October Sky

During the school day, our unit watch a sensational movie called October Sky.  I came across many topics relating to science while watching it.  Right in the beginning of the movie, a football player tackles another guy, showing force.  Later on, Homer makes the rocket and shoots it into the air.  Somehow, this is related to science.  When the rocket comes back down from the sky, the force being exerted onto the rocket is the earth's gravity.  In the classroom, someone stupidly made a chemical reaction from powder, and a match in the sink.  Also, when the young men were burning down their shelter on the mountain, they had wood and set it on fire.

In addition to science, there were also many examples of character education.  When the football players worked as a team, that showed cooperation.  When the 4 guys built the rocket, they showed cooperation.  Plus, Homer respected the principal by saying "sir."  Homer's dad showed assertion by risking his life in the mines, and almost dying.  Finally, when Homer left school just to help out his family, he showed great responsibility.  These are many examples of Character Education in the movie October Sky.

In Science class, we experimented with plasticity, which is the ability to change shape or form. Our class imitated how the mantle of the Earth acts. The materials for our lab were water, corn starch, and food coloring.  The first thing we had to do was add water to the beaker of corn starch.  This was quite hard because of how sticky the substance was.  We had to add a little water each time, then stir, so that we wouldn't put too much water.  If this happened, then it would be too much of a liquid.  We had to get the mixture of water right for it to work. Once it was fully mixed, we made with a substance that was half liquid and half solid.  Our group scooped the mixture out of the beaker with our hands.  This was difficult because the mixture acted like a liquid, but not for long.  We rolled the substance in between our hands, therefore creating heat and pressure.  It then turned mostly solid, and was not dripping.  The cool thing is that it turns right back into a liquid the second you stop your hand from rolling.

RESPONSE TO EAGLES121395 Klinefelter Syndrome

One of the achievements in life is to raise a child. But this may not be able to happen if you were born with Klinefelter Syndrome. In Eagles121395's Blog, he talks about the Klinefelter syndrom, and what it's all about. The Klinefelter Syndrome was named after Dr. Henry Klinefelter, who was the first one to actually find an extra male X chromosome. This is extremely bad, because first off, you won't be able to reproduce, and then there is a 1/3 chance that you will have increased breast tissue. Other effects are, germ cell tumors, breast cancer, and osteoporosis. If you want to look more manly, then you will have to undergo testosterone treatment. All in all, reading Eagles121395's article about the devastating Klinefelter Syndrome has made me more aware that people around the world are suffering from infertility, and that I should be thankful for what I have and what I can do.

Cystic Fibrosis

Cystic Fibrosis, also known as CF, is a unfortunate genetic disease that affects the exocrine glands of the lungs, liver, pancreas, and intestines. In 1936, Guido Fanconi and his colleagues discovered it. Cystic Fibrosis is one of the most common life span-shortening genetic diseases. In the United States alone, 1 in 3,900 babies are born with CF. Approximately 30,000 Americans have Cystic Fibrosis. The disease is most common among white babies, with a 1 in 3,200 chance. The second most common race being born with Cystic Fibrosis is Native American, having a 1 in 10,500 chance, followed by Hispanics with a 1 in 11,500 chance, followed by African Americans with a 1 in 14,000 to 17,000 chance. Lastly, Asian Americans have the least chance of being born with Cystic Fibrosis with a 1 in chance. Cystic Fibrosis, also known as CF, is a unfortunate genetic disease that affects the exocrine glands of the lungs, liver, pancreas, and intestines. Cystic Fibrosis is one of the most common life span-shortening genetic diseases. There are many symptoms of Cystic Fibrosis. When having Cystic Fibrosis, you can have lung and sinus disease. You may have Gastrointestinal, liver, and pancreatic disease. Endocrine disease and growth problems also are problems. In most cases, CF causes an early death. The average life expectancy is around 36.8 years according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, but improvements in treatments mean that a baby born today could expect to live a longer life.

Most CF patients are taking one or more antibiotics at a time. Even if they are healthy, they are required to take medications to suppress the infection as much as possible. In a hospital, patients use chest physiotherapy, which is when an experienced utilizes an individuals chest using his or her hands several times a day. This helps loosen up secretions.

The most common mutation, ΔF508, is a deletion (Δ) of three nucleotides that results in a loss of the amino acid phenylalanine (F) at the 508th (508) position on the protein. This mutation accounts for two-thirds of CF cases worldwide and 90 percent of cases in the United States; however, there are over 1,400 other mutations that can produce CF. Overall, I think that this disease is very serious, and that the people that have it can teach us all a very important lesson. This lesson is that we can perProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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rvere through bad times.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cystic_fibrosis#Treatment
http://www.cff.org/
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/cf/cf_what.html

Wind Power And Ski Resorts

Jiminy Peak, in Hancock, Massachusetts, is the first ski resort to use wind power in North America. The resort has been struggling with finances for the past few years, so they have decided to turn to the cheap, energy-efficient wind power. They have nicknamed the project Zephyr after the Greek god of the west wind. Zephyr has generated about one-third of all their electricity, taking off $400,000 a year from the energy bill. In addition to being a money saving machine, it also is an eco-friendly tool. It also happens to be very interesting to visitors, and they want to check it out. I think that this is an exhilerating, fantastic idea because it saves money, and more importantly, saves energy.


Information found http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/27/ski.wind.turbine/index.html

Why Dutch Children Are Happier

In Netherlands, the children are generally happier. There are a number of reasons that contributes to the cause.
"The Netherlands has always been a very child-centred society," says Paul Vangeert, professor of developmental psychology at the University of Groningen. "In particular, there is a lot of focus on young children."
Netherlands is a very rich country, and has the money to supply the Dutch children with the resources they need, such as schooling, clothing, or shelter. Another factor that applies is that the parents don't put as much pressure on the chidren about school as parents in the United States do. In Netherlands, families are generally rich, so the mothers of the families stay with their kids at home, therefore increasing the relationship between them and mutually making them happier.


Information taken from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6360517.stm

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