Current Events 7

The mercury in that Tuna
Stephen Ornes
Monday, Math 10th. 2010
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/59035/titl/FOR_KIDS_The_mercury_in_that_tuna
These are some definitions taken directly from the site that helped me to better understand the point of this article:
mercury - A naturally occurring element that is found in air, water and soil. It exists in several forms: elemental or metallic mercury, inorganic mercury compounds, and organic mercury compounds (EPA definition).
neurotoxic - A poison that damages or destroys nerve tissue.
parts per million - A measure of concentration: the umber of parts of a chemical found in one million parts of a particular gas, liquid or solid (EPA definition).
I’m sure that everyone has heard that eating fish is very very healthy and that we should intake a lot of this sort of food. But is it always true? No. This article showed us the opposite thing. We should be very careful which type of fish we are going to eat. For example eating fish can be bad for us because when fish swim in polluted waters, the poisonous compounds, like mercury, can get in the fish, and later when we eat it, we can get contaminated too. The mercury is especially concerning because even small amounts of this elements can lead to serious heart and nervous system disease. That is showed in cases of tuna, as it is showed by three different studies that have conducted scientists from Columbia University in New York. They have investigated the amount of mercury in different type of tuna fish, and they have concluded that the bigger the fish is, the more mercury it will contain. (Example: Tuna with yellowfin had less mercury than tuna from bluefin, which is larger. They have also concluded that restaurant tuna has more mercury than grocery tuna, and that this amount is much bigger than it is recommended by EPA (EPA recommendation is that fish should not contain more than 0.5 parts per million (or ppm)). Second study showed that canned tuna has less mercury than the one served in restaurants and the third study showed that different type of fish –not only tuna have different amounts of mercury which can be up to 100 times bigger than EPA recommendation. These amounts are given in the following table and everyone should be careful when deciding which fish he is going to eat.
This table provides information about level of mercury in different fish type, and I hope that it will help us to decide which one we will consume.
All the scientists are appealing to EPA to be more strict in determination of the mercury level, but they have also underlines that every producer should give clear notification about all the contents of the food he/she serves or produces etc…
I think that we all can eat fish and still be healthy by carefully reading of all information about the fish.

Current events 6

Polar bears can't eat geese into extinction
Science Daily (Oct.4th. 2010)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101104154340.htm
There are a lot of articles that talk about the extinction of polar bears. This article is the newest one that I found on science news. It talks about how there is a certain hope that they can survive with by adapting to new food resources.
As we already know, polar bears are one of the most endangered species and there are a lot of expeditions and researchers that are putting a lot of effort in order to help them survive! Why is this happening? Because of global warming, bears are losing their natural habitats (huge icebergs in polar seas), and the food sources too. As we know, polar bears usually eat fish or penguins, but because of global warming, in the polar “world” ice is disappearing-it is melting, and that’s how they lose their food, So, they have to find new alternative sources of energy, just in order to survive. This is described in this article. During the arctic spring, a lot of things happen. Glaciers break, bears are going onto shore, the geese are going to the north, and eggs are being layed. A thousands and thousands eggs of geese are eaten by polar bears each year. The timing of geese migration is based on the photo period and the timing of bear movements are based on the melting sea ice. When the geese hatch their eggs, the bears come and eat them, but since the bear is coming earlier, it is better for both of them, because the eggs have more nutrients when the embryo is younger. But, as the title says, polar bears can’t eat geese into extinction because there is a mismatch in their timing. The geese eggs may help them survive in their period of hunger, when nothing else is available.
This article was very concerning to me because it reminded me again about endangered species-I really didn’t think about the polar bears, that don’t have enough food and especially that they are starving on some icebergs, searching for some or any foods!!! But I’m really happy that I found out that they have adapted new energy source and the eggs of the geese seem to be as good and easy available.

Human Footprints

Sustainable means to continue going far from the future (forever if possible.) When we talk about sustainability we should think about three important things:
1.) Resource (what are the things that we are using made of? Are they renewable or not?
2.) Waste (how much waste is produced? What can be recycled or reused?)
3.) Impact (we need to know the impact of the use of the product or activity on society and environment)
Human footprint is how much of the world we are using in our lifetime. One of the examples how I can lessen my footprint is taking a taxi ride to school or going to school with a school bus.
Eco footprint is how much nature we have and how much of it we are using. We all have our ecological footprints (babies, animals, and small insects) because all species are using earth supplies for their needs.
Energy, food, transportation, garbage, and water make up the ecological footprint. I use 4,714 liters of water every week. That is 1.92 times as much as average Canadians use. My average consuming consequences is 41.7!!! That is a little too much.
The thing that really surprised me is how much products we use everyday to full-fill our lives. I didn't know this until we watched the movie "Human footprints." The amount of paper, containers, food and objects we waste, without even noticing. But what are we supposed to do? How can we possibly decrease the amount of things we use? This movie that we watched in class is just warning us so we can reduce our uses and use less water, transportation, food etc in our lives. This also goes to you and your family.
We can help! There are many ways we can help, of course, we can lessen the amount of energy, water, food, and transportation. But there are also some other things we can do with water, transportation, energy, food and garbage.
Water: 1.)Freshwater! 2.)Local Plants can help Water Conservation! 3.)Study your local waterways
Transportation: 1.) Compile and study commuting patterns 2.) Don't Idle!
3.) Walk!
Food: 1.)Grow your own herbs or vegetables 2.)Vegetarian meals 3.) Design a school garden 4.) Buy near, now and nutritious!
Energy: 1.) No Cost - Reduce by 10% 2.) Low Cost - Reduce by 10% 3.)Compact fluorescent light bulbs 4.)Outdoor Classroom 5.) Turn off anything that includes energy. 6.) Sustainable Energy
Garbage: 1.) No Junk Mail 2.) Waste Reduction Policy 3.) No Plastic or Paper Bags 4.) The Environment Club at Cape Breton Highlands Academy 5.) Develop an on-school recycling program 6.) Reduce Paper Use by 10%

