Parys Zambas

Shoot-'em-up video games may be good for eyesight
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16857-shoot-em-up-video-games-are-good-for-your-eyesight.html

In this expierament Daphne Bavelier tests the affect of video games on eyesight. The independant variable is the type of video game. The dependant variable is the affect on eyesight. The scientist came to the conclusion that action and shooting games can help with contrast perception, which we use in dark conditions. The tests showed that 43% of the young adults who played action games contrast perception improved. There contrast perception improvment stayed for monthes without playing the action games.
I think that this expieriment was done very nicely. They used 13 people in there trials. They also tried with 2 different types of video games. I think they should have used more than one action game. Also i think they should have done they expierment testing both young adults and adults. That would be my follow up expieriment.

Jacob H

Mosquito Duets

Science News for Kids

In this study, a scientist tried to find out whether or not mosquitos use the sounds they make to attract mates. The scientist flew a male and a female mosquito by each other and recorded the sounds they made. when the two mosquitos flew by each other they made the same noise. The independent variable of this experiment was whether or not the mosquitos were flying by each other or not and the dependent variable was the sounds they made.

The article was well written and it was a good experiment. I was surprised that the annoying sounds mosquitos make help them choose their mates. I would like to know more about ways to use the knowledge to decrease the mosquito population. It would be a good follow up experiment to find out if it would be possible to decrease the mosquito population.

Ashley L.

Nice Chimps

Science news for kids

In this experiment, the scientists experimented and compared the reactions of humans and chimps. They wanted to see if chimps had the same altruism as humans.

The first experiment that was conducted was the task of having a chimp reach through bars of an enclosed area to retrieve a stick that they saw a person trying to reach. Before the chimps went in to this enclosure to retrieve the stick, they watched a person struggle to try to reach it. That phase of the experiment was a success, because the chimp usually retrived the stick.

The experiment was then taken "to the next level". The chimps were expected to climb a platform that was 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) in order to retrieve a stick for the researchers. children were also tested for their willingness. However, instead of climbing barriers, the children were to go through some sort of obsticles that were set out in order to retrieve a pencil for the reesearchers.

A third test was then conducted. A total of nine chimps were tested to see if they would help out a strangered chimp. For this experiment the chimps were to attempt to get food on the other side of a closed door. An observing chimp was then placed on the other side of the closed door. If the chimp wanted to, it could pull a peg that held the door close, inorder for the unknown chimp to retrieve the food. In many of the cases, most helped the other chimp. The new results "come as no surprise to any field worker who has spent lots of time close to wild chimpanzees," says anthropologist William C. McGrew of the University of Cambridge in England.

The independent variable of this experiment was the tasks in which the chimps decided to preform, and the dependent variable is the number of chimps that decided tp preform each task.

This was a good experiment, because it compares how chimps and humans are closly related and how each have similar characteristics. However, it could be improved by using a wider range of humans in different age groups. a follow up suggestion would be making the tasks more different, for example having two chimps and one banana.

Alex S

Quails Get Super Fit by Simply Eating Omega-3 Diet

Scientist Jean-Michel Weber and Simba Nagahuedia, a student of the University of Ottowa, worked together to fing out if omega-3 increases aerobic capacity (endurance) in bobwhite quails.

Over six weeks, Weber fed three groups of the birds on an omega-3 diet. One group was fed n-3 eicosapentaenoic acid, the second, n-3 docosahexaenoic acid, and the third a equal solution of the two. After the six weeks, Nagahuedia checked the pectoral muscles of the birds. This was done to see if the capacity of thier lungs had improved. After measuring the activity levels of four oxidative enzymes, the enzymes' activity levels had increased by between 58 and 90%, for short, the birds endurace capabilities increased by 32%.

This experiment could be thought of in many ways, but in my opinoin it was a good one. But, from what i read, there was no constant. There should have been a group quails on a normal diet. Now these scientists need to try and see if it works in people, too.

Tripp K

Which kind of baseball bat hits farther wood or aluminum?

studies have show that if you hit with a aluminum bat the ball will go about 4mph faster than a wood bat. For a batter that is the difference between a off the ball double or a home run. Most people train with a wood bat so there batting will improve greatly by the start of the session. Scientist have show by analysing several major leagues swings with the too bats that there is a significant difference.

The IV is metal v.s. wood and the DV is how far the baseball goes. The article did not say how many trials there has been.

