Mr. Ardito’s Classes

75 responses so far ↓

• 1    chattychicka // May 4, 2007 at 8:23 pm

  Tags follow ‘Nemo’ fish to home
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6623981.stm

  To understand this article, I had to use many strategies. First I looked up all of the terms I didn’t know such as larvae and isotope. Then, my dad and I went through the article by paragraph, discussing each paragraph and its contents. The combination of the verbal explanation and the definitions helped me to fully understand the article.

  Summary: This article is about how a group of scientists worked to see how larvae (fish eggs) travel through the current. To do this, they looked at two specific kinds of fish (orange clownfish and vagabond butterflyfish) and decided to track the larvae by “injecting the mothers with a rare, stable barium isotope.” The isotope acts like a tracker because it is radioactive, and by injecting the mother with the isotope, she passes it on to her offspring. In the end the scientists “found that 60% - well over half - were coming back to the small island reserve, which was an unexpected result.” These results only made the scientists come up with new hypotheses, questioning whether the fish could possibly have some kind of mental homing mechanism. The scientists also believe that this same result may come of other coral reef fish.

  Reflection: I think this article was very well written for the length it was at. It was descriptive and well researched. It also had 3 pictures, which was a good amount for the length of the article. I enjoyed reading it, and it was an interesting topic to choose. I would have liked to hear more about how the experiment was conducted.

• 2    Vote Jon // May 4, 2007 at 9:15 pm

  Weekly Science Article #9
  If You Want to Know if Spot Loves You So, It’s in His Tail
  By Sandra Blakeslee
  http://www.nytimes.com

  Summary: This article is about how certain sides of the brain react to different situations. Like for dogs, if a person or animal is coming and they have a positive feeling about them, the dog’s right side of his brain will respond to it and the dog’s tail will more to the right side of him. On humans the positives reactions is located on their left side and on most animals, it’s on their right.

  Conclusion: I really liked this article because it was interesting and it was about a topic that I like a lot. I chose this article because I never got an article before from the NY Times website so I thought it would be interesting to find one from there. It was a little hard for me to understand towards the end but I re-read it and it made more sense. I felt like I learned something from it like how a certain side of your brain reacts in a negative or positive situation. Like how certain things or people are categorized in your brain and if you see that thing then that specific side or your brain will react to it. It did talk a lot about animals and people in general and not just dogs and I kind of liked that. I wish it had more about how dogs react but I think that I also like how the author compared the dog’s brain to a human’s brain and showed you how differently they react to a different situation. They also talked about a dog’s body language and how their tail can show what they’re feeling. Like if a dog is scared, their tail will fall in between their legs and if a dog is happy or excited, their tail will wag. Overall I really liked this article and I think that I learned the most from this article than I did from and other weekly science articles before.

• 3    FuNkYy MoNkEy // May 6, 2007 at 12:25 pm

  Money Falls Short of Plans to Clear Bus Air
  By: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/us/06bus.html?ex=1336104000&en=3cd93a99f05b7c04&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

  This article is mainly about how buses fumes are causing health problems such as asthma and lung cancer and minor problems such as wheezing, dizziness, headaches. Many voters and scientists are trying to get laws passed to reduce the more dangerous emissions coming from these buses. There are two ways which can fix that problem. You can get a $700 tailpipe installed in place of a muffler or a filtration system that goes under the hood which costs about $7,500. Congress passed the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act in 2005, and it gave $1 billion dollars to help states clean up their diesel fleets, but congress still hasn’t acted on it.

  I really liked this article even though it was difficult for me. To figure out the words I didn’t know such as particulate, I looked them up in the dictionary. This article was difficult for me because it had some words that I didn’t understand and it was about something I knew nothing about. I thought this article was interesting though. I think it is really good that people are trying to fix the fumes that come out of buses because I think that they are disgusting. Overall I really liked this article and I really agree with what these people are trying to do.

• 4    Silverwolf // May 6, 2007 at 2:09 pm

  Coral is Dying. Can it be Reborn?
  By Cornelia Dean
  Science Times Tuesday, May 1

  Summary: In this article Dean writes about how badly the coral reefs are doing. She writes that they are doing so badly that humans are having to place concrete discs on the ocean floor with coral pieces attached to them. Scientists Lackland and Nedimyer have been experimenting with coral to find out what kinds of coral flourish in what kind of environment. They have even figured out how to make them survive in tanks. The took pieces of coral and attached about 25 coral pieces to concrete discs that connect to iron piping inside very large tanks. They have invented a way to make the tanks simulate night, day, wave pressures, tides, and underwater currents. Mr. Nedimyer has been recently placing many coral colonies in the ocean in an attempt to recreate the once flourishing coral population. Coral are dying because of many things. One is Global warming. Changes in temperature in the water are threatening the algae inside the coral and because the coral live off of the nutrients and supplies from the algae they are threatened also. Fishing boats, dive boats, and divers all affect coral. They will sometimes rub or brush the coral causing it to break, which leaves the now revealed coral tissue vulnerable to a disease called white-band disease. This disease makes coral tissue decay and quickly kills the healthy tissue, which leaves nothing but a white shell of coral. If the coral is not wiped out it usually gets re-infected later and dies.

