the lymphatic system

the lymphatic system has many jobs. first it serves as a defense mechanisms because it filters out organisms that cause disease. It also produces certain white blood cells and generates antibodies. the lymphatic system distributs fluids and nutrients in the body. it also drains excess fluids and protein so that tissues do not swell up. here is a picture of the lymphatic system

Skeletal System (by Michael Collins)

There are 27 bones in each hand, with 8 in the wrist, 5 in the palm, and 14 in the fingers and the thumb. There are three bones in each finger, and 2 in the thumb. The distal phalanx, middle and the proximal phalanx are the bones that make up the fingers, although the thumb does not have a middle phalanx. While typing this, I believe I used all my finger-bones, although I might not have used my metacarpals, which are the bones that connect your fingers to your wrist.

-- Michael Collins

Urinary System

      Your body makes chemical waste items that it can not use.  Then it goes to the bloodstream to then go to the kidneys. Then the kidneys sepraet the waste from the stuff your body needs. when your bladder becames too full sends a message to your brain. you feel the need to pee and start looking for a place to pee.  

http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/body/pg00012.html

the SPLEEN

one of the most made fun of body parts in a human body, but it is the biggest of the lymphoid tissues is the spleen. It is just about the size of the heart and can hold up to .3 gallons of blood. The spleen is located on the left side of your body right behind the stomach. This organ has an important job to the digestive system . it produced white blood cells, filters blood and destroyed old red blood cells. here is a picture of the whole digestive tract and the spleen. the spleen is made out of a spongy material and it is hard to repair.
here is a picture of the spleen and its sections



to read more about the spleen

http://www.innerbody.com/image_dige06/lymp02.html

The Lymphatic System

The Lymphatic system is mostly used for filtering out bacterias and diseases. It also produces kinds of white blood cells. One of its other uses is to distribute fluids and nutrients through the body. It and the cardiovascular system are closly realated.

http://www.innerbody.com/image_lympov/lympov-new.html

digestive system

the digestive system starts at your esophagus goes down to your stomach were the acids in you body brake down the food into smaler peices. Then enters your small intestine then the large intestine. After it goes through the stomach and the intestins it will go to your ascending colon wich goes to the descending colon were it is turned into poo. From there it goes to your rectum but not out then to the anal canal and then out the BUTT!!!. Were it is flushed down the toilet. There is a picture of the digestive system above.

It is from the apple teacher page.

Skeletal System

All joints represent some type of mechanical movement such as an elbow joint is like a door hinge. Some of the other joints are hand joints, hip joints, and spine joints. I think that 

the joints are not that simple but that is a good way of representing them.

The upper part of the skull is made up of eleven parts. They are the Anterior Fontanelle, the Bregma, the Sagital Structure, the Coronal Structure, the Frontal Bone, the Lambda, the Lambdoid Structure, the Occipital Bone, Parietal Bone, the Parietal Foramen, and the Posterior Fontanelle. I am surprised there are so many parts of the upper skull.

The three bones that make up the Knee are the Femur, the Fibia, the Patella (or Kneecap). I thought there was more bones than that in a Knee.

Sources:www. Innerbody.com

The Muscular System

The Muscular System is the system of muscles that are connected to your bone with tendon and other tissue. They convert force and chemical energy into tension and contraction, which allows your body to move. Muscles move by simply shrinking, but they can't expand. Muscles are made up of many tiny protein filaments. Many muscles are separated by nerves that connect the muscle to the brain. You have on Average about 600 muscles.
Muscles are necessary at all times. You have cardiac muscles in your heart which pump blood, and smooth muscles that line your inner organs. These muscles are called involuntary muscles because you can't control them consciously.
On the other hand, skeletal muscles can be control ed. I am typing using my skeletal muscles in my fingers, which I am controlling. Muscles make up about 23% of a women's weight, and about 40% of a man's weight. I think muscles can be used too much sometimes. Lats year I was pitching and i through my arm out. Now it hurts every time I use it a lot.

Click the link for more info: http://www.innerbody.com/image/musfov.html#

Cardiovascular System

The cardiovascular system is what allows your body to circulate blood, fight germs, and get rid of dead cells. The cardiovascular system is also known as the circulatory system which allows blood to flow through your body. In the circulatory system there are three different types of cells that each serve a different purpose. Red blood cells carry oxygen through the body, white blood cells fight of unknown bacterias, and clotting platelets that fill in scrapes, cuts, and other damaged parts of the body. All of these cells travel through the body with the help of three main organs. The Arteries pump blood away from the heart, veins bring the blood back to the heart,and capilaries which is where the arteries and veins connect to give out oxygen. If you stretch out your arteries, veins, and capillaries they could go around the world a little more than two full times. I personally thought that this article was interesting but also imformative. Here is a link to my source.

