SCIENCE NEWS - WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU SWALLOW GUM? # 13

Ah, chewing gum. We all love you. You’re so sweet and chewy. We even love to blow bubbles with you. But every now and then we accidentally — gulp! — swallow you. Oh no! Is there anything to worry about?

Some of you may have heard an old wives’ tale that goes something like this: if you swallow gum, it will stay in your digestive system for seven years. Wow! That’s a long time, but is there any truth to it?

Nope! When you swallow gum, your digestive system (which includes parts of your body, like your stomach, small intestine and large intestine) treats the gum like any other food. Some of the parts of gum, such as sweeteners, softeners and flavorings, are broken down by the digestive juices in your stomach. Any nutrients your body can use are saved and the rest is pushed on through your digestive system.

There is one part of gum that can’t be digested, though. It’s the gum base or resin. Gum base consists of chemicals developed by scientists to make gum chewy. These chemicals resist digestion, but they don’t sit around in your stomach for seven years.

Instead, your body recognizes that it can’t digest the gum base and simply moves it along in the digestive process until it is eventually eliminated from your body. Doctors estimate it would usually take about two days to digest and eliminate any gum you may swallow.

Although swallowing gum is usually harmless, it’s not a good practice to swallow your gum regularly. Doctors point out that swallowing a large amount of gum at once or swallowing many smaller pieces in a short time span could lead — in rare cases — to problems in the digestive system.

So enjoy your chewing gum, but spit it out in the trash when you’re finished with it. Doctors also recommend you stick to sugar-free gums, so that you won’t put your teeth in jeopardy of developing cavities.



A Tree Grows In Corey from Corey Hunt on Vimeo.

quiz

SCIENCE NEW - CAGE MATE #12

Dallas Zoo Baby Cheetahs Get An Unusual Cage Mate

By Meera Dolasia on September 9, 2013

Two eight-week old male cheetahs, are about to start their new life at the Dallas Zoo with an unusual  cage mate - A eight-week old male black Labrador Retriever puppy named Amani.

Winspear and Kamau who weigh a mere 8lbs and 6lbs respectively, were born at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, VA. After spending two weeks under the careful observation of experts, they were deemed fit to go start their lives at the zoo.

However, when the two got there, they were surprised to be greeted by an equally cute room-mate! Little Amani whose name means 'peace' in Swahili has been placed there because experts believe that he will not only be a good playmate for the wild cats, but also, provide a calming influence on the naturally aggressiveanimals. That's because dogs, especially Labradors are very comfortable in public settings and seeing Amani's calm demeanor around the thousands of visitors that are bound to flock to the zoo to see the cuties, may help the cheetahs realize that the humans pose no threat to them.

This is going to be especially important in the case of these two because they are going to be part of the zoo's Animal Adventure Outreach Program to help teach the public about their highly endangered species. As to whether the strategy will work and if the unusual companions will get along and continue being mates when Winspear and Kamau are over 3 feet tall at the shoulder and weigh a hefty 140 lbs, is anybody's guess. But for now, the three babies seem to be getting along just fine.

Cheetahs, who get their name from the Hindi word 'Chita', which means 'spotted one' are the world's fastest land animals capable of reaching speeds of up to 70 mph. Oddly enough, these gorgeous cats are not considered part of the elite group of 'Big Cats' that include the lion, tiger, jaguar and leopard because they lack the ability to roar! While these aerodynamic cats once roamed the open grasslands, savannas, dense vegetation, and sometimes even mountainous terrains of Africa, the Arab Peninsula and Asia in large numbers, they are now on the brink of extinction, especially in Asia where they were hunted down ruthlessly for their beautiful skin.

The cheetahs that are still living in the wild, face numerous challenges ranging from loss of habitat to conflict with humans, as well as the fact, that they are not the strongest of animals and are often unable to fend their cubs falling prey to the more aggressive lions, jackals and hyenas. With only between 15,000 to 25,000 believed to be left in the wild, conservation programs such as the one Winspear and Kamau are part of, are becoming increasingly crucial for the animal's survival.

LEAF COLLECTIONS PROJECT

Look around your neighborhood or the park, find 10 different types of trees and take 1 GREEN leaf from the tree.  Make sure you note where that tree is so you can go back and get another leaf when the leaves change colors.

Bring the 10 leaves to class so we can look at them closely for their parts & classify them.  Monday, September 23

ACTIVITY:

LEAF KEY

LEAF KEY

LEAF KEY

LEAF KEY

LEAF KEY

TREE SCIENTIFIC NAMES

We will note the following characteristics to classify our leaves.

