Science Class Reflection

For the past four months, we have been doing many interesting things in science class. My favorite was when we learned about how animals camouflage themselves to avoid being hunted by "hunting" various colored toothpicks outside. By doing this, we learned how different animals camouflage differently to adapt to their environment. The colors of the toothpicks were green, yellow, red, blue, and wood. Because green blended in with the grass, it was the hardest to find out of all of them. Wood was the easiest because it stood out. By doing this, we got a chance to see how a predator- prey relationship works. It gave us a visualization of what an organism needs to do to survive and showed us an example of adaptation.

In nature, animals camouflage in order to survive. This gives them a chance to get food, find shelter, and mate. This is an example of adaptation. Adaptation is when an animal adapts to their environment and or habitat. This also includes using physical traits to adapt to an environment (camouflage). Physical traits can be the spikes on a hedgehog, which protects it from predators, or the humps on a camel, which are used for storing water.

Overall, this was a fun and educational experiment. It taught us about adaptation and how animals camouflage because of it. This is one of the best experiences I have had this year.

http://www.uen.org/utahlink/activities/view_activity.cgi?activity_id=4750

http://www.howstuffworks.com/animal-camouflage.htm

Science Current Event 2

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/50200/title/Loneliness_is_contagious,_study_suggests
This article is about the theory that loneliness is contagious. Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School and James Fowler of the University of California have been conducting studies to see how a persons feelings move through social networks. This new study ,which is led by John Cacioppo, found that loneliness is contagious because they do not trust their connections and foster their mistrust into other people. It has been proven easier to catch from friends vs. family and is most contagious between neighbors who live about a mile by each other. It is spread by three degrees of separation: One lonely friend can cause you to be 45-60% lonely, a lonely friend of a friend makes you 14-36% lonely, and a friend of a friend of a friend makes you 6-26% lonely. Although the evidence supports this, some scientists think other wise. Jason Fletcher of Yale thinks that the studies control is not good enough to eliminate the other explanations. Jason, along with other scientists think that there is not enough evidence to prove this theory true. Nicholas and James decided to conduct an experiment in Framingham, Mass., a small town where everyone practialy knows everyone. This study followed people over 60 years while keeping track of mental healths, habits and diets, and physical health. After the test was conducted, the results showed that lonely people used social networking, but first transmit feelings of isolation to friends and neighbors. According to John, when you are lonely you are more alert to social threats and tend to engage in self protective behavior. Loneliness can also be caused by diseases, such as Alzheimer, and reconnecting with them can be important for their public health.
My opinion on this article is that feeling lonely can be considered "contagious", but not literally. I think it is "contagious" because you tend to be more like the people you are around most of the time. If you are around lonely people, I believe there is a chance that you will be lonely, since lonely people do not socialize often. On the other hand, if you are around happy and social people, you have a chance of being of a more social person. Although opposing scientists make a good point, I believe that John's theory is correct. This is why I think that loneliness can be considered "contagious".

Science Current Event 1

http://sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/49195/title/Newborn_babies_may_cry_in_their_mother_tongues

This article (above) is about how new born babies begin to develop language. Scientist have discovered that around 2-5 days after a baby is born, they begin to cry in a rhythm similar to their parents native tounge/language. This imitation becomes baby blabber as the child begins to grow, and after three months, infants can start to make vowel sounds spoken by adults. Kathleen Wermke, an anthropologist, and her team decided to prove this theory by studying 60 new born babies, one half French and the other German. The scientist recorded over 2,500 voice recordings as the babies went through their daily routines. The results of this experiment shows that German new born's started out making high pitch sound which then lowered to low pitch sounds. The French new born's started out low pitched and then rose to a higher pitch. These patterns are similar to those used by German and French adults. This experiment also proves that babies try to imitate their mothers behaviors as much as possible. However, other scientists, such as Dr. Kimbrough Oller, are debating that the mothers could have reacted differently to crying situations which could lead to different baby cries. Dr. Oller also believes that the recordings could have been from different times, such as changing time or feeding time, which could also affect the babies cries. As scientist continue to debate the face that a parents language determines the way a baby cries, the truth is still not certain.

In my opinion, I agree with Dr. Wermke. Although Dr. Oller makes a point about different situations could affect the cries, the cries still will sound like the language spoken by the mother since babies try to imitate their mother to attract attention. Both doctors make a point, but Wermek's theory makes more sense. No matter what situation the recordings where taken from, the rhythm of the cries still will sound like the language the mother speaks since the baby hears it all the time when their parents are talking or the mother is on the phone, for example. In conclusion, I believe that a baby cries in a rhythm similar to the language that is spoke by their mother.

Lit. (Bullying to Man's inhumanity to Man)

Even though society thinks bullying is wrong, it will never be able to stop it. The reason for this is because most of society is fearful of the bully, which means no one may have the guts to stand up to the bully. In Lord of the Flies, Jack would be considered the bully and the rest of the boys would be considered society. Jack strikes fear into the others, which is why most of them choose to follow him instead of Ralph. Once the bully strikes fear, most people become hypnotized to not do anything or follow him or her because they may feel that they are protected if they follow the bully. The reason they may feel protected is because then they won't have to worry about being terrorized everyday. Jack offers protection from the beastie in Lord of the Flies, which is why most of the boys choose to follow him. In addition to this, they may feel protected from Jack himself because they won't have to worry about him bullying them. Also, bullies can influence others into being on their side. Like in Lord of the Flies, Jack influences the other boys and even Ralph at some point to bully Piggy. This is why bullying will always be a part of society.

Lit.

While reading Taking Sides, by Gary Soto, I was able to make many connections with the characters in the novel. Some of the connections I was able to make while reading this book was with the main character, Lincoln. Lincoln did not exactly fit in at Sycamore. Piggy, from Lord of the Flies, was also in this situation. The other boys on the island did not want to be his friend and often made fun of him because of his weight. Although this wasn't exactly the case for Lincoln, both situations are similar since both boys were left out from the crowd most the time. Another connection I was able to make while reading this book was when Lincoln and Tony got into the fight over the T.V. This reminded me of the time were I got into a fight with one of my friends, which I am almost positive everyone has since it is a normal thing. Like Lincoln and Tony, we disagreed over something, but also like Lincoln and Tony, we worked things out. In addition to this, I also was able to make a connection with social studies class, since we learned about human needs. One which included the need to be loved. Lincoln had this need since he needed to be loved by his mom, especially after all that was going on with is life, like the break in at his house. He also wanted to be loved by a girl his age named Monica, since he had to break up with his old girlfriend Vicky, when he moved from Franklin to Sycamore.

Welcome Scientists

My favorite subject is Science, because we do fun experiments.
The best book I ever read was Scorpia.
My favorite food to buy in the cafeteria is mozzarella sticks.
On the weekend, when all my chores are done, I like to relax.
If I won a free airline ticket to any place I wanted, I would go to California because its warm there.
My favorite color is blue.
If I had a pet, it would be a fish and I'd name it Paco.
This year, if I work hard enough, I hope to get straight A's.