Learning about the sun is so much fun

You know you may not even notice it but the Sun is a very important part of our lives. We need it for food, heat, and light. We should be thankful for it. Without the Sun very few people would be able to live. Well, why don't we take some time to learn about it and appreciate it. Now looking at the Sun you may think that it is the biggest star but it's not. We only think it is big because it is so close to Earth. The Sun is big though. It takes up 99.8% of the Solar System with it's mass. The Sun's mass is what holds the planets in place. The Sun is made up of a mix of gases, both hydrogen and helium. It has three main parts to it; the Core, Radiation Zone and the Convention Zone. The Core is located in the middle of this fire ball. In the Core the Sun produces a lot of energy which is made by nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion occurs when there is a really high temperature. The Core of the Sun can reach up to 15 million degrees Celsius. The energy which is made in the Core slowly leans outward into space and to us. The next main part is the Radiation Zone. The Radiation Zone is the middle layer inside the Sun after the core. The Radiation Zone is a tight area to get through that it can take more than 100,000 years to get through it. Last is the Convection Zone which is the outer layer. The energy which is made from the inside slowly approaches the top and makes loops of gas. The Sun's atmosphere contains three parts including the photosphere, the chromosphere, and the corona. The photosphere is the outer layer of the atmosphere. Itgives off light because of it's thick gases. The photosphere is what you see when you look at the Sun. Second, is the chromosphere. The chromosphere is a thin layer which can only be seen during a solar eclipse. It is a reddish glow that can be seen around the rim. Last is the Corona. The Corona is the layer which is seen to be around the Sun. It stretches out for miles and miles long around the Sun. If you look closely at a picture of the Sun you can see that on the surface there are dark parts and sometimes loops of fire. The dark spots are called sunspots. The loops of fire are called prominences. The Sun so far has been up and alive for about 5 million years and scientist estimate that it will be alive for another 5 million years. So now after reading this I bet you learned a lot about the Sun that you never knew before.

Monkey Mystery

As most of us know, humans evolved from monkeys. But now there is new information coming in that a new type of monkey called the Rhesus Macque is very similar to us humans. Scientists have found this information by deciphering the monkey's DNA. The benefit of this is that if a medicine needs to be tested for diseases on humans it can first be tested on the monkeys to look for any weird reactions. Finding a closer species to humans can help cure many diseases. Also, this information can help scientists understand what makes us humans in the first place.After a great deal of researching, the Macque monkey and the chimpanzees are the closest relatives to humans. Long ago, Macque's were found to be part of the Ape family which explains why the D.N.A. may match. Best of all, we can use these monkeys to find cures for cancer and AIDS. Many scientists are working on this to crack the code on this monkey mystery. So far they think that there was a huge mutation that happened to the monkeys which made humans. Although, the scientists have a great deal to figure out, they speculate that a huge mutation caused monkeys to evolve into humans.
To read more about this mystery you can visit the following website:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/04/12/monkey.genes.ap/index.html

Are their aliens on Mars?

Many people question if there are aliens in space. Well, some scientists believe there are aliens on the planet Mars and are trying to prove their hypothesis. They have tried to send signals into space but there has been no reply. Then they decided to try a different method. A group of scientists went out to one of the hottest deserts in Chile called the Atacama Desert and tried to imagine how natural life would be able to survive in the heat. They tried testing it by placing a rover in the desert to learn how different objects can withstand the heat. They did this test to learn about hot areas and how there could be life in such a dry area. The rover, Zoe, was a test to learn about these conditions. The robot carries a bunch of solar cells on its back and its job is to collect energy from the sun. Robot Zoe just scans the land and sends data back to the researchers. Zoe has three different cameras that are located on it and they take pictures to send very detailed information back to the researchers. Each of the pictures tells what kind of land and minerals that the robot is roving on. The group of researchers believe that there is more to the desert than just the dirt, sky, and sun. They want to prove that there is a sign of life. If there was water on this desert, there would be a definite sign of life. Right now, however, the rover is still doing its job.

For more information and detailed pictures you can go to the following website.

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20040922/Feature1.asp

Astroid may hit in 2036!

