Amber Alert (The Fossil)

30 million years ago, an ant was walking up a form of a cycad, a kind of plant.  As it scaled the plant, it realized that that it had stepped in something rather sticky.  It looks down and realizes that it stepped in tree resin.  It thinks to itself, "Oh God, I'm going to be stuck here forever".  The resin continues to ooze over the ant.  Overtime the resin, along with the encased insect, are buried and are exposed to great amount of pressure and heat.  The resin begins to fossilize, resulting in amber.

Although this is not a true account of how an ant got stuck in resin, amber is actually formed in this manner.  The resin has to withstand the elements and degradation, the process of degrading or decomposing.  Then, it must be buried in the right conditions for fossilization to occur; it must be quickly covered with sediment or dirt.  Lastly, the resin must go through a process of oxidation, which is the process of the removal of oxygen.  The final product takes millions of years to form. 


Amber is usually a yellowish brown color, but it comes in a variety of colors.  It can also come in pale yellow, brown, and black.  Some of the most uncommon colors are green and red, also known as cherry.  The rarest color is blue, which is only found off of the coast of the Dominican Republic.  It is so rare that only 100 kilograms of it are found each year. 


In addition to being decorative, amber has other uses.  It helps paleontologists study specimens that would otherwise decompose.  Specimens such as insects, as well as bacteria, amoebae and frogs have be studied in amber.  The amber also helps to date when these specimens were alive.  amber is also used in perfume as a fragrance, and as flavoring in some liquor.

As you can see, something as beautiful as amber can have use and can give us an insight of life before us.  It gives us an example of the beauty in the world.  If only the rest of the world was the same

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber#Formation
http://www.emporia.edu/earthsci/amber/whatis.htm#top
http://www.articlesbase.com/jewelry-articles/what-is-an-natural-amber-stone-603360.html

Drop Dead Goats

Imagine you are on a farm.  You see a goat running towards you as fast as it possibly could.  You start to think "Oh My Gosh this goat is going to attack me!!", when all of a sudden, the goat just falls over and seems to be paralyzed.  No, the goat did not faint because it was it was afraid of you.  Goats that exhibit this strange behavior, known as fainting goats, are known to faint at the most random of times.  The cause for this unusual behavior is a genetic condition called myotonia congenita.

Myotonia congenita is a genetic condition that caused the goats muscles to faint when startled.  This condition is caused when the CLCN1 gene is mutated.  This gene controls muscle and bone development.  When this gene mutates, it causes muscles to contract more frequently than normal.  This condition can also affect humans, in which case they can take medicine to shorten the contractions.

Despite the name, fainting goats do not actually faint.  When an animal faints, it loses consciousness.  The goat just simply collapses.  Although it remains conscious, it looses all sensation. 

Animals have developed strange tendencies, whether by choice or by disorder.  It is one of the things that makes the animal kingdom unique.  It usually remains untempered with and is allowed to change by itself, whether for better of for worse.  I believe that we shouldn't attempt to change anything in nature, no matter how unusual.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fainting_goat

For a video click here.

The Potugese Man-of-war

If you were to see a Portuguese man-of-war, the first word that would probably come to your head would be- jellyfish.  Well, the man-of war is actually a siphonophore.  A siphonophore differs from a jellyfish because it is a colonial organism.  This simply means that a bunch of single celled organisms ,call zooids.  They act together, like how polyps act together to form coral. There are four kinds of zooids that make up the man-of-war. 

The first kind of zooid makes up the gas-filled bladder, called the sail.  This sail can allows the man-of-war to float at the surface.  The sail can be tinged blue, purple, translucent, mauve (a pinkish purple color), and pink.  The sail is filled with about 90% carbon dioxide.  In the event that the man-of-war is attacked, it can deflate this sail, and submerged itself.  The man-of-war's sail must stay wet in order to remain inflated, so they may roll to wet their sail.

