Green Plastics reflection

How are these plastics being developed? These plastics are being made from natural resources like the sugar from corn and sugar cane. They can string all of the molecules together to create plastic that can be reused into other plastics, cloths, and even rugs. It also doesn't require any fossil fuels or take up any space in land fills.
What makes these plastics "green?" These plastics are made of natural resources that are easy to grow and don't require access mining. It can also be formed and molded into other plastics, cloths, and rugs. They are completely re-usable so it won't take up any space in landfills. They are natural and the factories won't relies the toxins into the air.
What are some issues with plastics that were mentioned? There are a few problems with the green plastics. One of which is that it takes a good amount of space to grow the corn the plastics are made of. A concern is that we are using too much space to make plastic then to feed people. Once the corn is growing they need to be sprayed with several types of pesticides and fertilizer. Once the corn is grown they have to harvest it. They use big machines that produce smog into the air. Once the corn is in the factories, it needs to be molded and packaged. They use machines for this job, and those machines run on energy. The energy used is the same amount as making the conventional plastics. Another problem is that if the plastics do end up in a landfill, they take just as long to decompose as conventional plastics, and this takes it's toll on the environment.
How might these green plastics change packaging practices?
We use so much plastic that we have created islands the size of Texas in the middle of our oceans. Most of this is plastics bags and packaging. With new bio-plastics, most of these could be recycled and the pollution we produce would drop dramatically. Another thing is that the Bio- plastics are flimsyer then conventional plastics. This could enforce the use of cloth and paper bags why buying groceries, eliminate the rings around six pack ,and stop selling individual packs (uh-hem Pudding cups!). In about 20 years we estimate that 20% of the plastics we use will be green, and that would help the environment in so many ways.

Food INC. reflection

After watching Food Inc, what are your impressions of how science of food industry, technology of food industry, and society are interrelated?
After watching food INC I have a clear understanding of how all of the elements are connected. The science of the food industry allows us to butcher large amounts of animals without using too much space, time or food. Science has allowed us to genetically modify animals so that they grow twice as fast and are twice as big. We now wait half the time we use to growing chickens and they are twice as big. This is where the technology comes in. We have programed machines to do all of the killing skinning, cleaning, and packaging so that companies dothe food industry's don't have to hire employees and save a buck. The public ties into this all. We buys the meat and other food companies send out and eat it without a second thought as to where it came from. Our food industries are allowed to sneak things right under our nose with the governments protection, and are likely to succeed in what can really be classified as animal abuse.
How did the film describe science & technology as a positive or negative impact on society or the environment?
The film described the science and technology used by the food industry as a negative. With the science and technology, companies can now slaughter, skin, package, and sell in half the time they use to. With the machines they don't have to hire new employees and can get more food into the grocery store faster. With new genetically modified animals, they grow twice and fast and are twice as big. This is what is allowing food companies to bloom.
How do our consumer choices affect what is out on the market and therefore, our own species survival?
When we purches the food the industries , this supports their mass production of our live stock. We are funding animal abuse. If we could support more food - friendly sources, industries would be forced to slow down. Unfortunately food that is animals friendly is often expensive and not locally grown. but if everyone bought "happy meat" for a just a week, I'm sure it would be enough to shut down these companies. How are we as humans connected to how the Earth is used?
Humans are the reason our earth in in trouble. We have polluted it to a point where we burned a hole in the ozone. We have pushed our need for food and choices to a point where it is no longer sanitary for the environment or the few people who work in the factories. Earth can only provide so much for the entire human race and we are taking advantage of it. We have less then a lifetime f resources left and we have pretty much destroyed life for our next generation. There are people who are doing things to try and help save our planet, but unless we make a drastic change soon, we are in big trouble.
When do we say "no" to more high tech devices and go back to what caused the problem in the first place? Why are we only into the "HOW" things work and not the "WHY" things don't? What did this farmer mean?
Food is not on the top of the list of things that need to be saved on our planet. I think that as soon as we figure out the ozone and other pollution, over population, overfishing, global warming, and peace throughout the world is when we will start working on the food problems. This would have to be a radical multi- million dollar process and probably won't happen in the next 50 years. We have spent the last decade and millions of dollars perfection the high tech equipment we use to slaughter animals and to take that all away will take time.

