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Monday, May 25, 2009

Structure of the Earth: Plasticity Lab


On May 22, Blue Science did a very messy yet interesting lab. This lab was made by cornstarch, water and the option of food coloring. Mixing about 5 teaspoons of cornstarch and 20 milliliters, and the option of the food coloring, the product was hard and had a rubbery texture. This product is in fact a liquid because its like glass. Glass looks like a solid but it actually keeps flowing. When I poked the product, my finger bounced back. Although, when I slowly put my finger in the product, my finger sank in. When the mixture was handled, it just seemed to have melt in my hands. When the mixture is rolled into a ball, it becomes as hard as silly putty. All in all, the Earth's mantle and this lab are similar because both have plasticity. That was the point of this lab.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

October Sky


In the movie October Sky, there were connections to math and science, and Character Education. The connection of rockets with math and science is obvious because to make rockets and finding out how far it will go has to do with math equations as the variable X for how far the rocket would go. The coal mines was connected with math because of how far down deep the coal miners went and the pressure increases as you farther keep going down. And the coal is used to be burned so there would be heat from it. Science fair id all about science and math. Without any math, you can't do science. But with no science, you can do math. The relations for sputnik and the Russians is that Sputnik is a satellite that reflects rays and signals. For math, rays and signals are calculated by waves lengths. Using the lengths and how much materials they used proved their innocence because Homer used Calculus to figure it out on his own. He even used the path of the wind and the wind speed to lead him to the rocket. Plus the health dangers from the coal mines are very hazardous and can be vital. The amount of chemicals int the air which cause lung disease and the hazards from digging hence the cave may fall down on people, also the elevator may get stuck on the way down and all of these troubles can take up time for mining process.

Everyone in the rocket science team used cooperation. Without cooperation, the team wouldn't have made the rockets TOGETHER! Assertion is to have a positive attitude, the whole team had asserions and they finally were able to have their rockets made and tested out. Furthermore, everyone respected eachother in order to work together. In addition, the one who encouraged Homer the most was his teacher because he was the one who inspired him to make rockets. She wanted him to live his dream. Even the townspeople respected this group of scientists for their work and respected Homer even more because he was motivated in making rockets and won the Science Fair award. Dollowing the award, Homer was able to go to a really good educated place when done with school and graduation. The definition of empathy is to be understanding. For example, Mr.Hickam wasn't very understanding when Homer said that he wanted to be a rocket scientist. Also for example, Homer's friends had empathy when Homer wanted to work on rockets. Instead of not joining him at the 'nerd's' lunch table, they came to help Homer and cooperate. Next, Mr.Hickam didn't have self-control to have any empathy on Homer when he was going to go out of state to present at the Science Fair. He just burst out arguing and yelling at Homer and Homer argued back. When Mr.Hickam did have self-control, he lastly helped Homer in delivering the peices of rocket which were stolen from the Science Fair display.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Review on Soccer 105 's Genetic Disorder-Charcot Marie-Tooth Disease

The author of Soccer105 talked about the Charcot Marie- Tooth Genetic Disease. I thought that the name of this disease was pretty unusual, Charcot Marie- Tooth Disease. At first when reading the name of the disease, I thought the blog was going to be about a problem for teeth. Later on when reading, I came to know that the disease had no relation to the name, it was in fact the last name of one of the three French doctor's last name. I contemplate why the doctors didn't name the disease after what damage it does. This entry scrupulously identifies what the disease does, its symptoms, the cures that are likely to help and what age group it could happen to. All in all, Soccer105 has again written a wonderful and decent blog which classifies and focuses on the genetic disorder.

Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD)


Adrenoleukodystrophy was discovered in 1993 by Haperfield and Spielier. The symptoms, of this genetic disease, are comas, impaired vision/speech/motor function, seizures, attention deficit disorders, cognitive and behavioral impairment and swallowing difficulties. There aren't many treatments to this disease but two treatments which can help are having bone marrow replaced and using Lorenzo's oil. Lorenzo's oil prevents disease from progressing and doing more damage. Lorenzo's oil is a mixture of oleic and erucic acids. For infants and children with this disease, docasahexanoic acid (DHA) could help. Adrenoleukodystrophy is a very long chain of fatty acids which accumulate of adrenal gland to convert cholesterol to steroid hormones. The adrenal gland is located above the kidneys and produces steroidal hormones, and a bone marrow which produces epinephrine and nor epinephrine. This fatal disease for young teenage boys is extremely rare, only 1 of 75,000 live male births. This disease is effective on males only, BUT, 1 in 42000 females in the U.S.A. carry the defective gene that causes ALD. Furthermore, death occurs within one to ten years of presentation of symptoms. Plus, Adrenoleukodystrophy is most commonly inherited as an X-linked condition. This means the abnormal gene is found on the X chromosome. Because women have two X chromosomes, they have a spare normal gene as well as the abnormal one, so they generally only carry Adrenoleukodystrophy. But men have only the one faulty X, so they are affected by the condition. X-linked Adrenoleukodystrophy may occur in three forms, with onset of symptoms in either childhood or in adulthood. All in all, I think that Adrenoleukodystrophy pains many peers of my age; I wonder why girls aren't diagnosed with it too if they carry the disease the whole time until she gives birth to a boy?