The other three kids of zooids create the man-of-war's tentacles.  These tentacles are can grow to over 50 meters long, but are usually 10 meters long.  The venomous tentacles are used to catch prey.  Prey swim through the tentacles and get stung.  Although the venom works on most fish, some fish are immune to the stings and live within the tentacles.

Note: Man-of war stings are poisonous to humans and may result in death.  For treatment, click this link.

Man-of wars- live in tropical regions around the world.  They range from Spain to Guyana to Costa Rica.  This is because they have no means of propulsion.  They must travel through ocean currents.

Isn't interesting that a bunch small organisms can work together to form one massive creature.  When you think about it, we all work together to form society as a whole.  If only everyone could do that.

Earth 2100

Earth 2100 is an ABC special describing the worst case scenario of what would happen if we don't take care of our world.  This story is about a girl named Lucy who grew up in the world we are growing up in now.  After I watched this special, I felt compelled to make a difference.  I hope you feel the same way.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UF-q0kpRgc&feature=related
Sorry. Part 3's embed code was disabled. Click on the link to see this part.

The Pollution Solution

Energy is one of the most important things in life.  It powers our homes, our cars, our phones, and just about everything else you can think of.  Without it, society would not be able to function.  We use a variety of resources to power our everyday lives. 

There are two types of energy resources-  renewable and nonrenewable.  Renewable resources are energy sources that can be easily replaced .  Nonrenewable resources are energy sources that cannot be easily replaced. 

Examples of nonrenewable energy sources include petroleum (oil), natural gas, and coal. 

 In 2005, 37% of all energy consumption in the United States came from petroleum, which was mostly used for transportation fuel.  Although petroleum is inexpensive, It produces greenhouse gases and many other pollutants that affect the atmosphere. 

25% of all energy usage came from natural gas.  It is mainly used for heating fuel.  Of all fossil fuels, it produces the lowest amount of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.  The last nonrenewable resource is coal. 

Coal accounts for 21% of all energy consumption.  It is the least expensive, but the most harmful resource to the environment.  It releases greenhouse gasses and other pollutants that cause acid rain.

Renewable resources include solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, biomass energy, and hydroelectric energy. 

Solar energy is harvested through photovoltaic cells, or PV cells.  These cells capture light and convert them into electricity.  Solar panels create no pollution, making them great for the environment. 

Wind energy used wind turbines to harvest energy.  The wind moves the turbines and creates mechanical energy.  This mechanical energy is then converted into electrical energy.  The wind turbines create no pollution, but have many downfalls.  Wind turbines are noisy, are harmful to wild bird populations, and only work where there are strong winds.

Geothermal energy uses heat from the ground to heat water, resulting in steam.  This steam is used to then heat and cool buildings.  Geothermal energy plants only emit a small amount of greenhouse gases.  Harvesting geothermal energy is very costly.

Biomass energy comes from organic matter.  Examples of organic matter include wood, crop waste, and manure.  Biomass is a good energy source because it uses materials that would normally go to waste.  The only problem with biomass is that it costs more than oil, for less energy.

Hydroelectric energy is harvested by using dams.  As water moves through the dams, it spins turbines to create mechanical energy.  This mechanical energy is then converted into electricity.  Hydroelectric power is responsible for most of the renewable energy use in the United States.  Although it is a cheap source for energy, it has a large impact on the wildlife.  The dams could potentially block the river, resulting in complications with migrating fish.

As you can see, renewable energy sources have more pros than cons.  These sources will reduce the pollution in the atmosphere.  Renewable resources are also a better choice because fossil fuels will eventually run out.  In my opinion, I think that we should start switching to renewable resources before it is too late.  Imagine a world where there was no power- just because we failed to save what little we had.  Imagine a world where the air was so polluted that you could not breathe- just because we did not stop using fossil fuels that polluted the air, instead of using renewable resources.  I wouldn't want to live in a world like that.  Would you?

http://scholastic.com/energytour/

http://www.odec.ca/projects/2007/truo7j2/fuelcell.htm