Blog 1

Could you ever believe that whales, dolphins and porpoises may have come from a deer-like animal? Scientists have dug up fossils from a creature called Indohyus. The hypothesis by an Ohio anatomy professor predicted that the hippo was the closest land living relative. Indohyus could connect to whales by the positioning and shape of specific molars which are about 50 million years old.

Interesting Facts:

1) The earliest whales looked like a cross between a pig and a dog.

2) The observation of the teeth showed that the creature, Indohyus, spent most of its time in the water.

3) This animal is the "missing link" to the sister species of ancient whales.

The article was extremely interesting because I learned that whales and dolphins have a connection to a land living creature. This creature is predicted to look like an odd raccoon-sized animal that looks like a long-tailed deer without antlers.

To read more go to:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22328877/

The Omega Meme!!

I’ve tagged students for the Omega Meme!

The rules are as follows:

Each player answers the six questions posted on this blog.

The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those answers are listed.At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their blog names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Then follow the instructions about adding a page element at omegascience.blogspot.com.

1. My favorite TV show is Gossip Girl because you can relate to it.

2. My favorite meal is pizza because it's yummy. What's not to love?

3. My favorite nonschool activity is hanging out with my friends because they help me forget about the hard things in life.

4. Someone I look up to are my parents because they always head me in the right direction.

5. My goal for the future is succeed in life and have a wonderful job.

6. In the first hour after school I usually do my homework, go on the computer or hang out with my friends.

I have tagged MetsFan123, Tinkerbell44, DancinGirl94, SlimJim9404, Vikings32Chowder, SoftballChik15, Pink-Weirdo, Mrs. Johnny Depp.

You may not tag someone who has already been tagged.

Newton's Laws

Sir Issac Newton formed three laws using observations of the world around him, called Newton's Laws. His three laws explain rest, constant motion, accelerated motion, and describe how balanced and unbalanced forces act to cause these states of motion. Newton's first law is often termed "Law of Inertia." His first law states if an object is at rest will remain at rest and an object in motion will remain in motion unless external force is applied to it. For example, if you slam suddenly on the brakes of a car, you will jerk forward or move your body forward. If you're not wearing a seatbelt, you could go flying through the windshield! Sir Issac Newton's second law states the relationship between force, mass and acceleration, F = MA or force = mass x acceleration meaning, the force of an object is equal to its mass times its acceleration. For instance, who would have the largest impact, on the bed, if a 265 pound person (M1) and a 128 pound person (M2) both jumped at the same accelertion (A) and landed on the mattress? The 265 pound person would make a larger dent (F1) than the 128 pound person (F2) because 265 pound person is heavier and has more mass, therefore, producing a greater amount of force. Lastly, Newton's third law states for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. For example, you shoot a gun, the bullet will go forward, but the force that makes the bullet shoot out, causes you to feel a "kick" backward.

Three interesting facts that I learned are:

1) Newton's first law is often termed "Law of Inertia."

2) Sir Issac Newton's laws weren't as famous as they are today.

3) Sir Issac Newton's work is considered to be one of the most important contribution to science.

For more information go to:

http://www.usoe.k12.ut.us/CURR/Science/sciber00/8th/forces/sciber/newtons.htm

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/history/newton3laws.html

2,700 year old fabric.

Have you ever heard of a piece of fabric that was older than 2,000 years old? In Athens, Greece, archaeologists found a piece of fabric that was 2,700 years old! The material was in a copper urn. Besides the fabric inside the urn, archaeologists also found dried pomegranates. This old antique was found in a burial they think imitated the cremation of soldiers described in Homer's "Iliad."

Interesting facts that I learned was:

1) The fabric found in the urn was an organic material and easily decomposable.

2) The pomergrates, that were also found inside the urn, were offerings that linked with the ancient gods of the underworld.

3) Only a few artifacts, similar, have beein found in Greece.

In my opinion, this is extremely fasinating that several artifacts have been found from a long period ago and are shown in museums for us to see.

