Here is the place for this week's weekly science article report.
As usual, please find an article about science that you think is cool and worth writing about. The more inspired you are, the better your reflection will be.
Then, you are writing a report that has 3 parts:
- The citation - the name of your article, who wrote it, and where did it come from. Include a link if you got it online.
- The summary - a one or two sentence recap of the article (no more).
- The reflection - a discussion (two or three paragraphs) about what you thought about the article. Did you like it or not? Why? What interested you about it and why? What questions or suggestions do you have for the writer?
I look forward to reading your reflections.
68 comments:
Forever Blue
Jan. 8, 2008 People Magazine
Ellen Shapiro – Pictures by Misha Gravenor
I like the color blue. My room’s blue, a lot of my clothes are blue, but I’m not quite sure I would want my skin to be blue. Most people wouldn’t. Paul Karason didn’t have a choice.
In the article Forever Blue by Ellen Shapiro, I read about a man named Paul Karason, who accidentally turned his skin blue. For the last 14 years he has been using a substance called colloidal silver, which is made by extracting silver from metal. It goes into water with an electrical current and then you drink it. Colloidal silver is billed as something that will cure just about everything, or so Paul says.
This article was very cool. Cool actually isn’t the word, it was shocking. When you think of skin colors you think of many different things, but unless you’re a Smurf, blue is probably not one of them. There were many reasons I liked this article. For one, the topic is a very interesting, and, as I said before, shocking. It is also sort of a mystery of why he actually turned blue. While most would say it’s from drinking the colloidal silver, Paul says it’s because it rubbed it on his face to help a skin problem. He also says the change was gradual, and he didn’t realize he was blue for a very long time.
But it’s not just the science part of it that makes it so interesting. Everyone has self-conscious problems, but I don’t know anyone who has trouble in social situations because they are the color of a blueberry. (By the way, here is a link to a picture of Paul: http://media.katu.com/images/071219_karason_470.jpg)
Also, the whole set-up of the article was very nice and easy to read. There were good pictures (which is the only reason why I believed it), and it said scientific things in a way that was easy to understand. I liked this article. But I must admit, it’s a little upsetting, and it makes you feel, well, blue.
-Jose Jose, Continued
Sorry, the link I sent for the picture of Paul didn't work. Here is the right one:
http://media.kcby.com/images/071219_karason_470.jpg
-Jose, Jose Continued
My article is titled “Findings by lab Collaboration contradict Dark Matter Claim” by Lynn Yarris. You can read this article at: http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/dark-matter-CDMS.html.
This article was about a mysterious thing called Dark Matter, a thing that apparently makes up about ninety percent of the universe, and keeps all the stars in orbit, emitting a huge gravity! Sure that’s great and all.... but we are actually just inferring that it even exists, we basically know nothing about it, hence the title, “Dark Matter”.
I thought this was an incredibly amazing interesting article. I really think that it is really cool that we can realize something is just there, keeping everything alive, but have absolutely no proof that it exists. Also I think it’s really great that our scientists have the courage to spend almost all their money and time into figuring out what dark matter is, and trying to find the source of it. I also find it highly amusing that a candidate for the source of dark matter, an incredibly strong force, which is keeping everything alive, is titled “Weakly Interacting Massive Particles”.... Ironically nicknamed “WIMPS.”
I also found it really interesting that we’ve known that Dark Matter exists for almost seventy years, and made almost no progress whatsoever on figuring what it’s made of!
Once again, I feel I have to say that this article is incredibly amazing, interesting, and mysterious! I have to say that after reading this article, the only question I have is what scientists all over the world are thinking: What the heck is it anyways?!!
woops sorry!! the one above this is Dr.Chewbacca
The name of the article i have is Memory by Hypnosis and its by Emily Sohn.I got this article at http://sciencenewsforkids.com/articles/20080116/Note3.asp.
The article is about how scientist are using Hypnosis to study the mind's amazing and mysterious ability.
I thought the article was very intersting becauce scientist today are pretty much using alot of every day stuff to find more out then they did befor on it and i would of never thought that they would use Hypnosis to find out how the barin works.
