What a dream looks like!

Date: 29th of November, Tuesday, 2011
Link: http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2011/11/what-a-dream-looks-like/

Have you ever seen a dream machine that can actually PICTURE the dream that is in your mind??? Well, folks, it's now become true. There is such thing as a dream machine! And, no it is not to make you fall asleep. Here is how it works.
You have to lie down on this "bed" and try to fall asleep and dream. But, the scientists had said not to dream of something wild and bizarre like catching a jellyfish, or climbing on the surface of the moon, or running everywhere, etc. The scientists said that the only way to test it is to TELL them what their dream should be. So, they said to dream about squeezing your left hand first, then your right hand. At the end, some of them weren't that clear but, this man had really dreamt it well enough for the scientists. There is this thing called the sensorimotor cortex which is a part of your brain that is involved in planning, controlling, and more. So, when he squeezed his left hand, his right sensorimotor cortex lit up. When he squeezed the right hand in the dream, his left sensorimotor cortex lit up. That is how the dream machine works. Here is a picture of how the machine looks like.


Reflection:

I think this is very useful because if you can't explain something or you are dumb (it means that you cannot speak) or blind, then you can use this machine because then the people will know what you wanted to say and know you better just because of the dream machine. It is also useful because you can see what people dream about and what they want to achieve/ what their goal or aim is. But I also think this is a bad idea because then if you have a really embarrasing dream that you do not want to talk about and you don't know that you are under the dream machine. Then, the next day everyone is laughing at you.

So, to recap, a dream machine is a brilliant idea because it would be easy to understand people better and to know what they want to say. But, I also think it's a bad idea because everyone can see your dream (even though you do not want to) and it can hurt people's feelings.

States of Matter Table-By Nikita

There's a New Planet In Sight!

Name: nikita Saxena
Grade: 6B
Date: 11/14/2011
name of article: New Planet In Sight!
link: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/spacescience/newplanet/

Summary about New Planet:

An international team of astronomers discovered a planet a little bit bigger than Jupiter and the planet's name is called "TrES-2". They had to put a 2 at the end because they already named another planet "TrES". Now, here are some questions you are dying to ask: How big is it? How is it's year? How much do you weigh when you stand on it?. Those can be answered in 1 second! Dunham says that the TrES-2 is slightly bigger than Jupiter and has a 'year' that is less than 2 and a half days! Could you imagine if the earth had years like that???
Then, on vacation, you will have a vacation for about a 100 years (I think we would grow old in the real years!) and then you will go back to school when you're 150 years old!!!!!! Anyway, back to our story! Did you know that you will weigh twice your weight when you stand on the planet??? For example, if you weigh about 70 kilograms, your weight on that planet will be about 140 kilograms! wow! That's a lot of kilos!!!!

Current Event- Your Brain!

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/spacescience/brain/

Date:1/11/11

Did you know that your brain controls every single thing you do??? Cool, right? Here are some facts about your brain that has just been discovered. Your brain weighs about 3 pounds and if you think you have a light head, it just means that you are not thinking hard enough! Your brain also holds 100 billion and I reapeat again 100 BILLION microscopic cells called neurons- so many it would take you over 3000 years to COUNT them all. Pretty big, don't you think? But here's another amazing fact: Your brain generates enough electricity to power a light bulb. They also say that exercising makes you smarter. So, whenever you are stuck on a homework problem, go outside and play a game of soccer and try the problem again. You just might be able to solve it!  

Vampire Bats

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/vampire-bat/

Grade: 6B
Date: 10/31/2011

Vampire bats biggest proffesion is to suck blood. But specific kinds of blood. They drink humans, cows, pigs, horses, and birds bloods. These vampire bats are located in Mexico and Central and South America. You might think that a vampire bat's bite would be very painful, but it's actually not! Did you know that a vampire bat can suck blood for 30 minutes straight without letting the animal wake. Pretty freaky, huh? But listen to this, even though they have wings (unlike us), they can still walk, run, and jump like any other human! But here is some good news. If the vampire bat can't find any blood for 2 days straight, it dies. But they can still get blood by another bat by sharing. Another fact about the similarities in human being and vampire bat. Are vampire bats really that scary??? Even though there bites aren't painful, they do spread a disease called rabies. But not in every bite they will spread the disease, but they COULD spread it. The vampire bat measures about........as much as your thumb! They're so small, you'll have to get a magnifying glass to see their  fangs. Some people think it's cool to have a vampire bat in their house so what they do is that they tame it. That's right! Own it. You can even put it as your pet.



Reflection about Vampire Bat

I picked this article because I thought it was cool that another kind of bat has come: especially a blood sucking one! I really liked this article because it had a lot of interesting, audience-catching, facts.  It also had pictures to proof it and a video, too. I  thought it was interesting to know these kinds of facts because I used to live in Panama and this crazy bat had come inside of our house! So we had to shew it away and got it out of the window. And so I started to wonder if it was just an ordinary bat or a vampire bat. The most surprising fact for me was that the vampire's bites are not painful, although they can spread a deadly disease. 

Monster Glowing Squid

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/spacescience/monstersquid/


Japanese scientists discovered a monster glowing squid. The squid’s real name is Architeuthis. The squid weighs about 135 pounds (61 kilograms) and measured 7.6 feet long (2.3 meters). The last time they saw the architeuthis was in Maine 1993. Afterwards, they began to get extincted until a sperm whale was caught chasing after the squid. They say that its glowing arms can blind and stun the prey.

Reflection:

I think this was a very important article because the squid was found long time ago but they found it back! It is also a very special creature because it can glow in the water at night. What really surprised me was that the sperm whales can track the squids because they love to eat squids. So the japanese scientists use the sperm whales to track any squids.   

Reflection- Lungless Frog

The article "Lungless Frog" was interesting to me because it's a very rare species and nobody can breathe without lungs except the lungless frog! I learned a lot about the frog and all the information I need to know in the article. It is a very important article because they have discovered a very rare frog and with no lungs at all! That is why this article is important.