Mister Pip's Quiz

A Tribute to Extinct Plants

As my last post was pretty pointless, I decided to do another post that is awesome. As today is Earth Day, I created a little tribute to extinct plants of Africa and North America. There is a lot of attention on endangered animals, but not nearly enough attention on endangered plants and fungi. The power-point is below. I hope that in future weeks, I can do more plants from Asia, Oceania, South America, and Europe.

-Mister Pip (DZ)

Science v Technology Definitions

So this issue has been bothering me for a long time: the difference between Science and Technology. Many people think they understand the difference, but I have been seeing more and more cases of confusion between the two words. So here's the two definitions:

Science - The intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment

Technology- The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes.

So pretty simple, science is the study of learning about our world (and space) through observation and experimentation. Technology is using science. So technology can be gizmos and gadgets like we usually think, but it can also be just using science in our everyday life. Identifying plants from scientific research is technology. Though it is not an incredibly advanced item, it is still part of what technology is. Now that, that's cleared up, I think it's important to understand how both are practical in our everyday life. Many could say that we never actually use science, itself , but we use the information from it in all of our technology. Without science we could not advance in society, but the actual information we acquire from scientific study is essential.

Mister Pip's Leads

Twist:

Being one with the animals and understanding their life. She ventured into a difficult field, that few take on. She's not an adventurer nor an explorer, in fact she's not even exploring extreme dangers. No, Brittaney Hopkins, is a teacher.

Startling;

Earlier this year, Britanny Hopkins found out that her services will no longer be needed at LASA High School. After only one year of being a teacher she is losing her job, and will be forced to find work elsewhere.

Descriptive:

Her room says everything about her. A calmness in the air layers the small shrieks coming from the parrot next door. Her room is greeted with the friendly words of _______(need to fact check)_______. Nothing though expresses herself as much as the biology and teaching material dispersed across the room.

Srta. Hopkins Interview

The interview was really interesting. Unforunately I could not interview Mr. Ridley, who I had originally intended to interview, but I ende up interviewing my Science teacher, Ms. Hopkins. the interview was slightly different than interviews I have done in the past, just because most of the interviews I have done in the past have been for Journalism. In Journalism, interviews are usually rather short, as you are getting information from numerous sources. In E-zine, as I am writing a feature story, I had to ask a lot more questions for just one person. I had the interview in the morning at about 7:45 am and finished by about 8:10 and had just enough time to get to class. It was very kind of Ms. Hopkins to be willing to be interviewed on such short notice. So I started off the interview by asking her how she got into Biology and teaching. At first, on a few questions, I'm afraid I cut her off. Then there was one question where she was giving a really good answer, and I knew I would have plenty of great quotes, but than a student interrupted for about 2 minuets, and after that we just went on to the next question. I was slightly disappointed. i did ask her about the budget cuts and the staff cuts, after asking her permission, and she gave me some good answers. I ended my interview by asking her what her favorite chromosome was. After looking in her copy of Genome that was lying nearby, she said Ch. 2, as it is responsible for our evolution from chimps. Very neat.

Cigarette Gene?

I'm not sure if all of my readers are aware of this, but there have been a group of article published recently, discussing genes that can lead to smoking risk. On reading the title, I was a little confused, because I always though that smoking was cause by beginning to smoke at a young age, and from there getting an addiction. After reading the article, here's what I found:

There are two sets of genes, that can make a person three times more likely to become a regular smoker in high school and two times as likely to carry it on into adulthood. Now, obviously, one gene is not going to stick a cigarette in your mouth, and the other gene is not going to light up. No, what the genes simply do is create a stronger addiction to smoking, once someone does start smoking. So I guess the simple answer is that if you don't want to become addicted to smoking, Don't Smoke. Scientist are now trying to develop test to tell someone's nicotine suceptibility. I don't really understand the purpose of the test. it seems taht a person that goes to the length to test their nicotine suceptability would have no desire to smoke in the first place. Oh well. if you'd like to read more you can read the full article in Biological Psychiatrist.

-Mister Pip

Mister Pip's Corner: Weekly Blog Post

Dear Mister Pip,

What are your thoughts on the way that science is presented in the classroom? Do you feel that by teaching biology, chemistry, and physics we are showing a fair representation of the field of science? If there are other type(s) of sciences that could be added to the curriculum, what would it/they be?

Sincerely,

Margaret P.

