The Wattieza Tree

Off the top of my head the most common trees I can name are Pine, Oak, Evergreen, Spruce, Palm tree, and Maple. However there was one tree that was never discovered, until now. This tree is called the Wattieza tree. This tree was standing millions of years ago until one day, as suspected, a gigantic storm hit and the tree came crashing down and was buried under muddy water. A few years later the muddy water turned into sedimentary rock. It wasn't until so may years later that Frank Mannolini came by with a hammer ready to search for fossils in Albany, New York. Surprisingly he stumbled across the fossils of the Wattieza tree. He uncovered all parts of the tree, and its branches as well. This tree is the oldest tree known! Mannolini took the trees pieces to museums where they tried to glue all the pieces back together. From looking at the pieces of this tree it was like a huge jigsaw puzzle! Also, Mannolini discovered that this tree was not only the oldest tree but it came from the oldest forest too. From reading this article, I learned that even though you might find one fossil you can still find out a lot more about the world from it. This tree can tells us more about nature. If you would like to read more about this article visit...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/06/04/ancient.tree.ap/index.html

Newton's Laws

You may not realize it but when you skateboard to school, push a shopping cart, throw a football, and maybe even drive places you are using Newtons Laws. As one can see, Newton's Laws are used in everyday life. Newton's Law #1 states that an object at rest will stay at rest and an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon an unbalanced force. Lets take a football for example, if a football is lying on the ground it will remain in that spot, it won't suddenly jump up without a force acting upon it. Now, if an earthquake occurred near the football the football would then move because the earthquakes force is making it move. Another example is if I am riding on my bicycle and I fall off. The bicycle won't fall down right away; The object in motion will stay in motion. Newton's Law #2 or "law of inertia" states that force equals mass multiplied by acceleration. For instance, if I'm in the grocery store pushing a shopping cart full with groceries it will be hard to push. However, if I push twice as hard to make it go it will then accelerate twice as much. Then, if i push a shopping cart that's empty it will accelerate in the direction that I pushed it. Next, if it gets twice the mass it will accelerate twice as much. Newton's Law #3 says that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In easier words, when one object gives off force on another object, the second object gives an equal strength in the opposite direction. For instance, when a space rocket is launched into the air in order for the rocket to go up it has to have force. Therefore the fire, which is going in the opposite direction than the rocket, gives off as much force as the rocket is as its heading up. This is a perfect example of how there is an equal (both giving equal force) and opposite (one object going up and the other going down) force. These are the first three out of all of Newton's Laws.
From learning about Newton's Laws I now know that I use Newton's Laws every single day! Yes, we may not realize when we are using them, but they are a huge part of our life. Without Newton's Laws we wouldn't understand the concept of forces and gravity.

More about Newton's Laws can be found at these sites...

http://www.sciencemaster.com/jump/physical/newton_law.php

http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/gbssci/phys/Class/newtlaws/u2l1a.html

3-D glasses aren't only for the movies!

When you see the sun in pictures you usually are looking at a 2-D yellow circle. Actually, the sun has way more depth then you might think. A group of journalists and scientists were seen wearing 3-D glasses in a room. You might think that 3-D glasses are only for the movies, however, they're used for the sun as well! The space craft STEREO took 3-D pictures of the sun. NASA says it will now be easier to see eruptions on the suns surface. These two space crafts were launched in October. One was in front of the other making the 3-D image possible. As I previously mentioned, this helps out scientists a lot. Now, they can learn more about solar flares, a type of solar eruption called coronal mass ejection, overloading power lines and disrupting satellite communications. Also, scientists have been researching solar storms on other planets and the sun. Solar flares are one of the main types of eruption on the sun. Solar flares blow a billion tons of the sun's atmosphere into space at a speed of 1 million miles per hour. Scientist are also now worried that the eruptions can endanger astronauts on spacewalks. This means that the solar flares heat can greatly effect the temperature in space. When I first saw this article I was intrigued by the 3-D picture so I wanted to read more about how they managed to get the picture taken. After reading I've learned that new discoveries are occurring almost everyday and these discoveries could maybe help us and our future.

