Here is the place to post your Weekly Science Article Report for this week.
As we discussed in class, for this report, I want you to focus on an article that talks about one or more experiments. In reflecting on the article, you might say something about what you thought about the experiment:
Did it test what the experimenters wanted it to test?
How would you make it better?
What questions do you have?
Your report is due here by Friday, January 9. Your comments on the work of at least 3 other students is due by Monday, January 12th.
As always, I look forward to what you have to say.
Posts
32 comments:
The article that I chose to read was called, Math Is A Real Brain Bender. In the article scientists did an experiment on how the brain tackles math at different ages. They took 19 children, between the ages of 6 and 9, and they took 19 adults, between the ages of 18 and 24. They had done lots of different mathematical problems. For example, one part of the experiment was to answer whether one number was bigger than a another number between the numbers of 1 and 10. During the experiment scientists took pictures of their brains with an MRI. The results showed that adults performed the tasks better than the children. This experiment tested exactly what the scientists wanted to test. One thing that I would do to make this experiment better is if the scientists used a little more difficult activities. I don’t have any questions about this article.
ohh sorry i thought it said period 6 ! :(
Title: Dogs Feel Envy, Austrian Study Finds
By: Unknown
From: Science Daily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081209091945.htm
The article told me about an experiment with pairs of dogs. They did it to see how the dog would react to doing the same trick or command as the other dog but not getting rewards like the other dog. When they conducted the experiment it did test what the experimenters wanted it to test. I would make this experiment better by taking it the next step up and see if the dog did something harmful or dangerous after a while of the other dog being rewarded and one dog not. If they continued the experiment, would it become dangerous and make the dog turn against a person? Would the results of this experiment differ, if you tried it on many different breeds of dogs? I liked this article because it was informative and I learned that if you are with more then one dog and making them do tricks, you should give them each a treat after it.
Reviewed by:
Pony Girl
Students Explore the Physics of Fizz
Unknown
Unknown
This experiment was about how when you put mentos into Diet Coke®, it makes an explosion. These scientists figured out why this happens.
These scientists did test what they originally wanted to test. I would make this experiment better by doing some further research. I would maybe try different fizzy drinks to see if the reaction was the same. Otherwise, the experiment was very straight forward, and very detailed.
I really liked this article because it wasn’t testing a new thing; it was testing why something happened. I liked this because now I know why this happens instead of wondering why.
I don’t have any questions about this article.
Title - The Power Of Peter Piper: How Alliteration Enhances Poetry, Prose, And Memory
Found – www.sciencedaily.com
Author – (?)
This article was about how scientists did a experimental-study on how alliterations help the brain with memory as well as many other things. In the experiment, scientist’s theory was that when a person spoke an alliteration out loud, they would match those words with things from their memory, causing them to remember things that are associated with those words.
In the experiments, participants read poems both aloud and in their head, one with alliteration, and one without, and were asked to recall certain facts or key points from the writing. The outcome was that the pieces of writing involving alliterations, were much easier for the participants to understand.
I think that the experiment tested exactly what the researchers had in mind. Also, it proved their theory correct. I think one of the things that the scientists who did this experiment could have done better is to go deeper into why the results turned out the way they did. My question/comment after reading this was that this experiment, is probably the reason that sometimes people use rhymes or songs to remember information.
Soil study hints at climate model revision
By Matthew Knight
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/11/20/black.carbon/index.html
This article is about scientists that went to many sites in Australia and measured the amount of black carbon, and the amount of organic carbon in the soil at the site. Black carbon is the stuff that we don’t want in our soil and the scientists found that there was a lot more black carbon then they thought there was at almost every site.
I didn’t like this article because it didn’t explain why the findings in this experiment were important and what they were important to. I think even though this article was written for adults, it had to many big words that I could not understand which took away from the article. I think this article did test what the scientists wanted to test, but they didn’t get the answer they were expecting. Even if they weren’t expecting it, I think they were glad they did the experiment because they can now predict more clearly what the future will hold. I also didn’t like this article because as I read the article I didn’t find why this subject was interesting. In fact I found this article quite boring. It started off very strong in the first 4 paragraphs, and after that I thought the writer should have just ended it or have took out the extra detail that was not needed.
