Japan Earthquake Could Have Been Predicted Days Earlier

On March 11th there was a giant earthquake that struck Japan with a magnitude of 9.0. This earthquake killed many people and also caused a tsunami which went right over Japan. Now, we have a scientist that said this natural disaster could have been predicted earlier. He says this for many reasons. One of the reasons was because of the atmosphere days before this event happened. The theory of this being how to predict it is called "Lithosphere-Atmosphere-Ionosphere-Coupling mechanism." What it means is that many gases are released, especially radon gas. Once this gas makes it to the upper atmosphere-ionosphere, the gas splits them into negatively charged particles and positive ones. These particles attract condensed water in a process that releases heat. This is how the earthquake and tsunami could have been predicted and how we might be able to predict these later in the future as well.

Nine New Species

The Bali Reefs could potentially be the home of nine new species. You would think that this is a very healthy reef but it is not. The reef is surrounded by sharks which could make it a dangerous to the new species. The nine species that were found were all interesting and cool animals. Also, many of the new species are related to the species right now. With the new species there was one species of a new coral and eight species of fish. Among the fish were, two types of cardinal fish, two kinds of dottybacks, a garden eel, a sand perch, and a fang bleeny. The new species of coral was an unknown Euphyilla bubble coral. Along with all of the animals here was many types of healthy coral. Only one out of every seven coral was dead. I think that this is a great place for the new fish and coral. The only fear that they should have are from the sharks that roam the reef. These are the new 9 species of fish and coral and the reef that they live in.

Soaring Straws

The lab soaring straws told me a lot about the relationship between elastic potential energy and gravitational potential energy. On our graph when the elastic potential energy was risen which was the stretch of the rubber band, the gravitational potential energy was also risen. This is because the further the rubber band was stretched was the higher that it went. For example, when we launched the rubber band from a two centimeter stretch, the straws gravitational potential energy was 2.943 millijoules. When we launched it from a three centimeter stretch it's G.P.E was 5.886 millijoules. From the stretch of the rubber band the height doubled. The G.P.E was the height that the straw went. That is the relationship between gravitational potential energy and elastic potential energy.

During our data collection there were a couple of errors that happened. First, when we were measuring our measurments they were not exact. Also, since we did it over two different days we got different launchers which mad different results. Ways to enhance the lab was to make every launcher the same. Some launchers shot very high but some did not. Usually, the thick rubber bands shot lower than the skinny ones. Also, we could have our measurments a lot more accurate because we could have made the ruler more steady and watch the hieght of the straw better. Finally, that is what the lab soaring straws taught me and how it can be a lot better.

Lit. Poems

“One Weird Watson”
by Mets57

Kenny
Intelligent, kind, and frightened
Who loves his family
Who feels worried about the Wool Pooh
Who needs a few good friends
Who shares dinosaurs with Rufus
Who fears the Wool Pooh
Who’d like to see his brother get punished for his crimes
Who dreams of losing his lazy eye

Who ends up being a member of “The Watson Pet Hospital”

“The Wool Pooh”
by Mets57

Wool Pooh
Crazy, dangerous
Killing, torturing, swirling
Quick, powerful, slow, beautiful
Loving, soothing, relaxing
Calm, slow-moving

Lake

Mets 57

Toothpick Fish

The yellow fish are starting to be eaten and stand out. I am picking toothpicks from the cup and seeing what color the alleles would make my fish. As I was picking, the yellow fish were being eaten and taken away. A yellow fish could be made from a yellow and yellow "allele." If I picked a two red "alleles" it was red, a red and yellow "allele" the fish was orange, and any color with a green allele was green. The first time I picked the alleles, my population of fish went down one fish. The reason why this occurred was because I picked two yellow alleles which made a yellow fish. This is called an homozygous recessive, because I picked two recessive alleles. Through the next two generations I lost two more yellow fish and then a major event happened. All of the green fish could now not camouflage. Since the green fish was the most popular, that would mean that the population would now decrease a lot. I lost six fish which now left me with a total of 3 fish all together. If other fish could have camouflaged and not it would impact them and all the people around them.

The fish dying effects many people and animals in the ocean. The predators would not have a lot of food. They may get hungry and a lot of populations will decrease. This will also be bad for other people around them like humans. This will also effect the population of the fish because they can not reproduce if they are all dead. The only fish that can reproduce are the two red fish and the orange fish. There would be a lot more fish if the disaster about the green fish did not happen. They were the most popular fish. Also, it would be a lot different if there were a different amount of fish and the colors are different. This is the toothpick fish lab and how it impacts the ocean world if it were to happen.

