Thursday, January 22, 2009

Coffee CRAZY

           A new study suggests that people who drink seven cups of coffee a day are 3 times more likely to hallucinate and hear imaginary voices than those who drink 1 cup of coffee or less. The study included 200 test subjects those who drank an equivalent of 7 cups of coffee were much more likely to hallucinate than those who drank much less. The research does not show however that cause of this effects is the caffeine in the coffee. Caffeine is craved for its ability to quickly raise alertness and boost energy, though the drug has been researched many times the effects apparently ranged from easing pain and headaches to causing cancer. It is possible that the caffeine caused sensory disturbance by amplifying the physiological effects of stress. It also caused increased production of stress related hormone called cortisol. Hallucination is usually linked to traumatic events such as abuse. The study noted that heavy intake of caffeine can cause jitteriness and other adverse effects. A much higher dose may cause more heavy effects such as hallucination. The study may be unable to prove the effects of caffeine as certain psychotic conditions such as psychotic depression could distort the effects of drugs.
            I believe that this study is important because it will make the public more aware of caffeine's effects. It may be possible however that hallucination would be caused for different reasons for different individuals. Though it is an important study it feels to me that it is a wild goose chase. This is because it will take much more research and a much more close examination of coffee ingredients in order to find the accurate effects of coffee.
                                                                          Information was found here

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Barrack Obama's inauguration

On January 21, 2009 president Barrack Obama officially took office at the 44th presidential inauguration along with his vice president Joe Biden. This is a historical event because Barrack Obama is the first ever African American president. During the inauguration Mr. Obama swore in on the bible Abraham Lincoln used during his inauguration. The ceremony took place in the three square- kilometer area of the capital which was turned into a very secure zone. One million people watched the inauguration from the national mall while hundreds of thousands more stood in Pennsylvania avenue to watch the inaugural parade.

President Obama and his wife attended a morning worship service, a tradition that began with president Franklin D Roosevelt. After which they went to the inauguration and they proceded to a luncheon in the statuary hall along with about 200 guests. The menu at the luncheon would be "inspired" by the tastes of Mr.Lincoln. At around eight o clock PM Mr. and Mrs. Obama attended 10 official inaugural balls. The Obamas returned to the White house at around 3:00 AM.
Information for this paragraph was taken from here.
The historical event was bigger than any other presidential inauguration in the last 28 years. Early numbers from Nielson Media Research say 29.2% of households watched the inauguration while online viewing broke video traffic records for CNN.com, FoxNews.com, MSNBC.com. Ronald Reagan's inauguration in 1981 had 37.4 households viwing his inauguration. Major news networks got 17,000,000 views from noon to 12:30 PM. It is estimated the inauguration had around 35 million viewers in total.
Information for this paragraph was taken from here.
I believe this is very big news. It is a record breaking event. I feel Mr.Obama will be a great president. I also believe Mr.Biden will be a great vice-president. Obama's presidency may inspire many others of different races to run for presidency as well. I believe he was the best candidate who ever ran for presidency of the United States.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

A bizzarre new raptor is found in Argentina

  Scientists have found a giant bipedal dinosaur in Argentina officially named  Austroraptor cabazi. This discovery has took palentologists by suprise as the fossils indicate that it is one of the largest raptors ever to have  lived and was the only raptor ever found with short arms. It stands 16.5 feet tall and is  21 feet long. The raptors bones are incomplete containing the fossil remnants of its head neck back and foot bones it was completely missing  an abdomen. It has a long head. Scientists were able to generate a computer digram of what its skelletal system would have looked like by using the raptors closest relatives. The fossil was extracted from rocks in the patagonia region along with the fossils of turtle and fish. Scientists officialy state that this is the largest raptor ever found in South America by far. Most raptors found in South America were the size of small crows and turtles. Unlike other dinosaurs found in this region which had the ability to fly Austroraptor was to big and heavy to fly. 
     I think that this is one of the most important discoveries ever made in South America. It was a revolutionary find that shows how evolution in South America worked. I think that it might also be related in some way to the pterodactyl which also has a long head. The find proves that not all evolutionary paths have to come from one species. Perhaps more fossil finds will reveal even more.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Pictures Of Symbyosis

