The search for Aliens Is About To Get More Intense

People over time, where very anxious to find out if there is any other form of life in the universe. Now that scientists are making a new telescope, called the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT for short) it will be even easier to find some kind of life in the universe, and if we are lucky, some planets!

15 European countries and Brazil, will be making the telescope. It will cost more than 1.5 billion USD. However, the telescope will only be ready by 2020, and the constructions won’t begin in a few years from now.  It will be built on the Cerro Amazonas Mountain, which is 3060 meters high. This mountain lies  in the middle of Chile’s  Atacama Desert. 

When the telescope is ready the E-ELT will be ten times more sensitive to normal and infrared light than the Very Large Telescope. This new telescope will be so powerful, that it would also be able to glean inside some of the oldest galaxies and help unlock secrets about how the universe evolved to its current state. With this telescope we will even be able to take pictures that are 15 times sharper than the Hubble Telescope. Having this kind of source, we will surely take some amazing pictures of the universe!

Turning Wastewater Into Hydrogen Fuel

Finding a green fuel that is cheap and plentiful enough to replace fossil fuels is one of the biggest challenges that we face. This is not because of global warming issues but also because once we use up all fossil fuel there won’t be any left in the world. Since hydrogen is a good thing to replace with, we might use it in the future, but it doesn’t come naturally. And to produce it, it would take energy from “dirty” fossil fuels.

Researchers from Pennsylvania State University have devised a radical, energy-efficient way to extract unlimited amounts of hydrogen from wastewater, using seawater and, some special bacteria.

Since 2009, the team led by the Professor of Environmental Engineering, Bruce Logan, has been conducting tests with bacteria that are capable of releasing hydrogen from wastewater. Once they were able to figure out the 'right combination' of bacteria needed for the optimal extraction of hydrogen, they had to come with a 'clean' way to provide the bacteria with the energy it needed to eat through the wastewater.

After all this, they thought of a brilliant idea, reverse Desalination! They figured that since the process of removing salt from seawater takes up energy, doing the opposite would release energy. Knowing that all they had to do was find a source of seawater close to a wastewater treatment plant and hitch the two together. This should give the bacteria enough fuel to produce hydrogen.

When they tested it it turned out that they were completely correct. However, this only works in a lab, now, they must go and see if it works on larger scale, but not only that, if it makes economical sense. Let’s all hope it does because not only does it take care of our fuel needs, but also it helps us clean up our wastewater!

Satellite from Space!

Over the years, we have sent so many irretrievable rockets, satellites and other devices to the outer atmosphere, that 'space junk' is becoming a big concern among the experts, given that they could freefall to earth any time - This week, their worst fears will be realized.

NASA has announced that the 13,000 pound (5,900 kilograms) Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), is making its way down and expected to hit Earth on Friday, September 23rd, sometime in the early afternoon, Eastern Standard Time.

However, before you start running for cover, here are a few details you should know. The experts at NASA believe that the satellite will disintegrate as it hits the atmosphere, and that only 26 pieces weighing a total of 1,170 pounds (532 kilograms) will actually hit earth.

Also, while they think the odds of hitting somebody are 1 in 3,200, given that that three-quarters of the Earth is uninhabited, they are confident that it is very unlikely any debris will crash land in populated areas.

However, having said that, they will not know the exact location of the landfall until about two hours before it happens - The only continent they have been able to rule out is North America!

So, if you live in another part of the world, be sure to keep an eye on the skies this Friday and you may see what scientists are describing as a short-lived, but spectacular firework display caused by the debris as it enters the earth's atmosphere.

9/25/11

While NASA confirmed that the UARS Satellite crashed into earth around 12.16 am (EST) on Saturday September 24th, 2011, a few hours later than originally anticipated, they have no clue where it landed.

Who new Crows were this Smart?

The reason humans are at the top of the food chain has a lot to do with intelligence. However, recently, research showed us a number of animals show similar intelligent behavior. Chimpanzee are also at the top, after all they share 99% of our DNA. Researchers recently found out that Caledonia Crows, that can only be found in the south pacific island of New Caledonia, resemble other crows in every way, except for its complex tool use, which beats most birds, but also most primates, including monkeys!