By Milky Milk
Title: Data Uncover Bigger Galaxy in Cosmos, and It’s Ours
Author: KENNETH CHANG
Published: January 5, 2009
Found: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/science/space/06galaxy.html?_r=2&ref=space
I thought this article was very interesting because astronomers now think that the Milky Way galaxy & the Andromeda galaxy are probably the same size. Scientist used many telescopes from Hawaii to the Virgin Islands to measure the size of the Milky Way galaxy, which is hard to do because of what they call “invisible dark matter” being there. The scientists also said the size of the galaxy has a lot to do with the speed it takes the Sun to travel around a galaxy (which they think is now 100,000 miles faster than what they thought before). I was shocked when the scientists also said they found new stars forming out of dust & gas. I would like to figure out how those new stars are able to stay there and not get torn apart. I was also thinking that scientists might actually be looking into another solar system through a Black Hole in the Milky Way galaxy, since they said “invisible dark matter” exists.
Comments:
IDK345:
I liked how you explained how you would do further research. I don't think you could make this article better, it was very well written.
HELLO THERE:
I liked how you explained exactly what the experiment was about. I think you can improve by using a little more detail while explaining the experiment. It was a little hard to understand.
Milky Milk:
I liked how you informed us how 2 galaxies might be the same size. I can't find anything you should improve on while writing this post.
Comments by:
Pony Girl
Comments-
“Pony Girl”: I liked the topic of the article, which you chose. I do think that what could have made it a little better was to explain the experiment that the researchers did. This would definitely benefit the readers understanding of the article. I loved your feedback towards the article; you were very detailed when you wrote that. ‘
“idk345”: I really liked that you said a lot on what you think the scientists should do next (further research wise) I thought it was very helpful to the reader, and your comments were smart. The only thing was that I kind of wished that you had chose an experiment which I hadn’t already heard about, but great writing anyway! =]
“Milky Milk”: The article that you chose was really, really interesting, and complex, for congrats for choosing such a tough one. But, I think you did an AMAZING job of explaining it, and I understood most of it. There are no improvements to be made, in my opinion after reading this. Great job, this was extremely well written, and a hard article to tackle, but you did it very well.
Pony Girl: I really liked how you were very specific in how you would have made the experiment better. I think you should reread you reflection before posting it because some sentences didn't make sense.
idk346: I liked how you really elaborated on how you would have made the experiment better. I also think it was a very well thought out suggestion to make it better. I didn't really get the reason you liked the article because it didn't make sense, so maybe you could have read that over again.
Hello there: I really liked the article that you chose and I thought your reflection was very well written. I also really like the last sentence of your reflection. I think you told too much about what the article was about and not enough about your option and suggestions. I also think you could have said how the scientist could have gone deeper into why the results turned out the way they did.
"Perscription Drugs Cause Dramatic Weight Loss in Fat Mice"
Coco Ballantyne
http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=drugs-trigger-dramatic-weight-loss-2009-01-06
The article I read was about how a chemical in a drug, it does not specify which, helped some fat test mice lose weight. After 30 days they lost 16% of their body weight. What does this drug, do you might ask. What it exactly does is improve the effectivness of endoplasmic reticulum, things inside a cell that produce protiens that do many things. More specificly, this one helped produce Leptin, a protien that sends a message to a part of the brain called the hypothalamus to stop eating because it has enough food for energy. Obese people have a resistance for this protien so when it sends the massage, the brain dosn't respond. This causes over eating and an even greater obliviousness to the protien. The drug helps to ovresee the message sent to the brain, and make sure it responds. The scientist who conducted this exsperiment don't know if it will effect humans.
I would make this experiment getter by testing on somthing bigger like a dog or cat, maybe even a monkey. I have 2 questions about the article. First, what type of mice were they, and second, did they also have to exersise?
i was reading a real cool article about guns. The Gauss Rifle also known as the Gaussian gun is a very simple experiment that uses a magnetic chain reaction to launch a steel marble at a target at high speed. This educational and amusing project is very simple to build (it only takes a few minutes), is is very simple to understand and explain, and yet fascinating to watch and to use.