Can people on Earth move something as big as an asteroid if it is endangering our lives? Well, scientists and astronauts are now working on how to steer an asteroid away from the Earth using gravity. It is better to steer it away from Earth than destroy it completely. If this asteroid does hit then barely no one will survive. Scientists are now researching to see how many rocks have a larger width than 140 meters in diameter. So far they have found five thousand rocks. NASA is now watching Asteroid Apophis; it has a chance of one out of forty-five thousand that it will hit the Earth in 2036. One out of forty-five thousand sounds like a little but if it does hit, the consequences will be terrible. We have to try to come up with a way to stop it. Asteroid Apophis has a diameter width of 320 meters. This is not big enough to wipe out the world but it is big enough to wipe out a state or small country. Right now the asteroid is headed toward Africa. Using a spacecraft, we could give a little push on the Asteroid to steer it a little to the right or left and eventually, it would move far away from the earth. Using the spacecraft is better than firing explosives at it, because then the debris of the asteroid will affect the atmosphere. But no need to worry yet because as the years go on, technology will improve. The odds of it hitting the Earth will diminish over the years. So no need to worry unless researchers say it is time to worry. To research more about this asteroid visit the following website:

http://abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1852935.htm?space

Diamonds born in space?

This black diamond shown on above has been found to be born in space. Scientist say that this diamond was part of a star that exploded and is now dead. Scientists believe this because there were parts of the diamond that looked like they came from nitrogen and hydrogen in the black 'carbonado' diamonds. It seems that it wasn't found on land. One scientist says, " the molecules seem to reflect a mixture of gases seen in interstellar space." The black 'carbonado' diamonds are only found in Central African Republic and Brazil. The question is if the weather on earth or space causes the diamond to have a glaze around itself. Some scientists believe that this diamond was part of a formation of a star that was released into space after the star's explosion. Then it mixed up in the earths atmosphere and has been there ever since.In the future, it would be cool to hold a piece of a star in your jewelry everyday. Also,it is interesting to think that a star could be pretty enough to make a diamond like this.
To find more information about this great discovery go to the website listed below.
http://abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1831109.htm?space

Punnet square for hamsters

The picture above is a punnet square which shows what color the baby of Pancakes and Midnight will be. Capital B means brown. Lowercase b means white. Midnight, a boy, is a purebred (BB) brown and is shown at the top. Pancakes, a girl, is shown on the side, and is a hybrid (Bb) brown. After you crossbreed the two, you can find out what color the offspring, Applejacks, will be. First, for box number one, you have to "multiply" B and B. Which gives you (BB). (BB) means it is purebred homozygous brown. Then you write (BB) in box number one. For box number two you have to "multiply" B and B which gives you (BB). (BB) means purebred homozygous brown. Then for box number three, "multiply" B and b. That gives you (Bb). (Bb) means that it is a hybrid heterozygous brown. Lastly, for box number four, you have to "multiply" B and b. That gives you (Bb) which is hybrid heterozygous brown. The phenotype or physical appearance of Applejacks will be 100% brown. This is because all of the offsprings traits have the dominant gene which is brown. Remember each small square in the big square is 25%.The only way a hamster could be white is if there are two recessive traits (bb). The genotype or genetic make up of this offspring would be 50% purebred homozygous (BB), pure brown and 50% hybrid heterozygous (Bb), brown because the dominant gene takes over. So to conclude this, Applejacks will be brown because of it's parents genetic make up. After you find out what Applejacks looks like you can try finding what her offspring looks like with another hamster. Even though this punnet square example is used to find out what a hamster's skin color is, punnet squares are also used to find out what color eyes, hair, and skin humans possess too. If you actually think about it you can predict how your baby would look like, although, you would have to know your genes in order to do this.

24 extra credit

On 24, CTU has a lot of high-technology knowledge and accessories. The CTU agents use computers which connect to satellite dishes. When Jack Bauer and his tact teams go in to catch Fayed, CTU has complete satellite access and can watch everything that happens to stop an attack. Sometimes Jack takes a small ear piece and puts it in his ear. These ear pieces use wireless technology. He can talk to his co-workers at CTU and the tact teams. The agents also have a program which can locate where people are hidden. It does this by detecting body heat. When Jack Bauer needs to interrogate his suspects, the doctors monitor body temperature and heart beat to make sure the suspects do not die. These are a few of the many kinds of scientific knowledge CTU takes advantage of while trying to stop terrorists.