Researchers at Oxford University and University of Auckland have been following the Caledonia Crow for many years, and what they have discovered so far is very interesting information.The fact that the crows use many kinds of tools, which they craft from trees and shrubs, is not that surprising. Many animals and even insects are able to do that. What is surprising is that they can select the right tools or use them in combination to get a task done. This shows how cleaver these crows really are! 

To test this, University of Auckland researcher Alex Taylor and his team, showed seven crows a piece of meat inside a tree hollow and then placed near them a stick that was too short to get to the food. Right next to it, they also placed two cages, one with a useless stone, the other, with a stick that was long enough to pull the meat.

They then watched in wonder, as each one of the birds figured out how to get to the meat by first using the small stick as a tool to pull out the longer one, and then utilize the latter, to get to the food.

Alex and his team then reversed the sticks placing the long one near the birds and the short one in the cage. While their first reaction was to perform the previous routine, the birds quickly realized they didn't really need to and went on to pick the meat, using just the long stick. Though this kind of logical reasoning is common in humans, it has so far been observed only in chimpanzees and orangutans in the animal world - And, it gets better.

The latest study of these super-intelligent crows shows that they are now utilizing their  tool-use aptitude to grab themselves the most nutritious foods - beetle larvae. Researchers have always wondered why the crows spend so much time trying to dislodge the larvae from tree trucks with twigs - A task that requires a lot of skill and patience.

Now, they have the answer - Apparently, these tiny grubs are so nutritious that eating just a few is enough to provide the crows with their day's nutritional needs - A fact they have obviously figured out a long time ago.

Also, these are not the only species of crows that are smart. Tel Aviv's hooded crow has figured out how to catch fish, by first scattering bits of bread into a pond and then snagging the unsuspecting fish as they surfaced to eat the crumbs.

And if that's not impressive enough, there is the Japanese crow who extracts nutmeats from their hard shells by simply dropping them on the road so that the cars can crush them. What's even better is that in order to avoid getting hit by the vehicles, they wait until the traffic light turns red, scooping the nuts only after the cars grind to a halt!

Mount Etna eruption

As you all heard, Mount Etna erupted again at the 30 of August. Mount Etna is the tallest active volcano in Europe and one of the most active volcanoes in the world. Even though Etna erupts often, people still live close to it (Not so close so they could be killed).Etna is Sicily’s most famous volcano. The government agency says Etna started spewing out a significant amount of ash in a southeast direction early in the day but that the eruption tapered off in about two hours. People like to live around mount Etna because it has fertile soil which is perfect for growing crops such as rice. Mount Etna also offers a lot of opportunities for jobs because of tourism.  Magma that raises out of Etna also contains many precious minerals. The minerals ooze through soil in liquid form and then dry

and form precious minerals as the water evaporates just like our failed crystal garden project last year.

Scientific Summer

I was riding my bike at ada. I was about 20 meters in front of my dad. Some guy on a motor just came in front of me. I didn't see him when he came there and I was going very fast. When I spotted him I stopped my bike. Since the bike was going very fast when I stopped it I flew in front of my bike and it fell on me.Inertia!! Since when my bike stopped my body was still in motion. I was going around 30 or 20 km per hour. So when I stopped I think I flew around 10 meters. I landed on my hands but since I was still going forward I hit my head. Luckilly, I had a healmet and gloves (for biking).

Goals for the Year

I have many goals for the year, but my biggest goals are to bring my homework on time and be prepared for class. I think I should also be more active in class. I think I need to practice on my input output note taking skills.

PSA Presentation

I learnt from doing this project many things about inertia in rowing. I also learnt a lot about friction, motion, force and many more. One thing that I learnt from my classmates is that for example if a car suddenly stops, you can get whiplash or go forward. That is why you should ware a seat belt. I think it is important to understand the science between accidents because you have to know what happened in the accident.

From feet to Fathems Lab Report

Guiding Question:  What is the importance of having an International measuring system?  How accurate are old measurements using body parts?

