FOOD Inc reflection

The science and technology help in our everyday activities, but on the other side it makes us feel bad. I saw the part of the chickens and how they want to make the chickens grow up faster so they can get money faster. The chicken eat food from a sac and have more fat and we end up eating that fat. Industrial farming is worse because the animals eat additives in their food. In natural farming they eat what they are supposed to eat, without additives, a more healthy food. In order to produce and sell more food, the technology has an excuse to make more bad quality food.

I really enjoyed the movie. It was pretty disgusting at one point of the movie and I said to my friend that after watching the movie I would not eat animal meat and became vegetarian. But then, I said it's just a movie, what bad can it do to me? It had a lot of good information but the pictuers were really afective to humans but the most intresting part was the interview with a mother. She was really angry about McDonald's. After going to McDonald's her 2 year old kid was pooping blood. He was infected by a bacteria and after 3 days the two year old died. It was terrible waching that movie.

Current event #8

Young, Unsupervised Children Most at Risk for Dog Bites, Study Shows; Dogs Often Target a Child's Face and Eyes

In one of Colorado's hospital several kids were bitten by their dogs. The doctors analyzed the cases and came up with some answers. They found out that the dogs bite 5 year-old kids and younger, especially 3 year-old children because they are shorter and easier to reach. The dog will bite if the kid provokes it by petting it too aggressively, stepping on it or frightening him. The most frequent injuries are in face and eyes.  The dogs that mostly attack are: mixed breeds, Labrador retriever, Rottweiler and Golden retrievers. Usually they are the dogs that a person knows. They attack more than once. 

This is very interesting to me because I have three dogs and it is useful to other people as well. I learned a lot of new things. I didn't know that the dogs frequently attack in the face. I think that knowing this I will be more careful with my dogs and I will try not to torture them. 

Taken from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101109133233.htm
Author: Science daily
Date: November 12, 2010

Current event #7

New Species of Carnivorous Plant Discovered in Cambodia

A new species of carnivorous plant was discovered by the Association Fauna and Flora International (FFI). The plant called Nepenthes holdenii, found in Cambodia’s mountains, has some functions. The first function is that it has red and green large pitchers. The function of that part of the plant is to capture and digest insects that the plant eats. The pitchers of this plant can reach until 30cm long which allows the plant to gain more nutrients. It has even another function: that is a tube that allows surviving cold and fire in extended periods of time. The association that found it made a lot of research on that specific carnivorous plant.

In my opinion this article was easy and interesting to read because it was really nice finding out of a new species of a plant. This plant has a lot of functions. One of the functions are the pitchers that can be 30 cm long but it also connects to the unit that we studied about living things and that they are a part of our ecosystem. I find it very useful because it has a lot of information on how the plant is and describes its functions and what it does.

Reflection on the movie: Human footprints

This movie had a lot of interesting facts about what we consume in a lifetime, but majorly in the USA. It was still interesting because I didn't know that babies use 3746 dippers. It was both amazing and shocking how many dippers we wear in a lifetime or how much milk we drink when we are babies. We drink 7,456 pints of milk. This movie was really helpful because now I understand a little better everything that is happening around us and I am capable to use that information in my notes and explain it to my classmates and to the teacher.

Capable of being continued with minimal long-term effect on the environment is sustainability.

Human footprint is what we do in our lifetime, what we eat, consume, do, wear... what remains after us.

 

We can lessen the impact on the environment reusing things, recycling, using less and thinking about the future. 

Reflection on unit

I really liked this unit, because we learned about animals, how they live together and interact with non living and living things. We did one lab that took for ever to complete. We needed to see how a living thing can survive in a closed ecosystem. Our first plant died we and tried with another one and it grew so big! It was an exciting lab but it took for ever. I liked that Mrs. M made us do an essay and a presentation of our essay. Even Ms. Moore made us do the same thing, but without presentation. We did another lab that was called owl pellets. We needed to divide some bones that an eagle ate and identify them. It was disgusting, I nearly threw up but then when we had finish that lab I felt so much better.

Current event #6

Oldest Fossilized Shrimp: Geologists Study Rare Well-Preserved Creature Showing Muscles

A new fossil of a shrimp was recently found in Oklahoma. It was found by paleontologist Royal Mapes of Ohio University and his students. The shrimp is 360 million years old. It was found in the deep ocean. The reason why it is conserved so well is that in the deep oceans the currents are not so strong as on the surface. Therefor the fossil was conserved with the muscles. The shrimp belongs to a group of decapods. The decapods are animals that have ten legs. Lobsters, crabs and shrimps are decapods. The fossil found is the oldest in the world. There was another shrimp found in Madagascar, but it is 125 million years younger.

In my opinion this article was very interesting because I never heard about a fossil like this, I just knew about snail fossils and dinosaurs. From this article I learned a lot: I learned that not only snails and dinosaurs fossils exist but even shrimps. This article connects to the unit of this quarter and also connects to science and humanities. It connects to both because in humanities we are studying fossils and in science living things.

 

ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2010) — Rodney Feldmann, professor emeritus, and Carrie Schweitzer, associate professor, from Kent State University's Department of Geology report on the oldest fossil shrimp known to date in the world. The creature in stone is as much as 360 million years old and was found in Oklahoma. Even the muscles of the fossil are preserved.

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Author: ScienceDaily
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101109172349.htm

Date: November 9, 2010
Due date: November 10, 2010

Current event #5

Montenegro's only hippo escapes zoo during floods

On January 13th 2010 Nikica, a female hippopotamus escaped from Montenegro's zoo. She escaped during the flood and went to the city searching a dry place to stay in. She didn't hurt anybody although this animal is considered dangerous. A guard of the zoo watched on her and he is feeding her daily. After nine days Nikica came back home to Montenegro's zoo. The owner was happy to see Nikica and be sure that she was ok and that she didn't hurt anybody. When she was in the village she made some friends. Nobody was afraid of her. The people brought her fresh hay every day. 

I think that this article was pretty interesting. I liked it a lot because it explained how the hippo escaped and what did she do when she was in the village. It is curious how animals survive in different ways. This big mammal hippo, that weighs two tons, tried to escape from the zoo because of the floods. She escaped because she was afraid about the flooding. I really enjoyed reading this article and it is a good example of what we study.

Source: http://af.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idAFTRE60C2WP20100113

Author: Reuters

Date: 13.01.2010.

Due date: November 3, 2010