Which Came First- The Egg or the Chicken?

People have been debating over which came first for hundreds of years now, but the truth is that scientists have the answer. Scientists believe the egg came before the chicken because of a discovered nest of a small carnivorous dinosaur. The nest has some bird-like characteristics, so if you take the saying literally, obviously the egg came before the chicken. Dinosaurs were making bird-like nests and laying bird-like eggs way before chickens evolved. So now the question is: Which came first- the dinosaur or the egg?

Before I read this article, I thought the chicken came before the egg. But now I realize that bird-like eggs came before birds and chickens. I hope scientists are able to keep researching so that we figure out if the dinosaur or the egg came first. For more info, go to http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20081114/sc_livescience/whichcamefirsteggsbeforechickensscientistsnowsay;_ylt=AvGp6zJWT4M7zk6OzFdNXpkPLBIF

More About Decomposers

In science class, we learned about decomposers. Decomposers are organisms that break down the dead bodies of other organisms for energy. A few examples are bacteria, earthworms, and mushrooms. By breaking down these dead organisms, they are "recycling" nutrients. Some new facts I learned from http://www.nhptv.org/NatureWorks/nwep11b.htm, was that decomposers recycle the dead organisms into chemical nutrients like carbon and nitrogen which go back into the earth. I also learned that there are over 1,800 species of earthworms, and that they loosen soil so air can circulate. This helps plants grow.

Gray Wolves Back on Endangered List!

On Tuesday October 14th, the U.S. court decided to put the gray wolf of the northern Rocky Moutains back on the endangered species list. Back in April, groups of people went to protest that the government should put the gray wolf back on the endangered list after the government had taken them off the list two months before. The groups did this beause taking them off the list would result in the shooting of wolves by farmers who think they are a threat to their livestock. The government had thought that the reintroduction had been going well, but some people thought otherwise. In 1974, wolves were disappearing. In 1995, 66 wolves were released into Idaho and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, in hopes that they would thrive. Now there are about 1,200 gray wolves in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.

I'm glad the population of gray wolves is increasing because I think they are amazing animals. When my family and I went to Yellowstone two summers ago, I had heard all about the reintroduction of wolves around the area. I was interested to learn that they were in danger, and that many farmers saw gray wolves as a threat to their livestock. I just hope that one day, gray wolves will come off the endangered species list for good. For more info, go to http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081014/sc_afp/usenvironmentwildlifewolves;_ylt=Amq5Sn7llYuCg0dCzCemhQ8PLBIF

Math Is. . . .

Math can be anything from numbers to graphs. Math deals with almost anything in your life. For example, when you go to a gas station, and it says 3.90 for 1 gallon of gas, and you're getting 8 gallons, you would do 3.90 x 8= $31.20. Another example that we talked about in class is when you're at a restaurant and you need to figure out how much to tip the waiter. This is using percents to solve a problem. In math class this year, we learned about percents, fractions, decimals, order of operations, exponents, GCF and LCM, population and sample, scientific notation, and many other topics. As you can see, math can be found anywhere, at anytime.
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More About Oil

In science class, we "drilled" for oil. Oil is formed when dead plants or animals sink to the bottom of the earth, and are covered with sandstone and other minerals. Another name for oil is petroleum. Workers spend thousands- even millions of dollars drilling for oil, and 70% of the time they come up dry! But if they do find oil, they could make a lot of money. $ $ Some types of oils are mineral oils, like gasoline, and organic oils, like vegetable oil. It can be used for fuel, heating, cooking, and painting. Crude oil is used to make plastics and other substances. For more info on oil you can go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil

An Artic Tale

During 6th grade testing, we watched a movie called An Artic Tale. It was about polar bear cubs and a baby walrus and how they survived while their climate was changing due to global warming. The polar bears needed thick snow to catch fish and seals. The walruses needed icebergs to rest on when they got tired of swimming. But global warming was taking away these priorities. A lot of the snow was melting earlier than it should have. Because of this, one of the bear cubs died of starvation, and the baby walrus almost died. This movie was very touching. I learned that if we keep up what we're doing to the Earth, all of the Artic ice could be gone by 2040. That's just 32 years!! Some other things I learned from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Warming was that increasing global temperatures can cause sea levels to rise, and it can increase the intensity of extreme weather events. It also can change the amount and pattern of precipitation. So if we stop global warming, we can save the polar bears!

Anthropology

30 years ago, people did not have personal computers. I am thankful that I have one now because I can go on Microsoft Word and type hw. My mom had to use a typewriter. If she messed up, she either had to use white-out or start over. That sounds like a pain! I also like computers because you can check e-mail and play games. Thank goodness for technology!