Hello everyone.
It’s that time again. The time to read something really interesting about science, to think it over, and then to share your thoughts with all of us.
This week, please choose an article that is really a challenge for you and share in your reflection about how you made sense of it for yourself.
As always, I look forward to reading what you have written.
61 responses so far ↓
1
maximumpower4334
// Mar 6, 2007 at 7:25 pm
Science of Gambling
By David Brill
http://www.firstscience.com/home/articles/humans/science-of-gambling_1733.html
This article, by Dave Brill, investigates the social, and biological aspects of gambling.
The main thing about it, is that you abandon self control, and your mind is not exactly clear. So whats going on? The ventrolmedial cortex, the area that controls decision making, is less active in pathological gamblers.
This article was very though to sit thorugh, as it took Dave 3 pages to get to why we gamble. He bores you really.
2
maximumpower4334
// Mar 6, 2007 at 7:25 pm
yes, first comment
3
cek
// Mar 7, 2007 at 1:02 pm
This article is called a new basketball gets slick. I found this article on http://www.sciencenewsforkids.com. It is by Emily Sohn. This article is about a new basketball that are covered in plastic spalding, the company that makes the new balls, insists that through tests during development showed that the synthetic covering performs better than the lever cover.
I liked this article because I like basketball.
4
Striking Ferret
// Mar 7, 2007 at 1:20 pm
3/7/07
Striking Ferret
Look Into My Eyes, by Emily Sohn
March 7, 2007
I found this article at http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20070307/Feature1.asp
This article was about how scientists are making computers that are able to make a map of exactly everything you are seeing. It was also about all the scientific stuff on how they make it.
I thought the author did a good job explaining her main points. I thought she did this when she said about how the computer worked. I also thought she did a good job explaining how your eye can work as a mirror.
Some things I thought she could have done better are say more about how scientists came up with an idea for a computer that can see what you are seeing. I think she also could have said more about the actual scientists that made the computer.
Overall I thought this article was OK. I would give it an A-.
5
bigfoot
// Mar 7, 2007 at 5:44 pm
news for kids E-shon
I read an artical about a small South American bat. It shoots its tongue out which is longer than its body!!! Scientists named it Anoura fistulate. It sips necter from flowers.The scientists measured it by makeing it drink from a straw.
The bat has a special muscle that lets the tongue go out. The ancestors used their tongues to eat out of bee hives.
6
cek
// Mar 8, 2007 at 10:51 am
to big foot great article
7
monkey girl
// Mar 8, 2007 at 10:57 am
I found this article at:
http://www.croton-harmonschools.org/default.html
Until recently we thought that we where the only living being that used tools but resonantly scientists have discovered that chimps use sharpened sticks to hunt bush babies witch are squirrel like rodents.
I enjoyed this article and was surprised at this tern of evolution, maybe chimps really where the first animals to use tools .
8
monkey girl
// Mar 8, 2007 at 10:58 am
the comment on top of this was by monkey girl
9
jwhackdaddy
// Mar 8, 2007 at 11:21 am
Chimpanzee hunting tools by Emily Sohn
Sciencenewsforkids.com
This article is about how femaile fongoli chimpanzees in senegal use ripped-off tree branches as spears to hunt bush babies, that they eat.
I didn’t like this article. It was informing, but dull
10
jwhackdaddy
// Mar 8, 2007 at 1:02 pm
To monkey girl- We had the same article, but I got it from sciencenewsforkids, we also had different responses, nicely done
11
jwhackdaddy
// Mar 8, 2007 at 1:05 pm
To bigfoot- You very well explained your article, good job, I understood it a lot. But where’s your response to it?
12
jwhackdaddy
// Mar 8, 2007 at 1:13 pm
To striking ferret - You had a good couple of paragraphs on your artilce, they were well written. I I wonder if they install a chip in your eye, or something, when your born. I hope not, that would hurt!I also wonder if they can see from your eyes if you’re blind.
13
Pooky star
// Mar 8, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Shrimpy Invaders
Report by: Pooky star.
I got this article from http://www.sciencenewsforkids.com and it is written by E. Sohn.