I know I haven't really explained each of them, but you can go ahead and take a look at the site- http://www.ecovoyageurs.ca/en/page.cgi?stage=help/help .

Current event 5

New ocean acidification study shows added danger to already struggling coral reefs
Rebecca Albright, Benjamin Mason, Margaret Miller, Chris Langdon.
November, 13, 2010
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101108151328.htm
Science Daily

This article describes how ocean acidification is a threat to the existence of coral reefs. Ocean acidification is when seawater and carbon dioxide are mixed resulting in water getting acid. This is a major problem for the whole marine world. I think that this is very dangerous, not only for the reef, but also for the species around, because they cannot eat, or hide from predators in the coral reefs because the acidification is destroying it. It is said that the coral reef cannot recover from disturbance, which means that they could not severely fight against it and survive letting the species around survive too. One of the most endangered specie of coral reefs is called Elkhorn coral, or Acropora palmata who rebuilds the coral reefs. However, it was put in the endangered species list in 2006 because its' population was getting smaller through the decades behind. Another problem is that acidity is increasing troubles in the marine food web making organisms such as oysters and sea urchins more difficult and hard to survive. The scientists says that reproductive failure of coral species is a concern because reefs are already stressed out from hurricanes, floods, etc...
This article has surprised me because it mentioned that this has been happening for centuries- it reminds me of news I heard on TV that describes bombs falling in the sea for centuries now and destroying all the coral reefs and species- since I've been in that place, I saw only empty rocks with nothing- no grass, no flowers, etc... This article is connecting to our topic in class with organisms that depend ion survival. It has also shown me that the human activities are AGAIN a source of someones disturbance, no matter how deep the reefs are.

Current events 4

Brainy Bees know two from three
Jack Dykinga/ARS
Feb.18.2009
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20090218/Note3.asp

This article describes the ability of bees to recognize the pattern which is based on the different number of elements in it. For example, the bees can make a difference between three or four dots of one color, and they can later find some numbers of elements in another color.
Similar research experiments were done with other animals such as penguins, or dolphins, but there are only a few concerning such small and tiny creatures like bees. The scientists Zhang from the Australian National University in Canberra. He is studying honeybees since 1980, and he is often surprised how clever they are. These scientists did experiment to "Brain" the 20 bees to pass through the tunnel to find the different number of colored dots which they should connect with some number on the exit, (in the end). If the bees did good, they would get a reward- sugar snacks, and they did great in more than 70% of cases. The bees later pass more different tests, they make differences between the same number of objects but in different shapes and colors (three green leaves and three yellow stars).
All of this may sound pretty silly for some people, but as scientists said, an average person can remember objects at times, so the small bees aren't dumb at all. And who knows what else scientists will discover!
Personal Message: Those bees remind me of dogs; they do what the owner tells them to do, then they get a treat!!!!

Science Reflection

I think my grades on the Ecological Issue Essay and the Biome in a Bottle Lab Report were really good, especially the Biome in a Bottle lab, because I was surprised that I got the highest grades in each Criteria, same for the Biodiversity Essay, I got really good grades on that probably because I used a lot of information that, for example, someone else wouldn’t. I did really well, however, for the Ecological Issue Essay I think I could have used the appropriate bibliography format (MYA). I didn’t use that format, maybe that’s why my science teacher gave me a lower grade. I’m pretty satisfied with the grades I got for these reports.
I can improve on taking more notes, and jotting down new facts in my notebook, instead of writing down everything that says from the internet (Not immediately copy pasting, though.) If I used notes, it would be easier for me to remember what I have to write in my essay. Writing down notes is a rough draft of a real done essay. Why? Because you have all the information for your essay, then all you have to do is write it in paragraph form, and WALLAA!
I thought that these essays were great, and really fun to do. The Ecological Issue Essay was a great experience to learn the issues of Biodiversity, and what it is, the causes of it, how we can help, etc… When I first heard that we have to write an essay, I wasn’t really happy because I thought it would be hard and boring. But while I was doing the research, I was so interested in hearing what is happening to the variety of species living in one big or small ecosystem. Same for the Lab report, it was fun, and I enjoyed experimenting and learning how the plant can grow, how long it needed to grow, and what it needed to live.