  Reflection: In order to understand this article I had to read very slowly and I had to look up several words in the dictionary (i.e. Symbionts, which I now know means the organisms taking place in a symbiotic relationship). The article was about as long as 5 pages in a chapter book, which is very long for an article. There was so much information in the article that I had to re-read many parts of it as I went along, which made for a long read. This article was particularly difficult because of the level of reading and the length. But I found it, nonetheless, very interesting.

• 5    Buddy // May 6, 2007 at 2:17 pm

  Mercury’s Molten Core Make’s it Spin Like a Raw Egg
  By: Agence France-Presse
  From:http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2007/05/mercurys_molten_core_makes_it.pp

  Summery: This article was about how Mercury has a molten core which makes it spin in its orbit like a raw egg, studies say. Researchers have always thought that Mercury had a hard iron core that would freeze when the planet cooled off. The researchers from NASA used a raw egg to show that the planets closest to the sun still had a gooeyness inside of them. “Just as an egg spins differently when it’s cooked, so too should solid planets”, the article said. For Mercury to have a molten core for a really long time after it was cooled, the planet has to have certain elements other than iron, the researchers say. The article also said that Mercury probably contains lighter elements such as sulfur which would lower the melting temperature. The article explained that much more information would be gathered on this subject when the NASA spacecraft Messenger makes its first fly-bye in 2008 to orbit the planet in 2011.

  Reflection: This article was kind of confusing because there were so many scientific terms. I tried to look some of them up but did not find all the answers I was looking for. When I first saw the title “Mercury’s Molten core Make’s it Spin like a Raw Egg”, I questioned, “How does a raw egg spin”. So I decided to use this article so I could find out. The article didn’t really explain it; I guess they thought the readers would just know how a raw egg spins. Besides the difficult vocabulary, this article was very interesting.

• 6    clark // May 6, 2007 at 3:01 pm

  Final Weekly Science Article Report
  By clark 5.6.07
  “How to Fly Like a Bat” by Emily Sohn. It says it was written on May 9, but that doesn’t make any sense, because I just read it today and it is only May 6. I found the article at http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20070509/Feature1.asp

  So…. This is it, my last weekly science article. The article I read was a challenge for me because it was really long. It didn’t really have challenging vocabulary, and it wasn’t extremely long, it was just challenging. I realized by reading the article that long articles aren’t always boring. I actually enjoyed this article more that I enjoyed most of the other ones I have read. My article was just right for me.
  The article was about recent studies showing how bats fly. I would have guessed that the way bats fly is similar to the way birds do, but the article proved me wrong. Bats are the only flying mammals, which means that their bone structures should be more similar to other mammals, making it harder for them to fly. This is because most mammals have solid heavy bones which weigh them down, while birds have hollow bones, and insects don’t have any bones. Bats evolved to solve this issue. They have heavy bones near their shoulders, making it easier to fly, and they have lighter and weaker bones at the tips of their wings.
  I think that the article was very well written. It taught me so much about bats. I never knew that before bats had wings 80 million years ago, they had arms, and grasping fingers. I also think that it would be a really good idea to create air crafts that use the same flight patterns as bats. It would allow them to maneuver around objects much easier. Over all, I think the article was amazing. I give it a 9.4 out of 10!!!

• 7    clark // May 6, 2007 at 3:03 pm

  ummm… my computer must have messed up a little. If there are a few mistakes, its because of that. sorry.
  ps: are we supposed to comment on other people’s articles this week?

• 8    Lizardboy93 // May 6, 2007 at 6:13 pm

  The web site http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0411/feature1/ is the website i got this article from.
  Title: The work of the 19th-century English naturalist shocked society and revolutionized science. How well has it withstood the test of time? -David Quammen

  REFLECTION: The first thing that i found difficult about tis atricle was that in every sentence, there was a big and or difficult word. One example was terminology, witch i new what it ment after i was done reading the sentence over and over again.There was also the word unpersuaded, witch i found out later ment “not presuadable”(I guess i sounded it out wrong). Other difficult words for me were skeptical, electrons and reincarnatio.
  This article is all about wether Darwin’s theory of evolution is right or wrong, Witch sounded like a stupid question because of what you (Mr. A.) told us in class, that it is rebiculus to even think that Darwin is wrong because it is the only logicle way evolution can happen, but it seams that many people think otherwise. My Stratagies are re-reading and using the dictionary and my parents.
  This article told me that not everyone has the same opinion and you might not always no the answer to if that opinion is correct or not. The article was AWSOME!!