This article is about how a new type of shrimplike crustacean has appeared in the Great Lakes. Crustaceans, called mysid shrimp, normally live in rivers near the western coast of the Caspian Sea in eastern Europe. In November, researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found invading mysid shrimp in a channel in Lake Michigan. “I predict it will be a highly disruptive species,” says Anthony Ricciardi of McGill University in Montreal.
This article was pretty good but a little bit boring this article also talked about how the species got to the lakes: most European ships that enter the Great Lakes now dump nearly all the water (and the critters living in it) from their ballast tanks before leaving Europe, a small amount still remains on board. That’s still enough water to harbor species such as Hemimysis anomala. This water can end up in the Great Lakes while ships unload and take on cargo.
New guidelines recommend that ships flush their tanks with saltwater before entering the Great Lakes. This “swish and spit” technique should be enough to kill any freshwater species that have come along for the ride. I hope that they will find a way to get rid of those creepy shrimp that are taking over the lakes making fish die.
14
Pooky star
// Mar 8, 2007 at 1:21 pm
To bigfoot, good report and thats cool!
15
Pooky star
// Mar 8, 2007 at 1:26 pm
to Striking Ferret thats intresting, I like how you give a grade of your article.
16
Pooky star
// Mar 8, 2007 at 1:30 pm
To monkey girl, cool that’s like probobly what humans did when we were cavemen.
17
JAM
// Mar 8, 2007 at 4:45 pm
A sour Taste in your mouth
science newsfor kids
By: Emily Sohn
Specialized cells on our tongues give us the power to enjoy spices and flavors. Scientist have been investigating cells that have allowed us to detect taste salty, sweet, bitter, sour and umami. So far sweet bitter and umami are understood. The other two remain a mystery. Now researchers may have discovered the secret behind lemons. vinger and sour gummy candy. One protein PKD2L1 might be the answer.
Sour sensing protein share basic traits with proteins that allow us to sense other tastes these molecules called recaptor are embedded inside certain tongue cells. Each tongue cell contains receotor that senser one type of flavor. One can be sweet and one can be bitter. PKDZL1caught scientists eyes because it did not show up in cells that sensed bitter sweet or unami flavors. This discovery may help chemists to make food more or less sour. This artical was hard to understand. What did help me was that in home and carees we learned about our taste buds and places on our tongue that were stronger then others.
18
Monkeyspy
// Mar 8, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Endless Online is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). The game uses anime- like character graphics, based on a real-time isometric third person viewpoint.
There is no central plot to Endless Online; rather, players make their own story, with paths one can take their character. For example, a player could work to achieve wealth, engage in fights with hostile creatures, or just be a citizen. Roleplaying is generally encouraged by the administrators of the site.
I like playing this game because its very fun. And it never gets old.
19
Hotdawg911
// Mar 8, 2007 at 5:36 pm
HotDawg911
“Look into my eyes”
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.com/articles/20070307/Feature1.asp
By Emily Sohn
Look into My Eyes
This article was very, very, very, well written. It was challenging because of it’s references, and length. What makes this article so cool? For one thing, it’s main topic is about looking at the reflection on peoples’ eyes, to make an accurate picture of what they are looking at! It may soon give paralyzed people in wheel chairs the ability to look at where they want to go, and just go there. It could also help camera movement in video games to get better by making the camera move to where you are looking at. It can also do many more things! Overall, this article is really cool and informative.
20
Stinky Chesse
// Mar 8, 2007 at 7:54 pm
Salamander Robot Shows how Animals Crawled out of the Sea
By Randolph E. Schmid
http://www.usatoday.com/
This article explained how the first animals crawled out of the ocean and onto land. It used robots to build a salamander like animal to see how animals developed spinal cords.
I liked this article a lot. It was very descriptive and did a great job of explaining a hard topic. It was very hard to understand because I don’t know a lot about this topic. I payed close attention to detail to try to get the most out of it as I could. I learned how much robots can do and that salamanders were one of the first animals to walk on land.