• SHAPE
• MARGIN (Edge of leaf)
• VENATION (Veins)
• LEAF TYPE -
• SIMPLE or COMPOUND
• SCIENTIFIC NAME of the TREE

Transportation in leaves helps water move up a plant.
Loss of water from plant leaves through transportation produces low pressure at the top of xylem tubes. This transportation pull greatly increases the ability of plants to take water to the top of a plant.

The greatest problem that leaves must overcome is water loss. 
Leaves must have openings to allow the intake of CO₂, but these same openings increase water loss in leaves. While some water must be released during transporation, leaves cannot release too much water.

Leaves are the major site for photosynthesis in most plants. These leaves have a flat blade specialized for catching sunlight. Leaves also collect carbon dioxide from the air. Leaves vary greatly from plant to plant and are useful in classification and identification. 

Leaf characteristics:

Simple and compound leaf structure:

• Simple leaves have a single blade.
• Compound leaves  have more than one blade on a single petiole. The multiple blades of a compound leaf are called leaflets.
• Palmately compound leaves have leaflets arranged like the fingers of a hand.
• Pinnately compound leaves have leaflets arranged on either side of an axis, resembling a feather.
• Trifoliolate leaves have leaflets arranged in threes, like clover.
• Compound leaves are sometimes twice divided. These leaves are called twice-compound.

Leaf arrangement: 

• Opposite - Two leaves grow opposite each other at each node.
• Alternate - One leaf grows at each node. The leaves alternate sides along the stem.
• Whorled - Several leaves grow around a single node.

 Leaf attachment: 

• Petiolate - The blade is attached to the stem by a petiole.
• Sessile - The blade is attached directly to the stem without a petiole.

Leaf shapes: 

• Linear - Narrow from base to tip.
• Elliptic - Oval-shaped.
• Ovate - Wide at the base and narrow at the tip.
• Cordate - Heart-shaped.

Leaf margins: 

• Entire - The edge of the leaf is smooth.
• Serrate - The edge of the leaf is finely toothed.
• Lobed - The edge of the leaf is deeply indented.

Leaf venation:  The system of principal veins in the leaf blade.

• Parallel - Major veins arise at the base, remain more or less parallel, and converge at the tip of the leaf.
• Net-veined or Reticulate:
• Pinnate - Major veins diverge from one large mid-vein, with smaller network connections between.
• Palmate - Several large veins arise from the base of the leaf like the fingers of a hand.
• Leaf surfaces: The presence or absence of hairs, the kinds of hairs, and the presence of other surface features, such as glands, combine to give many leaf characteristics. There are over 25 terms used to describe leaf surfaces. This amount of detail is beyond the scope of our class.

KINGDOMS

6 KINGDOMS

Classifying Living Things

The categories have changed and more have been added.  Today, eight categories help people  understand how living things are related to each other.

How Scientists Classify You!

Kingdom:  Animal

Phylum: Chordate (animal with a spinal cord)

Subphylum:  Vertebrate (chordate with a backbone)

Class:  Mammal (vertebrate with hair and one bone in lower jaw, warm-blooded, babies drink mother's milk)

(primate that walks upright, has a flate face, looks forward, sees color, has hands and feet that perform many tasks)

Genus:  Homo (talks, spends long childhood learning about the world)

species:  Homo sapiens ("wise man" - little body hair, high forehead, chin that juts out)

Humans are the only hominids left on the earth.  

The rest have died out or become extinct.

SCIENCE NEWS - CLASS PET? #11

Looking For An Exotic Classroom Pet? Professor Bechtel May Be Able To Help!

By Meera Dolasia on September 12, 2013

How cool would it be if instead of learning about exotic animals like Patagonian maras (large rodents that resemble rabbits) and bearded dragons from textbooks, you could do it by touching, feeling and maybe even breeding them? That is how the students fortunate enough to be taught by Michael Bechtel at Saydel High School in Des Moines, Iowa, experienced biology for many years.

Bechtel who grew up on a farm in Waukon says his obsession with animals began with goats. However when he decided to start his collection he went for the more unusual ones like a pet ball python and dove, which may sound like an odd combination to some, but made perfect sense to the animal lover.

Over the years, he has added so many more snakes and reptiles that his collection is too large to even count. He also has numerous rats, mice, hamsters, tortoises, Australian Tree and Pacman frogs, as well as, a hedgehog. And if that is not enough he even has hundreds of cockroaches, safely tucked away in a large cage of course.

Here's the best part though - While he had a few of these animals when he joined Saydel High School, the rest were accumulated during his tenure there, largely because his students enjoyed interacting with the animals so much, that they kept pushing him to add more and even helped him breed some of the more rare species. Encouraged by their enthusiasm, Bechtel decided to incorporate the animals into his classroom curriculum.