• 9    Lizardboy93 // May 6, 2007 at 6:13 pm

  The web site http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0411/feature1/ is the website i got this article from.
  Title: The work of the 19th-century English naturalist shocked society and revolutionized science. How well has it withstood the test of time? -David Quammen

  REFLECTION: The first thing that i found difficult about tis atricle was that in every sentence, there was a big and or difficult word. One example was terminology, witch i new what it ment after i was done reading the sentence over and over again.There was also the word unpersuaded, witch i found out later ment “not presuadable”(I guess i sounded it out wrong). Other difficult words for me were skeptical, electrons and reincarnatio.
  This article is all about wether Darwin’s theory of evolution is right or wrong, Witch sounded like a stupid question because of what you (Mr. A.) told us in class, that it is rebiculus to even think that Darwin is wrong because it is the only logicle way evolution can happen, but it seams that many people think otherwise. My Stratagies are re-reading and using the dictionary and my parents.
  This article told me that not everyone has the same opinion and you might not always no the answer to if that opinion is correct or not. The article was AWSOME!!

• 10    Lizardboy93 // May 6, 2007 at 6:16 pm

  http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0411/feature1/ is the website i got this article from.
  Title: The work of the 19th-century English naturalist shocked society and revolutionized science. How well has it withstood the test of time? -David Quammen

  REFLECTION: The first thing that i found difficult about this atricle was that in every sentence, there was a big and or difficult word. One example was terminology, witch i new what it ment after i was done reading the sentence over and over again.There was also the word unpersuaded, witch i found out later ment “not presuadable”(I guess i sounded it out wrong). Other difficult words for me were skeptical, electrons and reincarnatio.
  This article is all about wether Darwin’s theory of evolution is right or wrong, Witch sounded like a stupid question because of what you (Mr. A.) told us in class, that it is rebiculus to even think that Darwin is wrong because it is the only logicle way evolution can happen, but it seams that many people think otherwise. My Stratagies are re-reading and using the dictionary and my parents.
  This article told me that not everyone has the same opinion and you might not always no the answer to if that opinion is correct or not. The article was AWSOME!!

• 11    Lizardboy93 // May 6, 2007 at 6:17 pm

  sry.. my computer messed up. OOPS!

• 12    I've been caught LEFT handed! // May 6, 2007 at 7:39 pm

  Last Weekly Science Report! (oh no)

  Title of Article: Cat parasite ‘is killing otters’

  URL: http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4729810.stm

  BY: Paul Rincon

  Summery: The article I read was about how a parasite called Toxoplasma is coming from some cats feces, seeping into the water, effecting the food that the sea otters eat, and then when the otters eat their prey it’s contaminated so they then die. It also said that a veterinary specialist is trying to make people keep their cats indoors.

  Reflection:
  This article was hard for me because I needed to look up some of the words in the article to understand what they were saying about the sea otters. I chose this article because otters are my favorite animal and I thought it would be nice to look them up. I already new that they were endangered, but I had no idea that a parasite was part of the problem of why they are becoming extinct.
  I learned a whole lot from this article and I hope people will really try to keep their cats indoors and use kitty litter and dispose of it properly.

• 13    The Music Man... Woman!! // May 6, 2007 at 8:26 pm

  The title of this article is What is Biotechnology? written by a Guest writer on the website. I found this article at http://www.physicspost.com and the exact site for this article is http://www.physicspost.com/science-article-225.html .

  Summary: This article was about what biotechnology is. Biotechnology is a type of technology that is in three sub parts. There is red, white and green biotechnology each working at different things. Red biotechnology deals with genetically altered organisms and makes things that would usually make insulin and puts the microorganism to use for medicine and vaccines. White biotechnology works with useful chemicals that can be used for industry. Green biotechnology works with plants and agriculture.

  Reflection: I thought this article was interesting, because I had no idea there was anything at all called biotechnology. I thought the title sounded interesting so I checked it out. I think this article had a lot of words that were hard to understand and the person that wrote the article made things very difficult. I think that this article was a challenge for me because the author made sentences that could’ve been said really easily and then made them into sentences that only real scientists in this field could understand. Over all, I think biotechnology is interesting but I’m not all sure how safe it is. It seems like it’s disrupting nature.

• 14    progress report // May 7, 2007 at 11:06 am

  Weekly Science article Report #15
  By progress report
  Week of 5.7.07

  Citation:

  Title: When the Levee Breaks: Protein Overwhelmed by Overeating Leads to Metabolic Diseases
  Author: By Nikhil Swaminathan
  Date Published: May 03, 2007
  Found At: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=556C8247-E7F2-99DF-3CBFC21650622519&ref=rss

  Summary:

  A new study on inflammation in those with obesity by Gökhan Hotamisligil, a professor of genetics and metabolism at the Harvard School of Public Health, shows that obesity could lead to many metabolic disorders characterized by inflammation. Inflammation is one way the body fights off foreign invaders. Hotamisligil’s team had to search for genes that were part of both the metabolic and the immune system, be present in tissues that clear nutrients from the blood, and have a hand in regulating inflammation; and have a body-wide metabolic effect. With these criteria, there are only about 4 genes that cut it. One, the team found was a gene that coded for a protein called STAMP2. The job of STAMP2 is greeting a nutrient and routing it to the proper site for either storage or to be broken down as well as informing the immune system that the nutrient is not a foreign invader.
  In obese, Hotamisligil found, there is such an overflow of nutrients that proteins like STAMP2 can handle it all and this causes inflammation since the protein can’t tell the immune system that the nutrient is not unwanted. From this we may be able to find out how to signal nutrient status in molecular machinery. This could also lead finding therapies to metabolic illnesses in the future. The metabolic illnesses are not necessarily associated with obesity, but obesity can trigger some of them.

