i can't believe school is overrr. ),:<333.

the year went by muchhh faster than i wanted or expected. i miss everyone so much already. mostly my friends in seventh grade<3.

please don't forget me next year when you guys are eighth graders and you have a bunch of seventh grade friends. you'll realize how upsetting it is to leave both them and middle school behind, cause it really is extremely sad. it's sadder than i ever thought it would be. steven you know that cause you got a picture of me crying :P. hah.

so, yeah.

i just wanna say goodbye to all of my teachers and thank them for being awesome for the past two years in the omega unit. and i wanna say goodbye to my friends who i'm leaving behind for two whole years; you all made every day a little better(:<3

see you when i visit next year, which i'll be doing as much as i can, and see you in two years at the high school<333!

love you guys, always<3.

Class Response #2- Water Cycle Activity

Last week in class, a student from Rutgers did an activity with us in class to teach us about the water cycle and how humans interrupt it. First, we talked about the water cycle. Basically, water is evaporated into the air from lakes, oceans, and other bodies of water. The evaporated water travels up through the atmosphere and is stored in the clouds. Once the clouds are full, it rains and the water falls back into bodies of water. The cycle repeats itself over and over again. However, humans take water for ourselves and disrupt the water cycle. To learn how this works, students were all given an index card that said either " spoon (assigned tub of water goes here) " or " cup (dump into tub of water) " . The tubs of water were labelled Aquifer, Reservoir, Ocean, Industry, Plants & Animals, Rivers & Lakes, and Agriculture. If your card said spoon, you had to take a spoonful of water out of the assigned tub of water and dump it into a cup. The people who were cups, or clouds, collected the water and then dumped them into a tub. This showed how at the end of the first part of the activity, the water levels hadn't really changed much. That was because the water was distributed almost equally between all of the tubs. For the second part, though, " human (big cups) " were added to the activity. The people who had the big cups had to take water out of the Aquifer and dump them either into Agriculture or Industry (human-related tubs). At the end of this part, the Agriculture and Industry containers were nearly overflowing! This shows how much humans use of our Earth's water. This activity was great in showing the water cycle and how water travels and is used everywhere.

Class Response #1- Digging For Oil!

In class, a student from Rutgers University came and taught us about oil. Oil is found underneath the ground; powerful tools are needed to drill that deep into the solid earth. After we were taught about traps, reservoirs, and sources, we were given a packet of maps to trace on a single sheet of paper. We were instructed to mark the places on the paper where all three overlapped, and then we were told to go to a lab table. Once there, we received another sheet of paper with a blank chart on it. In the middle of the lab table was a container covered in tin foil. There was also the outlines of a grid that matched the grids from the packet. Together with our groups, we had to dig for oil by poking holes in the foil in the places we marked on our maps. When oil was found (which turned out to be syrup in kitty litter rather than kitty litter alone), we had to record our findings. We used special equations to figure out how much money was spent drilling holes, and how much was received from the oil found. Overall, the activity we did to help us learn about oil was a fun and easy way to develop an understanding about oil.(:

Extra Credit: A Weather Poem

A Wintry Sonnet
Christina Rossetti

A Robin said: The Spring will never come,
And I shall never care to build again.
A Rosebush said: These frosts are wearisome,
My sap will never stir for sun or rain.
The half Moon said: These nights are fogged and slow,
I neither care to wax nor care to wane.
The Ocean said: I thirst from long ago,
Because earth's rivers cannot fill the main.
When Springtime came, red Robin built a nest,
And trilled a lover's song in sheer delight.
Grey hoarfrost vanished, and the Rose with might
Clothed her in leaves and buds of crimson core.
The dim Moon brightened. Ocean sunned his crest,
Dimpled his blue, yet thirsted evermore.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Weather is used in this poem when it shows the changes that occurred when winter morphs into spring. Christina Rossetti explained what was altered when the seasons changed. For example, the Robin had said, "The Spring will never come, and I shall never care to build again." He had said that during the winter. However, when spring arrived, the Robin was once again able to build his nest. Rossetti's knowledge of weather helped enhance this poem because if she didn't know what happened to rosebushes, robins, the half moon, or the ocean when spring came around, the poem wouldn't be as great as it is. In this poem, the weather discussed is the cold, harsh weather of winter that eventually became the warm, inviting weather of spring. Since the poem is mainly about the weather changing, without the mention of weather the poem would be extremely different; in fact, it wouldn't be anything. Rossetti used personification and rhyme in her poem. She used personification creatively to write her poem, and she used rhyme to give the words a steady flow. Although this poem didn't teach me any new facts about weather, I still enjoyed reading this great sonnet by Christina Rossetti.

