Astronomy

I have always loved the stars and can't imagine what they would look like through a telescope.Here is a very good astronomy website, it tells you exactly what stars are in your area and when they will be visible.  
I have been waiting for almost four years now for my mom to fix her telescope but she still hasn't gotten to fixing her telescope.It isn't probably very high on her priority list.Luckily, I have a friend that has a telescope (albeit not a very powerful one) that I love to look through on a clear night. I live in the city so  I can't always see the stars due to light pollution. I would love to someday be able to go out to a place with little light pollution and look though a telescope. I hear that on a clear night in an area with little or no light pollution looks a lot like the pic below (ignore water).

Orangutans

Lately I have been learning about Orangutans, new studies show that Orangutans have 97% of the DNA we do, making them more closely related to us than chimps.Here are some fun facts about them;

• They have an average lifespan of 20-30 years in the wild.
• They range from 100-200 pounds.
• They have extremly long hair.
• There senses are a lot like ours.
• Orangutan literally translates into "man of the forest" in malay.

Today, we went to our local zoo to see them in action. They were so active! One was right up against the glass hitting it with a plastic cone, while the other was wrapped up in a pink blanket and looked like a little old lady!

Genetic disorders: Canavan disease

It has been a while since I last posted,I have been enjoying a two week vacation but now I am back on schedule once again!

For my science I am learning about genetic disorders, one I am specifically working on is called Canavan disease. Genetic disorders like Canavan disease appear when one of the twenty-three pairs of chromosomes in your cells are damaged and or mutated in some form.

Canavan disease is an inherited genetic disease that causes progressive damage to the brain's nerve cells. Canavan disease is grouped with other genetic diseases called leukodystrophies. Leukodystrophies are known for their aggression toward myelin, which is the fatty covering that insulates the brain's nerve cells. 

Nerve cell

Symptoms of Canavan disease begin in early infancy, although the symptoms do not begin until about three to five months of age. Symptoms include:

• Developmental problems for motor skills such as rolling over, being able to sit up without support, and being able to control  head movement
• Unusually large head growth
• Weak muscle tone
• Intellectual difficulties 
• Abnormal posture
• Sleep disturbances
• Feeding and swallowing difficulties



Child afflicted with Canavan disease

• Seizures 

Most afflicted infants do not get to live farther than childhood, but some end up living to adolescence and beyond.

                

So far, there is no known cure for genetic diseases such as Canavan disease,but in the future scientists hope to be able to directly repair, or even replace damaged chromosomes.   

Zoo Trip

Today I went to zoo classes at our zoo. Today, my group were supposed to present a question about an animal, and solve it by using the supplies chosen by us. We came up with the question, Do Tigers like to be on rocks, or on the ground? We used a laser thermometer to see what temperatures the ground and the rocks were. Believe it or not, it was warmer on the rocks (where the majority of the tigers were) than on the ground by about six degrees. 

We also did an ethogram to track what the tigers were doing over a period of time. It turns out that all but one of the tigers were not on the rocks. I also found out that most zoologists will use ethograms to monitor an animals activities.
Overall I found that the tigers tend to stay wherever it is warm. 

BELOW IS AN EXAMPLE OF AN ETHOGRAM

Sink Hole

For my schoolwork I do a subject called current events. It is when I search official news sites for an interesting story to write a summary about. Two days ago I was reading about a sink hole incident on CNN. The people lived in Florida and lived in a place known for its sink holes. Bush, 36, fell into a 20 foot wide and 50 foot deep hole in his bedroom, pretty scary right? He is currently presumed dead

His brother jumped into the hole to look for him, but luckily he made it out OK. Although emotionally he was pretty torn up

The story on CNN is here 

Smash book

Recently, my mom has found these journals called smash books. It is basically a journal that you smash stuff you want to remember in. It is kind of nice that I can do whatever I want to do with the page instead of having a strict code to follow.

It is basically an everything book. You can use whatever you want where every you want without the hassle of having to make it symmetrical . I found some really cool ideas on this site. It is really cool what you can do with a smash book. If you look on Google and type in "smash book ideas" you will find TONS of ideas.

Grass

For a school project my mom went to a seed store to buy some grass and clover seed to grow in our house in little yogurt containers. The guy from the store ended up just giving us two tiny bags full of grass seed for free and one small bag of clover seed.

It took about four days for the topsoil that we bought to unfreeze. Once it unfroze mom planted the seeds. I do not have a green thumb, I even have killed a cactus because I did not water it enough. Who kills a cactus?! I still have the HUGE pot I used to grow it in, so I used that instead of the little yogurt cups.
                                    

What I did is that I put all three seeds in one pot each on a side and see which one thrived the most. So far we don't have any grass yet.