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566878/Circulatory_System.html

http://www.bioing.auckland.ac.nz/physiome/ontologies/cardiovascular_system.php

The Nervous System

I have three sites for you to check out.  

The first one is basics about the nervous system, such as what nerves are.  I found the part about the how the nerve cells send messages the most interesting.

 

Site # 1

The second site is a more in depth versions of the brain parts and their jobs.  I thought, that how some scientist think that the left and right parts of the cerebrum are a lot different than they look, was really cool to think about. Also try "".

Site # 2

The third and the one that I think is the coolest is an interactive picture of the brain that lets you rotate it and look at all the different parts. 

go to site # 2 and click on the picture that looks like this:

" "

Anatomy Sites

Here are some sites you can use to research your organ systems:

• The MEDtropolis Virtual Body: http://www.medtropolis.com/VBody.asp
• Human Anatomy Online: http://www.innerbody.com/
• You'll find some amazing statistics at Health Trivia: http://web.archive.org/web/20010821010416/www.stfrancistopeka.org/64trivia.html

If you're interested in cells, try CELLS Alive! at: http://www.cellsalive.com/

If you're brave, you can check out this NY Times slideshow: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/04/21/science/Bassett_index.html

More images from the Bassett Collection are on Flickr at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanfordmedicine/sets/72157603949930348/

Earthquake in China - May 2008

Here is a slideshow showing some of the results of last week's earthquake in China:

http://www.npr.org/news/images/2008/may/12/earthquake/gallery/index.html

There are more audio reports from NPR reporters on the scene here:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/chengdu/

The "Chengdu Diary" starts off as a report on the culture of the Sichuan region of China, but then earthquake happened, and the reporters started covering that. It shows how a geological event can affect society at all levels.

FOR SCIENTIFIC DATA: The US Geological Survey has released a summary (and lots of other reports, maps, and links) here:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2008ryan.php#summary

Chandra Data Reveal Rapidly Whirling Black Holes

If the supernova explosion is caused by material being pulled off a companion star onto the white dwarf, fusion of this material on the surface of the star should heat the star and produce a strong source. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/news/08-003.html

Journey to Saturn

Here is a NASA program that lets you see Saturn as Cassini sees it:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/CASSIE/

Cool Saturn Facts

Here are some cool Saturn facts:
The wind on Saturn at the core can reach 500 meters per second, or 1100 miles per hour.
The probe Cassini that orbits the A and B ring sectors is named after Giovanni Cassini who discovered these sectors in 1675.
more cool facts coming soon.
Here's a cool website about Saturn. (click on "Saturn")

Solar System Resources

Here are some AWESOME sources of information about our Solar System:

• The Nine EIGHT Planets -- This site has lots of beautiful photos and text.


• Views of the Solar System -- This site features statistics and detailed information. (And why not view the site en español?)


• Planetary Fact Sheets -- On this site, you'll find lots of numbers, and lots of math. (It's NOT for the faint of heart!)
• The Earth and Moon Viewer -- Take a look at our home planet and its biggest satellite... from any angle!

While learning about the planets, you might find it useful to have a periodic table handy:

• Here's a basic Periodic Table
• Here's a pretty darn fancy Periodic Table
• (Here's a pretty much useless Periodic Table)

A Good Shot from Saturn

So, do you think you're a good shot at pool? Maybe you should try a long shot like this:

Yes, Cassini's done it again! This is a shot of Earth, viewed THROUGH the rings of Saturn, FROM the shadow of Saturn! (That means the sun is in this picture, but it's hidden behind Saturn.)

Here's the link: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17524

I know it seems kind of funny to think of this as a long-range, complicated pool shot, but remember that Cassini didn't just HAPPEN to be in this position. Some very skilled scientists from NASA managed to put it out there.

"World Water Crisis" Photo Gallery

I've just discovered time.com's photogalleries, including such interesting slideshows as World Water Crisis...

These are beautiful photos, and each one has some good scientific and social information in the caption. Which is your favorite? Well, maybe I shouldn't ask about your "favorite" photo, since many of them are rather scary or disgusting. Which photo do you think is the most memorable? What does the caption tell you about it? (Include a link to the photo, if you can.)