To read more go to:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18580454/

Tainted food.

In Washington, the government reported Thursday, that several hundred of the 6,000 hogs have eaten tainted feed. The risk of human health may be very low. The government told three states that were involved, that the meat wasn't allowed to be sold from the hogs that had eaten the feed. The Agriculture Department concluded that the three states, New York, California and South Carolina, had no more than 345 hogs that ate the food. Most of the hogs that ate the feed are still on the farms that they were raised.

Three interesting facts that I learned were:

1) Some food could not be sold so they were fed to the hog farms.

2) Since mid-March, pet food companies have had more than 100 brands of dog and cat food and treats that were tainted.

3) The pet food sent to the farms was discovered to have an ingredient, rice protein concentrate, imported from China that was tainted by an industrial chemical, melamine.

I think that food shouldn't be given to farm animals if it isn't sold in the store. Then if people eat the meat from the animal, humans will become sick or will die.

For more information go to:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18335887/

Largest coral die-off

You may hear of people being killed from natural causes, but this earthquake, which happened two years ago, in Jakarta, Indonesia caused the largest coral die-off ever documented. The scientists from the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society and the government-backed Australian Research Council Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, studied the product of the earthquake. Because of this earthquake, it caused the corals to have the largest die-off ever documented.

This problem can relate to science and life because the earthquake caused several people to die and the largest coral die-off.

In my opinion, the earthquake caused countless people to die and also caused the largest coral die-off. Even tough most of the coral had died, the scientist concluded that the coral would eventually grow back in several years to come. Because of this natural disaster, it took away the lives of several people, but the people in Indonesia couldn’t have predicted or done anything to help other’s death.

To get more inofrmation go to:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18083859/

The Sun

You may think that the sun is a small part of our lives, but you are wrong. The sun is has an enormous impact in our habitat. Not only is this giant star used for heat, it is also used to keep all the organisms on the Earth alive. With the sun giving off so much energy, it helps to grow food for all living creatures on the planet.

Three interesting facts that I learned are:

1) The sun has a spectral glass of G2V. "G2" means that it has a surface temperature of approximately 5,500 K, giving it a white color, which causes the sun to appear yellow.

2) The sun completes one revolution in about 225-250 million years.

3) The Sun is about 4.5 billion years old. Since its birth it has used up about half of the hydrogen in its core. It will "live" for about another 5 billion years.

I think that the sun is the most important object for the Earth. It helps the organsims on the planet to get food and other supplies that help them stay alive. I also believe that this giant star can harm the Earth.

Here are the links where I got my information from:

http://www.nineplanets.org/sol.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_sun

Meiosis

Meiosis is the process of cell division where sex cells are produced, also when chromosomes split and form sex cells in the end. The male sex cell is called sperm and the female sex cell is called an egg. This division occurs in all eukaryotes. There are three basic steps:
1) the chromosome doubles
2) the 1st division
3) the 2nd division

Here’s an example of meiosis. A human body cell has 46 chromosomes. Female:

46

I

92

/ \

46 46

/ \ / \

23 23 23 23

I \ I /

1 egg & 3 polar bodies

or

\ I I /

4 sperm

Interesting facts that I learned were:

1) There are four stages in a nuclear division: prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase.
2) Meiosis comes from the Greek work meioun, which means “to make smaller.”
3) Some eukaryotes lost the ability to carry out meiosis and got the ability to reproduce by parthenogensis.

In my opinion, I think that meiosis is an important part of life. Without the process of meiosis, any living organism wouldn't be able to reproduce. If our parents didn't reproduce, we all wouldn't be here today.

Here are the links to the articles I got my information from:

http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/VL/GG/meiosis.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiosis

Cells

Cells. Such a tiny word can mean so much. A cell is the basic unit of life. Every single living organism has cells. Cells are everywhere, because they are microscopic. There are unicellular and multicellular organisms. Organisms that are unicellular, for example, are bacteria, yeasts, and amoebas. Other multicellular organisms are plants, animals, and humans.