It is important to have a International measuring system because everyone will know it and we will know how long something is. The old measuring was not so accurate and there was many ways of measuring so there were many objects that had a different measurement.

Hypothesis:  (What do you think?)

I think that we won’t get the exact measurement for each one but I think we will be close for all of them. That is because the way of measuring in the old times is different than now.

Materials:

·         Partners Sofia and Maryam

·         Objects in the classroom (whiteboard, desk, hallway, SPACE book, Peep, Crayon box)

·         List of ways to measure: 

Pace:  legs outstretched =1 yard approximately or 1 meter

Egyptian cubit= elbow to tip of the middle finger= 18 inches or 45 cm

Fathom = middle finger to middle finger across the body = 6 feet, 180 cm, 1.8m

Palm = across the palm of the hand = 3 inches or 8 cm

Hand including thumb = 4 inches or 10 cm

Span = from tip of thumb to tip of little finger= 3 palms or 9 inches or 24 cm

English yard = from fingertip of arm to nose = 36 inches or about 1 meter

Foot = 12 “or 30 cm approximately

Fingernail = tip of pinky =1/2 inch = 1 cm.

·         Meter stick or measuring tape

·         Calculator

Procedure: 

1.       Make a data table in your notebook with 7 columns and 7 rows.

2.       Choose one of the six objects or distances you will measure.

3.       Determine what form of measurement you will make with the first object

4.       Measure it with the determined form of measurement 3 times, and then find the average. 

5.       Measure it with the meter stick/or measuring tape and find the actual measurement.

6.       Repeat the same for each of the five objects that are left and measure it with a different type of measurement, 3 times, find the average and again the actual measurement.

7.       Compare class data results.  Find the average of these results.

Data Table:

Object	Way of measuring	Try 1	Try 2	Try 3	Average	Actual
White Board	cubit	6	6	6	240 cm	254 cm
Space Book	Palms	3	3	3	3.4	10.3
Lab Table	cubit	120 cm	120 cm	120 cm	120 cm	136.5
Hallway	Fathoms	42	40	42	41	41
Peep	Span	16	15	15	15	14
Crayon Box	Nail	9 cm	9 cm	9 cm	9 cm	9 cm

Data Analysis: 

What patterns or relationships do you see between the forms of measurement, the averages you and your partner got and the actual measurement for each object? 

 The pattern I see is the one that they are not always exact, but are very close. What I'm trying to say is that almost all of our measurements are very close. We only got 2 correct.

Conclusion:  How effective were the old English forms of measurement compared to using the meter stick or measuring tape?  What is the importance of having an International measuring system?  Answer the guiding question here. Was your hypothesis correct in the beginning?  If no, what do you think now?  Which objects were the easiest or most accurate to measure?  Which form of measurement did you prefer the most?  State why for both questions.  Give examples to help you explain.

  The old way of measurement was quite effective even if they weren't right, because they were off by a few. But comparing to the meter stick the old way is really bad because it wouldn't tell you the exact measurement. So as you can see there is a good and bad side to the old way of measuring. It is important to have a International measuring system because like that if you want to measure something that is important, you have to make the measurement correct. Also, you will know approximately how big or wide something is. My hypothesis was correct. We didn't get the right answers but they were very close. As you can see in my graph we only got 2 correct and the rest were close. For me it was mostly easy to measure the lab table because we didn't have to hold it or lay down (like we did to measure the hallway). I mostly liked measuring with Egyptian cubit because it was just simple for me to measure that way. If they didn't think of the International measuring system I would most likely use the Egyptian cubits.

Further inquiry: What improvements would you make next time? What errors did you and your partner make? Do you have any further questions about measurement?  If so, what were they? 

I wouldn't improve anything. I think we did quite a good job. We only sometimes made errors with finding the average. When we started this project I asked myself: "Why in the world did they ever even make up all these ways to measure? I'd say it was pretty complicated during that time for measurements because there were so many ways of measuring one person might know one way and the other wouldn't know what he is talking about."