  Reflection:

  Some of my strategies for reading this material included rereading and referring to different parts of the article out of order as well as outlining. This article has a lot of information that connected to one another. In order to fully understand the article, you needed to assess all of the facts.
  It’s interesting to see that becoming obese could also mean fiddling with your immune and metabolic systems in your body. I also was amazed to see that there were only 4 genes that fit the criteria out of the 100s of genes in human chromosomes.

• 15    StRaWbErRy MeNtOsZ // May 7, 2007 at 11:39 am

  Final Weekly Science Report
  “Depression Raises Risk of Diabetes, Study Finds”
  Nicholas Bakalar
  May 1,2007
  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/01/health/psychology/01depr.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

  For the last science article I decided to write an article about sickness since I haven’t at all. I also chose to use an article from a sophisticated source that people read a lot which is The New York Times. This article was about how depression is associated with diabetes in older adults. One reason that I chose this article was because of the actual facts that they had in the article. Researches looked at a wide variety of people do the experiment on over a 10 year basis. They chose 4,681 men and women over 65. People over the age of 65 are considered senior citizens. In order to do the experiment, they had a questionnaire where they measured the symptoms of depression each year and tested the participants’ blood sugars. When looking at the results they figured out that people with the highest scores on the depression questionnaires were roughly 50% more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes.

  This was by-far my favorite weekly science report (and not because it was my last.) The reason why this was my favorite weekly science report was because it made me feel smart. Reading an article (that I usually wouldn’t choose) and being able to write a whole reflection makes you feel good especially because you told us to go all out this final time.
  The other reason why I liked this article is because it provided me with a lot of information and numbers to make the articles facts valid. I also think this is interesting because usually people that have sicknesses are already depressed and now there is an experiment/article that proves the point. This was interesting to me because a lot of my older family members have diabetes and may be depressed (hopefully not). It was just interesting to read something that you “kind of” already know about.

• 16    StRaWbErRy MeNtOsZ // May 7, 2007 at 11:42 am

  This article is to The Music Man.. Women!!. I liked your article because it made sense even with the big words. I also liked your article because I didn’t know biotechnology exsisted either until I read your article.

• 17    StRaWbErRy MeNtOsZ // May 7, 2007 at 11:44 am

  This comment is to I’ve Been Caught LEFT-handed. This article was interesting and a little gross and a little sad. I just have one question: How would the cat feces get into the sea?

• 18    StRaWbErRy MeNtOsZ // May 7, 2007 at 11:48 am

  This article is to FunkYy MonkeYy. I liked your reflection and I agree I think that they should do something because the fumes cause asthma and others things as well. But what about the people who already have asthma ike me…it makes it worse. So I think they should hurry and fix the fumes!

• 19    NYSTAGMUS // May 7, 2007 at 11:49 am

  Creatures on the Knife’s Edge
  Author: Felicity Barringer
  Founded: NYtimes.com
  Date Founded: May 6, 2007

  Summary
  IT’S almost like old times in the northern Rockies of western Wyoming and Montana. Gray wolves are hunting elk. Grizzlies are eating berries, elk and anything else they can find. Bald eagles are no longer a rare sight. There are a bunch of animals becoming extinct around 1,000, and about 300 more listed as threatened. The Yellowstone grizzly has just been removed from the threatened list because it now has 500 of its species. The grey wolf is soon going to be token off too. The law requires the government to identify troubled species and the habitat they need to survive and recover, take steps to revive their populations and make sure its actions don’t jeopardize their survival. More controversy arose last week, when an Interior Department official in charge of endangered-species issues resigned after a withering report by the inspector general described how the official bullied biologists into changing their conclusions to fit industry-friendly goals. More than three dozen scientists recently complained to the Bush administration that a new interpretation of the law in review at the interior department would jeopardize the animals the law has helped save the grizzlies and wolves of the Western mountains.
  Reflection
  I think that it is very important to save the species on our earth and I think it’s very good that people are making efforts everyday. I want to get involved some how by helping animals that are injured in some way. I also think that we should stop destroying the animal’s homes. That will help a lot of the animals that are endangered because then they will have a place to live and reproduce.

• 20    StRaWbErRy MeNtOsZ // May 7, 2007 at 11:50 am

  

• 21    GuMmi PiGzZ // May 7, 2007 at 11:50 am

  The Article is chose was Getting the Most Band Out of Quarks and Gluons.
  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/06colli.html?ex=1336104000&en=320c66f48073f1e3&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

  To understand this article I used two different strategies. The article was a little hard to understand so I reread it again slower to see if I would understand it better, which I did. Then I also asked a friend to see what they thought of it and we discussed the article together and shared what we thought of it. In the end I realized I understood the article a lot more then when I had first read it.