My information....

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/04/23/solar.eruptions.ap/index.html

The Red Planet

From Earth using just our eyes we usually can't see Mars, but Mars is right next to us, we might ask ourselves. Mars is the fourth planet from the sun, and there are so many unanswered questions about it. Earth's mysterious neighbor has been being watched throughout so many years by many scientists. One specific detail that the scientist's have discovered was that Mars southern ice cap is slowly deteriorating, this may be because of Global Warming. Without a doubt, almost everyone knows that Mars has an outer layer that contains mostly dust. Scientist noticed that the dust on Mars has seemed to move in various places. Also, Mars had changes in brightness as well. It is said that Mars has developed many dust storm's that trap heat, therefore as a result, the planet's temperature is rising.
A group of scientist, called Fenton's team, compared thermal maps from 1970 with maps gathered more than two decades later by the Global Surveyor. They recognized that large pieces of the surface have darkened or brightened in the past three decades. The changes they saw were that the winds have definitely strengthened and that is the main reason why the planet's heat is rising. Scientists believe that the recent changes on Mars should be an important part of our future studies on atmosphere and climate change. I, myself, have always wondered about the planet Mars. From reading this article I have learned that Mars is experiencing Global Warming just like Earth is. Maybe another two decades from now Mars southern polar ice caps will be slowly melting away until its all gone.

To learn more about Mars visit...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/04/04/mars.climate.reut/index.html

Waves!

When most people hear the word waves their first thought would probably be an ocean wave. An ocean wave is a type of wave however there are other types of waves as well. The two most known waves are Transverse Wave and Longitudinal Wave. A Transverse Wave are waves that move the medium at right angles to the direction in which the wave is traveling. If you have ever seen a Transverse Wave you might motice that it is moving sideways. This is so, because the word transverse means "across." A Transverse Wave has many important parts but there are two parts to this wave that describes its motion, the crest and trough. The crest is considered the highest point of the Transverse Wave. The trough is known as the lowest point. Next, a Lonitudinal Wave moves the medium parallel to the direction in which the wave is moving. (A medium is the material through which a wave travels.) Also, like the Transverse Wave the Longitudinal Wave has to parts to describe its motion, compression and rarefraction. Lets say a spring is our Longitudinal Wave, when the coils are close together this shows compression. When the coils are spread apart it is called rarefraction. Speaking about springs there are many ways you can see waves in your everyday life. Here are some interesting facts about waves!

Fact 1:

The most basic properties of all waves include wavelength, amplitude, and frequency. All these properties are related to each other is a mathematical formula. The formula is...

Speed= Wavelength x Frequency

In addition if you know about two of these properties and you want to find out about the third one you can also use math...

Frequency= Speed over wavelength

Wavelength= Speed over Frequency

See Science and Math go hand in hand!

Fact 2:

As I said before waves are seen everywhere. For example, waves can be seen in the sport gymnastics. In gymnastics some people use ribbons. ( ribbon dancers) These ribbons are attached to a stick and when the dancer twirls the stick the ribbon makes waves. However, it's not the ribbon thats creating the wave it's the dancer. The dancer is giving their energy to the ribbon, the ribbon is not able to stay still so therefore it is able to form a wave. This wave would be called a Transverse Wave.

Fact 3:

Most waves have mediums, however, some waves don't need them. Waves that require a medium are Mechanical Waves. Waves that can travel without a medium are known as Electromagnetic Waves.


From learning about the many types of waves I have experienced a lot. I know that waves form from energy. Energy from us, nature, and other items. In addition, we can see, hear, and touch waves. Now I know that there are more types of waves then just the ocean waves!

To learn more about waves visit these two sites...

http://id.mind.net/~zona/mstm/physics/waves/waves.html

http://library.thinkquest.org/10796/ch8/ch8.htm

Creepy, cool, creatures!