What is the difference between natural farming and industrial farming? Which is better? Are they both necessary for human survival? Why or why not?
Natural farming is what use to be efficent. It is where you grow a natural amount of livestock and slaughter and clean them by hand in decent amounts. Industrial farming is what we depend on today. We keep animals in tight places,genetically modify them and kill them in massive amounts. This is what we have come to depend on, and now if we decided to stop, there aren't enough natural farmers to produce the meat and crop we consume. Now that we have altered the food industry, we probably don't need natural farming anymore, which is really scary. In the last 100 years food has changed more than it ever had, and this is the price.
If technology and industry have improved so much that we are getting faster, fatter, bigger, and cheaper, how are science and technology held responsible for improving or ruining human health and survival?
Food doesn't change this much, this fast on it's own. We have found the science to speed this process up and the outcome is much more efficient. If we had kept farming naturally of not found the science we would have a completely different food industry. Technology doesn't help this either. We have created machines that compliment the science. We can now slaughter the thousands of animals we create in a day then natural farmers probably kill in a month. Improved technology and science has change the way we eat.
What economic costs, environmental costs, ethical costs, health costs, and cultural costs did you observe while watching the film?
During the film some of the health cost of eating food shocked me. There was a little boy who had eaten a hamburger and died of E. Coli. This should have changed the way we farm, but even after several law suits, the companies are still protected by the government. What the food was doing to the environment was also amazing. All the machines need to be powered and they consume a drastic amount of energy in a day. We need space to store our livestock so we have miles and miles of land devoted to keeping cows. Ethics is not a word in the food dictionary, if it was things would probably be different.
Finally, state your final thoughts about this film and any changes you see happening in the food industry in the future or even your own eating habits.
I'm not sure I can see any changes in the food industry occurring in the next 50 years. I hate to say it but I have little faith in the ethics of the food industry. I am trying to change the way I impact the world. I don't eat meat

very often and when I do it's from local markets. I can try and buy local grown food and try not to consume as much (he hem thanksgiving) It might not be much but i'll do my part

E. Coli Infection Linked to Long-Term Health Problems

Sophie Moynihan
7b

After watching food INC in class, most of us wanted to know more about some of the cows we saw. In the film, cows had a plastic tube implanted in their stomach in order for the farmers to be able to reach in and grad the remains of the corn they eat. This prevents a disease called E.coli. E.coli is a disease brought on by eating or drinking things our body doesn't want, such as contaminated water. E.coli could and probably will kill you, and if you live like the cows we eat do, it could be contagious. That's not all though, studies have shown that having E.coli could increase your chances of having a long term disease, such as high blood pressure and kidney problems. Gastroenteritis has been a problem in the states, this is a disease that infuriates the stomach, causing it to swell and brings on diarrhea and vomiting.In the united states, there have been 120,000 gasrto electric illnesses, resulting in 2000 hospitalizations, and 60 deaths. team of researchers in Canada studied the heart and blood diseases that are brought on by this. Using the research from Walkerton heath study, they gathered 1,997 adult participants, and tested how their body's would react when introduced to eight years of contaminated water. They found that the healthy or only mildly sick (cold, cough, ect.) participants were 1.3 times more likely to develop hypertension ( high blood pressure), 3.4 times more likely to develop renal impairment (kidney failure), and 2.1 times more likely to develop a cardiovascular event (heart attack, stroke) They conclude that "These long term consequences emphasize the importance of ensuring safe food and water supply as a cornerstone of public health."

I chose this article because I was tired of doing adaption ones. We have moved on to a new mini unit, human wast, and I wanted to report on that. As I mentioned we watched food INC in class, and a lot of us were concerned about the cows. They got this disease called E. coli, and I wanted to know just what we were eating if this was common for cows. If the cows are treated for E.coli, then it's no a problem. But if not, we would literally be eating sick cows... ew.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101118194607.htm

Analisis of owl prey

Questions from lab
When analyzing our owls prey we can definitely conclude that our owl loves it's voles and rats. Based upon the class rank voles are the most commonly preferred food among the owls in our class. Yummy! I'm guessing that 35 insects are definitely more energy expensive way to dine. When you catch one 35g vole, you only have to find,swoop, and grab. As for 35 1g insects you have to fly around and find 35would take bugs, chase them down, and frankly by that time the owl probably would have found some other source of food. If the shrew population decreased, it would effect the entire food chain. The shrew is eats and is eaten by many other organisms in the food chain. If the shrew goes, the animals that eat it will have lost their main source of food and this could effect the carrying capacity, causing other organisms to start depleting. The owl will then have less to eat, which will again trigger the carrying capacity .

Further inquiry
Our analysis might not be reliable because about half of our bones were gone when we looked for them. We did the best that we could with what we had and otherwise we have accurate data. Next time we could probably put cerran wrap over our bones so that we can have accurate info.