  Summary: This article was about how a person named Marlowe tells you that scientists have identified a gene (PHA-4.) They say it seems to be involved in prolonging life. There are two different ways to prolong life. The two ways are dietary restriction and decreasing the sensitivity at the cellular level to insulin.

  The first way, decreasing the sensitivity at the cellular level to insulin, has been tested on mice. They have created genetically modified mice that live twice as long as normal mice do. Unfortunately there are also bad side effects such as, stunted growth and reproduction malfunction.

  The second way, dietary restrictions, it’s suppose to do the same thing. “ If you give an animal 70% of its normal intake, it will like 20-30 percent longer.” The biologist Hugo Aguilaniu says in the article.

  Reflection: After a little help I think I understood this article really well. It was interesting to see what the scientists have been doing in the labs lately. At its really cool to see what they have learned. It’s also neat to know that if we did what they are doing to the animals to us we could live another 15 – 20 years. If we fixed the side effects I think it would be really cool.

• 22    Track // May 7, 2007 at 1:02 pm

  Final Weekly Science Article Report
  “The Faithful Heretic”
  By: Dave Hoopman
  http://www.wecnmagazine.com/2007issues/may/may07.html#1

  The Faithful Heretic, by Dave Hooperman, is about a man named Reid Bryson, who has been studying weather for a very long time. Reid was the founding chairman of the University Of Wisconsin Department Of Meteorology. During WWII, Reid predicted weather patterns for B-29s flying over Tokyo. The general laughed at Reid, but the next day had to apologize due to Reid being correct. Reid wrote many books and articles about weather and trained some of America’s leading Meteorologists. Reid does not believe in global warming. He says that the climate has always been changing, and that the Earth is getting warmer because we are still coming out of the Little Ice Age. Reid says that CO2 has little to do with the warming earth and that 80% of the heat that is radiated back from the surface of the earth is absorbed by the first 30 ft of water vapor. Only eight hundredths of one percent is absorbed by CO2. “You can go outside and spit and have the same effect as doubling carbon dioxide.”

  I picked this article because of its length, and I did not know much in the subject. This article is interesting because of its contradictory views compared to what the media has said, including Al Gore. In the article, Reid talked about in the Alpine Glaciers, which are melting; we are finding many things that have been frozen for thousands of years. In a silver mine that was discovered, all of the tools are stacked up because the miners planned to come back after winter, only winter didn’t end. Reid says that: “There used to be less ice than now. It’s just getting back to normal.”

• 23    wise-weasel // May 7, 2007 at 7:03 pm

  “Getting the Most Bang out of Quarks and Gluons” by Corey Kilgannon from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/06colli.html?ex=1336104000&en=320c66f48073f1e3&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss on Monday, May 7, 2007

  In Upton, New York, at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, scientists have recently studied atomic collisions made by something called the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, or RHIC (“the most powerful heavy-ion collider in the world”). Their studies this year were part of their annual “season of smashing atoms in the Pine Barrens” where thousands of scientists come to explore the early universe by studying atomic collisions made by RHIC. These collisions result in a situation resembling the very first few milliseconds after the creation of the universe in the Big Bang.

  I found this article particularly intriguing since it involved some of my favorite science-related topics and included multiple references to Star Trek (the Enterprise and its crew were compared to the facility they were working in and those working in it). The article was reasonably difficult due to certain vocabulary and scientific concepts that it involved. To handle such things I prepared myself by reviewing the structure of an atom and the subatomic particles within it. I also had to teach myself about certain matters and find definitions to a few terms, such as “gluon,” “quark-gluon plasma,” and “quantum chronodynamics.” The idea of watching some of the smallest particles collide after traveling at a velocity close to that of the speed of light, and thus witnessing a situation similar to that at the very beginning of the universe itself astounds me. One thing that I found to be tremendously astonishing was that as those particles collided, a very small portion of Upton, New York, became the warmest place in the entire universe for just an instant (the colliding particles create a fireball with a temperature up to ten-thousand times that of the sun).

• 24    GuMmi PiGzZ // May 7, 2007 at 7:42 pm

  mr ardito.
  For my weekly science article i put up the wrong tittle for my article because i was going to do that one then i chose a different one and i guess i forgot to change it, sorry.

• 25    NYSTAGMUS // May 8, 2007 at 10:59 am

  Creatures on the Knife’s Edge
  Reflection continued:
  One way that helped me understand my article batter was by braking down each paragraph. One strategy that didn’t work for me was, just reading it and not taking my time. This article was difficult for me because it had some words that I didn’t understand and it was about something I knew nothing about.