Evidence of Another Universe Found

This article is about how scienceits found another unvierse. The universe is about six billion trillion miles across. To find out more go to this link. http://www.itwire.com/content/view/15488/1066/1/1/

mind game

did you ever think about mind control. well you can control this mind controlled videow game
heres a link
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5167938.stm
sorrey i cant link

Drought!

Last year in Georgia, droughts hit record levels in some counties. Georgia pumps 10 million gallon of waste into wetlands every day, and by 2010, they want to up that amount to 24 million gallons. Fortunately, these last two months or so have been filled with thunderstorms and that added a lot of water to their reservoirs.
Additional information can be found at:
http://www.caes.uga.edu/topics/disasters/drought/

Cold Case

Everett is one lucky guy. Everett, an NFL player had the worst thing happen to him, a spinal cord injury. When a football player get's somthing like that you usually don't return. In September is when he had this injury. By October he was walking. How? It is called hypothermia or below body temperature which just saved his life. Pretty cool!

Here is a link to a picture of him on the cover of Sports Illustrated:

http://i.cnn.net/si/si_online/covers/images/2007/1217_large.jpg

By Noah Sweetbrown

Cold Case

Kevin Everett had a spinal cord injury from playing football.  When Everett went down on the field medics rushed to his side.  One medic injected a chilling fluid to put Everett into a controlled case of hypothermia.  After they got Everett off the field they took him to the nearest hospital for surgery. Now,  medics and other spinal specialists are having a disagreement on what helped Everett the most, the surgery or the chilling fluids.     

If you were wondering more about the previous surgery on Kevin Everett.  Go to THIS.  

Bubble Bath in Australia

In Australia a storm drove the water on the sea shore to become A LOT of sea foam. It appeared to be a giant (30 mile long) bubble bath. To see more about this click on THIS!

Another Universe Found?

Scientists say they have found evidence of another universe. They have found a gap that is about 6 billion trillion miles across. They say that it is a gap from interaction with another universe millions of years ago.

Moonbows

It may look like a rainbow but take a closer look. Moonbows are just like rainbows but are caused by moonlight. The moonbow is caused when moonlight hits rain on a clear night. Moonlight is bounced off the water droplets and is projected as colorful light. Some scientists say that you have to have your back to the moon to see a moonbow and with light pollution it is even harder to see than before. These are a couple of places where moonbows have been spotted, Kentucky's Cumberland Falls and Africa's Victoria Falls, and they used to appear at Niagra falls to. One more mystery of the world that we can admire! here is a post to a cite on moonbows.

http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/eyes/moonbow.htm

http://www.newscientist.com/blog/space/2007/05/somewhere-over-moonbow.html

Dolphin gets fake tail

Winter, the baby dolphin has a prosthetic tail. Winter got caught in a fishermen’s net in Florida. She suffered from deep cuts, so much that the scientists didn’t think that she would make it. They were able to heal the main cuts on her body but they couldn't save here tail. So they made a plastic thing shaped like her old tail and put it on her. Ever since then Winter has been doing great and you would never know that she doesn’t have a real tail.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6030000/newsid_6032900/6032973.stm

Cassini Flying Through Ice Chunks

NASA's Cassini probe is flying VERY close to one of Saturn's tiniest moons. Why? Well, it sounds like a bit of a far-fetched stunt, but NASA wants to fly the probe through a cloud of flying ice chunks from a giant geyser, to find out if there's life under the surface of the moon.

But don't take MY word for it...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88154046

Bad Monkeys

Through out India, monkeys run wild and live as a part of society in some cities. In one Indian town though, things are out of hand. Four monkeys jumped on the balcony of the mayor, and while trying to fight the monkeys off, he fell of the balcony and died. The people are starting to not like that the monkeys are "invading" the cities. There is a good reason. India's towns and cities are expanding fast and taking the monkeys homes. What do you think, do the monkeys have rights, or should they leave.

NuVinci Bicycle

Fallbrook Technologies is starting to manufacture a bicycle with a "infinite" gears. It is called NuVinci transmission. This transmission works by having ball bearings around a hub that are kept in by a input disc (attached to the chain from the peddles) and a output disc (attached to the rear wheel). The pull handles on the front cause the whole transmission to tilt therefore increasing to a different gear deppending on the amount of tilt. To learn more about the bike click on THIS!