Social Studies - Advancements In Technology

When asked to choose one advancement in technology that I believe has made the greatest impact on society, the choice came right to mind. The cell phone. Although many families across the globe own a phone for the whole household, cell phones are also very important to have. Even though there are still pay phones for people to use in public, it is much more convenient to have a cell phone on you to use. When in an emergency, sometimes a call for help is needed. If you don't have a cell phone, more than likely you will have to go somewhere else before making the call that can save someone's life. Also, the communication that came with the invention of cell phones makes the world a smaller place. These pocket sized devices can call any phone number of your choice anywhere on the globe. Without a cell phone, I couldn't talk to my friends as much as I am able to, which is very important to me and many other teenagers that I know. =]. This is why I believe that cell phones have a great impact on society.

[Math EC Blog] Stereotypes: Turn Girls Off To Math.

Who: Girls from about kindergarten to high school.

What: This article explains 5 myths that are proved wrong when it comes to girls and STEM (science, technology, engineering, math). The one myth that caught my attention was Myth #3. It stated that science and math teachers aren't biased towards their male students. But because this is a myth, apparently it isn't true. This is the real reason. [Taken directly from the article:] "In fact, biases are persistent, and teachers often interact more with boys than with girls in science and math. A teacher will often help a boy do an experiment by explaining how to do it, while when a girl asks for assistance the teacher will often simply do the experiment, leaving the girl to watch rather than do. Research shows that when teachers are deliberate about taking steps to involve the female students, everyone winds up benefiting. This may mean making sure everyone in the class is called on over the course of a particular lesson, or asking a question and waiting 10 seconds before calling on anyone. Good math and science teachers also recognize that when instruction is inquiry-based and hands-on, and students engage in problem solving as cooperative teams, both boys and girls are motivated to pursue STEM activities, education and careers."

Where: Everywhere.

When: I'm not positive when these tests were taken, but it's pretty recent.

Why: People just felt like proving myths about girls and education wrong, I guess.

My Opinion: I know for a fact that when my math teacher helps me with problems, and my science teacher too (even though she's female), they help me the same as they do for boys. Still, all teachers will have favorites, even if they don't show it. But both male and female students do not seem to be helped any different from each other. Besides, statistics can't tell how all teachers help their students, and not every teacher is the same. There may be some teachers out there that help boys more than girls in math, science, and other topics, but mine don't.

Click here for the article.

[Math EC Blog] Monkeys Can Do Mental Math! =O

Who: Monkeys!

What: Researchers from Duke University looked farther into the earlier findings of Japanese researchers. These findings stated that young chimps could perform better than human adults at memory games. They can also match numbers of objects, compare numbers, and choose the larger set of two groups of objects. Tests resulted in finding out that these monkeys performed nearly as well as college students when it came to mental math. To further test this, 14 Duke students were put up against two female rhesus macaques (monkeys) named Boxer and Feinstein. The humans were told that they could not verbalize or count. Generally, both the animals and the students answered each question in less than a second. When the students worsened, so did the primates. When something was more difficult to determine, it took a toll on all test takers. The ratio effect also made a difference in their ability to answer the questions as quickly. So if the ratio was smaller in difference, it would be tougher to answer. At the end, results showed that the humans correctly answered 94% of the questions correctly, while the monkeys were right about 76% of the time. This goes to prove how similar the human race is with this remarkable species and how important language is to every topic, even mental math.

When: The article was posted today, February 17th, at 8:50 p.m.

Where: Duke University was the place where everything was held and observed.

Why: American researchers wanted to continue the previous studies of some Japanese researchers.

My Opinion: It's cool how close we are in educational skills with monkeys. This article showed how both species will work better or worse at the same times and when the same changes took place. I would actually enjoy being able to look further into this study, as did the students at Duke University!

