Creating My Car

The task given was to create a car that works solely by gravity. After creating sturdy and efficient cars, we will race the cars down wooden ramps. When creating this car, I had to rememer to keep a sleek shape, a good amount of weight, smooth and round wheels, and a neat design. Throughout the process, I faced countless obstacles and spent several hours. I had a great blueprint including all the neccesary components, but creating the car was not a simple as I thought. The materials I had were the following: a plastic bottle, cardboard, woodglue, paper, colored pencils, CDs, a small box, and thread rolls. A major problem I faced was attatching the wheels to an axle and attatching the axle to the body.Originally, I spent three hours trying to attatch CDs to a pencil. However, this was a difficult task because the wholes in the cds were much larger than the axle. As a result, the wheels were not stable. Because of this failure, I decided to use thread rolls instead. The whole in the thread rolls was the perfect size for a straw to fit through.
For the body, I originally utilized a large, green, and transperent soda bottle. I was planning to use the soda bottle because it had a sleek shape, a cool color, and I could fill it with liquids or solids to make my car heavier. The weight would cause gravity to have more impact on the car. However, when I added water to make the car heavier, the car was off balance and started tipping. Without the water, the car began skidding. As a result, I replaced the bottle with a box that was heavier, sturdy, and very pretty. In order to make the car heavier, I added clay sculptures which would add detail as well as a little weight. When I tested the final car, it worked great. After all those failures, I finally made a car I am proud of!

How does our brain work?

"If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn't.”
~Emerson M. Pugh



Even with the stunning technology scientists own in the 21st century, the brain remains to be the most complex and mystifying machine known to humans.



What does each part of the brain do?
-The frontal lobe is a part of the cerebral cortex in the brain. This part of the brain effects our reasoning. planning, problem solving, emotions, parts of speech and movement.
-The second major division in the cerebral cortex is the parietal lobe. This part of the brain processes sensory information such as touch, temperature, or pain. Our thought process also takes place in this portion of the brain.
-The occipital lobe is the third major division in the cerebral cortex. It functions to process visual information.
-Lastly, there is the temporal lobe. This major division controls hearing, memory, and learning.
-The cerebellum helps us maintain balance and posture.
-The brain stem controls several basic actions. For instance, breathing, sleeping, eating, heart beat, and blood pressure.

Mysteries of the Mind
According to livescience these are the top 9 mysteries that perplex scientists about the brain.

1) Consciousness: Your consciouness is your awarness and the sensations or your surrounding. This simple act has become a brainteaser for scientists.
2)Deep Freeze: Scientists believe that the body and the brain can be thawed and revived in the future. However, so far this is not possible.
3) Why do humans age?
4)Are thoughts and personalities controlled by genes or the enviornment?
5)Why in the world to we laugh? (HAHA~ I never quite understood that either!)
6)Why are some memories hard to forget? (With research, scientists found out that the hippocampus is resposible for storing memory.)
7)How are "phantom feelings" caused? "Phantom limb" is an anomaly which causes one to feel warmth, pressure, itching, or pain due to a mssing limb. Scientists have two theories as to why this occurs; however, they are not sure.
8)Why do we sleep? Why is sleep a crucial aspect in life?
9)Why do we dream?

websites I used
http://www.neuroskills.com/tbi/bfrontal.shtml
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/lobe.html
www.livescience.com

Lab Report: Soaring Straws

Potential energy is the stored energy that results from the position or shape of an object. Gravitational potential energy depends on the height of an object where as elastic energy is the energy of stretched or compressed objects. As I look at the shape of my graph, I can conclude that if the elastic potential energy (or the stretch) increases, the gravitational potential energy increases aswell. For instance, when we stretched the rubberband four centimeters, the GPE of the rocket was about 22mJ. However, when we stretched the rubberband seven centimeters, the GPE was 40mJ (according to the graph). I realized that stretching the rubberband farther will increase the elastic potential energy and the rocket also travels further. In addition, the lines on the graph also increased at a steady or close to steady rate.

There are many ways to avoid errors in the data collection and enhance the lab. Many variables effected our final data and conclusion. For instance, we kept changing rubber bands when they snapped, and it also loosened as we were shooting rockets. Moreover, the shooters kept changing in order to give everyone a turn. In addition, the rockets soared pretty fast and it was hard to figure out its exact height. Furthermore, someone may have even switched rockets because we used the same launchers and rockets for each class. In order to enhance this lab, we should use sensors rather than estimation to decipher the height and do some more trials to make sure the data is accurate. With the lack of supplies we were obligated to share launchers, but keeping the same launcher with the same conditions will also enhance the lab. Another way to preserve the launchers is to make them of a sturdier material such as plastic or metal. In this way, we can ensure that our results are accurate.

Toothpick Fish

The Toothpick Fish Lab was an exciting lab which allowed students to experiment with genes and the environment with toothpicks. The eight toothpicks all represent three different colored fish. We formed a gene by randomly picking two alleles from a "gene pool".

Green Allele (G) -Dominant to all other alleles
Red Allele (r) -Recessive to G and incompletely dominant to yellow*
Yellow allele (y) -Recessive to G and incompletely dominant to red*
The possible results for the phenotype and genotype are listed below.

Green- GG, Gr, Gy
Red- rr
Yellow- yy
Orange- ry

According to all the possible genotypes and phenotypes, two red fish can not mate and have a green offspring. If two red fish mate, then the offspring's phenotype would be 100% red. On the other hand, if two orange fish mate they can have a red offspring. The chances of having a red offspring with this particular genetic cross is 25% red. It is also possible for two green fish to mate and have an orange offspring. In the case the genotypes would need to be Gr and Gy. The recessive allele could be passed down to the second generation.