Big Bang

this is a website about someone's trip to Mt. Tambora.  Mt. Tambora still holds the record for the biggest volcanic eruption since 1815.  Here are some questions to answer about Mt. Tambora:

1. How far did the elevation drop during the explosion? 
   
2. When did the first and second eruptions occur? 
3. The first eruption's column was about 44 km heigh.  How heigh was the second eruption's column?
4. How hot was it when the volcano erupted? 
5. How long did the "whirlwind" last?
6. How many people in total did the eruption kill?

Good luck! 

Feel free to only answer a few of them!

Here's the link:

http://www.service-tourism.org/sumbawa%20tambora.html    

 

a different "Big Bang"

Have you ever heard about the biggest volcano eruption in history? Some names that might come to mind are Mount St. Helens or even Krakatua, but as big as these might seem they are not the biggest. The biggest and maybe the least heard of is Tambora. In April of 1815 the volcano on a island in Indonesia erupted enough lava to cover the whole island, and killing most of their people. There was an estimated of 60,000 deaths but that wasn't the only problem. The ash from the volcano went into the air and caused some nasty problems. Because of the disturbance cattle would not eat and the crops would not grow. This caused a huge famine worldwide. The reason that the BIGEST volcano eruption is not know as well is because of the communications at the time. The only was to communicate with other countries was by ship. With this lack of communication few people even knew that there was a volcano eruption to begin with

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0604-04

Kors, Joshua Big Bang

Mini-Cat Cars

Introducing the new car of tomorow! The mini-cat car is a car that is environmentally friendly and fuel efficient. This car is cheap to assemble and cheap to fuel. The mini-cat car runs on compressed air, and electricity which is safe for the environment and the air tanks are easy to get rid of. The compressed air can't catch fire and won't leave harmful vapors that other cars have. The car also doesn't need sparkplugs or batteries to run so there is less matenance needed. The mimi-cat car is environmentally friendly and is the safe car of the future.
Here are the links so you can learn more about the mini-cat car.

http://www.theaircar.com/acf/air-cars/energy-storage.html

http://www.theaircar.com/acf/

Weekly Math Puzzle and ScienceNewsForKids.org

Did you know that http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/ publishes a weekly math puzzle? Here's the link:

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/PuzzleZone.asp

Check it out! You can submit comments and solutions, and the page links to lots of other interesting science and math features.

Monkeys run wild

NEWS FLASS:
MONKEY POPULATOIN PROBLEM IN NORTH INDIA. MAYOR KILLED ON HIS OWN PORCH BY THESE MONKEY MENACES.

That's not just jiber jaber to make a paper famous. it's true just look here at

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3212124.stm

If your a monkey person go to India the monkey population is maching the humens at estimated 20,000 - 25,000.
This is high!

Don't Eat the Snow!

Some kids wonder why they shouldn't eat the snow, well heres why. It contains lots of bacteria called Pseudomonas Syringae.But it is also common so its not any worse than dirt.

Birth Control for Deer?

I think that this isn't right. I think that the deer population shouldn't be limited any more than it is because hunting is dwindling it already.  If you want to read the whole article go to www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080219132149.htm

Neutron Stars

Have you ever thought about getting an x-ray in space?  Well, a bursting neutron star found in the constellation of Aquila, produced x-rays as well as gamma rays and a lot of magnetic force. If you would like to see the original article go to http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/221/1 

Scientific Theory

The Florida Board of Education has approved a science curriculum which includes evolution:

http://www.miamiherald.com/top_stories/story/425473.html

Is it a victory for the "Forces of Science", or is it ... NOT quite a victory?

Some people think that a "theory" is something that isn't proven. However, as the article says, a "scientific theory" is "a scientific and testable concept based on facts."

QUESTIONS FOR THOUGHT:

• How can we TEST evolution?
• What facts is it based on?
• Why would some people NOT want evolution taught as scientific fact?

Zoo

I thought the article was interesting and exciting, with the tiger attack. I thought it was cool.


This is the picture

http://static.flickr.com/51/147474762_b7af3d57e8.jpg

More News of the Satellite Shoot-Down

Here's an NPR story about last night's mid-eclipse satellite shoot-down:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19227400

The radio article includes some discussion of US-China differences around satellite violence.

Lunar Eclipse: SUCCESS!

23:20 EST

I step out onto the 3rd floor porch of the Red Lion Hotel... The dark, red moon is starting to pass out of the umbra and a bright crescent appears along the bottom.



Here's my photo:



One of those two other visible bodies should be Saturn, but I'm not sure which! Spaceweather has an interactive global map of photos other astronomers took this evening.