Their first breeding experiment began with a Red-Tail Boa. When the professor discovered the snake coiled around 27 babies one fine morning, he quicklysummoned his students via the school's intercom asking them to come assist in the birthing process, which involved cutting the baby snakes' umbilical cords and weighing them. Not surprisingly, they were hooked and Bechtel could not be happier.

As word of this unusual classroom education spread, he received several requests from fellow teachers asking if they could buy some of his animals for their classrooms. While Bechtel was not ready to sell his pets, he was perfectly happy to'loan' them for an entire year. Not only that, he also helped set up the animal in the classroom and even, trained the teacher on how to care for it. In the eight years he taught at Saydel, he placed animals in more than 15 districts and 100 classrooms.

In order to ensure that his pets were being well-taken care of and continue the education process, he made it a rule to assign a couple of his students to check on the loaned animals every other month and also, give the kids in the classroom a short presentation about them. 

Unfortunately for Saydel High School, Mr. Bechtel recently decided to leave and join his alma mater, Wartburg College as Associate Professor of Science. The good news is that Bechtel is still willing to share his animals with all Iowa teachers, because as he succinctly puts it, 'naturalistic learning just wraps kids in' - So if you happen to live in the Corn State, be sure to persuade your teacher to adopt one of Bechtel's pets by simply contacting the biology department of Wartburg College inWaverly, Iowa.

Resources: infor.warturg.edu, wcfcourier.com.

KWWL

KWWL

6 KINGDOMS OF SCIENCE

6 KINGDOMS OF SCIENCE

 

SCIENCE NEWS - GATOR #10

We were traveling through the Wonderopolis swamp the other day, just looking for some frogs to join us in a game of jump rope. We stumbled upon an alligator and a crocodile playing cards. We chatted for just a bit about the weather.

As we were leaving them to continue our search, we received an unexpected send-off that proved an old adage true and brought tears to our eyes. As we departed, they said:

Alligator:          See you later!

Crocodile:       After a while!

Speaking of crocodiles, we couldn’t help but notice that the crocodile we met had big, strong jaws and razor-sharp teeth. We got to WONDERing about crocodiles and thought we’d share with you what we learned.

The word “crocodile” comes from the Ancient Greek word for “lizard.” The American crocodile is no ordinary lizard, though.  In fact, crocodiles have more in common with birds and dinosaurs than they do modern-day reptiles!

Among the largest of the world’s crocodiles, the American crocodile can grow to be as long as 20 feet! It can be found in North, Central, and South America. Although a few American crocodiles live in southern Florida, most of them live in the swamps, creeks, ponds, and wetlands of southern Mexico, Central America, and northern South America.

The American crocodile is now considered an endangered species. Experts believe their numbers have decreased over the years due to two main factors: being illegally hunted for their tough, scaly skins and loss of habitat as swamps have been converted to other uses.

American crocodiles feed mainly on small mammals, birds, fish, crustaceans, frogs, and insects. Their large jaws are incredibly powerful. With the strongest bite of any animal, a crocodile can bite down with a force of over 5,000 pounds per square inch.

How powerful is that? How about over 10 times more powerful than the bite of a great white shark? It’s true! But don’t worry. American crocodiles aren’t overly aggressive. They tend to be shy and stay away from humans, who rarely see them in the wild.

American crocodiles are very successful predators. Their long, streamlined bodies allow them to swim very quickly to catch prey. They can also move very quickly on land over short distances. An Australian freshwater crocodile was measured traveling 11 miles per hour on land. Some crocodiles have even been known to attack and kill sharks!

GATOR QUIZ

WHAT IS A DICHOTOMOUS KEY & CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS???

DICHOTOMOUS KEY
CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM


A WALK IN THE FOREST

DICHOTOMOUS KEYS

CLASSIFICATION DIAGRAM

  

Suppose you come upon an unknown organism.  Before you can classify that organism you will need to identify it. The most widely used type of key is the dichotomous key that is based on a set of paired choices.

For example, 

• does the individual fly or not fly? 
• Does it make its own food or feed on others? 

Eventually you move through the key or series of statements until you arrive at an answer. It would be very difficult to do this for all organisms living on this planet. Generally, keys are limited to identifying a collection or range of organisms such as the dragonflies in Missouri, or the organisms found in ponds. 

Using dichotomous keys

Scientists use taxonomic keys to determine the identity of an unknown organism. You will next view a dichotomous key used to indentify common beans. This is a very simple key, but to assure that you understand how it works, identify at least two of the beans shown in the pictures.

DICHOTOMOUS KEY HANDOUT

SCIENCE NEWS - TORNADO COUNTRY #9

Two years ago, a tornado destroyed parts of Joplin, Missouri. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)

More tornadoes rip across the United States than any other country. Which states do they affect the most?