Cats show perfect balance even in their lapping

Sophie Moynihan
7B
Current Event

Cartoon, books, and just about every story about cats depicts a scene of a cat lapping their milk. Another feline stereo-type of cats is that they always have perfect balance. What do these two stereo types have to do with each other? Researchers from MIT, Virginia Tech and Princeton University have looked into this question, and can give you an answer. When cats drink their milk, they form there tong into a shape like a backwards J to get the milk into their mouth. Recent studies show that cat's don't actually dip their tong in the milk, they only lightly brush it with the tip of their tong. While doing this, the milk forms a wake. When the cat stops moving its tong, the inertia keeps the milk moving. It then fills the gap that is forms by the backwards J. The cat then draws its tong up to its mouth, without spilling milk on it's chin. Roman Stocker of MIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), Pedro Reis of CEE and the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sunghwan Jung of Virginia Tech's Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, and Jeffrey Aristoff of Princeton's Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering all helped film several other big cats (Jaguars,Tigers, ect.) drinking to see if it was a shared genetic between cats. The scientists studied the videos and came up with a formula for the ways cats drink."The amount of liquid available for the cat to capture each time it closes its mouth depends on the size and speed of the tongue. Our research -- the experimental measurements and theoretical predictions -- suggests that the cat chooses the speed in order to maximize the amount of liquid ingested per lap," said Aristoff, a mathematician who studies liquid surfaces. "This suggests that cats are smarter than many people think, at least when it comes to hydrodynamics."

I choose this article to show that we can make adaption big or small. It can be as simple as having a whole formula devised so you don't spill any milk on your chin. This article didn't really interest me, I'm not a cat person, but I feel like it did make a point about adaption.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101111141806.htm

Science reflection

What is sustainability? What is a human footprint? What can we do to reduce our human footprint?

Sustainability is directly defined as "To bear". This can be applied in conversations, when you're supporting a heavy weight, and in our case when you are trying to save out planet. To me, sustainability is when we make simple sacrifices, such as taking shorter showers or turning off the light when you leave a room, to preserve what is left of earths natural resources. Our planet has changed more in the last 50 years then it has in the previous 10,000 and we are to blame. Every person has a human footprint, which is the mark you make on the planet. It's the food you eat, the energy you use, and the heat and AC you blast in the winter. All of these are some of the many ways that we leave our mark on the planet. In class, we watched a video of some of the biggest contributors to our human footprint. The video provided some statistics of these factors were astounding. Some of the statistics that surprised me most were these. The average American will drink 43,371 cans of soda in a lifetime. We will eat 4 cows, 3 pigs, and 1,423 chickens. We will spend more money on beauty products, then on education. We have a huge variety of ways we impact the environment, we also have a variety of solutions. There are some that are shoved down our throats by the media like using energy efficient light bulbs, and others like eating less meat and not supporting the overpopulation that the meat industry's promote. They are now making eco-friendly food and by purchasing this maybe once a week we are helping reduce our carbon footprint. We are in trouble of completely depleting our earths resources and there are so many simple ways to stop. According to the site we would need 5.2 earth to support me (I'm really sorry guys!)

Suprise visitor

Sophie Moynihan
7B
November 10, 2010

Pollination is the process where pollen from one plant is transferred to the stigma of another plant. When we think of flowers being pollinated, we think of bee's and not much else. Scientists have discovered that not only are bees pollinating, but so are lizards, cockroaches, and a newly found contributor, crickets. The island of Reunion is just off the coast of Africa. Scientists on this island use night vision goggles to observe a certain kind of flower called an orchid. They had been recording what happens to this flower during the night and were trying to see how this flower is pollinated. While watching this flower one night, they made an astounding discovery, a new species of cricket. Not only was the cricket new, but it was also pollinating the orchid, something no one has ever recorded a cricket doing. One of the scientist observing the cricket, Claire Micheneau, said “This was very unexpected. The answer to a question brings us further questions.” Now, a commonly asked question between scientist is if crickets have been pollinating plants for longer then we thought. The cricket will eat the nectar that grows in the orchid, collection the pollen while it eats. It then moves on to the next orchid and transfers the pollen. When looking into this study, scientist think that if plants grows in a different sounding then the one where they originated, it could adapt strange pollinators. We think that this type of orchid was originally grown in Madagascar.

I think this was a really cool example of adaption and mutualism. The orchid, which they think was originally found in Madagascar, has learned to survive, or adapted, in a different environment. Its a good example of mutualism because the plant provide nectar fir the cricket, and in return it gets pollinated. This article really caught my eye because not only have we found a new cricket, but its doing something we have never seen crickets do. The word reunion means "to meet" in french, which sums up the relationship between the cricket and the orchid. When I looked further into this I found the actual video of the cricket and the orchid and it was pretty cool http://vimeo.com/8769516

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20100203/Note2.asp