When the gauss rifle fires, it will happen too fast to see. The ball on the right will shoot away from the gun, and hit the target with considerable force. Our one foot long version is designed so the speed is not enough to hurt someone, and you can use your hand or foot as a target.
Weekly Science Report
Make Lightning
This experiment is useful if you are currently learning about weather because it can show you an example of how lighting works. I thought that this experiment was pretty cool because you can make your own little lighting bolt by using materials that pretty much anyone could find in their house. This would also be a really easy experiment to try out.
Comments:
hello there!:
Your response was very well written and very detailed. I liked how you put a lot of thought into it. I have no critisism.
have a great day:
I liked how you explained things in your response so that the reader had a clue to what you read about. I also liked that you put a lot of feeling into it. I have no critisism for you.
Milky Milk:
I liked how you put a lot of information into your response. You could do better by maybe separating your thoughts into paragraphs.
GLOWING HANDS
First we’ll use the petroleum jelly as a kind of invisible ink. Dip your finger into the jelly, then use your finger to write a message on the piece of paper. Use more jelly if you need to – but this probably isn’t the time to write a long speech! When you’re finished, wipe any remaining jelly off your finger. Have the black light ready, then turn off the room lights and turn on the black lightCan you see the message? Why is something that you couldn’t see in room light now visible when you can’t see any light?first, let’s talk about the light. The reason black lights are called "black lights" is because they give off very little light that our eyes can see. Visible light contains a spectrum of colors ranging from red, through orange, yellow, green, and blue, to violet or purple. Beyond violet light in the spectrum is ultraviolet light, which our eyes cannot detect.You may have heard of ultraviolet light if you know about sunburn. Sunburn is caused by a type of ultraviolet light, which scientists call “ultraviolet B” (UV-B). UV-B is higher in energy than the light from black lights, which is called “ultraviolet A” (UV-A). Black lights will not give you a sunburn.If we can't see ultraviolet light, why does the petroleum jelly glow under the black light?Most of the time when we look at an object, we see light reflected from the surface of the object. But with a black light, there isn't much visible light, so simple reflection of light doesn't account for how bright the jelly glows. Petroleum jelly contains substances called phosphors. A phosphor absorbs radiation and emits it as visible light. So the phosphors in the jelly are absorbing the invisible ultraviolet radiation from the black light and emitting visible light.Can you find anything else in your home that glows under black light?One thing that usually glows brightly under black lights is a white shirt. Most laundry detergents contain “bluing agents” that are advertised as making the whites “whiter.” In fact, these agents are phosphors that respond to the UV-A radiation in normal light. The black light emphasizes their presence.Another example of phosphors can be found on new $20 bills. As part of the government’s program to make currency harder to counterfeit, $20 bills issued since October, 2003, have a “security thread” that glows under ultraviolet light. The security thread is being introduced into $50 and $100 bills as well.Can you think of a way to make your hands glow in the dark? For this experiment you will need:
• a black light
• petroleum jelly
• latex gloves if you don't want to get your hands messy (caution: some people are allergic to latex gloves!) • someone to turn on the black light for you.If you have Latex gloves, put them on your hands. Reach into the jar of petroleum jelly and scoop out enough jelly to cover both hands. Rub the jelly well over both hands, and then ask someone to turn off the lights in the room, and to turn on the black light. Hold your hand under the black light.
What animals have been cloned?
by: U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, Human Genome Program
Scientists have been cloning animals for many years. In 1952, the first animal, a tadpole, was cloned. Before the creation of Dolly, the first mammal cloned from the cell of an adult animal, clones were created from embryonic cells. Since Dolly, researchers have cloned a number of large and small animals including sheep, goats, cows, mice, pigs, cats, rabbits, and a gaur. See Cloned Animals below. All these clones were created using nuclear transfer technology.