Article here.

Why do Chimps Eat Dirt?

Who: Chimpanzees.

What: Researchers studied chimps to find out why they eat dirt. Apparently, these animals have a good reason for eating dirt; it improves their health. According to research team led by Sabrina Krief, chimps eat dirt because "eating soil with their meals boosts the anti-malarial properties of plants the chimps eat." This means that the chance of a chimp getting a disease, like malaria, through a plant that they eat is slimmer than it usually would be. In other words, eating soil and plants one after the other will help boost a chimpanzee's health. So while devouring dirt as part of a meal may seem disgusting to us, to chimps it is a very healthy way of life.
When: The article was posted on the website below today, January 11th, 2008. However, the story will be published on an online journal sometime next week.

Where: Soil samples were taken and chimps' eating habits were studied at the Kibale National Park in Uganda.

Why: Scientists and researchers were interested and fascinated by the fact that chimpanzees eat soil either right before or after eating their normal meal of plants.

My Opinion: I thought this article was cool. First of all, I didn't even know that chimps ate soil in the first place. Second of all, I found it an odd and sort of random topic. Maybe that's why I chose to post a response about it on my blog! And third of all, chimpanzees are adorable and I love animals. =]

I found the article here.

Many Americans Googling Themselves =O

Who: 1,623 Internet users in the U.S.
What: 47 percent of American adults have admitted googling themselves, through either Google or other search engines. 53 percent of Americans have said that they have googled other people, excluding celebrities. Some of these people said that they aren't worried about the information posted about them on the web, while others were not comfortable with some of the stories written about them. About 4 percent of the users surveyed even stated that inaccurate or embarrassing information written about them have caused bad experiences in the real world. Women were shown to be more likely to search the person they were dating, but men and women are pretty much just as likely to search for themselves or another using a search engine. Few users say they Google themselves regularly, while most said that they only tried once or twice.
When: The survey was conducted last year between November 30th and December 30th.
Where: The information was collected by telephoning people living in the United States.
Why: My guess is that people were surveyed to find out how much the percentage has changed since 2002, when the percentage of self-Googling Americans was only 22 percent.
My Opinion: When I saw this article on the website below, I was thinking, "How much more random can you get?" I would never think to survey people and ask them if they Google themselves or not. I never thought of doing something like that; now that I've read this article, I actually might try Googling my last name! I've heard from others that some people out there in the world have the same last name as you, but I never actually tried finding out. Now I want to! This was an interesting article to read.

I found the article here.

Omega Meme- Answers

1. My favorite TV show is Degrassi. For those of you who don't know what that show is, I guess i can tell you that it's sort of like a Canadian teenage soap opera. =D. I love Degrassi because it teaches you some valuable life lessons, like the effects drugs can have on you and what will happen if you try to stop eating to lose weight. Almost every episode ends in something bad; at the same time, it makes the show more exciting. =]

2. My favorite meal would have to be french onion soup. Just french onion soup, nothing else. I could eat that as a meal by itself every day! I especially like having it at the Omega Diner. =]

3. My favorite nonschool activity is playing recreation basketball in the winter. Although I am not very good (which is why I only play rec), I love to go to practices and games every week. I like making friends from my team; last year, a girl who used to be in Omega was on it! I think that is actually the reason we became friends in the first place. I also love the feeling of walking outside into the freezing cold air after running around in a gym for a while. It feels awesome! That's my favorite afterschool/nonschool activity.

4. Someone I look up to is definitely my mom. She has been through a lot health-wise, but she has stayed strong the whole time. Honestly, during all of the pain she has gone through, I have only seen her cry once or twice. She is the strongest person I know, and that is why I admire her so much as not just a mother, but a role model.

5. My goal for the future is, well, not even decided yet. Obviously, I want to keep my grades high because if I do decide to go to college one day that will matter a lot. I really am not sure of what I want to do yet with my life when I'm older. I don't even know whether I want to go to college for a profession or not, or even if I want to start a family one day. Maybe in a few years or so I'll know, but as for now I am just really not sure.

6. In the first hour after school, I come home and sometimes grab a light snack and/or something to drink. Then I usually sit down and go online until about 4:30-5:00ish and then start my homework after that. =\. I know I should probably do my homework before talking on AIM, but I get it done eventually...isn't that all that matters?


