of the crates with the skeleton parts. But once they do have everything opened and cleaned, it will be on display at a museum.

I think it's so cool that people are still finding remains of extinct animals from thousands of years ago today! It can tell us so much about our past which can help us with the future. It must be a great feeling finding a whole mammoth! It was hard enough finding all the parts to a little rodent in an owl pellet!

I got this info from: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/02/19/california.fossil.discovery/index.html

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