I liked the article because it was intersting on how scientis use Hypnosis to find out how the barin works.
What intested me was that Hypnosis can be used to see how the barin works in memorizeing stuff like movies.
I have no questions or suggestions for her
Dr.Chewbacca nice article i wonder what are scientis thinking?
Jose Jose i read an article that a guy had acid relfelct dissue and his skin truned blue and great article
Cell Phone Radiation triggers Insomnia
Jan 23, 2008~Kate Melville
www.scieceagogo.com
This article is about how using your cell phone before bed can disrupt your sleep patterns.
This information about the radiofrequency released from a cell phone causes insomnia and difficulties in concentration makes me wonder if other household things can cause this also.
How about our TV's DVD video games and more. I am also wondering about the time that artical states that its right before bed or could it be from a hour or so.
Good article we all should stay off cell phone before so we can get a good nights rest. If someone has trpuble sleeping i am sure they would want to give it a try its worth it.
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20080109/Feature1.asp
Sweeeet! The Skinny on Sugar Substitutes
Emily Sohn
This article was about artificially sweetened foods, and whether it was healthy to eat them. The author, Emily Sohn, said that some scientists have raised questions about whether these artificial sweeteners can cause allergies, cancer and other healthy problems and they did some research. They gave lots of artificial sweeteners to rats, and the rats soon developed cancer. But some of these tests weren’t accurate, and other scientists found out that an average adult can eat 19,400 packets of Equal a day with no permanent effects. But although there is no secure evidence that eating food containing artificial sweeteners can give you diseases, Emily Sohn says that it doesn’t actually help people who are trying to diet, to eat those foods. This is because it just makes you thirst for more sugar, and then…. Well—you eat more candy!
I think this article was kind of illuminating, because not only did the author talk about artificial sweeteners, but she said that in most store bought salad dressings, there is more sugar than in some chocolate. So when people think they are eating healthy, leafy greens, they are actually eating tons of calories! I think this article shows that in the U.S., it’s normal to eat lots of sugar on a daily basis, and not even think about it. Some people who go on diets might stop eating candy and other desserts, but continue eating other foods that they think of as a healthy dinner but are actually like eating cupcakes or something!
Emily Sohn said that one family just eats normal, organic foods, and when their kids go to birthday parties, they find all the food disgustingly sweet because they aren’t used to so much sugar intake! It just goes to show that if you don’t eat a lot of sugar, you don’t crave it as much, and that means you end up eating much less sugar! I think people should just eat regular, organic foods at the start instead of trying to take the long way round—like making a substitute for sugar!
To Jam-- um, well if you want to try using your cell before bed, go ahead. Nice article though!
to Jose Jose-- nice article, I liked how you began the article, I never thought of that!
I read the article was “Light can break its own speed limit, researchers say”. It did not mention who wrote it, your welcome to look for it. I found it on CNN.com. The link to the article is http://archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/07/20/speed.of.light.ap/. It was published in 2000.
186,000 miles per second is the speed of light traveling through a vacuum, and was believed to be the fastest speed possible for many years. However, scientists in Princeton, New Jersey have just recently broken that record. The scientist sent a “pulse of laser light” though something called cesium vapor, which apparently does not have a vacuum effect. The light traveled 310 times faster then it would of if it had been in a vacuum.
I thought that this article was very interesting, and even inspiring. It shows us that no matter how much we learn, and think we know, there is always room for more learning. People for years thought that you could only go186,000 miles per second. Turns out that not only can you go faster, you can go 310 times faster! Though hit seemed impossible, the scientists still tied, and ended up proving everyone else wrong.
In the article one of the scientists talks about beating the odds. “"This effect cannot be used to send information back in time," said Lijun Wang, a researcher with the private NEC Institute. "However, our experiment does show that the generally held misconception that `nothing can travel faster than the speed of light' is wrong."”
I thought that this article was very interesting. I thought that the author did a good job of stating the facts, and saying what this may lead to. I wish that there was something a bit more recent on this topic, and will explore the subject even more.
-Plargo
Jam- Though I enjoyed reading your article, try to edit more in the future. (I'm sure in commenting that you should edit more I made an editing mistake. That would be ironic.)