This just in, as well:

"ASAT HIT! US officials say the US Navy has successfully hit spy satellite USA 193 with a missile over the Pacific Ocean. " -- from http://www.spaceweather.com

Lunar Eclipse: Photos

Well, I can tell you it's COLD out there tonight! I went out sliding and stumbling across the flooded frozen parking lot at the edge of Stockbridge village, wondering if I was about to break through the ice and plunge into who knows how much green, icy Housatonic flood water...

And did I get some photos of the eclipse? Well... barely.

Here's the eclipse when it was just starting:

You can see that the edge of the moon has slid into the very dim edge of the earth's shadow.

Here's the eclipse about one half hour further along:


Hmm, not much difference there. One problem is these thin, translucent clouds that have covered the sky, so the light of the remaining crescent fattens up the moon in the above photo. Trust me, though, to my eyes, it's a spectacular sight!

Lunar Eclipse

Is anyone out watching the lunar eclipse tonight? I'm in Stockbridge, MA, and it's clear, so I'll go out later and try to take some pictures.

Here's an NPR story about the event:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19211082

This site posted an animation of the upcoming event:

http://shadowandsubstance.com/

Life beyond Earth (20 light years to be precise)

scientests have found another dwarf planet. unlike othe dwarf planets this one has a lot to do with us. This planets happenes to have an enviroment just like ours. It temperature ranges from 32 degrees to 104 degrees fahrenheit. these temperatures are ideal for water and where there is water there is life. Scientests aren't sure that there is life on this new planet but it would be a great spot for the human race. Too bad it is 20 years away (and thats traveling at light speed)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9796321

New Planets

This article is about to planets that are around a star that is about five thousand light-years away!

To see the complete article go to: www.sciam.com/article.cmf?id=scaled-down-solar-system

Fireball Hits Oregon

This article is about a fireball that hit earth in Oregon (hense the Oregon website). While reading this article pay close attention to the names and places. To see this complete article go to

www.blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/02/a_bird_a_plane_ a_ufo_no_that_w.html

Computer Equipment

Those of you who have any old computer equipment that you like, but a new computer, might want to check this out.

http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2008-02/serial-ports-all

Meteor showers

This article is on meteor showers. Meteor showers are caused by a comet passing through the earth's orbit and leaving behind stardust. When the stardust enters the earth's atmosphere it will start burning and leave behind a stream of flashing light. A few well known meteors are Hallies comet which comes every fifty years. I found this article atractive because of the resent meteor showers we have had.
here is the cite for this article

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia-761587740/meteor-shower.html

Power Cords

Hey Guys, check this out! It's really cool.


http://www.popsci.com/gear-gadgets/article/2008-02/hungry-power

P.S. I think it would be SUPER cool if we could have ONE type of plug for ALL the
electronic-mostly-made-in-China-and-therefore-mostly-junk appliances we have!

Monkeys Count

this scientist monkeys arouned with monkeys and how thay can keep track of echother with thare vioces and faces
Elizabeth Brannon of Duke University is the leader of this expariment
for more info please visit this site
rrrrr
rrrrr
rrrrr
rrrrr
rrrrrrrr
rrrrrr
rrrr
rr

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20050713/Note3.asp

The Space Wars

Space wars

What this story is about is that for all of these years the countries have been working with each other on space technology.

Great Lakes Pollution

According to recent studies some scientists belive that the great lakes have high levels of pollution and that everyone living around them has a high chance of getting cancer. http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/004555.html

Atomic Drive

If you think your car is small think about this this car called the nanocars are so small you need 20,000 in singel file to span the with of a hire (hows that for small). whant to now more see the website at
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20060823/Feature1.asp

I think If your like me and find this interesting you'll like this site.

Wet Mars?

Is Mars wet? Well, not now, but scientists think it was. New satellite pictures reveal river like embankments and large empty pools which look like they could hold water.  

Satellite Shoot Down

The Pentagon has just announced that they will send a missle into space to take down a broken spy satellite. It has a high chance of having a toxic gas cloud around it. This is the url for this info= http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/fishy-rationale.html

The Big Frog

Scientists from London and New York City have found a 70 million year old frog fossil in Madagascar (Africa). The frog is called  Beelzebufo. The same fossil was found in South America. The frog is thought to been big enough to eat small dinosaurs.   

