Current Event #9: : Get Me out of This Slump: Visual Illusions Improve Sports Performance

Ivan

6B

Science

14/3/12

Title of Article: Get Me out of This Slump: Visual Illusions Improve Sports Performance

Author(s) of Article: The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Association for Psychological Science.

Source of Article: Science Daily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120313121729.htm

Date of Article: 14/3/12

Summary: This article is about how basketball (college basketball) players can improve their chances of making free throws. They can imagine that the basket is bigger than it actually is! These are the words of a psychological scientist Jessi Witt about how athletes feel when they perform well, she studies the performance of difference athletes and how they can improve it: "You hear about athletes making these comments like, oh, I was playing so well, everything seemed like it was moving in slow motion,". She says it is one of the ways to improve your performance, and visualizing things (optical illusions) is another one. She and some others made an experiment, they made an optical illusion with a golf hole and projected smaller holes around it, so the hole looks bigger, and then with the same hole, they projected larger holes so the hole looked smaller. 36 college students tried 10 times and they got the gold ball in 10% in with the effect of the “bigger” hole than the effect of a “smaller” hole.

This discovery can help many athletes, not only basketball players because it can improve their chances of scoring a free throw, hitting a ball, etc. I think this discovery is important because it can influence successes for athletes which use this optical illusion method. I found this article on a reliable resource: www.sciencedaily.com used for finding science-related current events. I know this website is a good place for finding science-related current events because it features excellent articles (my opinion). If some athletes (probably basketball players) read this article, it will most likely improve their chances of getting their point for a free-throw or hitting a ball in a tight situation. When I finished reading this article, I felt happy because now, more players would fulfill their goals in sports. I felt this article can also help me because I like playing basketball.

A fun Science Game

This is a very scientific game, it has a lot do with plant cells.
This is a matching game where you have to match all the cell organelles to their pictures.
Hope you enjoy playing it!!!
Link: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/health/anatomy/cell/plant_cell_game.htm

State of Matter Table

This is the State of Matter Table of Gas, Liquid and Solid. We watched this video in class and made this table about it. There are 4 columns and 7 rows in this table. This table is all about states of matter and its properties: volume, shape, mass, expansion and compressibility. You also had to give 3 examples of the particular state.

Science: Current Event #8: World's Lightest Material Is a Metal 100 Times Lighter Than Styrofoam

Ivan

6B

Science

21/11/11

Title of the Article: World's Lightest Material Is a Metal 100 Times Lighter Than Styrofoam

Author(s) of the Article: The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Irvine.

Source of the Article: Science Daily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111117154643.htm

Date of the Article: November 17, 2011

Summary: This article talks about how a team of researchers of UC Irvine, HRL Laboratories and the California Institute of Technology developed the World’s Lightest Material. It is a metal with a density of 0.9 mm/cc, and is about 100 times lighter than Styrofoam! In fact, it is so light (is 99.9 % air!) that it can sit upon a dandelion fluff without damaging it. "Materials actually get stronger as the dimensions are reduced to the nanoscale," explained UCI mechanical and aerospace engineer Lorenzo Valdevit, also UCI's principal investigator on the project.

This discovery and discoveries like this one will affect our society positively because soon our world will change completely and be completely remade and redesigned. Soon, we will create lighter materials which are even lighter than this one, our society is developing. I found this article on a reliable resource: www.sciencedaily.com used for finding science-related current events. I know this website is a good place for finding science-related current events because it features excellent articles (my opinion). When I finished reading this article, I learned that our society is developing and NEVER will come a day when we DO NOT learn something new. I felt delighted reading this article because I think our society is developing and will CONTINUE to develop.

Science: Current Event #7: Obese Monkeys Lose Weight on Drug That Attacks Blood Supply of Fat Cells

Ivan

6B

Science

14/11/11

Title of Article: Obese Monkeys Lose Weight on Drug That Attacks Blood Supply of Fat Cells

Author(s) of the Article: The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Source of the Article: Science Daily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111109143009.htm

Date that this Article was written: November 9^th, 2011

Summary: This article talks about how scientists used a special kind of drugs on “Obese” monkeys. After 4 weeks, the monkeys lost 11% of their weight. With the same experiment, rodents (mice) have lost 30% of their whole body fat. One of the first authors of this study states this: “The rhesus monkeys in the current study were "spontaneously" obese, said study first author Kirstin Barnhart, D.V.M, Ph.D., a veterinary clinical pathologist at MD Anderson's Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research in Bastrop, Texas.”

This discovery will affect our society positively but this experiment with monkeys is a bit cruel. By using this drug, “obese” cancer will have less serious consequences. I chose this article because I am interested about what drugs do to your body. I found this article on a reliable resource, used for finding current events: www.sciencedaily.com. I know this website is a good and reliable resource to get current event articles because it is popular and has a lot of good detailed articles which are current. In this article, I learned that drugs can do a LOT of bad things to your body. I felt sad reading this article because I didn’t want the monkeys to lose a lot of weight.

Science: Current Event #6: Climate Shift Could Leave Some Marine Species Homeless

Ivan

6B

Science

7/11/11

Title of Article: Climate Shift Could Leave Some Marine Species Homeless

Author(s) of the Article: The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Scottish Marine Institute.

Source of the Article: Science Daily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111103195314.htm

Date that this Article was written: November 3^rd, 2011

Summary:

Rising temperatures in some parts of the Earth will get some marine species to move but not all of them have another home. An international research team led by Dr. Mike Burrows compared the changes in temperatures from 1960-2009. The research team used the data to see how fast and how much did our climate shift and how quickly do populations of marine and terrestrial species have to relocate if this continues. Dr Burrows explains, “When temperatures rise, plants and animals that need a cooler environment move to new regions.”

This discovery will affect our society positively because now we know that we and other species face the risk of being homeless. I chose this article because I would like to know what can happen in the future to us and to the places where we live in. I found this article on www.sciencedaily.com it was one of the headlines. Science Daily is a good resource to get information because lots of people (including me) use it. In this article, I learned that sooner or later our habitat will change and some will probably witness these changes. I felt depressed reading this article because I don’t want any specie to entirely wipe out or become homeless on our planet.

Science: Current Event # 5

Ivan

6B

Science

31/10/11

Title of Article: Insects Are Scared to Death of Fish

Author(s) of this Article: The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Toronto.

Source of the Article: Science Daily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111027125241.htm

Date this article was written: October 27^th, 2011

Summary of the Article:

The mere presence of a predator in their habitat is enough to create such stress, that dot-tailed dragonflies could actually die. In the second experiment 11% of the larvae died when they shared their environment with fish. They were in a process called metamorphosis (the process of dragonflies becoming adults). Scientists at the University of Toronto state that their findings can apply to all living organisms facing any amount of stress. "We allowed the juvenile dragonflies to go through metamorphosis to become adult dragonflies, and found those that had grown up around predators were more likely to fail to complete metamorphosis successfully, more often dying in the process," says Rowe, a professor conducting the experiment at the University of Toronto.

This discovery I think may affect our society positively because now we know not to stress ourselves and not to put other into stressful conditions. I chose this article because I am interested learning about insects. I found this website on www.sciencedaily.com. This is the best reliable resource to get science articles. From this article, I learned that when you are feeling stressed it is really bad for your nerves and body and brain. I felt weird reading this article because eI didn’t know anything about this.