Jose Jose, Continued- Really intreasting! I'm under the impression that I talked to you in health about it. Including the picture was a good idea, it helped to have a real visual!
“Scientists make cloned embryos from skin cells” by an Unknown Author
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/01/17/cloned.embryos.ap/index.html
This article is about how scientists managed to clone an embryo that is from two men, a step towards creating scientifically valuable stem cells. Although this has been done before in 2005, no stem cells were extracted even though the embryo was mature enough to create stem cells.
I thought that this article was very interesting. First of all, it is about cloning, and I know I’m not alone when I say that is a topic of interest. The idea of being able to create humans besides the… “natural way” amazes me. I realize to some it may seem immoral, but I think it’s worth a shot. I was surprised by this quote: "It's only a matter of time before some group succeeds," I find it amazing that we are that close to at least being able to extract stem cells that we can use to further our research. Stem cells can be used to further our knowledge of diseases, screening drugs and, perhaps someday, creating transplant material to treat conditions like diabetes and Parkinson's disease. The thought of that blows my mind.
The only suggestion I can think of to the author is to keep the information coming! This article really got me thinking, and I really would like to learn more. I hope that as soon as any update on the situation comes, that this author, or another author, will make another article telling us what has happened. Until then, my mind can only think of the possibilities and pure awesomeness of cloning, and how it will affect society and the world.
-Dustmaster
Professor: Fractions should be scrapped
By Maureen Milford, USA TODAY
Dennis DeTruck is a award winning mathematician and professor, so he must like math right? He must think its pretty cool, right? Not to mention useful, right? Well, he does think that. So why did he stand up at a podium at his University of Pennsylvania and say, “Down with fractions!” Well, his explanation of this is, “Fractions have had their day, being useful for by-hand calculation," DeTurck said as part of a 60-second lecture series. "But in this digital age, they're as obsolete as Roman numerals are." But his little announcement didn’t go down too well; "There were blogs and rants, and there were some critical e-mails," said DeTurck, who is now dean of the college of arts and sciences at Penn. "They'd always boil down to: 'What would we do in cooking and carpentry?' " But DeTruck isn’t giving up, he’s getting book published this year about how he favors the teaching of decimals over fractions to elementary school students, and how he's also taking on long division, the calculation of square roots and by-hand multiplication of long numbers. I found this article interesting because I’m no fan of math, so it was encouraging to see an important person in the math world saying that we should rid ourselves of one of the more tedious parts of mathematics. I was slightly saddened to see that he says that we should expand on long and annoying things like long division, the calculation of square roots and by-hand multiplication of long numbers. (uuuurrrrggg….) I learned that even the most talented people in one particular field may disagree with certain aspects of that particular field. And…. I have to say that I kind of found the whole thing rather surprising.
-hpbeatle13
GeorgeWashington12-
I liked your responce to your article, tres (very) intresting! but I must say, POOR RATS!
Jose Jose-
I liked your way of relating Paul's situation to normal everyday stuff, like clothing and room colors! Nice job!
Ooooopsidaisy! I forgot! I got my article from,
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-01-23-fractions_N.htm?csp=34
Sorry!
openthis99-
Very cool topic, I've always wondered about that!
Monkey Math
Scientists say that monkeys may do high speed addition like we do. Scientist did a test with two monkeys and some Duke college and they scored about the same. The data helps us see where are minds com from. Rats, pigeons and some others can too.
When the monkeys get something wrong they seem surprised. A scientist made a test that adult humans and monkeys can do. The test is on a computer. Dots would flash on the screen for half a second and then another flash of red dots would appear. Then an incorrect answer would show up and a correct answer would show up. Then they would tap a box on the screen.
In the test the humans won with 94% and the monkeys had 76%. The humans didn’t win by much. I liked reading this article. I never knew how smart monkeys were.
By: Angnieszka Bis
The article I read was called Sweeeet! The Skinny on Sugar Substitutes by Emily Sohn. It talked about sugars affect on the body and also about the artificial sweeteners that are in thing like diet coke. It said that the reason people crave sugar is because where born with a liking of the taste and the more sugar we eat the more bland all other food tastes. Eventually we’ll be adding extra sugar to everything so that it tastes sweet and not bland.