Without a doubt I know that most people have never heard of a sea cucumber, orange sea stars, fan-finned ice fish, and many more exotic creatures. Most people have never heard of these creatures because they are located under the ice in the Antarctic. The Antarctic has very thick ice so it is unlikely for anyone to discover creatures without highly developed equipment. Read below to find out how these creature were found!

Who:

A man named Chapelle along with a few other scientists went to the area to learn more about underwater life.

What:

Exotic sea creatures were discovered. For example there were blue ice fish, long-limbed sea stars, sea squirts, and sea cucumbers. Blue ice fish are unusual fish with fins that look like fans. In addition this fish lacks the amount of red cells that are expected. Next, long-limbed sea stars are creatures that are similar to the ice fish. Some of the sea stars found had over five arms!
Sea squirts are found in thick settlements, and look like jelly blobs. Sea cucumbers are known to move in groups and in only one direction. Scientists collected over 100 of specimens. The scientists referred to these creatures as shrimp-like amphipods because the mostly fit into the category of cnidarians, organisms related to coral, jellyfish and sea anemones.

Where:

These sea creatures were found of the Antarctic Coast on a land surrounded by ice.

When:

these sea creatures are almost 5,000 years old! Some ice layers have weakened throughout the years. For instance, one happened 12 years ago and another occurred 5 years ago!

Why:

These sea creatures were discovered because of the Global Warming occurring. The ice around the Antarctic was melting. Glaciologists say that the ice was like a dam because it delayed the glaciers as the move over towards the coast. This then cause some ice layers to collapse and therefore it made a great opportunity for the explorers to investigate. Before, all explorers would have to look through holes which they would make by drilling deep into the ice.

My Opinion:

I found this article very intriguing. To tell you the truth, this article would have to be the most interesting out of all of my current events! What this article means to me is that a whole other species has been discovered! I really enjoyed this passage because it shows me how the world is growing everyday. Before today I have never heard of sea squirts. From reading about sea squirts it told me interesting facts about this new creature.

If you would like to learn more about these creatures visit...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/02/25/antarctica.icecreatures.reut/index.html

Chimps and their tools

Could chimps have used tools 4,300 years ago??? Archaeologist Julio Mercader says so. These reasearchers found old tools near West Africa . These are the oldest tools (used by a chimpanzee) ever found! Chimps would use these tools to crack all sorts of nuts, as they still do today. This is amazing becuase the last known tools found was in the 1600's.

Who:

A group of Archaeologists lead by Julio Mercader found the tools, however the chimps were the ones who used them.

What:

The tools date back 4,300 years ago. The archaeologists examained the tools and observed that the stones were the size of cantaloupes with vairious patterns on it (probably from when the chimps cracked their nuts). These stones are too big for our hands but just right for the chimps hands because they are much stronger than ours. The reasearchers are not exactly sure how the chimps learned how to use the tools but they suspected that they picked it up from the local farmers in the area. However, some say that there werent many farmers 4,300 years ago so how could the chimps learn how to use the tools? The hammers found, had many sctraches on it and some starch. The people say that it was probably from the dirt after being underground for so many decades.

Where:

These tools were found in West Africa and along the Ivory Coast.

When:

The tools were used about 4,300 years ago, however they were discovered only a few weeks ago.

Why:

These tools could be the answers to the past. Did the humans learn from the chimps? The human life dates back to seven million years ago and the chimps life dates back to five million years ago, so this means that some human sites could be found at the chimps sites.

My Opinion:

This article has really taught me about how the chimps used tools and it has shown me a lot about the past. This article has also taught me how when you set out in search of something, never give up because you might find what your looking for. I hope that the acheologists are looking for human tools where they found the chimps tools because I would really want to learn more about the stone age.

If you would like to learn more about chimps and their tools please take a look at this site...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/02/12/chimps.with.hammers.ap/index.html