I liked this experiment because i play baseball so much and it really shows how hard it is. Most people that hit with wood bats have a lower avg then ones that use metal. I see that a lot when i play.

Katie P.

Whatever Happened to... Mind Control?

by Stephen Ornes

Discovery Magazine

The CIA used LSD to control the minds of a group of people. This project was called MKULTRA. It began in the year of 1953. The scientists believed they could use chemical, biological, and radiological to advance toward modification of interrogation and behavior. They gave each person a dose of LSD which was the independent variable and watched them behind a glass window. The dependent variable was how they acted on the dose of LSD, but Scientist found no way to control the mind through LSD. There was one death in this experiment because the subjects were not watched close enough. LSD, radiation, and electric shock were all "dead ends". But scientist have also discovered that MRIs make the brain more transparent and they this may be the way to control minds in the future.

This experiment was not a good one because it did not work and one person that was tested died. I think to improve this experiment the scientists need to monitor the subject more carefully and hold them for a longer time. For a follow up experiment they should test the dose of LSD on different ages and sizes of people.

Breanna B =D

Drinking very hot tea can increase the risk of throat cancer
Author unknown
Bright Surf Science

Tea that is 70 degrees Celcius or more can increase the risk of a person getting oesophgeal squamous cell carcinoma, or OSCC. Scientists did their research in Iran because they drink a large amount of tea there. They studied 300 people with OSCC who drang approximatly a litre of hot tea per day and compared them to 571 healthy people who also drank about 1 litre of hot tea per day. Through these studies, they found that people who drank hot tea were twice as vulnerable to OSCC as people who drank warm tea, and that people who drank really hot tea were eight times more likely to develop OSCC.

The independant variable in this experiment is the temperature of the tea. The dependant variable is the amount of people who developed OSCC. There were 300 trials for people with OSCC and 571 trials for people without OSCC.

I thought this was a pretty good experiment because they had alot of trials. Altough they had alot of trials, i would have done the same amount of trials for OSCC people and healthy people. To follow this experiment, they could have tried other hot drinks such as hot chocoloate or coffee to see if they also caused OSCC.

Morgan H.

Article: Sticks and Stones: A New Study on
Social and Physical Pain
Author: Unknown
Site: Bright Surf Science

Scientific researchers decided to preform an experiment that tested if a physical or social event was more painful if relived. These researchers preformed four different types of experiments. In the first two experiments the "participants reported the amount of pain they felt while trying to relive a physically or a socially painful experience." (pg. 1) The independent variable in this experiment is the type of pain (physical or social) and the dependent variable is the amount of pain that is felt during each one. In the second set of the experiment they were asked to do the same thing but to preform "cognitive tasks with different levels of difficulty after reliving a socially or physically painful event." (pg. 1) When they had to relive these experiences the people had higher feelings of "pain and relived the experience more intensely" (pg. 1) then the ones who relived the physically painful experiences. The dependent and independent variable are the same in the second part of the experiment as in the first part. Researchers concluded that the cerebral cortex may be responsible for allowing humans to relive socially painful events.

Reflection:
I thought that this was a very good experiment. I have always wondered if people responded differently to different forms of pain and now I know by reading this article. I think the experiment could be improved if the article gave more information about the experiment and if they stated how many repeated trials there were. I would recommend for a follow up experiment that the researchers preform these tests again to see if their results changed.

Shaun L.

The 'Miracle Fruit'

CNN Health

By Madison Park

New studies are being made to see if this, 'miracle fruit' can really alter your taste buds. The Synsepalum dulcificum or miracle fruit is said to release a sweet flavor, and make any food that tastes bitter, taste sweet. With this type of skill, Dr. Mike Cusnir says he wants to see if it can help cancer patients who've lost their appetites. Dr. Cusnir says many cancer patients who have been through chemotherapy treatments are left with bland taste buds. He also says that this causes them to become malnourished. Dr. Cusnir and other doctors hope that they can make a new pill that will have this 'Miracle Fruit', in it and give it to the cancer patients.

I thought this article was very interesting. I'd never heard of this fruit before, but it sounds really cool. However; I feel they should have told us a little bit more on what chemotherapy is, and why it blands their taste buds.