I have tagged- Colourfuly, ____, ____, ____, ____, ____, ____, ____

IS THERE ANYONE WHO HASNT BEEN TAGGED YET?! I'll keep looking!

Omega Meme- Directions

I’ve tagged students for the Omega Meme!

The rules are as follows:

Each player answers the six questions posted on this blog.

The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those answers are listed.

At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their blog names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.


Then follow the instructions about adding a page element at omegascience.blogspot.com.

Just a little information...

Everything from here and up are blogs from 2007-2008.

Everything from here and down and blogs from last year, 2006-2007.

Ancient Shells Found in Morocco

Who: A team of scientists from Morocco, Britain, Germany, and France

What: Ancient shells were found in a limestone cave in Morocco by scientists. These shells were pierced as if meant to be strung on a necklace or bracelet around 82,000 years ago. The Moroccan government says that these shells were the oldest specimens ever found in Morocco. The symbols found on these special shells were ones that were used in Africa, 40,000 years before Europe was established.

When: June 6th, 2007.

Where: Morocco

Why: Scientists were searching for the reason why climate and landscape changes had affected humans a long time ago.

My Opinion: I think it's awesome that shells this old were found without too much damage! The symbols were still there, too. I think that being an archaeologist would be exciting because you find items from so long ago that you probably weren't expecting. I like being surprised!

Full story here.

Probe Built to Dig for Past Life on Mars

Who:: Groups of scientists at NASA built the probe

What:: A robotic probe has been designed. It will be able to fly to Mars on August 3 and reach the planet during May of 2008. The probe has been programmed to drill holes into the soil and collect soil and ice samples, taking pictures as well. The probe will then chemically analyze the soil and ice, sending results back down to Earth. With these results, scientists will be able to figure out if there had been life in the past on Mars.

When:: Probe leaves on August 3, 2007. Reaches Mars in May 2008, when scientists will get the results from the soil and ice testing.

Where:: The probe is being launched at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Why:: Scientists would like to find out in there has ever truly been life on our Red Planet.

My Opinion:: I think that it would be cool to find out that there had really been past life on Mars. I can't believe that Earth seems to be the only planet with life on it! And this might be a little dumb, but I think I just realized how the word 'martian' came to be. Martians are from Mars, right?! That's what I thought. So anyway, finding that there has been past life on Mars would be a really exciting event that would go down in history forever. I really hope that the tests show that there once was life there!

Article:: Here.

SOO BORED...so im writing this.

UGHH I FEEL AWFUL TODAY. i wanted to be able to do my blog assignment today...but i just dont feel like it. i think we have one due friday...am i right?? ok so anyway im out sick today. while i was at the Urgent Care i remembered that i was supposed to teach with my group for lit today! i was like oops. umm what else...oh yeah. remember when i broke/fractured my tailbone? ok well for some reason its been bothering me lately. its not as bad as it was when i broke/fractured it, but it hurts to run and stuff like that. so im out of gym this whole week, and ill have to do fitness testing next week i guess. and those of you who know me know i hate to run =P. so thats gonna be fun next week. -.- uhh...i guess thats all. comment or text me people! obviously im not gonna put my cell number on here, so if ya want it for some reason just ask in school. sooo.....yeah. ttfn!! <33

New Planet Discovered- Most Earth-Like Yet!

Who:: 11 European Astronomers (those were only the people who found the planet)
What:: A new planet was found by these astronomers. The planet has quite a few of the same living conditions as Earth. Some of these include having both day and night (well, one on each side of the planet), having warm and cold weather, just the right temperature- not too hot or too cold. Scientists also believe that there might even be a lot of water on the planet, which led to another shocking theory- is there actual life on this planet? Scientists are still trying to decide whether this is a true statement or not.
When:: April 26th. Isn't that today?!?
Where:: Uhh...not sure how to answer this one. I guess I'll just say it happened in outer space.
Why:: I'm pretty sure that while the Hubble Space Telescope was flying around space, it just kinda snapped the picture of the new planet and the astronomers saw it.
My Opinion:: OMG!! I think it's sooo cool that we might be able to house life on another planet! Even though you would weigh so much more on the new planet, you could have a birthday every 13 days!! =]!! That would be awesome. I really hope that scientists and astronomers find out more about this planet and its conditions. It would be the best place to go for our next family vacation!! =D

Here's the original article. <33

Orangutans Monkey Around With Video Games

Who:: Two orangutans

What:: These orangutans were found playing on a touch screen video game, using their lips and feet to play.

