Astronauts Walk on "Mars"

Date: February 14, 2011

This article is about six astronauts who are part of a team that is simulating a journey to Mars. The astronauts stay for 9 months in a little room that simulates the space ship. The purpose of this experiment is to see for how much time can they resist in the space ship because going to Mars is very far so the scientists want to do the test and make sure that the astronauts stay healthy both physically and mentally. The astronauts have been in this "ship"since June 2010 until now, February 2011. A few days ago they are arrived to "Mars" or to a room decorated like a Mars. They have to stay there for two weeks to take test of the ground. In February 22, 2011 they "came" to the Earth and now they have to wait about 200 days.

The article interested me because before reading the article I didn't know the NASA astronauts are practicing and preparing to go to Mars. I didn't know that Mars is so far away and that it takes such a long time.

The article has a connection with my life because we didn't think we had the possibility to go to other planets. The people think when the world is destroy we can go to Mars to living there but first they have to investigate to know if we can live on Mars.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/02/110214-mars500-landed-mars-walk-esa-russia-experiments-space-science/

Queensland floods hit Great Barrier Reef

Date: January 18, 2011

The article is about the flood in Queensland, Australia, and the polluted water that is reaching the Great Barrier Reef. The fresh water impacts the coral that form the Barrier in two ways. First, the fresh water damages the coral and makes it vulnerable so it can get sick and even die. Second, the polluted water stops sunlight from entering in the ocean water and so some organisms can't do photosynthesis but some algae can grow without sun. The problem with these algae growing is that the crown-of-thorns starfish larvae feed on these algae. the crown-of-thorns starfish is a coral predator. In one year a female crown-of-thorns starfish can produce 60 million eggs so if they reproduce a lot they can kill big part of the Great Barrier Reef.

The article interested me because before I didn't know that fresh water can cause the coral's death. Another thing that I didn't know is that the crown-of-thorns starfish exist, that they can eat the coral, and produce millions the eggs.

The article has connection with my life because these floods are caused by the climatic change, there was a  lot of rain which affects the rivers and these over flooded. We also polluted the river with minerals from mining and pesticides, so when there is a flood all the polluted water goes to ocean and causes damage to the marine environment.

Picture:

The crown-of-thorns starfish.


Fitzroy River floodwaters entering the reef.

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110118/full/news.2011.21.html

Haiti cholera toll tops 900, six provinces affected

Date: November 14, 2010


The article talk about, the cholera infect Haiti and there has 900 people dead for that case and the other place, the earthquake the people register 27 people death and the government help the people the cholera don't propagation to the people don't has home. The doctor said the 200.000 Haitian can has the epidemic.


This article is interesting me because in Haiti a lot the people death cause for cholera, the government is help the people, I didn't know in Haiti the people is serious.


This article is connect my life because the people in anywhere has this disease, the people has to carefuller for this disease.    


http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=haiti-cholera-toll-tops-900-six-pro

OLDEST OBJECT IN UNIVERSE FOUND

Date: October, 20 2010

The article is about the discovery of the oldest galaxy known. In the year 2006, the Hubble Space Telescope took a picture of this galaxy. But it was not until 2010 that astronomers discovered that this is a very old and far away galaxy. UDFy-38135539, that is how the galaxy is called, is as old as 600 million years and it is at 13 billion light-years from the earth.

The article interested me because I didn’t know that there are more galaxies and I didn’t know that there is a space telescope that can photograph the space and objects that can be billions of light- years away.

The connection of the article with my life is that the galaxy humans live in is not the only galaxy. Most people think that humans and other creatures on earth are the only living organisms that exist, but we can be wrong because if our galaxy is not the only one, maybe in other galaxies there can exist other living organisms. Finally, I can think of how scientists have created so much technology, and how this technology has developed so much that it has allowed us to discover the oldest galaxy billions of light- years away from us.

http://news.discovery.com/space/oldest-galaxy-universe-hubble.html

Pea-Size Frog Found - Among World’s Smallest.

Date: August 25, 2010

There is a micro frog called Microhyta Nepenticola. the frog lives in Malaysia, inside a pitcher flower called Nepenthes Ampullania. They are difficult to see, but they are easy to hear because they make a loud croak. The scientists know that the micro frog are adult because the micro frog croak and young frog don’t croak, only adult. Female frog lay eggs inside the flower, tadpoles grow in the water inside the flower. The September the scientists go to Borneo to look for the Sambas Stream toad last seen in 1950’s. the scientists worried because habitat is being destroyed and the frog can be danger.

The article interested me because frog are micro and I didn’t know there are such micro frog.



I my home in Guarico there are many frogs I hear them the croak, Now I know that these frogs is male and adult.

If you want to see pictures and more about this frog go to this link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/photogalleries/100825-new-species-pea-size-frog-science-pictures/#/borneo-tiny-pea-sized-frog-pencil_25008_600x450.jpg