New Species in Africa

Many scientists went on a field trip to Ethiopia and found what they thought they never would. It was a new species of an animal which people are calling an "African Wolf." Many people first thought that it was a golden jackal. They than realized that it had a lighter skin caoting and it was more thin. After days of research trying to find out what this species could be, they started to compare it to the Egyptian Jackal. This new wolf is a relative of the Holartic Grey Wolf which lives in Europe and Asia. The wolf that was found is rarely found in Ethiopia. It was proven it was not an Ethiopian Wolf because the new wolf splits from grey wolves later than Ethiopian Wolves. This wolf is also a relative of the Indian Wolf and the Himalayan Wolf. That is what the new African Wolf is and who it is related and compared to.

http://www.livescience.com/animals/new-african-wolf-species-discovered-110128.html

One Year Later

We all remember the devastating earthquake a year ago that struck Haiti. We were all wondering how they would recover from the disaster. They have recovered and are starting to make country better than ever. One of the main reasons how they are starting their comeback is a program called THREAD. THREAD basically means The Haitian Redevelopment Directive. This company will fix many problems which include poverty and trash. They will stop trash by paying Haiti's citizens to recycle. It will also provide "skilled jobs" for people in Haiti. Although it is going to cost thousands of dollars to help Haiti they believe that it can be done. The plan to rebuild Haiti will work but it is going to take a while before everything is back to normal in Haiti.

http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/turning-haiti-around-economic-recovery-may-hang-by-a-thread-0904/

This is a picture I took at my friends house. It is a great example of mutualism. Mutualism is when both of the species benifit from their interactions. In this picture there is poison ivy on a tree. The reason why the poison ivy benifits is because it has a place to live. The tree is helped because it is protected by other animals. For example, if birds wanted to build a nest they would not build it in this tree because of poison ivy. That is just one example of mutualism in the world.

This is a tree in South Brunswick. It is a biotic figure which means that it is living. Another example of a biotic figure is grass, animals, plants, and many other things. There is also abiotic figures which are non-living. Examples of these are sunlight, temperature, clouds, and many other things.

Website Name and Sources

Our Website
http://thefunnelfury.webs.com/
Sources
Book: (Jennings 18-21)
(Graf, Tornado)
Websites: http://www.tornadoproject.com/fscale
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/tornado1.html

Reptiles!

I was surrounded by reptiles as I was sitting in my chair. Reptiles are an extremly cool group of animals to learn about. A few things that all reptiles have in common is that they are cold blooded, they shed, and they have scales. Some kinds of reptiles are turtles, snakes, lizards, and alligators. The first animal that we were shown was a tourtise, or a kind of turtle. It was a very slow mover and had a giant shell. It also had stubby legs that were covered with scales. The next animal that we were shown was a snake. It was a long phython, that gently wrapped around the womens arms. The color of ot was brown, and it was small and skinny. After that, we were shown two different types of lizards. The first one was a long one with spikes on top and very sharp teeth. The next one was a lot different because it was a legless lizard that looked like a snake. By far, my favorite animal was a tourtise. All of the animals that I saw today tought me a lot more about reptiles, and how they live.

Frog Dissection

As the black frog was layed out in front of me, I wondered what it was like inside of it. As my group made its first incision, we quickly realized we had a boy. The way we could tell is that it did not have eggs or giant oviducts. Shortly after we found out its gender, we saw three big brown lobes covering all of the other intestines. This was the liver and above it was the heart. I hope that word is fimiliar to you because it is what keeps us alive. It pumps blood all throughout the body for us and the frog. Around the frog were yellowish and sphagetti like organs. This was the fat bodies which stored energy for the frog. I am sure that a frog needs a lot of that because it hops and climbs constantly. Of course, the frog has a stomach but not extremly big. I find that wierd because frogs swallow their food whole because they have no teeth. When they swallow food it goes down the esofagous and through the intestines. When all of the food exits it goes through the cloaca and out through the anus. That was the dissection of the frog in my science class.

