Orphan Planets

Scientists working on a joint Japan and New Zealand project have recently discovered a new kind of planet. These scientists scanned the Milky Way galaxy in 2006 and 2007 and gathered evidence that these planets existed; however since these planets are hard to detect, they were not identified until now.

These planets are called orbs or orphan planets. They float freely through the universe and are thought to be revolving the center of the Milky Way galaxy, like the Sun and other stars. Furthermore, orbs are single planets which are thought to be "ejected from developing planetary systems" (http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/planet20110518.html). These planets have approximately the same mass as Jupiter. The approximate distance between Earth and these planets is 10,000 to 20,000 light-years. Scientists predict that there are billions of these unique planets in our galaxy. Think about how many there would be in the entire universe!

Moreover, there are numerous theories about this new discovery. For example: scientists believe that there should be more of these planets in Earth size. The reason for this is that the scan that was used, was only set to detect planets which were around Jupiter's size and found a decent amount; however because Earth sized planets are more likely to be pulled out of their orbit around their parent star, more Earth sized planets are thought to exist. Additionally, scientists also conclude that the larger, gaseous, and dim orbs, also called brown dwarfs, are more than likely stars which could not ignite and shine as stars do. Another theory is that the smaller orphan planets could be orbiting a star, but are pulled out of their little solar system by the gravitational attraction of another star or planet.

There were a couple of surveys which contributed to the discovery of these planets. They are: Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics (MOA), in New Zealand and Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) in Chile.

In my opinion, this is the most exciting discovery the scientists have made (an exception is the theoretical black holes). I am waiting for them to discover more about these mysterious floating gas planets, so I can learn what they truly are and how they function. This new discovery is very significant and has just added one more mystery to the many mysteries of the universe, for the scientists to uncover.

Source: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/planet20110518.html

Picture: http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_llh31ueVyE1qc6j5yo1_500.jpg

(The above picture is an artist's view of the free-floating planets)

Ozone Recovery Claim

Is the ozone really recovering? According to scientist Murry Salby of Macquarie University in Sydney, he and his team found that the signal of ozone began rising. This started occurring after 1996, Salby concluded. This recovery is taking place a decade earlier than the scientists predicted. The scientists and researchers predicted that the ozone’s recovery would be detected by 2023. However, Salby and his team claim that the ozone hole has recovered since the late 1990s.
To being with, the ozone hole was first noticed in 1985. This is the ozone hole over Antarctica (not to be confused with the ozone hole over the North Pole). This breach in the ozone layer was created by the CFCs or chlorofluorocarbons which were emitted from the factories during the Industrial Revolution. Furthermore, these harmful chemicals were mostly created in the Northern Hemisphere, but travelled to the Southern Hemisphere due to the Earth’s natural patterns. These chemicals then started depleting the ozone layer which protects us from the Ultraviolet Rays.

Though Salby believes that the ozone had recovered since the 1990s, other scientists are not convinced. For example: Darryn Waugh, an atmospheric scientist at Johns Hopkins University, believes that the the depletion in the ozone should have reduced, but actual proof of the ozone recovering is going to need a few more years of statistical data. Moreover, other scientists believe that this is "bold claim" (Atmospheric chemist Paul Young). Though Salby seems confident, it is not sure if his claim is valid.

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/access/id/74281/name/aw_Ozone-hole-on-24Sept2006-CREDIT-NASA.jpg

Picture: http://ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov/facts/images/ozone_hole.jpg

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Today, I took a virtual tour of a Smithsonian museum called National Museum of Natural History. This museum is located in Washington D.C. Moreover, this museum is one of a kind and has a sense of grandeur. It is very impressive from the inside and out. When I took the virtual tour of the museum I was beyond amazed. The museum contained everything; from the dinosaurs to an exhibit dedicated to Western Cultures. This museum also has temporary exhibits that change from time to time. These exhibits can be hands on activities or regular museums like exhibits.
This museum contained innumerable exhibits. For example: the dinosaur exhibit. This exhibit was astounding. It consisted of all kinds of dinosaurs. For instance, the exhibit contained a tyrannosaurus rex skull as large as an elephant. The skull was humungous and was accompanied by many facts about t-rexes and other dinosaurs that were carnivores.
Furthermore, another exhibit at the museum was the Mammal Hall. Mammal Hall was the most fascinating hall of all. This exhibit included every kind of animal in African, North America, and South America. For instance the exhibit portrayed a jungle in which the lions, giraffes, tigers and other animals were shown in their natural habitats. These statues of animals were also accompanied with facts about the animals and their natural habitats.
Just like these two exhibits there were many more which contained a lot of information and was incredible at the same time. The great diversity of exhibits in this museum was the best part because then when I actually visit in person one day, I can learn about more than one topic. I can learn about what happened from the beginning of Earth's history till now. This museum seems like great place on the virtual tour that I saw and I would really like to visit The National Museum of Natural History in person one day.