Hundreds of cloned animals exist today, but the number of different species is limited. Attempts at cloning certain species such as monkeys, chickens, horses, and dogs, have been unsuccessful. Some species may be more resistant to somatic cell nuclear transfer than others. The process of stripping the nucleus from an egg cell and replacing it with the nucleus of a donor cell is a traumatic one, and improvements in cloning technologies may be needed before many species can be cloned successfully.
NASA Space Balloon Mission Tunes In To Cosmic Radio Mystery
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090107172546.htm
This experiment was about searching the sky for heat from the first generation of stars. To make this happen they used a balloon-borne instrument named ARCADE. But instead of ARCADE finding heat from the stars, it found a cosmic puzzle. The faint signal they hoped to find was actually a booming noise six times louder then they had predicted.
I think that it tested the way the scientist wanted it to test but the outcome was much different than what they thought. I would not make it better because if I were to change something in the experiment you would have to change a lot. A question I have is why is there a loud booming in the sky?
kr.td.23: I think that you did a really good job explaining the experiment. You had everything you needed in the article. Also I liked the words you used. To make your article/report even better, I think that you should read over your work slower because the first sentence confused me. You could have taken out the work it after the coma.
Xcoolxoxbeansx: I like how you gave your opinion on the article. To make your article even better I think that you should have given some information about the experiment in your article. Also I think that you should read double check to make sure you did the full assignment because you left out some parts.
paintballmonkey8: I like how you explained the experiment very well. To make your article even better I think that you should double check to make sure you did the full assignment because you left out some parts.
“Calculating the Geography of Crime”
By Patrick Barry
Science News
Sciencenews.com
1.8.09
This article is about mathematicians who use geography to track down criminals on crime sprees. Using information such as the layout of the city, where the crimes take place, and similar crimes haven taken place these mathematicians believe they could provide a better estimate on where the criminals’ homes are. Criminology states that usually criminals commit crimes within a short distance from their home. This new method can help pinpoint a more precise location then what criminology can. The method, which is being built into a computer program, help locate possible escape routes that could have been use, easy targets for the criminal, and the nearest major roads that could lead to the criminal’s home. Unfourtunaly, the method is still being tweaked and perfected and has a lot of flaws. It is still being experimented with.
I was interested in this article because I like criminology (the study of crime), so this attracted my eye.
This experiment tested what they wanted to test because their theory on how to find criminals worked so they were putting it into a computer program. I would make it better by also having the method find out near by buildings that would work as a hideout for the criminals. I do have a question on what the ‘method’ is. The article doesn’t describe what it is. Also, when will this be used by the police and crime enforcement officials?
theory ties radio signal to universes 1st stars.
what really grabbed my atention was the name. but i didn't get how it could be from the first stars. even if they were really far away. this article especialy seemed to be at a higher reading level.the i mean, i know the new york times writes at a 10th grade reading level but there was just some stuff i didn't understand.
when i went looking for an artice i didn't exprct to find this, or anything of its kind.
The article I chose to read was about whether or not love is just a chemical cocktail. Professor young thinks that love might be caused by a chemical called oxytocin and a few other love chemicals mixing at a timely moment. If that is true then chocolate oysters won't be needed to create a loving
mood.
Some questions I have are when would we be able to control this chemical and how would we be able to use this to our advantage?
One way they could make it better is by testing it on animals and seeing how they react. That is all I have to say about this article.
Title:Runaway Stars Go Ballistic
By: Andrea Thompson
From:Live Science
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090107-aas-ballistic-stars.html
This article is about how a total of 14 young stars racing through clouds of gas like bullets, creating brilliant arrowhead structures and tails of glowing gas, this was revealed by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Some scientist said that those stars represent a new type of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. When those stars were discoverd by 'Hubble' was announced today at 213th the meeting of American Astronomical Society. It became some kind of a shock to the astronomers/scientist who found the stars.
Raghvendra Sahai of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif said "We think we have found a new class of bright, high-velocity stellar interlopers."Raghvendra also said "Finding these stars is a complete surprise because we were not looking for them. When I first saw the images, I said 'Wow. This is like a bullet speeding through the interstellar medium." The arrowhead structures (bow shock/the stars) seen in front of the stars are formed when the stars' powerful stellar winds streams of neutral or charged gas that flow from the stars are slamming into the surrounding dense gas, like a speeding boat pushing through water on a lake.