By Joe Bubar

MAP Click here for a map of the U.S. states with the highest frequency of tornadoes. WORDS TO KNOW meteorologist a person who studies the weather technology inventions built to try to make everyday life easier

Each spring, huge cone-shaped clouds of swirling air sweep through towns and cities in the United States. Like vacuums, they suck up everything in their paths, tearing through homes and tossing cars. They’re tornadoes—and they can happen anywhere at anytime.

Scientists are learning more about these deadly storms. A recent study shows where twisters pose the biggest threat to people in the U.S.

STORM STATES

For decades, the area stretching from Texas to South Dakota has been nicknamed Tornado Alley. More twisters strike there than any other place in the world. But it’s actually not where tornadoes can cause the most trouble.

Meteorologist Grady Dixon and his team have studied data on more than 50,000 tornadoes that have touched down in the U.S. since 1950.

“We looked at the entire path of all tornadoes to find out how often they pass through different areas,” Dixon told Scholastic News.

He found that people living in states to the east of Tornado Alley are at greater risk of experiencing a twister. Why? Most tornadoes that form there are faster and last longer than tornadoes in Tornado Alley. That means they pass through more places where people live. Dixon’s research helped identify what’s being called the “New Tornado Alley.”

TORNADO WARNING

Meteorologists are using this new information to raise awareness about twisters in states outside the better-known Tornado Alley. They want more people to know the signs of a twister and what to do if one is heading their way.

But predicting exactly when and where twisters will form is still difficult. Right now, most people have less than 15 minutes to prepare for one.

One thing that has helped alert people to tornadoes is new technology like smart phones. “If someone sees a tornado coming, he can take a video on his phone, post it, and 10,000 people know about it within minutes,” says Dixon.

SCIENCE NEWS - COTTON CANDY GRAPES #8

MARINE CROP CIRCLES #7

By Meera Dolasia on August 25, 2013

 The unsolved mystery of the 'crop circles' - Intricately carved large designs that magically appear on farms all across the world, has been plaguing scientists for centuries. Some speculate that they are the work of farmers trying to attract tourists, whilst others believe that they are alien art. But when similar creations started to appear underwater off the coast of Southern Japan, there seemed to be no explanation - logical or otherwise! Similar to their counterparts on dry land, the circles that were first spotted by local divers in 1995, measured an impressive seven feet in diameter and comprised of beautiful ridges 'carved' out from the sand at the bottom of the ocean floor. But who, was the artist? That remained a mystery until September 2012, when Japanese deep-sea photographer Yoji Ookata came across one during his regular dives in the Pacific Ocean. Intrigued to find the creator, he returned to the same spot a short time later with a television crew. As luck would have it, his timing was perfect - They caught the artist in the act. Sadly enough, it was not an alien trying its skills on a different medium, but a five-inch long male, pufferfish! Over the course of their research, the team observed not one but ten similar 'construction projects' going on simultaneously. It took each between seven to nine days of tireless swimming back and forth whilst expertly using their fins to flick sand, to create the perfect ridges and valleys. And lest you think the male fish were competing in some kind of sand sculpture competition, you could not be further from the truth. Turns out that these small but poisonous fish do it to attract mates. And believe it or not, the females pick them based on how good their 'fin' work is - At least that's the conclusion the photographers reached after watching them scout out a number of circles, before settling for the one with the most intricate hills and valleys. In order to ensure that their mate is well-taken care of, the considerate males also dragged small rocks and seashells and placed them around the periphery - Not only did they look decorative, but also, provided nutrition. What's even more impressive is that the sand circles are not just artistic, they are also very useful. That's because the females use them to lay their eggs carefully in the center so that they can be protected from the ocean currents by the ridges, which may also be the reason the smart fish seeks out the circles with the highest number of them! Of course an assertion that tiny fish are responsible for these amazing sand sculptures is almost as unbelievable as stating that crop circles are the work of aliens. That is probably why Yoji Ookata and his team decided to release this video of the pufferfish working away feverishly. You truly have to see it, to believe it! Now if we could only unravel the mystery of the crop circles, life would be perfect!

LAB SAFETY

Lab equipment Activity

METRIC SYSTEM CHART - REVIEW

METRIC SYSTEM UNITS
Measurement	Base Unit	Other Units	Conversions
Length	Meter (m)	Centimeter (cm) Kilometer (km)	100 cm = 1 m 1000 m = 1 km
Mass	Gram (g)	Kilogram (kg)	1000 g = 1 kg
Volume	Liter (L)	Milliliter (mL)	1 L = 1000 mL