The Aurora

The Aurora (the northern Lights) are a thing that have been capturing the human mind for ages. Stories of lights the shine threw the night with colors like peices of broken glass have been told for many years all around the world. But what is the aurora? the Aurora is a show of lights that appear in the northen parts of the earth. What happens is atmospheric gasses have a collision and cause a shower of electrons and protons. When these particils hit the earths magnetic field they produce different lights and alas the Aurora is born. And to think this is all happining 115 miles above our heads.Wow!

http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=2088

Spaceships Transit the Sun

In astronomy, a "transit" is when an object passes in front of a much larger object. It's sort of like an eclipse, only the object in front is WAY too small to block the object behind.

Here is a photograph of the ISS (International Space Station) and the Space Shuttle Atlantis transiting the Sun in sometime in the past week:

This photo was taken by Ricardo de Nasso of Pisa, Italy. I found it on http://www.spaceweather.com/. (Sorry, I can't find any direct URL there so that's the best link I can post!)

The Sun, Moon, and Earth, oh my!

My first post is on lunar eclipses.

Lunar eclipses are caused when the sun's light is blocked by the earth and out of the moon's range. When this happens the moon goes through a "shadow cone called an umbra at which time the moon is invisible to the earth sky."(microsoft encarta corporation) The amount of time the moon stays in the umbra is dependant on how long the moon is out of the suns light. When there is a full lunar eclipse the moon may gain a red tint. I found this article interesting due to the lunar eclipse that is coming up in a couple of days.

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761568140/eclipse.html

My second cite is on sunspots.

Sunspots are circles of black areas on the moon. Sunspots are caused by a "magnetic disruption across the sun's surface" causing it to cool.(microsoft encarta corporation) When this happen magnetic storms are created which travel to earth and can overload many electric items. Sunspots can last a fews days to a few months and can get as big as 384,500km. I liked this article on sunspots because I am fascinated by magnetism and electrical current.

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_701879658/Sunspots.html

posted by Zak A.

Michael Collins, Please Remember to Put Titles on All Your Posts!

Hey guys, check this out! It's really cool!

http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2008-02/trap-lightning-block

New Solar System!

Astronomers have discovered a new solar system. It is 5,000 light years away. They discovered it by observing "gravitational lensing." This new solar system has "small" planets in it as well as big planets.

Here is the link:

• http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=scaled-down-solar-system

Do you want to know what "gravitational lensing" is? http://wikipedia.org/ has some good pictures and animations. Here's the link:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_lensing

Aurora Photos from Earth and Space

http://www.spaceweather.com/ has posted an Aurora Photo Gallery for February, 2008. The pictures show solar radiation entering the earth's atmosphere in places all around the Northern Hemisphere. Here is the link:

http://www.spaceweather.com/aurora/gallery_01feb08.htm

Some of the photos are taken from outer space by the astronauts on board the International Space Station!

(The photo to the right comes from Hanneke Luijting in Tromsø, Norway.)

These are fun photos to look at while reading The Golden Compass...

Music, Noise, and Words

Should we be practicing our guitar playing instead of studying our spelling words? Scientists at Northwestern University might think so. Here is the link to an article about how music helps you do better in languages:

• http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070926123908.htm

Then again, if your house gets too LOUD, your verbal skills might suffer! Here is the link to an article about how babies learn more slowly when there are more distractions in their homes:

• http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2005/0908-mind_amp_brain.htm

Both these stories came from: www.sciencedaily.com

Welcome to hisScience.blogspot.com!

Welcome! Here's how to post to this blog:

• From your dashboard, click NEW POST.
• TITLE: Write an interesting, unique title. The title should tell what the post is about.
• BODY: Write with complete sentences, and proofread before you post! Share some of your thoughts about the science topic or news item that you're posting. Include 3+ facts about the topic.
• LINK: Always include a link to your source(s) or related material(s). All you have to do is copy and paste a URL into its own line, like this:

http://www.hopkintonind.org

• LABELS: Labels are like categories. Give your post a label by clicking "SHOW ALL" and choosing any appropriate labels.

To see a sample post with all these features, f0llow this link:

http://hisscience.blogspot.com/2008/02/new-solar-system.html

(Can you figure out how I put the pictures into the post?)

Science Labels

Let's use these labels to classify our posts:

• astronomy = space, stars, planets, etc.
• biology = life sciences, medicine, etc.
• chemistry = chemicals and matter
• physics = laws of matter and energy
• mathematics = numbers and logic
• technology = machines and ways of doing things that people invent

What other categories of science can you think of?

First Post

This is the first post of the new Science and Technology Blog from Hopkinton Independent School!

We'll use this blog to keep up with current science and technology events and news stories.