I liked this article. I thought it was really interesting. I had no idea why people liked sugar so much. Also they said a lot about artificial sweeteners and flavoring. That was cool because I didn’t know a lot about that stuff only a bunch of roomers. Scientists are still debating a lot of things about what affects artificial sweeteners and flavoring really has on your body. They’re not sure it’s even better for you. I wonder what people will do if the flavoring and fake sugars turns out to be worst for you. Will they still use them?
The article I read was called Sweeeet! The Skinny on Sugar Substitutes by Emily Sohn. It talked about sugars affect on the body and also about the artificial sweeteners that are in thing like diet coke. It said that the reason people crave sugar is because where born with a liking of the taste and the more sugar we eat the more bland all other food tastes. Eventually we’ll be adding extra sugar to everything so that it tastes sweet and not bland.
I liked this article. I thought it was really interesting. I had no idea why people liked sugar so much. Also they said a lot about artificial sweeteners and flavoring. That was cool because I didn’t know a lot about that stuff only a bunch of roomers. Scientists are still debating a lot of things about what affects artificial sweeteners and flavoring really has on your body. They’re not sure it’s even better for you. I wonder what people will do if the flavoring and fake sugars turns out to be worst for you. Will they still use them?
oopppss sorry it published twice!
Can I Stand In Front Of The Microwave?
by Helen Suh MacIntosh
I got this article from treehugger.com.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/03/ask_treehugger_microwave.php
This article's main idea was about if it was bad to stand in front of a microwave while it was on. The real answer to that is no, it is not bad to stand in front of a running microwave, the worst thing to do it to have a dirty or a in properly operated or maintained.
I like this article because it interested me about the topis. I always have wanted to know if standing in front of a microwave was really that bad for you, and reading this article answered all of my questions. The thing that interested me about this article was that there was other things that were bad to do while standing in front of a microwave while using it like it being dirty or it being in properly operated or maintained. The one and only question that I have for this author is that, why does everyone say that it is bad to stand in front of the microwave even though it's not?
The article i read this week is called,"Origami spaceplane to launch from space station" the source that the article came from was Asahi. The adress the article came from was: http://www.pinktentacle.com/2008/01/origami-spaceplane-to-launch-from-space-station/
The article i read is about a japanse space station that wants to send a paper airplane from space, and see if anything happens to it. The secret of making sure the paper airplane doesnt catch fire is the scientists are going to put a special chemical over it so its fire resistant.
When i first heard about this paper airplane expirament i was really surprised that todays technology can make something like this to happen. I think that a lot of people are really excited to see how this expirement is going to turn out. The scientists that are in charge of controlling this expirement want to add something else to this expirement, the want to send a note on the paper airplane. They want to send a message of peace. Shinji Suzuki an aerospace tokyo professor says, "We don’t know where in the world the plane will land, but it would be nice to send a message to whoever finds it.”
I really like this article because its short but it has a lot of information. I have only one question about this article though. If scientists dont know where the paper airplane will land how will they know if it lands at all? They probraly have an idea but this article doesn't tell you any information about it.
science94
Im really glad you brought this topic up, because I have heard a lot of rumors saying that standing in front of a microwave was bad for you. Im glad to know that its not.
openthis99
i think you have a really interesting topic. I think you need to put in a lot more detail, because thats something that people like to know more about. As for you not having a question I do. Do they (the scientists) use hypnosis on everyone or only on a certain age group?
Jam
I think your artical is really good with all of its facts. You did a really good job but I think you should break it (the article) up more so its easier to understand and follow.
I read an article called, “Babies Prove Sound Learners” by Emily Sohn. It was about how scientists studied more about how babies learned how to speak so amazingly. Babies sort of have a clean plate of a brain when they are first born, so they take in and learn about their environment.
