Cur. ev. 2nd quarter No 6

Petra 6A

http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/audioplayer.html?clipid=2170845893

Nov. 26 2011

Notes: Dr mike gerbich professor  of biology at u of w on, extremely tiny, feeding on over 1000 different plant species 150 being of agricultural importance, ability 2 develop resistance 2 pesticides, takes genes from other species, ex. Takes gene from bacteria cuz bacteria can break down toxics from plant, when changing mite 2 different hostthe mites genes change completely, can counter pesticides too,

Creepy Crawlies

            There’s a new bug in town. A small pest called the spider mite has been studied by a group of scientists, and many things have been found out. First, it is feeding on over 1000 species of plants, 150 being of agricultural importance. How? It steals genes from other organisms that have the ability to break down the plant’s defensive toxins, thus rendering itself able to do the same. It also has found a way to break down our pesticides. The scientists have found that when you change the mite to a different host plant, its genes change completely to adapt to its new environment. They are still working on how to stop the creepy crawler, but this discovery is a great one.

My thoughts

         I think that if we don’t find a way to stop this mite, it will eat its way through all our agriculture. It is nature’s way, though, for this mite to adapt the way it has. We adapted to live in this world in prosperity; why shouldn’t it adapt to survive? This was a very interesting article for me, and I look forward to learning more about the spider mite.

Cur. ev. 2nd quarter No 5

Petra 6A

http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/audioplayer.html?clipid=2166737038

Nov. 12^th 2011

66 Legs of Discovery

In 2000, buried deep in the Burgess Shale located in the Rocky Mountains, an amazing discovery is made: The 3m long track way of an ancient predator known as the Tegopelte. The track ways were about 12-15cm wide, telling to paleontologist Nicolas Minter, who was studying this fantastic creature, that the width of the Tegopelte was 12-15cm. They found that the Tegopelte had 33 pairs of legs and that each track was spaced around 20cm apart. They also found the way that the prehistoric animal walked. It placed one pair of feet down and then quickly raised it up while putting down the one behind it. This method of walking is similar to that of the millipede. The Tegopelte was a predator on the ancient sea floor over 500 million yrs ago.

My Thoughts

I think that it’s really cool to learn about creatures from the past, and that the Tegopelte is a fascinating creature. I enjoyed learning a=everything I could about it.

Cur. Ev. 2nd quarter No 4

Petra 6A

http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/audioplayer.html?clipid=2164471825

Saturday November 5^th

The Plain-Tailed Wren

            The plain tailed wren is known for an amazing skill. When the female and male are put together, they sing a duet that sounds like one bird! The plain tailed wren is about the size of a starling, and it is brown in colour with a stripe that goes over the eyes.  They live in thick bamboo forests on the sides of the Andes Mountains. They alternate singing with such speed and precision that their song sounds like one. What is also interesting is that the birds sing alone as well. When the female sings alone, there are gaps where the male should be, and vice versa. Scientists found that the duet singing is used mostly for the female to test the male’s ability to sing his syllables in the short span of time she gives him, or to test whether the male is good enough for her or not. Dr. Eric Fortune, of the Department of Physiological and Brain Sciences at the Johns Hopkins U. in Baltimore, conducted brain tests on these amazing animals.  He thought that the strongest memory would be of the cues to tell the bird when to sing, but it was actually the whole duet. Instead of knowing just their part and when to sing it, they knew their partner’s part as well to help them sing theirs. Dr. Fortune also found that you could put a male and a female who were 1 kilometer apart together, and they would learn the duet in only a couple of hours.

                                                                  My thoughts                     

            I think that it is amazing to learn about this incredible creature, and that discovering more and more things about our planet-mates could really help us in understanding our world and how to protect it. Also, it’s just really cool to learn about this stuff.

Cur. Ev. 2nd quarter No 3

Heart of a Snake

http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/

Oct. 29^th 2011

The Bermese Python

             The Bermese python barely eats, but when it does, it hunts giant prey, prey that can be as big as the python itself. After killing the unfortunate animal, the python swallows it -- whole. But how? On one episode of Quirks and Quarks, the host Bob McDonald interviews Dr. Leslie Leinwand, a professor of molecular biology at the U of Colorado., about this fascinating animal. She says that digesting the prey would take a lot of digesting, and a normal sized stomach couldn’t handle it. So the python’s organs double in size in only 2 days time. Dr. Leinwand studied this characteristic, and found at least three fatty acids in the python’s blood that made this change possible. She and her colleagues found that this blood could work in other animals. They tested it on healthy mice, and their organs nearly reached twice their normal size. Dr. Leinwand hopes that one day this blood could be used to treat patients with heart disease.

My thoughts

             I think that this discovery is amazing. The Bermese python could be the start of more healthy people and fewer deaths. I am really happy that there would be less deaths, as would many others, but it would create a problem with world population. Think about it: If everyone in the world was completely healthy, and no one could die of sickness, then the world would overflow with people. I only hope that won’t be any time soon