Jellyfish

     On the 8th grade class trip, we went to the aquarium, the beach, a fishing boat and the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi. Throughout the whole trip, jellyfish were popping up everywhere. One thing that I started to wonder was how do jellyfish sting you. I don't think jellyfish have brains so I was wondering how they knew when they are being hunted or attacked and if they know that they were in contact with a human. Apparently, jellyfish have cnidocytes full of venom called nematocysts. A touch of human skin or anything else will trigger this venom and target directly for the skin. To treat the sting, scientists recommend pouring saltwater on the sting. Before you rinse, make sure you get rid of all the jellyfish tentacles that can continue to sting you. Jellyfish tentacles do not need to be on the jellyfish in order to sting you. Just remember to be careful and keep an eye out for jellyfish when you are swimming in the ocean.



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Can Valproic Acid Help Us Get Perfect Pitch?

    Acid may become the new way singers get their perfect pitch. in order to get "perfect pitch", singers must take a drug that consists of Valproate or valproic acid. This drug is normally used as a mood-stabilizer, but now they are saying it helps tremendously with identifying pitch. This drug also has another interesting use. It could be used for helping people learn a second language. I think that this discovery is really cool, but I also think it could be a little harmful. If people are taking a drug to help identify pitch or help them learn a second language, some might go overboard and take too many. Valproate has side-effects including headache, joint pains, loss in appetite. It is not that dangerous, but taking too many could potentially cause death. If we keep this drug dose down to a minimum, this could be very successful. I know I would love to learn a second language.

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Polonium

     Ever since we heard about radioactivity, I have been wanting to research it more and find out which element is the most radioactive. It turns out that Polonium is the most radioactive. I don't consider Polonium to be a common element. But, now that I know it is the most radioactive element, I would consider it. What causes Polonium to be the most radioactive? Well, it is simply because it releases huge amounts of energy and it is a naturally-occurring element. The history of Polonium is in 1898, Madame Curie and Pierre Curie discovered Polonium and also Radium. The name Polonium simply comes from the word Poland, where Madame Curie and Pierre Curie lived. It can be used to remove static electricity from machines and is also in brushes to remove dust from photos. Polonium can be very deadly, too. Even if a small amount is swallowed, it can be very dangerous. While I was researching, I noticed this interesting article about how a person put Polonium into another guy's tea and the guy drank it and died. Other people besides the guy who drank the tea have died from Polonium. People including the Curies' daughter Irene and Michael Karpin have died from being exposed to Polonium. As you can see, Polonium is a very dangerous and the most radioactive out of all of the elements.

Video About Polonium

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Chemical Reactions

Ever since we did a lab in IPC that focused on physical and chemical changes, I have been wondering how chemical reactions form. In our lab, the powders we had were talc (baby powder), baking powder, baking soda, and cornstarch. After we got the powders, we had three liquids to drop in the powder. Iodine, vinegar, and tap water. As we were doing the lab, I noticed that a lot of the powders, when mixed with the liquids, formed a chemical reaction. A chemical reaction is when a substance (or a few substances) change into another substance. One I was particularly curious about was baking soda mixed with the iodine and the vinegar. When we mixed the baking soda with the iodine, it changed to a color very close to black. When we mixed it with vinegar, it turned almost into soda. It bubbled and fizzed like soda would. It was really weird to get to see how these substances and liquids react with one another. My question is, what causes a chemical reaction in a test like baking soda and vinegar? When vinegar and baking soda are mixed together, it creates carbon dioxide.

Why and How Vinegar and Baking Soda react the way that they do

Viscosity

     A week ago, in IPC we did a lab on viscosity. We went around the room and dropped a marble in all sorts of liquids. Among the liquids, there was hair gel, hand soap, shampoo, motor oil, and syrup. Our goal was to figure out which liquid was the most viscus. Viscosity's definition is a liquid's resistance to flow. The thicker a liquid is the higher it's viscosity is. The thinner it is the lower the viscosity is. The motor oil was probably the least viscus out of all of them. Once we dropped the marble, it immediately sank all the way down to the bottom. The hair gel was the most viscus. When we dropped the marble, it never left the top. The shampoo and the hand soap were on the medium side of viscosity. It took a little while for them to sink to the bottom but they did. The syrup was the second in line for the most viscus. It took a while for it to leave the top and then it took maybe three minutes to sink all the way down. I think it was the most funnest lab that we have done so far in IPC. It was a fun way to learn about viscosity.

The Video of the Lab

The BioPen

If you had a missing organ, wouldn't it be cool if we could just press a button and you could have it? Well that is what is in production right now. In Australia, scientists have created the BioPen. This pen is quite remarkable. It lets physicians "draw" new bones on people with something called 3D printing. I'm kind of hesitant about this because it does not seem very consistent and it does not seem like it would work. The pen, which is loaded with "stem cell ink", does not have much promise. Stem cells are a batch of human cells that help make a new bone. Apparently, people have already experienced 3D printed bones. But, this BioPen, shows more precision. It still has to go under clinical testing, but people, so far, are talking about it. I don't understand how this is going to happen. I have a bunch of questions. How will they get this to work if they are applying it to a bare bone. But, I do think it would be very cool if they actually got this pen to work. A family member of mine lost his leg in the army. If this pen was around when he lost his leg, that would have been amazing. Even though I have my doubts about this pen, I do think that it will be remarkable if the pen did work and do it's job correctly. What about you? Do you think that this pen shows promise?



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Our Solar System

     Whenever we look up at the sky, we usually see the sun during the daytime and the moon and stars at night. We never really stop and think about the planets and all the galaxies up there. The sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto all make up our solar system. Our solar system often gets neglected. That is why it is important for us to have astronomers and telescopes. Without these resources, we would not be able to learn anything about what is up in the sky and space. If you ask me, the planets and galaxies are pretty amazing to look at. There are a bunch of galaxies up in space. Some of them are so tiny, you can't even see them. There are also billions of solar systems in our galaxy. Our solar system is made up of a whole bunch of different parts that is impossible for me to name them all. So now, when you look up at the sky, I hope you realize what amazing creations are up there.

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