Lit. Poems

"Givers of Joy"

Accordion

Joyful, musical

Expanding, contracting, entertaining

Enjoyable, playable, readable, delightful

Amusing, teaching, giving

Plentiful, knowledgeable

Books

"The Fighter"

Max

Hoping, fighting, and thankful

Who loves to make books

Who feels bad about leaving his family

Who needs the safety of the Hubermanns' basement

Who shares his friendship

Who fears his nightmares

Who'd like to see his family again

Who dreams of fighting Hitler

Who ends up surviving the war.

by Markus Zusak

Trip to the Aquarium

Recently my school went on a trip to Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ. We all had a great time and learned a lot of new information. My favorite parts of the aquarium were the touch pools, the shark tunnel, and the penguins. The touch pools were fun because we were able to feel the "skin" of a lot of different marine animals, including stingrays, sharks, and jellyfish. At the shark tunnel, we were walking in a small glass tunnel that was completely surrounded by water with sharks swimming around in it. It was an amazing experience, to see sharks so close up. The penguins were cool simply because of the way they acted; they waddled around, hid in holes, and swam in the water. To sum it all up, our trip to the aquarium was a fun, educational experience.

CRUSHED CANS!!!

This week in class I did a lab about air pressure. The lab was very fun. First, we put a little bit of water in a soda can. Then we put it on the kitchen stove until the water started boiling. Then, the kid with the heat gloves on took the tongs, picked up the soda can, and flip it over in a bowl of ice cold water. The can immediately crumpled itself. This happened because when the can was on the stove the water inside it was expanding and the molecules were moving around really quickly. When the can was put in the ice cold water, the water suddenly stopped moving as fast and the pressure in the can decreased dramatically, causing it to collapse. All in all, it was a really intriguing lab.

Popcorn Lab

Today in class we did a lab about radiation. For the lab, we put some kernels in a brown bag, and put them inside a microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds. When we took the  brown bag out, the kernels popped into white, fluffy popcorn! How you ask? Well, the microwave makes heat radiation that heats up the small part of water inside a kernel until it expands into a water vapor. This causes the rest of the kernel to also expand, eventually breaking the outer shell and POPPING. In conclusion, the popping of popcorn is a cool, yet scientific process.

Immortal Jellyfish

Turritopsis Nutricula is the name of a species of jellyfish that is capable of being biologically "immortal". It does this through a process called transdifferentiation, which allows the jellyfish to regenerate its entire body so that it goes from being a mature jellyfish back to the plankton stage. It is supposedly capable of repeating this process forever. Other animals are also able to regenerate certain body parts, such as salamanders and starfish, but they are unable to completely regenerate their entire bodies. This immortal jellyfish originates from the Caribbean, but due to its "immortality" it has spread all over the globe now. I think that it is really cool that an animal can live forever and never die. Scientists definitely need to research how the jellyfish does it, and then perhaps apply it to humans (although I'm not sure I would want to become an old person and then turn back into a baby again). However, I don't think if they could apply it to humans it would be to make us immortal. I think it would be better used to perhaps regenerate body parts for wounded veterans or other injured people. To sum it up, I think that this is a great discovery that could to lead to even bigger ones in the future.

Links: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/4357829/Immortal-jellyfish-swarming-across-the-world.html

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/guest_bloggers/26/the-world-s-only-immortal-animal.html

Wi-Fi 'allergies' leave man homeless

Arthur Firstenberg, a resident of Santa Fe, New Mexico, claims that he has 'electromagnetic sensitivity'. He also claims

that his neighbor, Raphaela Monribot, is making him sick by using cell phones and computers. Because of his supposed

electromagnetic sensitivity, he is also unable to stay at hotels, because they have wi-fi connections. Therefore, he is

forced to sleep in his car. While he does have dozens of doctor's notes relating to his sensitivity, scientific studies point

towards the fact that 'electromagnetic sensitivity' is really just a psychosomatic disorder, which is when psychological factors cause physical symptoms. This of course would mean that Mr. Firstenberg is really just imagining his 'electromagnetic sensitivity' and feeling sick because of that. I personally think that while Mr. Firstenberg is not lying about feeling discomfort whenever he thinks he is in an electromagnetic field, his 'sensitivity' is really just his brain playing tricks on his body. The studies made prove that 'electromagnetic sensitivity' does not exist, and therefore Mr. Firstenberg does not have it. However, just to make sure a doctor could perform a test Mr. Firstenberg himself to see if he really does have 'electromagnetic sensitivity'. Unless it is proven, I believe that 'electromagnetic sensitivity' is just the mind playing tricks on the body.

Link: Wi-Fi 'allergies' leave man homeless