My science class was assigned a project. This project was to take a picture of a symbiotic relationship in our township. Symbiosis is a relationship between two living things.There are three types of symbiosis. The first type of symbiosis is mutualism. In mutualism both organisms benefit from their reletionship. One example of mutualism is a honey bee and a flower. While the bee gets the nectar that it needs the flower gets pollenated. Another type of symbiobis is commensalism. Commensalism is where one organism benefits while the other is unharmed. An example of commensalism is a tree with a vine hanging from it. The vine gets something to leen on while the tree does not get or lose anything it needs. The last form of symbiosis is parasatism. Parasatism is when one organism benefits and the other one is unharmed. An example of parasatism is a dog with a flea in its fur The flea gets nutrients from the dogs blood which causes the dog to lose blood.
I got a picture of a tree with weeds on its roots. This is an example of parasatism becauses the tree loses some of its water because the weeds which  damage its roots then absorb the water the tree loses for itself. It is also possible that this is an example of commensalism because the trees roots might have been cut before the weeds grew in allowing the weeds to gain the water it needed without harming the tree. I think this project was an excellent idea because instead of doing normal homework we got to experiment with technology and see how beautiful nature is.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Boom Blox!!

School as many people know it is where you have to go in order to learn, it is also known as the most boring place in the world. However that is not the case at my science class or atleast the boring part isn't. In science class we played the wii. It was for "educational" purposes. The game we played was called Boom Blox. The point of the game is basically to complete all the various objectives and mini games. You start by doing training which gets you used to the various mini games and controls. After that you start completing objectives which usually involves making boxes explode, disappear and break. This game has a lot to do with competition in the enviorment. I know this because the class had to answer questions on a worksheet while we were playing the game. The game relates to competition because you have to be quick thinker in order to get the highest score possible. Animals in the wild have to do the same thing because they have to think quickly in order to get the most nutrients and to remain safe. I believe that this was a good oppurtunity to learn in a fun way. It gets rid of the repetitive nature in school that most people don't like. It is much more fun and cretive to do then to take notes and tests.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Scientists hope to make a car thats faster than a bullet!

British engineers hope to build a rocket powered vehicle that can travel faster than 1000 miles an hour. The name of this car is the Bloodhound SSC and will be piloted by Andy Green. The Bloodhound can travel faster than a bullet shot from a hand gun if it reaches this speed. According to its designers this car is more advanced than most spacecraft capable of accelerating 0-1050 in forty seconds. It will have the first ever mixed power of a hybrid rocket motor and a jet engine that is currently used on the Eurofighter Typhoon. If all goes successfully it is hoped that the car will be ready for testing by 2011. The purpose of the Bloodhound is not to break a record however. It is to inspire future generations to take careers in science,math and engineering.
I think that this car would not be as inspirational to kids as they hope. Most kids and teens probably will not remember this car when they get to college. This car will achieve much in the technological industry and lead to big discoveries. However it looks like it will be very expensive to make. Since most countries are in a recession it would be even more expensive to purchase all the parts and fuel. England should wait until their economy gets before they make this car.

Information was found here

Thursday, October 9, 2008

New research suggests dinosaurs grew really big by not chewing their food

Sauropods are an extinct type of dinosaur that had a long neck and ate vegetation. Sauropods weighed up to 80 metric tons and up to 23 feet tall. Scientists believe that Sauropods were such a large size to discourage large predators from eating them. How they kept their massive size remained mysterious. Herbivores(plant eaters) were thought to have very few teeth and were thought to have eaten their food whole. They browsed large areas without moving much because of their extremely long necks and consumed large quantities of vegetation in a short period of time.  Martin Sander a paleontologist at the University of Bonn in Germany stated that "You can only have this neck if you don't chew your food, otherwise your head would be full of teeth and too heavy to support."
 According to Paul Upchurch an expert on sauropods from the University College of London most paleontologists agree that feeding is the key to sauropod magnetism. In order to outgrow their predators sauropods would need two things large amounts of food and a way to reach their full size quickly. In order to survive, sauropods needed to reach their full size quickly. Their bones show that they would reach adulthood in 20 to 30 years which is quick by dinosaur time. This told scientists that they had a high metabolic rate and were warm blooded. If the sauropods did chew their food they would have had a mouth full of teeth and their fore a shorter neck. They would then not be able to consume as much food this way and would not be able to reach their full size. Therefore it is very likely that if the sauropods did chew their food they would have reached extinction before the mass extinction 65 million years ago.