Blizzard Website

Link to pianoplayer97 and I's website:

http://pianoplayer97andsoftballgirl96.webs.com/

Lit. Poems

"Red"

Painted suns are gold,

Skies are blue;

Red is the burning

The Germans went to.

Books are black,

Eyes are like ice;

Red are the apples

The farmer hated to sacrifice.

Green is pea soup,

Brown is for bread;

Red is the sky

Above the innocent dead.

"Words for an Accepting Man"

Hans

Giving, willing, and patient

Who loves the feeling of accordion keys

Who feels worried about Max's presence

Who needs his painting job for cigarettes

Who shares his wisdom and passion for music

Who fears the capture and death of Max

Who'd like to see his son, and know he's okay

Who dreams of Germans and Jews united as one

Who ends up being remembered for his golden heart

Aquarium Trip

Recently, my class went on a trip to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden. There, we walked around to various exhibits, learning about different sea creatures. We even were able to touch a few of them. The reason we went on this trip was that we had just finished our unit on animals in science. Some of which included sponges, cnidarians, and echinoderms, all of which were able to be seen at the aquarium and much more. This field trip enhanced our knowledge of the creatures and helped us better understand information on others. There are three exhibits, though, that I found most fascinating.

The first exhibit I found extremely intriguing was the "Creature Lab". This involved standing on a line and waiting to enter an area filled with tanks. These tanks were low and shallow enough for you to be able to stick your arm in. At this location, you would use two fingers to gently touch the animal, depending which tank you were at. There were sting rays, jelly fish, and a few other animals that you could touch. The ones I personally found most interesting, though, were the jellyfish. They bobbed up and down in the tank and felt very soft and delicate. However, as I felt the exterior of the animal, I realized that it was more hard than I expected. I had thought it would be very squishy, where you could easily make an imprint with your fingers, but I was proved wrong. Though I had learned about cnidarians in class, I was able to discover something new.

The second attraction I enjoyed was "The Jules Verne Gallery". The reason this struck me as interesting was that I had recently read a passage about this author. I was amazed by the murals on the walls of several exotic creatures that I assumed were used in his novels. On the other hand, there was a live animal that looked insanely unique, thus, I had to learn more about it. Unfortunately, though, I could not remember the name of this crab. I looked all over the websites, and could only come up with the Japanese Spider Crab. After doing a bit of research online, assuming from my memory that this was the one I saw at the aquarium, I learned that this animal's natural habitat is at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Thus, this would very much explain why I have not seen this crab around. Furthermore, the third exhibit I appreciated was "Hippos". The two that were in the tank looked very calm and happy as they sat in the warm water. On the contrary, these were not the only animals in the tank. There were also thousands of colorful fish, some of which were actually on top of the hippos. The fish that were there were lightly sucking the ticks, parasites, and dead skin off of them. This is known as a symbiotic relationship. In fact, there were also birds at this location, most likely to take everything off when the hippopotami weren't in the water. In summation, I had learned a great deal of information while attending this trip to Adventure Aquarium, and I felt that this was very much worth going on.

In my opinion, this field trip to Adventure Aquarium in Camden was an enlightening experience. Not only did I get to further my knowledge on the animals I learned about previously, but I also received the chance to touch them. Granted, we do labs back at school, but it is still thrilling to get a simple day out of the year to learn in a different way. Plus, watching all of these creatures in their replicated habitats is fascinating and in the end will further our scientific knowledge on them. This trip was most definitely fun and at the same time educational. I would most certainly return to this location if I received the chance to. All in all, this was a knowledge-enhancing experience and these three exhibits were the ones I found to be the most intriguing along with my opinion.

Further Research Sources:

http://www.animalcorner.co.uk/marine/crabs/crabs_japspider.html

http://www.livnaked.com/the-hippo-and-the-human/

Picture:

http://media.nj.com/route_45/photo/hippos2jpg-03d66c1e124f9a1f.jpg

Earthquake Moves Chilean City

This massive earthquake occurred off the coast of the Maule region of Chile. It happened to be in one of the Earth's seismic hot spots. During this event, one of the plates squished under the neighboring South American plate. Tension increased as the plates moved against each other, thus causing this extreme quake. Luckily, though, scientists can further the study of these natural disasters with their advanced GPS locations of instruments prior to the quake and then after.

According to a man named Ben Brooks, of the University of Hawaii, and a co-principal investigator of the GPS project in Chile, "The Maule earthquake will arguably become one of the, if not the most important great earthquake studied yet." Following this, what he is basically trying to say is that their equipment is now so modern and precise that they can better understand the causes of these natural disasters overall. The CAP (Central and Southern Andes GPS Project) now has twenty-five stations for which they can study the motion and deformation of the Earth's crust. Furthermore, Mike Bevis of Ohio State University says, "By building new stations, the project can monitor post-seismic deformations that are expected to occur for many years,". Thus, it is evident that their modern technology will help them somewhat be better at telling when an earthquake will hit and how to prepare for it.

In my opinion, this is an excellent article when it comes to explaining the recent Chilean earthquake. It is interesting to learn that two measly plates squeezing together caused this huge disaster. Additionally, the amount some of these places moved was shocking. However, considering that this had an 8.8 magnitude, some might say it's to be expected. Still, not being the most-knowledgeable on earthquakes, I find this very fascinating. To add on, I believe it is incredible to hear about all of the high-tech, advanced equipment these scientists use to calculate different facts about occurring earthquakes. The fact that this technology can further the study on these natural disasters is all the more exciting. Having the information of an upcoming earthquake possibility will assist the overall preparation of possible earthquakes and will keep people safer. All in all, I found, "Quake Moved Chilean City 10 Feet" by LiveScience Staff incredibly intriguing and the information eye-opening.