21
purplepower94
// Mar 8, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Website URL:http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=2D88DFAF-E7F2-99DF-35DE5F0EED872309&ref=rss
The article I read this week is called “Is Your Memory Erased While you Sleep” by Nikhil Swaminathan. It is from Scientific America, March 7, 2007.
This article is about how scientists are unsure if it is true that your brain stores information and memories so well when you are asleep. The article began by explained why they thought that it was true and why it made sense. There is a lot of information about parts of the brain such as the hippocampus and the neocortex, and why that would or would not have the effect of storing memories when people are asleep. They said that memories do not necessarily go to the neocortex, which stores things permanently, but also to the hippocampus, which is cleared to take in memories for a new day. At the end, a scientist says that it is a very complicated process that is still not figured out. You can’t be sure if sleeping brains will be the same as awake ones.
I did not like this article very much. Most of the wording was extremely obscure and very difficult to make sense of. I choose this article because I was supposed to find a challenging article but it took a while to get the gist of the article. To find out what the article was trying to say I had to read over it a few times. A few phrases were way to over my head to decipher so I ignored those and went for the easier ones. Eventually I basically got what the idea of the article was but I still didn’t like it. One reason I didn’t like it aside from it being confusing was that it was too short. I think that if it was expanded a little more and there were more words put in aside from parts of the brain and functions I had never heard of jammed into its size, it would have been better. The length of the article might have been okay for a different article but I think that if you are going to throw in obscure and hard concepts then you should put more explanations in. There were only a few paragraphs that were explaining in words that I really understand. I would not recommend this article unless you want a headache trying to figure out what part of the brain is doing what and what does that have to do with sleep.
22
Rocket Man
// Mar 8, 2007 at 9:46 pm
Is it Time for Big Bird to Die?
http://spotlight.encarta.msn.com/Features/encnet_Departments_Elementary_default_article_BigBirdDie.html?GT1=9145
Martha Brockenbrough
The article I read is about a woman that is against Sesame Street and Elmo. She thinks Sesame Street is a show that is very bad and that kids need to watch more educational shows that don’t wrote your brain.
I think that this article was terrible because all she said was that Elmo is very annoying. She really didn’t have any reason to why she hated Sesame Street. She just kept going on and on about how bad Sesame Street is and yet she is giving no reason for it. Her title doesn’t relate to her story. She hardly mentions Big Bird at all. I challenged myself by finding a harder article to read and by reading an adult article that was hard to understand. I do not recommend this article to anyone!
23
smellymelly
// Mar 9, 2007 at 10:01 am
Chimpanzee Hunting Tools
By E. Sohn
March 7, 2007
This article is about chimpanzees using tools to hunt for there food. We usually see pictures of our ancestors and it always shows men hunting with tools, spears and arrows. Scientist have observed chimpanzees hunting with tools and it is usaually the female that does the hunting. Researchers from Iowa State Unitversity studied 35 chimps in western Africa. They found that the chimps make their tools from ripped branches that they break off the twigs and leaves and peel back the bark of the branches so that they have more of a point. They sometimes use their teeth to make the branches sharper. The chimps use this tool to hunt for bush babies which are squirel like animals. Most of the hunters were females. Other researchers have only found males as the hunters and they didn’t use tools. The study showed that females come up with new ideas and the babies usually follow.
I thought this was a really interesting article. I picked this article because I love reading about animals. I think it is interesting that different groups of chimps hunt differently. They have their own way and their own customs just like humans. It was a good article I would reccomend reading it.
24
MonkeySpy
// Mar 9, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Smellymelly I really liked ur article it has alot of usefull Informaition
25
cek
// Mar 9, 2007 at 12:45 pm
to monky girl great job
26
Rocket Man
// Mar 9, 2007 at 5:10 pm
to: Striking Ferret
I think you did a very good job explaining what you liked about the article
27
Rocket Man
// Mar 9, 2007 at 6:27 pm
To: Monkey Girl
Thats asome! I want to read that know
28
Rocket Man
// Mar 9, 2007 at 6:40 pm
To: Maximumpower4334
I really liked how you explained how the article was like
29
Rocket Man
// Mar 9, 2007 at 6:45 pm
To MonkeyGirl:
sorry about that
30
maximumpower4334
// Mar 10, 2007 at 5:20 pm
striking feret
Nice job with your review.
