butterfly camo

In class, we did an experiment with butterflies and their camouflage. We had to color in a butterfly and make it blend in with a spot in the room. My butterfly was placed on a board with multiple bright colors. After the students finished hiding their butterflies, the predator(Mrs. Gavin) came in and searched for her prey(the butterflies). The first search was done with the butterflies in their normal habitat safely camouflage, with normal lighting. Mrs. Gavin found most of her prey but not all of them. The second search was with the lights turned off. Because of the darkness, Mrs. Gavin found it harder to find the butterflies. The third search was in the light, the students had to place the butterflies in places that did not match with their butterflies camouflage. I put my butterfly on a table and it was very easily found. Mrs. Gavin surprisingly found it harder to find the butterflies in places where they were out of place. In other words, Mrs. Gavin knew the butterflies were placed in a habitat where they were hidden with camouflage,so she expected to find the butterflies in a similar background of that they were placed in.

Robo Legs

Japanese car manufacturing titan Honda has created mechanical legs that assist one in walking, crouching and it reduces stress to joints. This device is currently being tested by Honda employers who stand, walk and crouch all day and is getting very positive feed back. One man said that "it is like I have springs in my legs, the way the device assisted me was natural and I felt that my walking was easier." The way the device works is it take away the pressure caused by movement of the joints and makes it easier to walk up hill or crouch for long periods of time. Honda hopes that one day this device can help the elderly in every day tasks and those who have joint problems. The machine has a sensor, computer and motor that responds to the users every movement. I feel that this is a huge step in technology and will help many people in the future.

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/news/

current event blog

This inspirational story about Derek Mamoyac, a 27 year old from Philomath, Oregon who was climbing a 12,227 foot tall mountain of which was only supposed to be a one day journey ended up being a horrid 5 day adventure in 23 degree weather. He started his climb last Sunday and when he did not come to work the next morning, his father Steve Mamoyac reported him missing and set out to find him with a 50 man search party. Eventually, after 5 days and nights in the frigid cold a search and rescue dog found him dehydrated and with a broken ankle. Derek says his foot fell through loose snow and he ended up tumbling backwards and breaking his ankle. He survived by eating centipedes and drinking water from a near by creak. The man crawled down the mountain and when his knees could take no more he would scoot himself down backwards. He cleared a huge chunk of the mountain and was found at 6,000 feet. This amazing story shows how committed this man was to get off that mountain and save himself from the unbearable cold.

class response blog

Why and how do kites fly? this is a popular question asked by people that don't know much about kites. I will answer that ever so popular question. Kites fly because of weight, drag, wind speed, wind direction and air pressure. When a kite is heavier then air it relies on a rounded surface on the kite that deflects the airflow to create different air pressures. Also, when the wind is moving faster towards the kite the air pressure decreases and creates lift. When the wind is going slow it creates an increased air pressure which decreases lift. Another huge factor of kites flying is drag. Drag is really determined on the design and the set of the bridle line of the kite, and is when gravity pulls down of the kite. One shouldn't have too much drag though, the kite should have more lift then drag to be able to fly well. But, the kite should have drag to gain stability. So basically a perfect kite needs an unbalanced 60:40 ratio of lift to drag. Overall, a kite flys because of weight, drag, wind speed, wind direction, and that ever so important air pressure!

class response blog

Reservoirs are main water supplies for drinking water, bathing water etc. A reservoir is an amount of water that is held between gaps from rocks in the earth, forming pockets. But, they are very limited because of humans. Humans take way to much advantage of these wonderful springs and eventually we will not have water in them. We use these water resources for drinking, bathing, farming and factories and waste a great deal of it. This isn't the only problem humans are causing, we are causing a great deal of a thing called, water pollution. Water pollution is when humans put waste, chemicals, and other non biodegradable substances into the earths water sources. This is a very bad thing because clouds take water from water sources, and reservoirs are sources of water. Also, The clouds move to other areas, so they take the polluted water and spread it to other masses of water. Basically, although we are only polluting one source we are pretty much polluting every water source their is. Not only that, but the animals drink from the water that we pollute, and get sick and die eventually. The ones that don't die we eat so we are sickening our selves by eating the sick animals. Worst of all, the animals are dying and there will be more endangered and extinct animals,which is really messing up the food chain, one of which humans are a part of. Overall, if humans do not stop polluting the reservoirs we will be killing our selves, and the world as we know it will be destroyed!

Math News Blog

Everyone wants to go, to where they want go, fast right? That’s why people walk a straight line in lieu of zigzags. A straight line may be the shortest distance between two points, but it isn't necessarily the fastest path to follow. That's true when terrain is not level, and now researchers have created a mathematical model showing that a zigzag line provides the easiest way for people to go up or down slopes. So the next time you want to go to a place fast, think twice before walking a straight line!

Math News blog

A math problem which has overcome mathematicians for almost 140 years has been solved. It was solved by a researcher at Imperial College. Darren Crowdy, has made the discovery in an area of math called conformal mapping. Conformal Mapping is a theoretical tool used by mathematicians and scientists to translate info from a confusing shape to easier circular shape so that it can be easily studied. Now that this extremely hard math problem has successfully been solved mathematicians can stop worrying.

current event blog

When you think of The Grand Canyon you think of a huge dry waterless gap in the earth, am i right? Well not anymore, on Wednesday a whopping 300,000 gallons of water per second was released into the Grand Canyon from Lake Powell. At this rate, that would be enough water to fill the entire empire state building in as little as 20 minutes! This is going on for three days in hope to restore plant and aquatic animal life in the Grand Canyon and restore beaches. Although the water will only rise a few feet after the process, researchers are hoping that will help restore sand bars in the Colorado river downstream of the dam. Over all, flooding the canyon will increase wildlife, restore beaches and possibly help endangered species reproduce more offspring.

science blog

Everybody likes ice cream! No i take that back everyone loves ice cream! But would you love ice cream if you knew they put antifreeze in it? Yes it is true, scientists in Wisconsin have discovered a way to put antifreeze in ice cream and make it edible. This may sound gross, but really there is nothing gross about it, it has proven itself useful to prevent ice crystal growth a.k.a freezer burn. It is a completely safe chemical if used right and you shouldn't think twice before eating ice cream, it will do nothing more then keep the ice cream freezer burn free!