Youthful stars
The astronermors were saying that the stars have to be young ones because only seem to be looking at least a few million years old, they can also tell they are young stars because they give off "strong stellar winds" which only young stars do. Most stars in the universe give off powerful winds either when they are very young or very old, the astronimors were also saying ONLY MASSIVE STARS (10 times bigger than the sun) CAN KEEP GENERATING WINDS THROUGH THEIR WHOLE ENTIRE LIFETIME. Sahai and his team found out that the stars are not very massive because the stars seem to not have glowing clouds of ionized gas around them. The stars only appear to be only 8 times bigger than the sun. The stars youths are also evidenced by the fact that the shapes of nebulas around dying stars are very different from what is seen around the stars found by the scientific group known as "Hubble." The old stars are mostly never found around the very dense interstellar clouds as of the newly found stars.
I really liked this article because it is very interesting how these stars are acting the way they are and how they dont even look like a normal star. One question I would ask the author would be were you be able to go and see the stars yourself?
Dailing and Driving Don't Mix
From the CBS News
http://www.thenewsroom.com/details/3292038
This article is about new technology that will automatically disable cell phones when the owner is traveling in a car. It will prevent the owner from making calls, except for 911 calls, and it will send incoming calls to voicemail. The device uses GPS technology to detect when a phone is in a moving vehicle. The technology is called "Drive Assist". The man who is promoting this technology lost his 12 year-old son when a person talking on a cell phone while driving hit the car in which the boy was riding. The techonology will be available next year.
Title:Caterpillars tattletale to police
Found:sciencenewsforkids
The article I chose was about how using the DNA in the hair can help investigators identify the body.Now scientists have found a caterpillar cases that incorporated hair from a nearby abandoned human body. This mean that the catapillars help the police in many cases.
Now a days the police and CSI are turning to insects and animals to help them with cases that are hard for any other officer or investigater to figure out.
When a moth caterpillar wants to keep safe and warm it builds itself a case of woolly fibers and hair. Which is actaully gross but thats the reality of their lifes.
This article was actually very interesting because it incorporated a lot of facts that actually interested you!
Sound Experiments
URL: http://www.west.net/~science/sound.htm
There were a few fun experiments you could do with sound, which I think is interesting. Some of them have to do with sound Wave Characteristics, sound reflections, The speed of sound, Sound pipes, Pan pipes, wall resonance, Phase tapping, sound lens, Sight of sound, echo machine, Identify source of sound(game), Sound telescope, and Hear through your teeth.
They're really cool experiments.
Hockeyfighter217:
I really liked the experiment that you chose because the information was new to me. I also liked the question that you asked. One thing that you could have done better was by giving a little bit more information about the experiment, and asking a few more questions.
Milkman:
I thought that the experiment you chose was interesting and original. You could improve by editing you work more carefully because you had a few mistakes with capitalization and punctuation.
Railroadfan:
I think it’s really cool that you found an experiment dealing with sound because it was really different form everyone else’s. It’s also cool that you listed all of the different kinds of sound experiments. You could improve next time by telling us a little bit more about the experiments.
Comments:
by:Chrissybrown08
PonyGirl: I really enjoyed the topic of your report.I think that your further reasearch wuestions were very interesting, but some questions were too borad for an experiment ( in my opinion. Other than that i enjoyed your report and article choice very much.
LovePinkx3: I liked your article choice and your responce to it. I also think that the scientists should have made the questions much harder becuase they were probably too easy and any one could have answer the questions. I dont think that explained anything with the bain diffence between adutls and children.
idk345: I liked you idea but i think that the topic is over spoken. Yes i agree that theidea of mentos in the coke, and it is fun to see it explode. But its getting boring ( no offence.) But you made your responce to it very intersting and i wanted to read aboout it.
Coments
Poney Girl: The article you chose was very interesting the way you discribed it made me want to do the experiment and see what happens. The only way you could improve is by telling what the comand was, if it even tells you, because thats what I want to know.