Sources: http://www.mnh.si.edu/panoramas/#

Soaring Straws

Soaring Straws, a science lab, involved working with a couple of different energies: gravitational potential energy, or GPE, and elastic potential energy, or EPE. The lab conveyed knowledge about the relationship that GPE and EPE share, in an entertaining way. The lab included shooting a rocket using a rubber band and measuring the distance the rocket was shot in meters. The stretching of the rubber band represented the EPE, and the amount of energy stored in the rocket was the GPE in the lab. When the rocket was shot, the amount of stretch and the height were recorded in the Data Table. The rocket was shot three times from the same amount of stretch and then the average height and GPE were found and recorded in the Data Table as well. As the lab reached a conclusion, it was clear from the recorded data that the EPE and GPE were greatly influenced by each other. GPE and EPE share a close relationship. As the EPE, or amount of stretch was increased, the GPE increased automatically. For example: when the amount of stretch was 2 cm the GPE was 10.67 mJ. When the amount of stretch was 3cm, the GPE was 23.88 mJ. When the amount of stretch was 4cm the GPE was 32.85 mJ. Thus this information proves that as the EPE increases, the GPE increases. Lastly, this documented data confirms that the GPE and EPE depend on each other and share a close relationship.

The documentation and data in this lab proved that the energies EPE and GPE are connected to each other and alter because of each other. However, the data might contain possible minor errors. For example: it is not possible to measure EXACTLY how high the rocket went. The measurements might have contained decimals that were overlooked and rounded to the nearest whole number. Furthermore, another possible error could have occurred when different people took turns shooting the rocket. Since all the people are different height, the measuring of the distance the rocket travelled could have been affected. This is another reason measurements could have been altered. To prevent these errors from occurring, the lab could have been modified and enhanced to as close to perfect as possible. For instance: there should have been a certain shooting point. The walls should have been labelled as to where the rocket was suppose to be shot from. This could have made the measurements more accurate. Also, to further improve the lab, the walls could have been taped with meter sticks in several different spots and when the rocket was shot, one person would shoot the rocket while the other would keep an eye on how high it went on the meter stick(s). These improvements would lead to more accurate and official results. Therefore, enhancing the lab could help prevent the possible errors that occurred when doing this lab, for all groups.

"Genetics"

"Genetics"

Genetics might seem complicated,
but not if you are concentrated.
It involves punnett squares,
about humans or bears.
You might get the recessive
or dominant trait,
it is the reason your hair is straight.
It involves alleles and genes,
which decide if your eyes will be blue or green.
Genetics is not as hard as it seems,
however it is supreme.

The Toothpick Fish Lab

The Toothpick Fish Lab simulated a real life situation that could have occurred in the environment. The main idea of this lab was to observe how some specific alleles disappear from species in order for the species to survive. This is called evolution, adaptation, or natural selection. The Toothpick Fish Lab made understanding this process easier by narrowing it down to one specific species: the toothpick fish.

Genotypes and Phenotypes

GG, Gr, Gy = Green

rr = Red

yy = Yellow

ry = Orange (incomplete dominance)

The Toothpick Fish Lab consisted of four generations of fish that evolved or adapted to their environment in order to survive. In the beginning, the first generation had four various scale colors: green, red, yellow, and orange. Since green was the dominant allele, most fish were green. However, three of the twelve fish were orange, one was red, and one was yellow. Six out of the seven green fish were heterozygous and one was homozygous dominant. Both, the yellow and red fish, were homozygous recessive. The orange fish, however, contained one red allele (r) and one yellow allele (y) and the alleles blended together because of the incomplete dominance. Next, the yellow fish were not able to camouflage in their green and red environment, so they became prey and all yellow fish died. Because of this, the second generation did not contain any yellow fish and only eleven offspring remained. The second generation offspring were mostly green and orange, though a couple of them were red. Six out of eleven were heterozygous and five out of eleven were either homozygous dominant or homozygous recessive. The second generation’s offspring however were more colorful than the second generation itself.

The third generation was a lot like the first generation. It had fish of all colors; even yellow. The proof is the following. If two fish were to have an offspring it could be yellow. There is 25% chance that the offspring will be yellow, so five fish were green, two were red, one was yellow, and three were orange. With that being said, the fourth generation was sort of like the second generation. It contained eight green fish. Also, the population decreased by one fish because a yellow fish from the previous generation was eliminated once again because of its inability to camouflage. However, from the fourth generation only three fish survived in the end because of the chemical dumping in the river by a nearby factory.