Interesting facts that I learned from these articles are:

1) It takes millions of cells to make up the skin on the palm of your hand.

2) Animals have a skeleton because of a unique structure, the cell wall, which is why plants droop.

3) The human body has over ten trillion cells. (10,000,000,000,000)

In my opinion, I think that cells are the most important subject in science and life. Every living organism has cells, which I think, is extremely interesting. There would be no life if there weren’t any cells. Cells make everything come to life because it is the basic unit of life. If it weren’t for cells, we wouldn’t have most of the supplies we need today.

Here are the links to the article:

http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar102240&st=cell
username: xroads
password: vikings

http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~acarpi/NSC/13-cells.htm

Europe's first stegosaurus was discovered.

What dinosaur do you know of that is an herbivore, 20 feet long and is studded with spikes on its tail? If you guessed a stegosaurus, you are correct. After the Jurassic period ended, about 150 million years ago, all dinosaurs became extinct. Because of this, there are fossils from these dinosaurs. Europe found their first stegosaurus fossil. Dinosaur fossils are usually found in North America, but not commonly in other continents. Surprisingly this happened. When the continents were still connected, Pangaea, dinosaurs would cross land bridges to other parts of land, which in this case is now known as Europe.

I think that this extremely fascinating to find fossils in other continents. Before reading this article, I thought that dinosaurs fossils were only found in North America and not in other coninents.

Finding dinosaur fossils can relate to science because when you discover something new you want to research about it and know more about it. By resarching about the fossil it can tell you what kind of dinosaur it cane from and learn more about that dinosaur. This can also relate to life because dinosaurs were once living, just like humans, but then became extinct.

This article can be found at cnn.com. Here's the link
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16926228/

An astronomer without a telescope?

Can you find a planet or star without using a telescope? The answer surprisingly, is yes. Many astronomers do not use a telescope but use a computer. Amateur astronomer, William Bianco, searches for new stars and planets on his computer. Bianco is a political science professor at Indiana University. He isn't the only scientist that uses the computer, but other professional astronomers also prefer the computer over the telescope. Scientists choose the internet than the telescope because they often fight for telescope usage at major research observatories. Also, the information on the internet is up to date and you are able to access more data to help research. One of the first softwares that was used for astronomy was the SETI. The software sorted through information that measures tiny gravitational movements in a star's motions in search of planets that orbit stars other than our sun. Virtual astronomy didn't become popular until the late 1990's.

In my opinion, I would say that professional and amateur astronomers help each other to study the outer space. Researchers post their data and discoveries online and this allows others to use the information to continue their research.

This can relate to science and life because astronomers reasearch the outer space so others can understand it better and they also search for life on other planets.

This article can be found at cnn.com. http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/01/15/virtual.astronomy.ap/index.html

How did he die?

A 22 foot long whale shark mysteriously died last Thursday at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia. On Friday, scientists were trying to conclude how the whale shark died. Ralph, the whale shark, was 22 feet long and weighed between 1700 to 2500 pounds. The staff at the aquarium noticed Ralph had stopped swimming and sank to the bottom of his tank. Now, they knew that something was wrong. Ralph died later that evening on Thursday, January 11, 2007 at 9:30 P.M. The aquarium workers still don't know the cause of the death. In November 2006, Ralph had a physical exam that showed he had an unusual swimming behavior and his appetite was on and off.

I hypothesize that Ralph died from a type of cancer or illness because the physical exam stated that he had unusual swimming behavior and his appetite was on and off. If you were sick, you may not feel like doing normal everyday activities. For example, if you had an illness it could keep you from walking. That may be why Ralph had stopped swimming.

This article can relate to science and life because it is about nature and how animals can die from unknown causes, just like humans. For instance, you could be healthy and have a heart attack the next day. The heart attack could have suddenly occured and killed you.

I found this article at cnn.com. Here is the link to the article http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/01/11/aquarium.death/index.html