Dear Margaret,

This is an interesting question and one that I have actually thought of quite a bit. I'm going to express my feeling and then explain. I do not think that the science curriculum in the school is giving a fair view of the field of science. According to an article I read on mnn.com a few weeks ago, 49% of adults in the USA do not know how long it takes for the earth to orbit the sun (~365 days for all of you out there), and the USA ranks 48th in science education for our children. These are scary numbers, but unfortunately I cannot say that I am surprised. Children are science illiterate in this country. It's a shame. We teach our students (in most schools, there are a few exceptions) only basic knowledge and sometimes not ev

en that. As long as the child get an 'A' everyones happy. That is until the real world comes into play. Our country cannot support itself and it's economy on workers that do not understand basic science skills. China has now surpassed the US in being the leading technology exporter, and it's all due to a lack of science education. Now I could get into an argument about how all aspects of most public schools need readjusting, but as this is a science blog, I regress. To answer your other question, I do believe we should add some sciences into the education field: Social & Behavioral Science, Basic Engineering Skills, Microbiology, and Genetics. These are the ones that I think would greatly help students although I feel that while adding Botany might not directly help students, it would be rather interesting.

Most Sincerely,

Your Mister Pip

Dear Mister Pip,

Hi, for my outdoors badge (we're in the 4H) we have to be able to identify trees by their leaves. We have this book called Leaf Key for Tree Identification. Could you explain how to use it?

Sincerely,

Dormo S. & Merganta W.

Dear Dormo & Merganta,

I assume your talking about a book where you have several choices and by answering questions about the leaf, you can identify what type of plant this is. I used to have to do this all the time while studying botany. There's a special name for the book, but my mind is blank. Anyways you must firstly understand how the book works. The book will ask you a question (eg. Nodes?) and then there will be three choices or so. Depen

ding on which traits the leaf has (eg. no node) then the book will say to go to another question. This is the process you do until eventually it will say what type of tree the leaf came from. Most books will then direct you to a page where you can learn more about the tree or bush, and if there's a picture (which there usually

is) you can compare the leaf to the picture. They should be rather similar. If they're not you most likely made a mistake, or it is possible that the leaf is not in the book. Go through the process several times if not sure.

Most books are designated for certain areas (eg. Coastal Plains of Texas) so that there are not too many questions and leaf options. Botanist (people who major in Botany) do this sort of stuff all the time unless they have memorized some of the more common leaves. Best of luck on earning your outdoors badge.

Sincerely,

Mister Pip

Mister Pip's Corner: Weekly Blog Post

Welcome to Mister Pip's corner. Here I will answer questions from some of my biggest fans. It was so hard to pick the question, but here we go.

Dear Mister Pip,

I'm an avid reader and thought to ask you one question that I have had for a long time. Why was Pluto excommunicated from the planetary family system? I know it has something to do with Pluto not fitting all of the requirements, but can you explain the exact reasons why it is no longer considered a planet?

Thanks,

Hermione G.

Dear Hermione G.,

This is a common question I get. In order for an object to be a planet it must follow three requirements. The first requirement is that the object must orbit the sun. Pluto obviously orbits the sun, so in this sense it could be considered a planet. The second rule is that an object must have a great enough mass so that it is able to pull itself into a spherical shape. Pluto's mass is large enough, so this category is not a problem. The final rule to be a planet is that it must have cleared things out of its "orbital neighborhood". Pluto is relatively small compared to other objects in its orbital neighborhood, so in this sense Pluto cannot be a planet. Pluto was degraded to a dwarf planet on August 24, 2006 at a meeting of the International Astronomical Union.

Sincerely, Mister Pip

Dear Mister Pip,

I love your blog posts and look forward each week to reading them. My question for you today is kind of stupid, but I have always wondered. Why does wood float? I have heard that it has to do with weight, but that can't be true because even large trees like Redwoods float in water. What's up? Any help would be much appreciated.

Your Secret Sweetheart,

Cho C.

Dear Cho C.,This question is one that is commonly overlooked. Wood floating in water does have to deal with weight, but not directly. The whole reason wood floats is that wood is less dense than water. Let me explain. Density is how much mass something has in comparison to its volume (d=m/v). Wood on average has a density of about 650 kg/cu.m. Bamboo is one of the lightest woods with 300 kg/cu.m while Lignum Vitae has a much higher density of about 1300 kg/cu.m. If you would like to see a full list of wood densities you can click here. Anyways, objects that have a lower density than water float. Hence, wood has a lower density than water, so it floats.

Sincerely, Mister Pip.

Dear Mister Pip,

I work in an office building in Edinburgh and they are testing the office building for asbestos. What is this? If there is asbestos, how could this substance get into the building? Thanks for all your help.

Joanne R.

Dear Joanne R.,

I'm so flattered I have international reader. Actually I'm not that surprised; I am pretty spectacular. As we all know. Anyways, asbestos is pretty serious if you breathe it in. Asbestos is one of six silicate minerals (natural). If it is inhaled, it has the potential to cause tumors. Asbestos is a very dangerous substance. It can also cause mesothelioma and lung cancer. Asbestos used to be used in construction, before they realized the dangers of it, just like how they used to lead paint. Unlike lead paint, however, many older buildings still have asbestos. I hope this helps. I would try avoiding asbestos, because of its health problems, at all costs.

Sincerely, Mister Pip