Science Article [Second]

Study Characterizes Epigenetic Signatures of Autism in Brain Tissue

JAMA/Archive Journals

Archives of General Psychiatry

November 7, 2011

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111107162734.htm

Autism is a serious illness with a various amount of causes and origins. It's dysfunction with the cerebral cortex and other regions of the brain disrupt and make the cognitive and behavioral actions "misbehave". This might be a little esoteric (difficult to grasp, understand)The neurons in the brain are send to the nerve cells and received in different ways than other within the body. Hennady P. Shulha examined certain parts of the brain tissue of 16+ individuals diagnosed with autism. She has discovered that "histones" are small proteins that attach to DNA that control gene expression and activity. She conducted a series of experiments but less than 10 percent, of the affected genes were affected by the DNA mutations. Docter Shulha continues her research in DNA mutation, and on the study of autism, to help get to the bottom of the real reason for autism.

Science Article

Can Metals Remember Their Shape at Nanoscale, Too?

Daniel Mutter and Peter Nielaba 

University of Constance

November 7, 2011
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111108104623.htm

Scientists are realizing that Metal alloys are more intelligent than they think. They have realized that the Metal alloys can change back to their original state by remembering it. Authors have determined the absolute values of temperatures at which shape memory nanospheres start changing, back to their original state.  To date, this topic has been highly experimented with all types of metals such as nickel and titanium. Thanks to computer simulation, authors were able to get a glimpse of the transformation process of the material during the transition. When the temp increased, the object shifted from a lower to higher line of Symantec, which differs upon it's interior. Most of the work done, was used for things such as braces, stents or oil temperature-regulating devices. The search and experiments being done can only lead to bigger, and greater things, as long as their kef (state of drowsiness) doesn't get to them!

Week 4-5

I find this certain topic interesting because I've always been interested in mythology type science. Things that were told to be myths but proven to be real. I've never really liked PBS except for the cartoons (HA), but when an interesting video comes on I'll be sure to watch it. PBS's videos are very informative and teaches about all aspects and subjects as life; art, science, music, history, pretty much anything. It definitely makes a difference in not only my life but too anyone who watches PBS. Their videos aren't 5 minute little spurts on the subject, the videos are very well detailed and informative about the subject.
Even though the videos are great they don't mention every SINGLE thing. I'm sure there's things they left out, but to learn more about it you can research it, read a book about it, watch a different documentary on it. There's lots of possible options you can do to get more insight on it. I'm not completely sure if there is a Wikipedia page on it or not. If there is I can definitely go there for research, but if there isn't someone can create one so more people can find information on it!
Science affects every single person, science lives inside us (literally). There's things constantly happening inside us, outside of us, and all around us. Any person would be a fool not to be interested in science, not this particular topic but any science related topic. It doesn't matter if their young or old, we all share the same interests. I'll defiantly be sharing my knowledge with the world on letting people know about the facts and details of the story I watched.
Honestly, I don't know what the author left out because well, I'm not very knowledgeable on the topic. I'm sure he could have added some fun facts about it to appeal all viewers, but that's just my opinion.



http://video.pbs.org/video/1204753806/

Article

Peer Pressure? It's Hardwired Into Our Brains

Georgio Coricelli

Sciencedaily.com

Sep. 11, 2011

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110906164312.htm

Researchers found that the striatum, a part of the brain accociated with rewards, showed higher activity when a participant beat a peer in the lottery, opposed to when the participant won while alone. These findings suggest that the brain is equipped with the ability to detect and encode social signals, they use these signals to optimize future behavior. In private events, losing can be more life-threatening, with no social support. On the other hand, in group environments, rewards tend to be winner-takes-all. There are strong incentives for wanting to be at the top of the social ranking. I can cohere - (to agree, conform) on this subject, as I can understand wanting to always be on top, always wanting to win. It's human instinct, it's inside all of us. Always wanting to be dominant of others, win, fight for what we have.

Week 3

I don't believe you could just choose one important thing about earth science, because lets face it, there all pretty important. Watching the earth evolve, seeing it from the future to the past, learning about future disasters, and past disasters. Every single detail is important, to ensure our safety and become more knowledgeable on the subject. The earth evolves every single day, and it requires you to constantly monitor it and watch for the slightest change. It's important to study and learn about earth science, even if it's the smallest bit of information in a bad science book. It all matters when it comes down to it. Earth science is something that will always change, every day, month, and year. You will always be learning more and more information about how and why the world works. In earth science, everything that mother nature gives us is important. Flowers to giant mountains, there all useful on letting us know more about how things work.
Making good decisions about how you treat the earth is very important. The earth doesn't just change and evolve on it's complete own self. Everyone on earth helps it become what it is today. Even if it's terrible things, like pollution. There are things you can do to help the earth, instead of ruin it, things like recycling (obviously), riding your bike to school, turning the lights off when you leave the house, carpooling or taking the bus, and saving our resources. So making the right choices, could completely change the outcome of a situation.

Questions

1. What particles make up an atom and where are they located?
Proton, Neutron, Electron. Protons are located in the nucleus, also found in the nucleus is the neutron. Electrons are floating around the nucleus.

2. How do you find the atomic mass of an element?
You can look on the periodic table.

3. How do you know the charge of an atom?
Take the number of protons and subtract the number of electrons.

Week 2

I think I would say that rule #2 (Follow all written and verbal instructions carefully. Ask your teacher questions if you do not understand the instructions) is the most important due to it's large percent of usefulness in this class. Even though all rules are important, misusing chemicals could result in death, and not reporting accidents could result in serious injuries or even death. Not following rules is a threat to not just you, but to all your fellow classmates. Also, not following rules could result in losing privileges to use labs, or participate in class experiments. I find rule number #5 (never eat, drink, chew gum, or taste anything in the science room) is pretty useless, considering most of us are mature teenagers. This doesn't apply to younger kids because of there maturity and knowledge level, but I'm sure 8th graders are capable of knowing not to eat or taste anything that looks hazardous. In everyones head there has to be some sub-conscious voice that says "no", don't eat that, it's an unknown substance. If they don't, I don't know why they would be in 8th grade science. On another note, most rules are important. They are for your own safety and well-being. If you follow them, you could possibly get extra credit, or get more access to things other kids don't get access to.

Week 1

Personally for me, I love earth science. Especially when it comes to our solar system and space. Space makes me ponder what’s really out there. I love it because it provides highly detailed facts for the simplest things. It makes me feel like one day there might be a possibility of me finding something completely amazing that no one else has quite yet discovered. Science is quite self - satisfactory, and constantly makes me think of how and why something works, even as little as it may be. I feel science produces you to think more freely than other subjects. If you disagree with it and can prove it as facts something could completely change from what you once knew. As a young child I always loved looking up at space through my telescope and wondering about it all, or trying to make homemade science experiments in my kitchen. When it comes to science there’s always room to improve. There’s one theory, and then someone might complete that theory and make it better. I love how with science you can never stop learning, there’s always something new and new coming along, and there always will be for hundreds of thousands of more years.