Blog- TOXIC PLAYGROUNDS

You may not think the smallest things such as kids playing at playgrounds couldn’t be dangerous. Think again, in New Orleans Howard Mielke of Tulane University's Center for Bioenvironmental Research found arsenic, which is an element that has a metallic luster and vaporizes when heated. While searching for arsenic with a portable X-ray fluorescence they found 36 percent of the sites visited were contaminated and only 38 were examined. Researchers toke a bit of soil and mimic the pH of a child’s stomach. I am shocked that this hasn’t been discovered before, many children must have gotten sick because of arsenic on a children’s playground. After examining the soil Mielke says, “is that the median arsenic concentration was on the order of 57 parts per million. This compares with the median of 1.5 ppm in soils generally throughout the city of New Orleans.” when the school was informed with the dangers for the arsenic they replaced the tainted chips with untreated bark. Luckily this problem was found and treated before it got worse. This shows that it is worthwhile surveying play areas.

source- http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/49960/title/Toxic_playgrounds

Extra Credit- science connection

I Have resently started reading My Sisters Keeper which i believe connects to science.In the novel Anna was born to save her older sister Kate who is diagnosed leukemia. For Anna's parents to get the perfect matched child to Kate, scientists matcher the mothers eggs and the fathers sperm to create the specific combination of the genetic material to match Kate. For Kate to survive she had to take things form Anna, such as blood, white cells, stem cells, and her bone marrow. Anna has undergone many surgeries and transfusions so her older Kate can survive .this novel connects to science because Kate has to borrowing many body needs, in order to survive, in the book they use scientific terms. this is a very indulging story, I recommended it to anyone once you start reading you cant stop. I hope you enjoy it.

largest web-spinning spider discovered

A newly discoverd spider web is the largest in a class of web spinners. These species of golden orb - weaver are found South Africa. These are newly described spiders, and now are considerer larges web spinner. these species of spiders are now called Nephilla Komaci.It spins webs of up to 1 metre in diameter. I find this amusing considering these great spinners weren't even know as spiders. I am surprised that this was just recently found, but i believe that this is only because they are endangered. There maybe even better spinners that are yet to be discovered

respond blog from Tinkerbell

The author of my blog respond is tink3. Tink3 researched the genetic disorder Adrenoleukodystrophy.The first thing i learned is that this disease was found in 1993 by Haperfield and Spielier. It was interesting that this disease only affects boys, but females can hold the gene. There are treatments which can slow the disease. sadly, this disease may cause death. This blog was well written.

klinefelter syndrome = Genetic disorders

After researching on klinefelter syndrome I realized how this disease doesn't only effect the patient but the people around them. The genetic disease klinefelter syndrome affects the male sexual activity because it effects male hormones. Klinefelter syndrome is a disease that only effected the male population. In the us only 1 out of 500 men are influenced by this disease. The world population is 1 in 1000 men. Klinefelter syndrome is disease that was discovered in 1942 by 24 year old doctor Jacobs. Symptoms and compilations of this disease include enlarged male breast, male infertility, tallness, and speech difficulty. This disease can be treated by testosterone therapy. the morality of this disease are Danish boys and men. on a molecular level there are extra male chromosomes. In trying to develop new treatments the effect on the male sexual development needs to be examine and understudy first.this diseas makes me feel upset cause it can happen to anyone.

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Designer Babies

From eyes color to height, now you could chose the way you would like your child to look. A clinic in California allows parents to genetically alter the characteristics of their babies. However, there is an ongoing debate about this issue of 'designer babies'.
Designer Babies have come along for seventeen years, mostly used for diseases such as Down Syndrome, Tay-Sachs, and many types of cancers. Parents also use this to deter any kind of mental illnesses. But in other cases, this could be used to chose the color of the baby's' eyes, hair, skin complexion,height, IQ, and even if they are male and female.
Many people don't get designer babies because of the cost, chance of risk, and because all the procedures they had to go through. This costs at least $19,000 in America. There is also a 25-50% chance of having other kids with serious illnesses. The surveys from NYU have determined that there isn't a great demand for having designer babies.
I think that designer babies should not be created because the most important thing is having a healthy and natural baby.