31
purplepower94
// Mar 11, 2007 at 5:31 pm
To Hotdawg911:
Your report was very good. I liked the way you said what was good about the article and at the same time were giving details about the article. From what you said that article sounds cool to me. Overall, very nice job.
32
Hotdawg911
// Mar 11, 2007 at 5:37 pm
To strikingferret- We did the same article! I thought you did a good job with your explanation, but you didn’t explain why the article was a challenge to you.
33
purplepower94
// Mar 11, 2007 at 5:42 pm
To Pooky star:
I liked how you described the article with so many details. Instead of just putting a couple of important points in the article, you put many. Good job on your report.
34
Hotdawg911
// Mar 11, 2007 at 5:52 pm
To purplepower94- As always, you wrote a long and detailed report. I can understand how difficult it can be to read an article you can barely understand.
35
Hotdawg911
// Mar 11, 2007 at 5:54 pm
To JAM- Nice job on your report.
36
purplepower94
// Mar 11, 2007 at 6:42 pm
To JAM:
Your description was very detailed and well written. I thought it was very good how you said what helped you to understand the article as well as why it was difficult. Well done.
37
Bigfoot
// Mar 11, 2007 at 8:09 pm
to: maxamumpower443
I like your artical. It could have bin longer. It was stil a good job.
38
Bigfoot
// Mar 11, 2007 at 8:13 pm
to: hatdawg911
I realy like your artical. i never knew that. I hope that video games will be like that. Goor artical.
39
Bigfoot
// Mar 11, 2007 at 8:17 pm
To jawhakdady
I think you could have red a beter artical so you could tipe more. But i still think that it is cool how you said you didt like it.
.
40
to:Hotdawg911 from:smellymelly
// Mar 11, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Great reflection on your article. I really enjoyed reading it! Keep up the good work.
41
to:maxamumpower443 from:smellymelly
// Mar 11, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Good job, I really like how you talked about certain things you really made the article alive!
42
to:Rocket Man from:smellymelly
// Mar 11, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Great job, you really made certain things jump out at me. You discribed it very well. Maybe I will read this article next week you made it sound very interesting!
43
PizzaPlace8:00
// Mar 12, 2007 at 6:08 pm
All About Eye Color – From http://www.eyecarecontacts.com/eyecolor.html - Author Unknown - Published in 2004
The article All About Eye Color was interesting, though I do not know if I liked it. I can tell you this though, if you want to learn about eye colors, this article is for you.
The article gave great information all about eye colors (thus it gets it’s name) and gives great details.
One of the things I really liked about this article was that it was split up into sections and each section was about a different thing related to eye colors. At the beginning of each part, the author would give you a little preview, or summary, about what it was about. It also had statistics, witch would be really helpful if I was researching eye colors, because numbers can back up information. I also liked how it wasn’t just fact, fact, fact. It made you understand the topic without being boring.
This article is not my favorite, but it’s not bad. Reading this article is like reading a whole biography on eye colors.
44
PizzaPlace8:00
// Mar 12, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Smelly Melly,
Good work. I can tell you put alot of effort into it, and your effort payed off! Great job.
45
PizzaPlace8:00
// Mar 12, 2007 at 6:10 pm
Rocket man, I liked your report, but how is that science related in any way?
46
PizzaPlace8:00
// Mar 12, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Purple Power,
Great work, keep it up.
47
Stinky Chesse
// Mar 12, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Deal gives rice diversity a boost
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6441689.stm
Author not available
This article talks about how two leading food crop researchers signed a deal to ensure the survival of rice.
I liked this article a lot. It gave great facts and interviewed people which I think is important. It said that around 3 billion people world wide depend on rice for food. That really surprised me. The author broke the article down into two sections, this is the first article I read that did that. The author talked about how important rice is to people world wide. It really surprised me.