Lindsay E

Psychiatric disorders are common in adults who have had anorexia

Bright Surf Science

The experiment was used to test to see what will happen to people who suffered with anorexia as a teenager. Those people were compared to healthy people throughout their life time. In this experiment the independent variable was the anorexic people because they were compared to the healthy people and what happened to them. There were 51 anorexic people tested so there were 51 trials. Eighteen years after the experiment was initiated they have come to the conclusion that in the anorexic group no one has died, three women still have not recovered from anorexia, thirteen peopled (about 25%) are on disability or have missed work for being sick for six months, and 39% have had another psychiatric disorder and the most common is obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Also it has shown that there are many birth problems for the women who have suffered with anorexia. Many of the anorexic groupes' women have had much lighter weight babies than the control, healthy groupes' women. The women who have had the disorder and had babies tend to be very worried about the babies gaining weight. So what I have learned is, pretty much, anorexia will affect you your whole life.

I thought this was a great experiment, they had many trials and people tested, also they compared many different things with the two groups. The only way I could see this experiment improving would be adding more people to each group to get a more accurate results. A good follow up experiment would be to test a different eating disorder in the same way to see if different eating disorders have the same affect of people. I found this experiment very interesting!

Katelyn M.

Mood-Boosting Drugs Make Unhappy Fish

Science News For Kids

Scientist recently discovered drugs have made their way into wildlife's ecosystem. And it all comes from flushing the toilet. When you take drugs then go to the restroom, the water goes to a waste plant and gets filtered. It then goes to a near by stream, river, or lake. The water only gets filtered for bacteria, not for drugs so the drugs remain in the water and are put into the ecosystem. A while back, researchers discovered fish had antidepressants in their brain, scientists then decided to study if the brand of antidepressant is changed then the fish's response will change. The independent variable was the brand of antidepressants and the dependent variable was the fish's response.

I liked this experiment because they are trying to do something about harming the ecosystem, not just sitting back to watch. I would have liked to know which species of fish they used and which sex.

Tucker F

The metal detector in your mouth.
Science News For Kids.

This experiment tests to see if there are more than just the five basic tastes. These are salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami. The scientists tested to see if there was a new taste, metal. To do this, they needed to find out if special proteins were needed to detect metals taste. They used mice to test this. The independent variable was the mice because some mice had these special proteins and others did not. The dependent variable is the mice reaction to the metal. If they reacted the same, there is no metal taste and if they acted differently, it is a taste. The scientists dissolved metals into water for the mice to drink. This experiment proved that metal is a taste.

This was a very unique experiment. I liked how they used mice. It was also cool that they dissolved the metals into water for them to drink. I was very surprised that metal was actually a taste! I am also excited to see what new tastes these scientists will discover next.

Thomas East

Metal Dectector in Your Mouth

No Author found
Science News for Kids



In this article it is explaining recent Scientists recently finding there are three proteins connected to a metallic taste, but there may be more metal-detecting proteins. At the Nestle Research Center in Laurianne, Switzerland, scientist are very interested and curious about taste. To test there hypothesis of there experiment they have been exploring the taste of metal. The exterior of your tongue are taste buds, and in those taste buds are molecules that are called molecules. Some proteins detect the taste of sourness and sweetness, those proteins send a message to your brain of what it taste like. The scientist use special mice, some of the test mice did not have the special proteins associated with already known taste. They dissolved different kinds and amounts of metals in water and fed the water to the mice. According to the results of the experiment, the taste of metal is connected to three different proteins. Looking at these three proteins helps the scientists figure out how a taste like metal works. One are the senses is cool and might surprise you. One of the senses is super spices which i think is cool. I really enjoyed this article.

I think the article was very interesting and cool. I thought it was funny and smart about using the mice as part of the experiment. I never new there were proteins on your tongue, and that it helps you taste things. This blog was very interesting and very fun to read

Thomas East
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20090311/Note2.asp

Margaret P

"Bringing Fish Back Up to Size"

Stephen Ornes

Science News For Kids

This article explains unwanted consequences people may cause because of the way they fish. Usually, it says people keep the bigger fish and the smaller ones are thrown back. It is assumed that the bigger fish are older. This results in the smaller fish having to reproduce and scientist have suggested that over time the size of fish will be all around smaller. The independent variable in this experiment is this size of the fish the scientist are removing from groups 1 through 6. The dependent variable in this experiment is the average size of the offspring of the fish that were selected to reproduce. A constant in this experiment is the same species of fish used to experiment on. The conclusions made by this experiment are that it takes less time for a species of fish to shrink than to recover their regular size. So by keeping the larger fish and throwing back the smaller ones, people are causing the size of fish to shrink!