A factory by the river dumped harmful chemicals into the river killing all the algae and seaweed that provided protection to all the green fish. All the green fish died because they were exposed to their predators and had nowhere to hide. Also, because green is the dominant allele, it showed up in most of the fish in the fourth generation causing the green allele to go extinct. This is just one example of what occurs in the wild almost every day.

Instead of a chemical dumping, an excessive amount of fishermen could show up after the second generation to fish for orange fish only. This event would cause a major decrease in the orange fish population. All the orange fish would be caught by the fishermen and sold at the supermarket. Therefore, the population of orange fish would decrease alarmingly. Also, this would affect the coming generations. For example, generation three would have only seven fish in total and there would be no more orange fish. If the fishermen keep coming back to fish for the orange fish, then the orange fish could go extinct in the fourth generation.

As shown by this lab, species have evolved and adapted to their environment in the past, are evolving right now, and will continue to evolve as the need arises in the future. This process is called natural selection. As seen from the toothpick fish, populations have changed based on their needs to survive in the environment. The population sizes have also changed based on the ecological disasters that occurred in the area. The Toothpick Fish Lab was extremely beneficial because it displaying how animals react to the environmental changes, natural or human caused.

Picture from:

http://snowflake-designs.com/images/colorful-angel-fish.jpg

The Great Barrier Reef in Trouble?

The Australian coral reef is slowly disintegrating. There are only a few coral reefs left in the world and the Great Barrier Reef is one of the largest. The Great Barrier Reef is the most widely known coral reef in the world, but it might not exist in a of couple decades. If you think that the carbon dioxide in the air has nothing to do with this natural wonder eroding, think again. About half the carbon dioxide produced by humans is immersed by the oceans. Though this sounds like a great happening, its not. Because the Pacific Ocean is left to absorb so much carbon dioxide, the corals and other animal life in the ocean are not able to sustain the rising ocean temperatures. Furthermore, all the recent floods in Australia have had a major impact on the reef. All the freshwater that flooded into the ocean is affecting the coral reef greatly. In order for the reef to survive, it has to have a temperature and a surrounding according to its needs. Considering all the happenings, the coral reef is not meeting its needs and is becoming unhealthy by the minute. This natural phenomenon needs to be protected or one day we will wake up to find it go extinct.

I always thought of the Great Barrier Reef as the strongest of all natural wonders because it could survive all the major disturbances we, humans, are causing. I guess I was wrong. When I read this news, it depressed me greatly. Though I have never personally visited the Great Barrier Reef, it has always been my dream to visit Australia, especially the coral reef. Also, for this to happen, the coral reef has to exist. I would like to say that I'm positive that this beautiful natural wonder will be there when I go to visit, but I'm not sure anymore. As people, it is our duty to protect this delicate ecosystem from becoming damaged any further. To wrap it up, we should all do everything we are capable of to protect natures wonders, because when they go away, they are never coming back.

About the picture: As seen, all the color has left the organisms in the picture. This means that the organisms are most likely deceased.

The picture was retrieved from:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbs_VQpNYxg4N9zsZi9_TNQVPGrtwZlADlbZlfu6wJ7pGXYONuGrAlghiu7AnPUroM_1YV5aqPvZ51d6i7PNaV1LhKa2MDG35lT5PEoYmYQ9fO6Mc2kFUkth8Sunqzrj_9M9IipRc8Nemf/

This information was retrieved from:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2044585,00.html

Kepler-10b

Scientists have recently confirmed the discovery of a rocky world similar to ours. This planet was discovered by Kepler, a space telescope and a NASA mission. Though the light from this planet was first seen in 2009, it wasn't confirmed as a real planet, orbiting a star, until recently. The Kepler telescope was especially designed to detect planets that are similar to ours and orbiting a star that coincides with the sun. Kepler-10b orbits the star Kepler-10, a star almost 3 times as old as our sun with a weak magnetic field. Though Kepler-10b seems as similar to Earth as a planet can get, it cannot sustain life. The planet is too close to its parent star to contain a tolerable temperature. Though it cannot encompass life, the star is one of the major breakthroughs in astronomy that marks our way to even greater discoveries.

The discovery of Kepler-10 and Kepler-10b is one of the most noteworthy discovery to me. It symbolizes that we can achieve anything and everything. It shows that our technology is growing and we can observe and study more and more of the miracles that lie in the dark vastness of our universe. Furthermore, I am really proud and excited by this discovery because if we were to travel outside our solar system one day, maybe we could proceed to this newly found planet and explore it. Though planet Earth is unique, maybe the founding of this planet means that there are more planets similar to Earth orbiting Kepler-10 or any other star. This planet marks a milestone in astronomy history and I hope that scientists continue to make amazing new discoveries.

The above picture was an artist's version of Kepler-10b.

The picture and the information were derived from the following source:

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/509304main_kepler_rocky_planet_full.jpg

All credit goes to NASA.