We started this lab by making a first generation of fish. In order to do this, we pulled out pairs of genes (without looking) and set them aside. After drawing all the genes, we recorded them in our table (shown above). After completing this, the lab told us that the fish live in a very lush and green stream with lots of seaweed and algae. As a result, the green fish are able to camouflage very well into their ecosystem. However, the yellow fish are eaten very quickly and are unable to reproduce. Therefore, all the yellow fish, yy, do not survive. Then, we repeated the same process for the second and third generation (making sure to remove all yellow offspring). At the end of the third generation, only two yellow alleles had remained. After the third generation, there were only nine fish remaining even though we started of with twelve fish. However, this would not happen in the wild because even if the fish were being eaten, they would still continue to reproduce. We repeated this process once again for the forth generation; however, this time we did not remove the yellow fish. This is because the lab informed us that harmful factory waste was recently dumped into the stream, killing majority of the seaweed and algae. This benefits the red, yellow, and orange fish because rocks and sand provide good camouflage. This time all the green fish are eaten. As a result of this environmental disaster, the population has drastically changed. This left us with only three survivors. When the environment was hostile to them, the green alleles disappeared faster than any other color. Due to the fact that "G" was the dominant allele, any genotype with "G" was eaten. Throughout the lab green was the most prevalent color. When the disaster occurred, all the green fish died. Hence, majority of the population.

The toothpick fish lab showed us how the fish populations changed because of environmental issues. Throughout the lab, we were able to see how the genotypes and phenotypes changed with the environment. This is a clear example of natural selection. Natural selection is a process in which characteristics that make an individual better suited to its environment becomes more common in species.

Changes such as these are also evident in real populations. For example, global warming is adding strength the the El Niño events. Scientist ran many tests to see if the El Niño, from 1997-1998, altered the genetic makeup of Galápagos marine iguana populations. Turns out that the El Niño has much more to it than I thought. If you'd like to learn more on this very interesting topic, visit http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0001285.
Other environmental changes such as an ice age, oil spill, forest fire, global warming, and much more can have a vivid impact on ecosystems and the genetic composition of animals.

Music for Young Minds ♫

♫ In the 21st century, many children have been introduced to the art of music at a very tender age, and research shows that music at an early age may actually improve brain function. Music is a gratifying activity which calms many people when they are stressed and also boosts mental abilities. Researchers at the Institute for Music and the Mind at McMaster University organized a test which would compare preschoolers who had taken music lessons with those who had not. According to this expirament, musical training at an early age seemed to help the brain's aauditory cortex. They also say that changes in memory and learning ability were witnessed.
Research continued in Ohio State University showed that music does not necessarily have to improve IQ and test scores; however, their research does support the fact that music stimulates responses in the auditory cortex of the brain. This subject could bring up controversy because there are many factors which affects a childs learning ability. However, there is no doubt that music does stimulate the brain and has positive affects regarding judgment, and reasoning.♫

♫My thoughts on the matter...♫

As a child who was braught up drowned in music, I find that music is always a place to escape and find peace. I started singing at the age of three and play the piano, flute, and harmonium. Most children in our district are given the choice of playing an instrument and most children do. Over the years, I do feel like music has helped me conentrate and focus. When we play in band, we have to listen to other instruments so we dont overplay, and in choir we have to blend our voice with those around us. Without noticing we are doing so many things at once. We are reading the music, analyzing it, playing it on our instrument, focusing on what the teacher is conducting, and listen to the intruments around us. All of this trains our minds and stimulates brain activity. I also noticed that even though early morning band required us to wake early, I felt more attentive throughout the day. However this may only affect me personally, but you never know!♫

article
http://www.livescience.com/health/091106-isns-music-brain.html

image
http://www.newswise.com/images/uploads/2009/04/24/fullsize/Brain_Waves.jpg

Green 'Ark'

Alexander Remizov, a Russian architect, has created a protype design that may just be extremely beneficial to our future and society. This building takes on the shape of a slinky and is said to be constructed very quickly and efficiantly. Further more, this new structure has the ability to adapt to many different kinds of enviornments and can be used for countless reasons. Remizov also wants this building to be enviornmentaly friendly. Therefore, "he says that he took a holistic approach to the problems of providing power to The Ark, working with colleague Lev Britvin on energy solutions to keep it in balance with the environment"(Cnn.com). First of all, there is a wind power generator that runs through the center of the building which is an efficiant way for obtaining energy. In addition, there will be transparent solar panels, covering the outer surface, which will also be an efficient way to produce energy. Lastly, if the Ark is built on water, Remizov is also intending to utilize thermal energy to power the building. Remizov believes that this structure would be able to house 50-10,000 people and still remain an energy efficient building. Another bebefit to this building would be that construction would become cheaper, and the transperent roof would allow us to grow plants inside the building. This new idea just may be a part of our future. If this building becomes a reality, many people's lives will be affected, and we may just be able to reduce the effects of Global Warming by reducing the use of green house gases. Every little step counts!

Pros:
-green and energy efficient enviornment
-shape can withstand against tidal waves and natural disasters
-transparent windows reduce need for lighting
-(All aboard the Ark Hotel! Giant biosphere is a 'self-contained haven' in event of climate change flood disaster)



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1345738/Ark-Hotel-Remistudio-biosphere-self-contained-haven-event-flood-disaster.html#ixzz1Ah298dlR

Works Cited

"Ark Hotel: Remistudio biosphere is a 'self-contained haven' in event of flood disaster Mail Online." Home Mail Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2011. .

"Green 'Ark' could house 10,000 -- and looks like a Slinky! - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2011. .

image from...

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/01/floating-slinky-hotel-to-survive-world-or-rising-seas.php

For More Information Visit...

http://www.malaysiandigest.com/world/14960-green-ark-could-house-10000-and-looks-like-a-slinky.html