Hello there!: The article you chose was very explaining. I've always wanted to know why I remember things that rhyme and have alliterations, like songs, so easliy. I thought you could make it even better by giving an example of one that helps you remember somthing.
have a great day!: The article you chose was very confusing. I was kind of understanding the experiment for a while, then was discombobulated, then understood it again, but less then I did before. I was very interested by the fact that this was all done in Australia. I thought that you could've improved by telling wgo the scientist was and what they were looking for in the first place.
Scientists Dr. Barron, Ryszard Maleszka and Paul G. Helliwell at the Australian National University conducted an experiment involving honeybees under the influence of cocaine. The scientists dropped liquefied cocaine onto the backs of several different bees, keeping in mind that the powerful drug would enter the bee’s circulatory system and brain through the pours and skin.
While reading, I found myself giggling here and there on the concept of coked-up bees. The scientists even gave each bee a standardized test on their ability to associate odor with sugary syrup. In the end it turned out that bees respond to cocaine with judgment impairments and overreactions to things that might otherwise not normally excite them.
I predicted that the results of cocaine use in humans would be completely different to honeybees, since they’re genetically different in every way. From this experiment my prediction was proven wrong. It happens that bees reacted the same way a human would to the drug. The results of each experiment were bizarre making the article more enjoyable to read.
The scientists performed this experiment hoping to find out more about the biochemistry of addiction. Senior lecturer at Macquarie University in Australia said, “Through these experiments we’ll be able to stop a brain reacting to a drug of abuse, and then we may be able to discover new ways to prevent abuse in humans.” The scientists used honeybees as their test subjects because they thought it would be interesting to see how insects with such “wonderfully simple systems” would react to free-base cocaine.
If I were to do these experiments over differently, I would test how cocaine would affect other insects or perhaps a rodent. The author didn’t discuss details and left a lot about the experiment out of his writing. That tells me either the scientists didn’t go through their tests thoroughly or the writer was just mediocre or lazy in publishing a detailed article.
I wonder what happened to the bees in particular and what the tests accomplished presently. Maybe they should continue to research more about bees on cocaine.
Comments to: Pony Girl
Your experiment taught me that dogs are more like us than they may seem. The experiment you explained was tempting to try because it would be quick and easy to do. In doing this I would learn that dogs can feel jealous, not favored or neglected. However, I might not try it on my dogs. I think that you could have included the test results proving the idea that dogs feel envy.
Comments to: Idk345
In the future you could describe exactly why the chemical process occurs when coke comes in contact with mentos. Also it would have completed your article if you had dug deep and found a question that you have for the experiment. Otherwise, I liked your experiment of choice. Not only do I love seeing the fantastic frenzy of exploding coke but also always wondered why it happened. You did a good job of explaining what you read and how you understood it.
Comments to: xcoolxoxbeansxs
That’s cool that you can create your own little controlled piece of the sky in your home. Your writing was good although you didn’t include enough detail for me to perform the experiment. In the future it would make your writing clearer if you wrote a bit more. Next time you could dedicate a paragraph to your thoughts about the experiment, it would complete your piece of writing.
comment on: idk345
I like this topic i see why you picked it. I new about p[utting mentos in diet coke but i never vew it had to be diet coke. over all I think the article was written well.
comment on:xcoolxoxbeansx
I think it would be awesome to make lightning. we should try it in class. wers is this article from. your writing was good but it could have been longer.
comment on: chrissybrown08
when I was looking for articles I saw this one and it good article. I think using insects for police work is genius. (if it will work).
xcoolbeansx: i think you could add more detail to your articale.
kr.td.23: i like how much detail youput into it.
Pony Girl; i like your topic you chose.
Comments on other people's work
PonyGirl:
I like how you explained that article. I thought it was interesting to do something about animals.
idk345:
Diet coke and mentos has always been an interesting thing. I liked how you told everyone about the article.
hello there!:
I like your article and the way to told everyone about it. Very easy to understand and the brain has always been an interesting topic.
-Rail road fan
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