oil spills in the ocean

SUMMERY

I read an article today about oil spills and its effects. lots of oil spills are accruing around the world. lots of them are illegal dumpers. illegal dumpers are people who dump crude oil into the ocean because they do not want to spend money on decomposing their waste oil. But dumping oil in the ocean is illegal thats why they call them illegal dumpers.

THE EFFECTS OF OIL SPILLS

Oil spills have a big effect on the animals that live in the ocean. Like sea birds. when a sea bird gets oil on its body there is a very high chance of it dying. when it gets it on its feathers it trys to clean it off by eating it. once it gets into its body it becomes poisoned and will die. Another way is that it will get it in itss eyes and the bird will become blind. when its blind it is most likely going to be eaten because its not aware of its preditors.

THE LOCATIONS OF SOME OF THE WORLDS LARGEST OIL SPILLS

1983 the Persian gulf - 600,000 tons of oil spilled

1983 south Africa - 250,000 tons of oil spilled

1988 the Monongahela river - 3,800,000 tons of oil spilled

1993 off the Shetland island -26,000,000 tons of oil spilled

1996 off SW wales - 18,000,000 tons of oil spilled

2001 Galapagos island - 240,000 ton of oil spilled

WHAT I THOUGHT ABOUT THE ARTICLE

I personally thought that this article was very interesting. I never really thought about how much oil spills effect our oceans. I mean i saw commercials on TV where it shows birds covered in oil and people cleaning them off and where it shows a dead killer whale washed up on a beach covered in oil. I new that oil spills where bad but i never really payed any attention to it. This article made me realize how important it is to not dump oil in our oceans.

Navy Green: US.Navy Investigates Biofuels to Power Its Ships and Planes

Ships powered by algea and planes flying on weeds.?
This is a project the U.S navy hopes to bring to fruition in the near futur.

Summary
This week, the seagoing branch of the military purchased 40,000 gallons of jet fuel derived from camelina—a weedy relative of canola(this biofuel reduces carbon emissions by 80 percent compared with conventional kerosene)—and 20,055 gallons of algae-derived diesellike fuel for ships.

The three goals of this project are fuel security, something that is renewable, and
that they can produce and provide for themselves to reduce their reliance on foreign sources of oil. It also has to be cost-effective. Then, obviously, the environmental benefits that could potentially derive from that."

The Navy hopes to put the biofuels in active planes and ships in 2010 and 2011.As it stands, the Navy uses at least seven different types of petroleum-based fuel and burns nearly 35 million barrels per year.

The main problem this project has encountered so far is finding alternative fuels that will work in many different types of aircraft, ships, engines, boilers and turbines employed by the fighting force.They other thing is finding an alternative biofuel that does not compete in the food market such as ethanol which is derrived from corn.

I think this project is really cool because it consists on finding alternative fuels which are much better for our environment than our conventionnal fuels. The other thing is that theyre ussing fuels that wont have to compete in the food market like ethanol which is really good.

Questions

• In what other aspects of our every day life do you think these biofuels could be used in.?
• When thinking about these fuels how do you think they will be used in 100 years from now and for what purpose.?
• If this project were to succed and be fully deployed around the earth do you think ordinary fossil fuels will still be needed and why.?

WOW i never would have thought that you can make a pullet proof vest from silk!

Scientists are studying the strong and stretchy material in spiders, insects and even goats.

Summary

We have all seen spider webs – on the trails we walk on or in the corner of our bedrooms catching flies and other insects. Author Rachel Ehrenberg writes about the other known and possible uses of animal silk. The material insects use to spin webs or create cocoons is called silk.
Silk from insects like spider or silkworms is extremely strong and natural. Researchers are looking into ways to use natural silk for additional uses. Bulletproof vests and parachute cords are two possible ways. But the silk could also be used inside our body – to protect cells, like bone or nerve cells while they regrow and repair themselves.

Spider silk is so valuable that scientists are trying to find additional ways to produce it – like altering the DNA of a goad so that it produces silk proteins in it’s milk. I suppose that this would make it a lot easier to harvest than getting it from the spiders.

I think this is a really interesting topic – but I think I would be nervous to let them plant silk producing spider genes into my body no matter what the possible positives are!

Read the article and see what you think for yourself.

Discussion Questions:

1. Can you think of additional ways that strong and stretchy fibers could be used to help us on the outside of our body?
   
   
2. If the science was mastered – do you think you would use silk fibres to help your body from the inside? Say it could help repair a broken bone?

Writing an article summary.....

Here are some questions that might help you to when writing your article summary:

What are new words you have learned?
What is it about?
What do you think about it?

Who is it about?
Who is it for?
How is the story happening?
Who is it happening to?
Who is involved?
Who made the discovery?
Why is it important?
Who will it affect?

Blogging Assignment - 2009

The purpose of this assignment is two-fold: to have students research current scientific topics occurring in the media and, to create an environment wherein students can engage in a healthy discussion related to science.

Please Note – Participation in this assignment occurs on two levels.

Level One: Each week, TWO designated students will be responsible for choosing a scientific issue currently covered in the media (a list will be provided indicating each students designated date). After reading the article, the student will create a summary of the information presented and create TWO thought-provoking questions for the rest of the class.

On the blog, you will find links to numerous media sources for scientific information. You can use these sources, or identify your own, for your respective article.

Due Date: Your summary and questions are due on the Sunday, at 8:00pm of your specified week (please consult the schedule for details).

Level Two: Once the designated student has read the article, summarized the information, and posted the two questions, each remaining student in the class will be responsible for responding to or commenting on the questions.

You MUST comment at minimum ONCE each week. However, bonus marks may be given if you discuss and respond more frequently.