To me, the article was interesting in a way, but it seemed pretty obvious to me. The article talked about how it is much easier to learn a language when you are a baby, or under the age of seven, then when you are a middle school or high school student struggling to learn a language. Students would be a lot less frustrated if they started younger. To me, this was pretty much obvious. In fact, I was talking about it a few days before I read the article. Of course learning a language is easier when you are younger, you don’t know anything yet so you will have nothing to compare it to. What I didn’t know was how the author talked about the brain activity behind it.
Babies were hooked up to machines to record the activity in the brain. What I found most interesting was the last thing in the article. It shortly said babies had pretty much no brain activity when watching something educational on television, but when someone was speaking the information in front of them they learned. I wish they spoke more about this. I wonder why that is exactly. I thought the article was ok, though I wish they didn’t repeat their point so much. I also wish it wasn’t so… well… as I said before, obvious in a lot of its points.
jam,
very interesting response. I believe you included everything we were supposed to but you might want to edit a little better.
-miss murder
bad girl,
I liked your response to the article and I think you picked an interesting one. I think you made have had a little bit too much summery of it though.
By the way, here's the link to my article: http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20080116/Feature1.asp
-Miss Murder
Science94,
I laughed a little bit at how we are always warned not to stand in front of a microwave it from your article response it seems almost harmless. I wish you said a little bit more about why a dirty microwave is bad (besides the obvious reaons, its unsanitary). Maybe you did say it, but I didn't catch it (maybe this is just me).
This article is called The History of Meow, I got this article on www.sciencenewsforkids.org.
This article is about the recently discovered thousands of year history of cats.
A new study has showed that cats have been around for thousands of years living in the Near East (Turkey, Jordan, and Israel.) Archaeological artifacts have shown that cats and humans got used to each other and became friends.
I liked this article because I like cats, and it was very interesting.
to openthis99. good article I could picture everything in my mind.
to openthis99. good article I could picture everything in my mind.
to dr.chewbacca great job that was very interesting
cek93 good article maybe next time you should make it alitle longer
"Getting to know 'Your Inner Fish'"
by Catherine Gianaro
www.chronicle.uchicago.edu/080124/fish.shtml
Dr. Neil Shubin described how animals and humans are similar and not quite similar. He says that the animals bodies are "simpler versions of ours", and he discovers fossils of animals anatomy so that he can trace the origins of humans.
I liked about the article is how Dr. Neil Shubin can study fossiles then trace the origins of humans and evolution of different body parts. I liked the article because it really gave me lots of information on how Dr. Neil can use animals to get to humans. I wonder how he traces the fossils and compares the fossils with the humans. What are the comparisons? i have no suggestions but i liked the article alot.
Have you ever wondererd wut it would be like to have blue skin? Paul Karason does!!!
In the article Forever Blue by Ellen Shapiro, There is a man named Paul Karason, who accidentally turned his skin blue by using the thing called coloidal silver, which is made by taking the silver out of metal. When it gets shocked with electricy u drink it.I thought this artical was very interesting. When i saw the picture of him my eyes opened wide!!!
He said that he rubbed it on his face for a skin problem but when he drank it it turned him blue. I feel really bad for him that he has to live the rest of his life a blue freak.
Forever Blue by ellen shapiro
Jan. 8, 2008 People Magazine
Diamond Glow
Emily Sohn
http://sciencenewsforkids.com/articles/20080116/Note2.asp
The article that I read is about gems that glow while you put light under them. These gems are and are called llb gems.
I think that the article was okay. I just think that the article was not exciting or interesting. I think more information could have been shown in the article. It was not very easy to understand the article either.
If someone wanted to know about this they might be interested. I think the article could have been better if the had put more information into it. I think this article could have a lot better.
to: openthis99
Great job expesing what you thought. Watch your "i".
to: scienceclass
I really like how you showed how much you liked the article.
dear Dr.Chewbacca, i love your topic and your comment to "Dark Matter" though i think you need to work on limiting you use of " I also" but over all great comment.
dear Scienceclass, wow nice topic and i like the way you stated your opinion
dear openthis99, i like your topic but i think you overstated what you liked about it.
to:rocketman
I think you should have talked more about your artical.you had a good reflection.
to:scienceclass
Good job. I would hate to live with blue skin. I want to see that pictuer.
to: openthis99
Good job with the reflection. You should have talked more about the artical. I dont even know what the artical is about realy.