When:: April 13th of this year

Where:: Zoo Atlanta

Why:: Since the touch screen game is a screen mounted into a tree in the exhibit, these orangutans find it fascinating to go over and play with the screen. They can't seem to get enough of the game!

My Opinion:: This was adorable when I first read it! (Well, it still is) I knew that monkeys were smart animals, but I didn't know that they could play video games like these!! I copied and pasted a part of the article explaining what the games were. "In one game, orangutans choose identical photographs or match orangutan sounds with photos of the animals -- correct answers are rewarded with food pellets. Another game lets them draw pictures by moving their hands and other body parts around the screen. Printouts of their masterpieces are on display in the zoo." As you can see, orangutans are very smart animals. I love monkeys and they're sooo cute!!

I found the original post here.

Condor Eggs Found- Possible Return of Condor Birds!

Who:: Dr. Mike Wallace of the Zoological Society of San Diego and other colleagues
What:: A condor egg was found in a deserted eagle's nest
When:: The egg was found on March 25th
Where:: The nest and egg was found on a cliff in the Sierra San Pedro de Martir National Park, in the interior of Baja California
Why:: Scientists believe that the finding of the condor egg could mean that condor birds may return to Mexico and parts of the U.S. for the first time in around 75 years!
My Opinion:: As I was reading this story, I realized that it was similar to another story that I was going to do for one of my blogs. It was about the return of sea otters, I think, and it was saying how the animals had not been in New York for, like, 20 years or something. I thought that both of those stories, the one about the otters and this post, were very cute! I love animals and I am just glad that condor birds can once again live in our country (and Mexico).

I found the original article here! =)

Gregor Mendel

The study of heredity was first discovered by one man:: Gregor Mendel. I already knew some facts about him, like the following::

• He discovered heredity through pea plants while he was working outside
• He was named the "Father of Genetics" because of his experiment. He probably had no clue that his little test (taking a brush and wiping some pollen from one pea plant onto the other) would cause him to be a well-known scientist, even almost 300 years later.
• Mendel's work was not fully recognized until 1990, six years after the had died.

I also found a few new facts about Gregor Mendel. I went on Google and searched Gregor Mendel, and I went here and found a bunch of useful information. Like...

• I had no clue that he was born in Heinzendorf, Austria until I saw this.
• It took 34 years until other scientists proved that Mendel's theories were correct.

I actually feel a bit of sympathy for Mendel because practically nobody believed in his discoveries and thought he was making up a bunch of information. Today, we know that they are true, and since Mendel is dead nobody can give him any awards or congratulate him face to face. They also can't apologize for all of the doubts that they had in him. I think that Gregor Mendel must have been pretty strong and confident that he would continue with his theories even though very, very, very few people believed in him.

Assessment:: GM Salmon

In science class, we are doing assessment *as you all know*. My topic was on genetically modified, or GM, foods. Our group had to choose a food, so we chose salmon. I found out a lot of facts on GM salmon.

• Fox example, it can cause diseases and human health issues. Many scientists are still trying to decide whether it will be sold on the market.
• Also, the reason why fish farmers and scientists are working on altering the genes of salmon is so that the salmon will grow faster. At about the same age, the GM salmon are probably about double the weight and size of a normal salmon. If you go here, you can see the difference in size between a normal or a modified fish. I found this picture online and it was the best picture that I had seen where it really shows the difference.
• I learned by going to this site that GM salmon, if approved, might be on the market in 2008. That's less than a year away!

I do not think that GM salmon should be available on the market for anyone and everyone to see and buy. I think that with all of the risks associated with GM salmon, people who want it should be examined before-hand to make sure that they wouldn't have some kind of reaction from it. I probably won't end up trying it because I don't like fish, so I wouldn't know if it would taste any different once altered. I don't think that it will, but you never know!