This was an excellent experiment because they are proving an important point to the fishers of the world today. It explains the consequences we will face in the following years if we do not change our ways. Improvement to this experiment would be to make sure all the fish are kept in the same room conditions and have the same water temperature. A good follow up experiment would be to test this experiment on a different species of fish.

Renee L.

Double Take

By: Emily Sohn

From: Science News for Kids

How much of a personality is decided by your genes? Well, scientists have been trying to figure that out for years. When you are an identical twin, are you more likely to end up like your twin than if you were fraternal? Studies say yes. Scientists figured out that what makes up your personality is a combination of genes and raising. For example, if one identical twin was extremely outgoing, the other twin is more liking to be outgoing also than if the twins were fraternal, or part of the other experiment group, virtual. Virtual twins are siblings that were raised in the same home around the same age but did not have the same parents. These would be families of adopted children that had kids at the same time or other cases like that. For the most part, scientists learned that the more genes you shared with your twin, the more alike you were likely to be. If you were raised differently, those genes could be turned on or off.

The independant variable in this experiment was the different types of twins, identical, fraternal, and virtual, and how long they had spent together. The types of twins were the variable that was being manipulated. The dependant variable was the personality and choices of the different groups of twins.

I thought it was a very good experiment. I liked learning about it. I always believed that what you did was more of a direct example of how you were raised, but this experiment showed me that your genes also have a lot to do with it. What surprised me the most was that over time, the twins became more similar in their choices, even after being separated. I think they should have tested different types of twins with similar family life and seen how genes could go from there. I think a good follow-up experiment would be testing if the time the baby spends in the womb has anything to do with their genes and choices. I enjoyed the article.

Tripp J

Reading a mind's memories.
Author not listed

Recently, a team of British scientists did an experiment to see if the could crack into the spatial memories of 4 test subjects. Spatial memory is the memory of where you have been. The scientists created 4 virtual rooms, in which the test subjects were asked to explore. The subjects were also asked to stare at certain spots in each room for 5 seconds. After a little while, the scientists did a fMRI to each of the test subjects. fMRI stands for "functional magnetic resonance imaging", and is a brain scan machine. The results from the machine told the scientists where the subjects had been in the virtual rooms. These results are very impressive, but you do not need to worry about your thoughts and memories, though. They are safe, for now.

Virtual rooms

I thought that this experiment was very incredible. The fact that we can peek into one's subconscious just blows my mind. If I could make the experiment better I would, but since I'm not smart enough to think of anything better, I can't. This experiment didn't have the usual independent and dependent variables, but a constant was the amount of time each subject stared at the floor. This experiment was amazing and I think it has opened up a whole new branch of science.

John R.

Global Warming threatens forests, study says.
By: Azadeh Ansari

Scientists recently posted the findings of an experiment that has been going on for 50 years. Scientists have been measuring the number trees in an area by one of the most monotonous, but effective, means there is. Counting, by hand, every tree in the plot. The trees involved in the study were three types of coniferous trees in the states of Oregon, California, Arizona, Washington, Colorado, and New Mexico. The study also included parts of the British Columbia. By counting consistantly, scientists have discovered that tree deaths have doubled over a 17 year span. The results show that pines were dying fastest, and most trees were dying in California. Researchers have related these deaths to global warming. But how does this relate to us? Well, most of North America, Europe, China, and some of Russia live near temperate forests. If these trees die, it impacts most of the free world.

A map of areas where this test occurred.

This article was very helpful in telling me how the researchers collected their data for the study. But I would like to know how they related the dying trees to global warming. The independent variable was the temperature and the number of dead trees was dependent variable. A constant was the type of tree the test tested. This was a good test and provided good information.

Current Event #3: Science Experiment

Current Event #3: Science Experiment



As we discussed in class, for this report, I want you to focus on an article that talks about a science experiment. When you summarize the article I want you to name the independent and dependent variables and discuss the conclusions reached. In reflecting on the article explain why if was/was not a good experiment. How do you think the experiment could be improved? What would you suggest to be a follow-up experiment?

Be sure to hyperlink the title of the article (which is written at the top of your post) to the actual article. Remember to put your name (first + last initial) in the title line.

The article post is due Monday, March 30. Your responses to 2 other student’s articles are due Monday, April 6. When you post your responses, include your ideas for follow-up experiments if you have a different idea and if you disagree with anything the student said, explain why you disagree.

As always, be sure the article was written in the last 6 months and be sure to use an appropriate news site. I look forward to reading your postings!