Science Class, I liked your report. I liked the article you picked too. But, for next time, write out the word 'you' instead of writing 'u', okay?
Rocket Man, I liked your article. It was simple and too the point. Next time, I think you should pick something you care more about. The report would turn out better.
Jam, You're report was really well written and I liked how you gave advice at the end. Next time, hit spell-check before you post.
This is to Jose Jose:
Wow!!! great job! I thinks its really interesting how your skin can turn different colors! I wonder if he'll be abel to tuen back to normal!
This is to plargo:
COOOOLLL!thats really amazing that its possible to go even faster!!
At the end you were starting a bincha sentances with "I" It was all good sept for that-- keep up the good work P-Dawg!
Dear, Dustmaster:
I think its really cool that We've acomplished cloning!!
Great job, the only thing I could thats unnesesarry was your name again at the end.hahahahahahahaa...
This is to hpbeatle13.
I like how you put questions in your intro of what you read. It make the readers want to read more. Very nice.
This is to badgirl.
That's very interesting that monkeys can do math. I thought that it wasn't true.
This is to mackattack.
Very cool reflection. I have no suggestions.
Anonymous, I think the article you chose was really cool. I also heard about the blue skin
JAM, I didn't know that about cell phones! cool article!
Dr. Chewbecca- I thought that you did a very good job writing your report on the article. It was well edited, and you hit on all the points. You have me really intreasted in the topic, I think I may look into the subject more!
P.S. I don't think that Chewbecca would be a very good Docter, might scare the patient and what not. Sort of reminds me of another ape like docter. Dr. Zaius? (Hope I spelled Zaius right)
Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler
by Mark Bittman
This article is about re-thinking eating so much meat. It states the facts economically, financially, health wise, and environmental-wise.
I liked this article because it informed me about everything that has to do with meat and the animals it comes from. I also liked how it gave me statistics, pictures, and graphs to give me even more information about the topic.
What interested me the most was that these assembly-line meat factories consume enormous amounts of energy, pollute water supplies, generate significant greenhouse gases and require ever-increasing amounts of corn, soy and other grains; a dependency that has led to the destruction of vast swaths of the world’s tropical rain forests. Day by day we are all destroying the world somehow.
I don't have any questions or comments for the writer. i though this article was very informative. :]
Comments
To: bad girl
i liked how you gave detail about your article. it was really interesting! I didnt know monkeys knew that much!!
To: Openthis99
wow, that's amazing how you can use hypnosis to figure out how the brain works! i never actually knew that. i liked how you stated the description of the article in a very simple yet informative way.
To: Jam
i never knew that. i use my cell phone before i go to sleep sometimes, but that's really interesting! you used great description in explaining the topic. good job!!
Jose Jose-
I liked your report, it was interesting and very original and wasn't boring.
George Washington-
I really enjoyed your article report...i like candy =]
--AlphaDog84
The Mysteries of Miscarriage
By Karen Springen | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Jan 28, 2008
I watched a show one time where a main character had a miscarriage, it was REALLY sad. Losing a baby must be one of the hardest things you can have happen to you as a mother. You lost a living thing inside of you. The article was about how miscarriages happen, one of the ways you might have a miscarriage happen is if you drink too much caffeine. I learned that there are alot of causes of miscarriages and not all of them can be controlled.
"It's nature's way of saying, 'this isn't working, so we're going to let it go'," says Duke University Ob-Gyn Susann Clifford. I thought that quote was sad, because he's basicaly saying, we are gonna get rid of your baby.
Women can't do much to stop most of the risk factors, like age and if they get hurt and lose the baby. The only thing you can try and do is to stay health and to eat your vitamins and don''t do anything that would be dangerous for the baby, like drinking or smoking. I liked this article, because I think that even though things like this are sad, they still do happen. So we shoudl be educated about them.
ps--sorry about how late it was...i thought i posted it last time...
openthis99~ I really liked your blog but I think that you could of put a little more information in it about ur article
Anonymous~your article was very interesting and cool
GeorgeWashington12~i really like your article it really taught me a lot of interestign thigs
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