• 26    color_coated // May 8, 2007 at 11:50 am

  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/01/science/earth/01coral.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

  In the article “Coral is Dying. Can It Be Reborn?” By Cornelia Dean. The article is from the Science Times of the New York Times.
  The Article is about how Ken Nedimyer has established many coral nurseries since 2000. Among other scientists he is trying to find particular strains of coral that grow well in the Florida Keys. The scientists are setting up nurseries with iron pipes with coral in them in parts of the ocean around the Keys. The scientists want to re-establish the coral reefs offshore in the ocean. Many people think that there is no hope for restoring the coral reefs because of all the damage. In the past 25 years we have lost 25% of the world’s coral population, and in the next decade or two, we are expected to lose another 25%. There are many different reasons for the coral population decline; some are because of fishing boats, diving boats, divers, and sea turtles hitting the coral. Polluted run off is also depriving the coral of the clean clear oxygen rich water it needs to survive. Global warming is having lethal effects on the coral; one is the ocean is absorbing more carbon dioxide and the oceans become more acidic. In the picture at the beginning of the article shows a variety of different coals being grown in PVC pipe in a tank in the Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida.
  This article was challenging for me because it was a lot longer than the usual articles that I read. It took me a while to read the whole article because it was three pages long. I’m really surprised that the coral population is so rapid. But I think that it is good that scientists are trying to increase the coral population.

• 27    FuNkYy MoNkEy // May 8, 2007 at 12:15 pm

  This comment is for I’ve been caught LEFT handed!:

  I thought the article you chose was really interesting. I agree with you, I think people should keep their cats inside if it is causing a big problem. If they don’t that is really selfish.

• 28    FuNkYy MoNkEy // May 8, 2007 at 12:17 pm

  This is a comment for wise-weasel:

  I thought the article you picked was interesting but very difficult to understand. I think what the scientists do annually is really cool.

• 29    FuNkYy MoNkEy // May 8, 2007 at 12:21 pm

  This cooment is for chattychicka:

  Wow, the article you picked is really interesting. I think the experiment that the scientists did was cool. I wonder if fish actually do have some kind of mental homing mechanism.

• 30    clark // May 9, 2007 at 3:31 pm

  This is a comment for FuNkYy MoNkEy,
  It is good that you challenged yourself. I tried to, but I didn’t really challenge myself as much as you did. Also, you picked an interesting article. I completely agree that people should do something about the fumes coming out of buses. Great work, you described the article very nicely.

• 31    clark // May 9, 2007 at 3:44 pm

  This is a comment for Track,
  You picked a great article. I hope that Reid Bryson is right about global warming! That would be a great relief. You wrote a long explanation of the article, which was very descriptive. Good job.

• 32    clark // May 9, 2007 at 3:51 pm

  This is a comment for silverwolf,
  You wrote a lot! You had a lot of detail too, good work. The only problem was that it was a little confusing. I didn’t understand some parts. Other then that, you wrote a great report. You also challenged yourself very well.

• 33    chattychicka // May 9, 2007 at 4:09 pm

  Comment for FuNkYy MoNkEy: I also had to look up words to understand what was going on in my article as well. Your article sounds really interesting, especially when you consider the fact that public schools (which are run by the same government trying to reduce these fumes) use buses that pollute.

• 34    chattychicka // May 9, 2007 at 4:11 pm

  Sorry it says “tags follow” before my article title! I have no idea how that got there…

• 35    chattychicka // May 9, 2007 at 4:15 pm

  Comment for GuMmi PiGzZ: I liked the strategies you used to understand your article. I never thought to just read the article slower than I had originally. I bet if I had done that, I would have understood my article more. Your article sounds really complicated though!

• 36    wise-weasel // May 9, 2007 at 5:13 pm

  Comment to “Silverwolf”:
  Before reading your report, I possessed only a vague awareness of the current condition of coral reefs, and I knew little of the matter. The article that you read seems as though it would be quite informative and interesting; I feel slightly compelled to read it myself and perhaps I will. I believe that if the article is as long and difficult as you claim, you have summarized it quite well, despite a few spelling and grammar errors.

• 37    wise-weasel // May 9, 2007 at 5:27 pm

  Comment to “progress report”:
  Obesity seems to be a growing issue, and scientists seem to quickly be learning more and more about the problem. It is fascinating to learn what new problems can arise from existing problems, like how obesity apparently affects the “STAMP2” protein. I am sure that many other bodily functions are affected by obesity as well. I enjoyed reading your report. You seem to have handled a difficult article well.

• 38    wise-weasel // May 9, 2007 at 5:42 pm

  Comment to “Vote Jon”:
  Your report was relatively well written, but from what you wrote, it was difficult to discern what the article you read was actually about. I have assumed that it involves the brain and behavior of animals (especially dogs) and the contrast between human and non-human animal behavior and brain function. The brain and behavior of all animals (including humans) is really quite an intriguing topic, and is actually one of my favorites. I do not have any particular love (or even liking, for that matter) of dogs, so I personally lacked some enthusiasm when it came to your article report (no offense intended- that’s my problem not yours). I do congratulate you on a fine final weakly science article report, though.

• 39    Buddy // May 10, 2007 at 4:28 pm

  Comment for Vote Jon
  I also re-read my article so that I would understand it better. I really liked your report and how you used dogs for an example of you topic, it was very interesting. Good work.

• 40    Buddy // May 10, 2007 at 4:35 pm

  Comment for The Music Man…Women
  This was the first time I ever hard about Biotchnology. I never knew what it was until I read your report. I used some simular strategies while reading my article too. I liked how you explained everything in your summery.