Picture: Chile_EarthquakeNov13.jpg

Article: http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?s=environment&c=news&l=on&pic=chile-quake-map-100309-02.jpg&cap=This+map%2C+created+by+Project+CAP+%28Central+and+Southern+Andes+GPS+Project%29%2C+shows+the+displacements+of+the+Earth%27s+crust+caused+by+the+Feb.+27+Maule+earthquake+in+Chile.+Credit%3A+James+Foster+and+Ben+Brooks+at+the+University+of+Hawaii&title=

Research Task--How it Relates to Math

The topic I chose to pursue for the research task is Child Soldiers in Africa. This choice is very interesting and has key relations to math. For instance, the people who study children soldiers have calculated that over eighty-six countries still used child soldiers as of 2008. Also, there is another aspect, such as finding out how it affects the adolescents in Africa mentally. Researchers had to use observations and calculations to figure out that watching loved ones die before their eyes could cause post traumatic stress disorder and depression. Further, in order to conclude that carrying heavy equipment on the children's growing spines would deform it, the analyst would have to calculate how their backs changed over time. In addition, another way the topic Child Soldiers in Africa could relate to math is that recordings and calculations would be the only way for them to find out that illness and infection come from malnutrition and exposure to bad weather. Lastly, analysts can study the irregular behavior from adolescents who are forced to take habit-forming drugs. All in all, the choice Child Soldiers in Africa can clearly connect to math due to the calculations and observations needed to find the affects on the children when fighting in battle and the number of countries that are currently using them.

Sea Urchin Body: One Big Eye

Recently, I read an article titled, "Body of Sea Urchin is One Big Eye" written by Charles Q. Choi, Special to LiveScience. In this reading, I found the information very intriguing and learned more about sea urchins than I ever knew before.

To begin, I took this article as a fascinating way to learn how sea urchins see. Now, because they don't have eyes, this might be pertained as very difficult. However, according to the article, "Genetic analysis of sea urchins has revealed they have light-sensitive molecules, mostly in their tube feet and in tiny stalked appendages found in among their spines." Thus, this explains the reasoning for considering a sea urchin body to be "One Big Eye". Plus, with their spines, the creatures can pick out fine details by screening out light from off angles, according to scientists.

On the other hand, this theory had to be proven. Johnsen, a marine biologist at Duke University, and his colleagues, experimented with California purple sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus). In this experiment, the group would put 39 of the urchin specimens into a brightly lit four-foot wide arena and see how they responded to the black disk on the wall. When the disk was three-and-a-half inches wide, the sea creatures reacted strongly. In result of this foreign object, two-thirds of the group swam towards it while the other portion swam away. The opposite responses towards this disk may have had to do with whether the sea urchins saw the disk as a shelter or predator. Furthermore, according to Johnsen, "To say the 'raced' toward the discs is relative - watching these guys move is like watching paint dry." Therefore, it is evident that the sight of these animals may not be what we humans have, judging by the speed of their movement.

In addition, even though sea urchins don't have brains, "it could be their entire nervous system more or less acts as a brain," according to Johnsen. Instead of being like us humans and having one main control center, they more or less don't have one, as far as scientists have researched. Additionally, their nerves are extremely small, making it even harder to research than normal. Also, it seems as though sea urchins carry out eyesight and brain work like scientists design robots these days.

Though research continues to be done on this amazing species, researchers still have many questions. Some of which are, "Are these urchins that always run away or run towards them?" and "Do we have timid or bold urchins? Or is it just something specific to how an urchin feels at a certain time?" All of these questions have come from Johnsen after his experiment with the California purple sea urchin. However, these questions could be answered easily, simply by clipping the spines off of this sea creature to find out how they contribute to vision. Although, despite the fact that this procedure may "make sense", it could make the sea urchin very sick, and possibly die. Along with this, if researchers were going to go through so much trouble finding out how their spines would help them see, would they go to the most extreme levels which could possibly harm them and not even get the best results?

Personally, I feel the topic of sea urchins is very bold and engaging. Before reading this article, I had no idea that sea urchins did not have actual eyes. Using their nerves to locate predators and shelter is a very interesting way of living. The experiment with the black disk was really cool because it is always fun to read about an animals reaction to certain situations. I've constantly been attracted to animal behavior and sciences, so naturally, I find this article to be far from a bore. On top of that, I would much rather see these scientists do more experiments like the one with the black disk than cutting out their spines. My reasoning for this is that, personally, I feel there is no point to hurting this creature, just to find out how their spines connect to their ability to see. Not only could this demonstration hurt the sea urchins, but it could potentially kill them. In my opinion, there are much better ways to go about sea urchin research than to put them in danger while doing it. All in all, this is the information I recently learned from the article, "Body of Sea Urchin is One Big Eye" by Charles Q. Choi, Special to LiveScience, and my opinion of it.

Article and Picture: http://www.livescience.com/animals/091228-sea-urchin-eye.html

Medical Technologist in Clinical Chemistry

This is my pod cast about a career in chemistry. As you listen to this, there will be excellent information on this job. Such as, job opportunities, universities and colleges offering this career, how it is helping the community, and so on. Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy this information and consider becoming a Medical Technologist in Clinical Chemistry.

http://omegapride.podOmatic.com/entry/2009-12-11T09_09_26-08_00