Social studies=Former Kent Place teacher charged with sex assault on a student

A former teacher and minister of music at Short hills church was arrested for an alleged relationship with a fifteen year old girl. Warren Brown, 67 years old, had the alleged relationship September 2007 when he was still teaching music at Kent Place School. The family became suspicious and notified the police. The police have spent the last few days searching records and computer files at the school where school officials are very cooperative. Brown has spent over twenty years in an educational and religious setting. He was charged with a first-degree crime because he used his power as a teacher to force the relationship. Police say that even though this situation is sad it has become too common. This is a good reminder for families to keep a closer eye on all relationships. Brown is currently in jail on a $275,000 bail and is expected to go to court soon.
socrse=nj.com

Freeing the River; one dam at a time

beach that was beautiful and lasted over twenty years. This dam was removed earlier this month. By removing over twenty other dams on the river the Musconetcong Watershed association is hoping to return it to its regular flow. When the dams are removed the water flow will improve the quality of the water. By returning the river to its natural flow it will improve fish migration, stop potential floods and allow the The Sober Grove Dam on the Musconetcong River in Morris County was a man-maderecreational boaters to venture the length of the river and enjoy its natural beauty. Even though the dams are beautiful they create environmental problems, because the water is still within the dams it causes its temperatures to increase allowing pollutants to survive and causes problems for wild life such as birds and fish as well as plants. The project cost is $40,000 made up of $15,000 from a grant, $2,500 from the township and the rest from a government agency. The Dam is not worth all the trouble; this project will improve all these problems. The Musconetcong Watershedassociation decided to move the dam when there was a flood in 2000. Residents of the area are happy to see the dam go and all the improvements expected from it. Not only are people working hard to finish this project many are volunteering to aid in the process. The removal of the dam is beneficial in many ways for the area.
socrces=nj.com

Water-Cleanup Experiment causes Lead Poisoning

Lead causes problems in a child’s nervous system. The District of Columbia’s water authority tried to clean the water supply another way by using chlorination and it worked for the time being. This cleaned the water but large amounts of lead were found in the water supply. The chlorine caused the lead in the plumbing line to increase in the water supply. Even though engineers said that they water was claimed to be fixed it had already affected many children. The risk of this problem not being fixed could cause permanent damage to children’s neurological systems. Based on a survey in 2004 it was reported that kids had not suffered from the lead levels. Early studies showed no damage was done to children, so another study was do. This second study showed that the groups tested in 2004 was not the appropriate group who could have been infected. During the lead crisis the water had 100-1000 ppb (parts per billion) when it should have had only 15 ppb. Much damage was done from 2001-2004. More kids are likely to have behavioral problems and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. It is estimated that kids IQ can drop 4-7 points because of this. An average of a five-point drop is scary because it could cause many people in America to fall in the Mentally Retarded level. This isn’t just happening locally in Washington but also in other parts of the nation as well as all over the world. Attention needs to be put on protecting children from such dangers.
sorces= www.sciencenews.org

doctors daughters killed -social studies

0n Wednesday, the Israeli military took blame for the death of three daughters of a Palestinian Doctor. The military said that the deaths were unintentional and they did not know which home was his. 55-year-old Doctor El-Eish is a gynecologist that received his medical degree in Israeli, he has worked in Israel hospitals, treating both Jews and Arabs, and he also speaks Hebrew. The Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, said that the Doctor’s niece also died and another daughter of his was seriously injured. The father of eight also lost his wife three months ago from cancer. The fire was suppose to hit Gaza and Doctor lives in Jebaliya which is Northeast of Gaza. The Doctor is well known and well liked by Israelis. After knowing about the death of his daughters he called an Israeli news anchor, which was a friend, the anchor broadcasted the Doctor wailing and screaming on the phone. I think that the death of his daughters was not an accident, they are fully aware where they are shooting and if it the right place or not. I think what caused them to fire there was a political reason, since Doctor can speak Hebrew and can communicate better with them. Therefore, the Doctor could have said or done something that they disliked. They probably threatened to kill his daughters. I think that they really don't care whether it is a doctor or not, they are all people that are getting killed; it doesn't matter if you are a doctor's daughter or a homeless person on the street.

nitrogen

scientists in National Science Foundation's added nitrogen to the soil prompts northern hard wood forests to get more heat trapping carbon dioxide. with more nitrogen in the environment forests could grow carbon sinks and help mitigate climate change. the scientists decided to do there planned and the trees started to grow.

www.sciam.com