• 41    Buddy // May 10, 2007 at 4:41 pm

  Comment for chattychicka
  I was about to report on the same article as you when I was looking for one but I choose not to. I read the beggining of th article on the wabsite and I really enjoyed the pictures too. I agree with your reflection. I thought the same thing while reading it. Nice job.

• 42    Silverwolf // May 10, 2007 at 5:52 pm

  This is a comment to progress report,

  I thought that your summary was informative and was a very good representation of the article that you read. i was very surprized to find out that only 4 genes fit the criteria.

• 43    silverwolf // May 10, 2007 at 6:02 pm

  Comment for Wise-Weasel

  I thought that your article was very interesting. I find it amazing that they can actually control that kind of immense heat and speed and not melt the collider. I also find amazing that people don’t get hurt because of the heat.

• 44    Vote Jon // May 10, 2007 at 6:03 pm

  strawberry mentoz–

  I really liked your report that you wrote because I could relate to it. I also think that when you read something that you don’t understand, and then you figure it out, it does make you feel smart. I really liked your report.

• 45    Silverwolf // May 10, 2007 at 6:09 pm

  Comment to The music man… Woman

  I thought that your article seemed interesting. I also think that a little more detail could go into your summary. I didn’t know there was such a thing as biotechnology either.

• 46    Vote Jon // May 10, 2007 at 7:07 pm

  I’ve been caught LEFT-handed–

  I really liked your report and not just because otters are also my favorite animals, next to seals. Anyway, I really liked how you explained what you did to help you understand the article. Good job.

• 47    Track // May 10, 2007 at 7:10 pm

  Dear Musicman…Woman!,
  Biotechnology sounds like a very interesting feild, and maybe someday it will save lives, and make other peoples lives easyer.

• 48    Vote Jon // May 10, 2007 at 7:15 pm

  Funky Monkey–

  I really liked your article. It made sense to me and I could really understand what you were talking about. I liked your strategy also. Good job.

• 49    Track // May 10, 2007 at 7:17 pm

  Strawberry,
  That is a very interesting study. One question though, what type of diabetes?

• 50    Track // May 10, 2007 at 7:19 pm

  Chatty,
  That is very cool that scientists tracked fishes eggs. Maybe we willlearn some important information from this.

• 51    lizardboy93 // May 10, 2007 at 8:06 pm

  Comment for Vote Jon,
  I really liked how you put all of your info into your summery and cuclution. It was also good how what you did to understabt the article. Nice Job!!!!

• 52    GuMmi PiGzZ // May 10, 2007 at 8:16 pm

  This comment is for Track:
  I really liked your article i thought it was really interesting. I like that the guy doesn’t believe in global warming and i hope he is right! Good job.
  -GuMmi PiGzZ

• 53    Lizardboy93 // May 10, 2007 at 8:21 pm

  comment for Silverwolf,
  I agree with what you did to understand your article because I too needed to read slowly and re-read over and over again. I also liked your summary

• 54    GuMmi PiGzZ // May 10, 2007 at 8:22 pm

  This Comment is for strawberry mentos:
  I had no idea that depression could help cause diabetes, i thought it was all about sugar levvel and stuff. Thats seemed like a really interesting article. I also agree with you i think that this was the best weekly science report so far, it was really good i think to push myself and instead of getting my article from science news for kids i got it from a different place i thought the article would be harder. Good Job.
  -GuMmi PiGzZ

• 55    Lizardboy93 // May 10, 2007 at 8:29 pm

  I’ve been caught LEFT handed, I thought your short summary and reflection was nice because it had just enough of everything! I think ot was really cool.

• 56    guMmi PiGzZ // May 10, 2007 at 8:45 pm

  This comment is for funky monkey:
  That article was really interesting, and i hope congress passes the law. Even though it seems expensive for every single bus i think it will be worth it, not only will it help out in health it will probably help out in pollution. I agree with you its really good what were trying to do. Good Job.
  -GuMmi PiGzZ

• 57    progress // May 11, 2007 at 10:59 am

  This Comment is for “Silverwolf”,

  For my article I did a lot of re-reading and checking back to make sure my information was accurate. I don’t think that my article was nearly as hard as yours was but I always think that it helps a lot to check back and make sure. I’m the type of person that needs to visit a subject multiple times to fully comprehend the main idea.
  I had known prior to your report about the coral reef dilemma. I know when I gone on vacation I have seen the paler coral and inquired about it on numerous occasions. It’s sort of reassuring to know that there a scientist investigating the problem but I only wonder how long until we can’t keep up anymore.

• 58    wps93 // May 11, 2007 at 11:28 am

  This comment is for Lizardboy93. I like how you explained that there were words that were hard for you, and you listed the words that were hard for you.

• 59    The Music Man... WOMAN! // May 11, 2007 at 11:29 am

  This comment is for Silver Wolf:
  I think that the article you chose IS really interesting. I liked the topic you picked. I knew that people were hitting coral when they went scuba diving, but when you brought to my attention the fact that we can crack it so easily, i was astounded! I Think you picked a great article to write about.