48
PizzaPlace8:00
// Mar 12, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Is It Time For Big Bird To Die? – Martha Brockenbrough – From http://spotlight.encarta.msn.com/Features/encnet_Departments_Elementary_default_article_BigBirdDie.html?GT1=9145 - Publishing Date Unknown
When I went to post my Weekly Science Article Report this week, I found a report by Rocket Man, about an article that was about Elmo. I was very interested in how this had anything to do with science so I went to the website to check it out.
As far as I know: It doesn’t.
Unless you think Sesame Street is mathematical and Big Bird has a special formula, this article has nothing to do with science. But, since I’ve written this much, I might as well finish this report.
I, personally, am not a huge Elmo fan, so when the author of this article criticized him, I wasn’t not hugely offended. But then she dissed Sesame Street as a whole, and I couldn’t take anymore. I mean, why would someone have so much anger towards this innocent children’s show? You don’t have to like it, but why would you hate it. What has Big Bird, Elmo, Oscar the Grouch, Bert, Ernie, Zoë, Prairie Dawn, Snuffy, Grover, Baby Bear, Papa Bear, Cookie Monster, or any of the other residents of this oh so sweet street ever done to you. I don’t get it. It’s just so…so…so unscientific.
49
Stinky Chesse
// Mar 12, 2007 at 6:43 pm
To Striking Ferret: Good job!! How close are they to making one?
50
Stinky Chesse
// Mar 12, 2007 at 6:45 pm
To PizzaPlace8:00: Great job!! Sesame Street is the bomb!!! Why would someone diss them?
51
Stinky Chesse
// Mar 12, 2007 at 6:46 pm
To smellymelly: Good job!! I never do chimps did that
52
applejacks
// Mar 14, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Remembering Facts and Feelings
this article is about the hippocampus and how it stores information like facts and memorie
i did not think this article was very informtive about the hippocampus and it only talked about tests they did on people who had damage to the hippocampus and that kids can remember things easier than adults who had damage to the hippocampus so in the end i am kind of confused.
53
applejacks
// Mar 14, 2007 at 6:02 pm
pizzaplace
i love elmo and big bird and all the seseme street people and that is SO RUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
54
dramaqueen
// Apr 8, 2007 at 8:11 pm
To: Striking Ferret
Your article was well written, and you explained things really well. Good job!
55
dramaqueen
// Apr 8, 2007 at 8:13 pm
To: applejacks
I think you explained your opinion about the article good, but I think you should’ve written and explained more about the article.
56
dramaqueen
// Apr 8, 2007 at 8:15 pm
To: PizzaPlace
I think you stated your opinion about the article well, and it was a good report about sesame street.
57
dramaqueen
// Apr 8, 2007 at 8:22 pm
Robots on a Rocky Road
By Emily Sohn
This article is about the “Grand Challenge”, a 142 mile road race across the desert. The rules were that drivers, passengers, and remote controls weren’t allowed. None of the cars completed the race that year. But this year five out of twenty-three cars finished the 123 mile race through the Mojave desert. A volkswagen named Stanley won the race in about 6 hours and 54 minutes.
I liked this article because it covered an interesting topic. It’s amazing how cars can drive by themselves, even without a remote control. I would have liked to have known about the other car’s results.
58
openthis99
// Apr 10, 2007 at 5:31 pm
applejacks
your opinon was good but you got to wirte more about the articl
59
openthis99
// Apr 10, 2007 at 5:32 pm
Striking Ferret asome aricl
60
openthis99
// Apr 10, 2007 at 5:33 pm
smellymelly wow i never knew chimps did that
61
openthis99
// Apr 10, 2007 at 5:40 pm
this aricl is called The Pacific Ocean’s Bald Spot and it is by C. Gramling. It is about there is a pach of sea foolr missing from the pacific ocean and the patch, called the South Pacific Bare Zone, is about the size of the Mediterranean Sea. It’s located thousands of miles east of New Zealand.
I liked this articl because i would never of thought that there is 1 part of the rocks at the bottom of the ocean was missing i think that C. Gramling did a good job on this articl.
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