Child Soldiers Numeral Facts

There are many facts about child soldiers that can have to do with math. First of all, they are under the age of adulthood(15-18)(Child Soldiers). Some of them could even be as young as the age 5 or 6. Also, about 120,000 child soldiers are located in Africa, which is also a third of the worlds child soldiers(Child Soldiers). Many other child soldiers are in the middle east, and the first country to use child soldiers was Germany. Additionally, 12 year olds are used as mine clearers, which are soldiers that go ahead of their group to see if there is any mines in front of where they will be going. Most of the kids that are under 18 do not fight but they spy, cook, are messengers and many other stuff that these kids do. Although, they are doing this stuff, they are still called "child soldiers." Finally, another stunning fact about child soldiers, is that there has been over 2 million deaths for them in Africa. In my opinion, that is one of the stunning facts that I have learned about child soldiers. Finally, those are amazing facts about child soldiers and what have happened to them.

Earthquake in Heidi

Who ever would have thought that a earthquake could have hit one of the poorest countries in the world(Haiti) and kill 45,000 to 50,000 people? People that survived the massive 7 earthquake were walking around Haiti with tissues over their noses because of the bodies rotting. It was a horrible quake that had multiple aftershocks. The quake sent the counties capital down to rubble, and people collapsing to the ground. Multiple other countries (China, US, Spain, and France) sent over people to search and gallons of water in the 81 degree heat. They were digging through the rubble with there bare hands finding people- dead and alive. If people were found alive they would be taken care of in the street, or taken to a hospital. Also, "water is the currency"- it was not money that the residents of Haiti cared about, it was not water. Many of the people had facial injuries and skull fractures. Now, the only question that I have is, where will the residents of Haiti move on from this devastating natural disaster?

Hazardous Waste Managment

This is about how it is to work in hazardous waste.mets57

Whats That Smell?

Today in science class we had to burn the two sugar cubes in our test tube. The Bunsen Burner was light as one of my classmates put on the glove and held the test tube with the sugar cubes in it over it. Suddenly, the bottom of the test tube started to have a brown substance fizzle up it and the sugar cubes slowly started to vanish. Then the brown substance rocketed up to the top and the bottom of the test tube was orange, and the top of the tube was a greenish yellowish color. After that, we all started to smell a burnt marshmellow or cotton candy kind of smell. We all went to go and look into the test tube and it was hardened. It was still brown but it had a hole in the middle and it looked like tar. Then my teacher, Mrs. Rousseau came over, wrapped the test tube in a towel, and broke it with a hammer so we could see it better. We took a little piece of it, observed it under a microscope, and it looked like a bunch of spider webs. Then after that we felt it and it was hard on one side and smooth on the other. Our prediction was that the hard side was what formed on the sides of the test tube, and the smooth part was on the inside. That lab was one of the funnest labs of the year, and it certaintly had me saying, what is that smell.

H1N1 Virus

The swine flu has been one of the major problems in the world ever since it has hit America. Many people in the world have already gotten this sickness and have died including our relatives, and friends. The "Swine Flu" which is also called the Novel H1N1 virus has already had a wide spread in 41 of 50 states in America and is also in other countries, but the country that has taken the biggest hit is Mexico. This fatal sickness came from swine which also means pig and it started in Mexico. Now it is all around our world from the north pole to the south pole. One of the many ways to get it is from not covering coughs and sneezes. They are already making vaccines but now, so many people are getting the flu that they are running out of vaccines and not all of the people are getting cured. The way that you can know if you have it is if you have a sore throght, are coughing, sneezing, and if you are short on breath or you are weezing. It is up to us to stop this sickness, and we have to do it now.

Flamingo one-legged mysteries

One of the many mysteries in the world is why flamingos stand on one leg and how they sleep. These little pink, furry, and cute animals are one of the coolest and wierdest animals in the whole entire world and are in zoos so we can see there beautiful pink feathers and see them hop aurond from place to place on one leg. In September of 2009, a scientist named Matthew Anderson, went to the philidelphia zoo to examine flamingos, and how they sleep and why they stand on one leg. Many of the theories that they had were that the flamingos legs would tire out, or because of thermorgluation, but finally the scientist Matthew Anderson found what he was looking for, the real reason why flamingos stand on one leg. First, the reason why they do that is because, they can conserve body heat. Also, it would make them a lot faster to get from place to place. Another cool thing about flamingos, is that when they sleep, they bend there head to the right and not the left when they rest, which is the oppisite side, so there head is not on a surface. The beautiful birds also still stand on one leg when it sleeps. All of these reasons made me feel like flamingos were very wierd, but cool. You now know one of the greatest mysteries about animals in the world, the flamingo, and the real story on why it stands on one leg and why they sleep with one leg.


Source
http://www.livescience.com/animals/090917-flamingos-one-leg.html