• 60    NYSTAGMUS // May 11, 2007 at 11:33 am

  This if for color_coated:
  I really liked your article because it was very detailed and also because I was reading about the article and I was about to do that one but, I found another one that I like more. I agree with you that scientists are helping increase the coral population

• 61    The Music man... Woman!! // May 11, 2007 at 11:43 am

  This comment is for I’ve been caught LEFT handed!
  I liked your site and thought it was really interesting. I didn’t know that Cats had parastites in their ‘feces’/ poo :D. The only ting i wonder about is when are cats that close to sea otters that they can get infected? I liked the way you layed everything out though.

• 62    progress report // May 11, 2007 at 12:04 pm

  Scientists seem to be finding something out about everything these days. As you said, it’s interesting to see what they’re doing in the labs. I noticed that a lot of people went back to the text and re-read. Talking to someone else about it was also a really smart strategy.
  What will they think of next? We keep finding cures and treatments that save lives everyday; now even a possibility of prolonging life. One question I wish to evaluate is that are there more reasons for someone to die (like dieses or viruses) today or we more educated about different ways of dieing. People are living longer then ever before because we’ve found different ways to protect us from harmful elements and such. Now we’ve found a way for us, our bodies to be more efficient and last longer.

• 63    NYSTAGMUS // May 12, 2007 at 11:43 pm

  This comment is for GuMmi PiGzZ-
  I really liked your article because it was very detailed and youexplained why the stratagies you used were very useful, I know this because i tried them with my article too.

• 64    NYSTAGMUS // May 12, 2007 at 11:46 pm

  This comment is for GuMmi PiGzZ-
  I really liked your article because it was very detailed. The stratagies you used were very useful, I know this because I tried them with my article too.

  I hit the post it button before I got to edit what I said.

• 65    NySTAGMUS // May 12, 2007 at 11:50 pm

  This comment is for FuNkYy MoNkEy-
  I liked how detailed your summary was. Also it was very interesting, the way you explained it made me want to read more and more about the bus fumes.

• 66    progress report // May 13, 2007 at 5:26 pm

  Mr, Ardito–

  My last comment was for “GuMmi PiGzZ” and I thought I posted my other comment!! I thought I remembered seeing it posted on the blog!

  Anyway the last comment is below, sorry.

• 67    progress report // May 13, 2007 at 5:28 pm

  This Comment is for “Wise-Weasle”,

  My article had some words that I keep forgetting but I re-learn them upon occurrence. It’s so amazing that they are able to simulate what must have happened with the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. I also think it’s astounding that upon doing this, it caused a bit of Upton, New York to be ten-thousand times hotter then the sun! Even just for a moment, that’s astounding! I still wonder just how that happens; I guess that just goes to show just how this process is so gigantic.

• 68    airsoft slinger // May 13, 2007 at 8:42 pm

  THIS COMMENT IS FOR “SILVERWOLF”
  i liked how you wrote your report. The article about the coral was very interesting. i think it is weird that they have to put blocks of concrete on the ocean floor to make there be more coral. Overall great job:)

• 69    airsoft slinger // May 13, 2007 at 9:11 pm

  THIS IS FOR “THE MUSIC MAN…WOMEN!!!!!!!”
  Biotechnology sounds really interesting your report on the article has made me want to research it more. I liked how well you wrote this. GREAT REPORT:) :)

• 70    airsoft slinger // May 13, 2007 at 9:34 pm

  THIS COMMENT IS FOR “PROGRESS REPORT”
  I had a hard time understanding exacty what you were saying in your report till i read the artical. the artical sounded very interesting but WAY to hard for me to understand alone but your artical explained it to me a bit. GREAT GREAT GREAT job

• 71    airsoft slinger // May 13, 2007 at 9:36 pm

  I’M REPOSTING THIS BECAUSE I FORGOT TO EDIT IT
  THIS COMMENT IS FOR “PROGRESS REPORT”
  I had a hard time understanding exactly what you were saying in your report till i read the article. The article sounded very interesting but WAY to hard for me to understand alone but your article explained it to me a bit. GREAT, GREAT, GREAT, job.

• 72    I've been caught LEFT handed! // May 14, 2007 at 8:50 pm

  This comment is for Music Man……..WOMAN!!!!!
  I loved your LAST weekly science report it was really good! You had a lot of detail init and I definetly thought this was your best one ever!!! NiCe JoB!!!

• 73    I've been caught LEFT handed! // May 14, 2007 at 8:54 pm

  Yeah I had help from my parents too…kinda well we had a big debate after I wrote my LAST weekly science article. I also did the same things as you (strategy wise) I looked up things too.

• 74    I've been caught LEFT handed! // May 14, 2007 at 8:55 pm

  WOW that last comment was for chattychicka!!!! SORRY.

• 75    I've been caught LEFT handed! // May 14, 2007 at 9:00 pm

  This comment is for FuNkYy MoNkEy!!!!
  Wow I always had thought that cars had something to do with allergies like asthma but I never new it for sure. Maybe if everyone had a Mini CAT less people would get asthma, headaches, and dizziness!

Leave a Comment