SCIENCE IS ALWAYS CHANGING!

Big news. Scientists found a tooth in Israel that may have belonged to an ancestor of modern humans, scientifically known as Homo sapiens. The accepted scientific theory is that Homo sapiens originated in Africa 200,000 years ago and migrated out of the continent. Scientists say that if this tooth is definitively linked to modern human's ancestors, it would mean that modern man in fact originated in what is now Israel 400,000 years ago, which would change the whole picture of evolution. Further research is needed to see if this pans out. Anyone out there want to be a archaeologist or paleontologist?

SNOW DAY!

Prospect Park

I hope all my PS 230 students are getting outside to enjoy the snow. Ms. Seitz sure is! Decorate your street with a snowman, have a friendly snowball fight or go sledding in Prospect Park. Remember to dress in layers and wear warm, water-proof boots. Now, go have some fun!

I'm sure many of you have gone to the Pavilion Theatre. Well this is what it looked like on snow day. Notice they had to take down the letters from the marquee because it was so windy.

Prospect Park sledding hill by the Picnic House

Ms. Seitz all bundled up in front of her snowy house

SCIENCE QUESTION - HOW DOES SNOW FORM?

Snow begins in the atmosphere as water condenses into a tiny droplet. As more and more water vapor condenses onto its surface, the droplet grows. Cold air then freezes this water into an ice crystal.

Each ice crystal has a unique shape that depends on the surrounding air's temperature and water vapor content. If it is below freezing and there is a lot of water vapor in the air, the crystal grows six evenly spaced branches. More and more water vapor collects on these branches and freezes, making the ice crystal increasingly heavy. Eventually, the ice crystal falls from the sky, leaving the cloud of precipitation that it helped to form. As it falls, the crystal continues to grow by picking up more water vapor.


As it descends, the ice crystal can come into contact with warmer air that makes it melt somewhat. This melting acts like a glue, causing crystals to bond together into larger flakes, forming what many people think of as the "classic" fluffy snowflake. If the crystals melt too much and then refreeze as they get closer to Earth's surface, the precipitation falls as sleet instead of snow.

Once on the ground, snow will remain if temperatures are cold enough to keep it from melting. Glaciers that form on mountains, for example, are made up of snow that accumulates on the ground and eventually turns to ice.

What's the Difference Between a Food Chain and a Food Web?

A food chain follows a single path of what eats what. But most animals eat more than one type of organism so they are part of more than one food chain. That's where Food Webs come in. A food web is made up of interconnected food chains. How many food chains are in the above food web? Leave your guess and Ms. Seitz will let you know if you're right!

THE GREAT EGG DROP CHALLENGE

Fifth-graders were recently asked become engineers to create a protective container for a raw egg that would be dropped from 2.5 meters. The only materials they could use were: a Foodtown bag, three straws, six cotton balls, 75cm duct tape, two 75-cm pieces of yarn, a dixie cup. The students have come up with all kinds of designs--some have protected their egg, while others have not.

Why is this important? Well, think of your egg container as a bicycle helmet protecting your brain from a bicycle fall. A good helmet provides padding, which absorbs some of the force and reduces the impact of the force on your head. In other words, increased time applied to the force of impact will protect an object from breaking.  Air bags in cars do the same thing--they create a cushion between the force and you so you won't feel it as hard. Now do you see why it's important to have a well-engineered egg container?

Here are the results so far:

Ms. Robb's class: 3 survivors, 4 tragedies
Ms. Greenspan's class: 6 tragedies
Ms. Water's class: 6 survivors
Ms. Grant's class: 2 survivors, 4 tragedies

CONGRATULATIONS FIFTH-GRADERS!

It was great having you all for science. I wish you happiness, success, health and a plain old good time in middle school as well. Have a wonderful summer! Ms. Seitz

Bird Falls Out of Its Nest

While Urban Nature Club members were just getting ready to plant some lettuce in the school garden, fifth-grader Dmytro came running over to tell us that there was a baby bird behind a fence in the playground. We all raced over and indeed saw an almost featherless bird crying for its mother behind a fence. Since it's an old wives tale that mother birds will reject a baby bird once touched by humans, we all took turns sticking our arms through the fence so we could hold it. Finally a skinny arm successful reached the bird.

My first impression was just how warm the bird felt in my hand. Like I said, it had few feathers, so it must be a real newborn. It had a huge yellow mouth that kept opening and calling for food. Many of the club students, and kids at the playground, got a chance to hold the baby bird (and then, as instructed washed their hands). It appears to be a baby starling like the one pictured above.

We located the nest at the top of a building next to the playground and just above the spot where the chick was found. Apparently, the little guy or gal fell out of its nest. When you think about how little room there must be in a nest, you realize that it's pretty easy to slip out.

After holding and appreciating the little bundle of energy, we placed it back where it was found, hoping that its cries would help its mother locate it and bring it back home. I'll check tomorrow and see if it's still there.

By the way, these birds are actually called European Starlings or Common Starlings. They are not native to Brooklyn (although they're everywhere these days), but were brought over from Europe during the nineteenth century by some Shakespeare lovers as part of a plan to introduce the birds mentioned in Shakespeare's works. These intelligent birds like to fly in flocks and wreak havoc wherever they go.

Calling all kids and parents!! Please help PS 230 win an organic garden. All you have to do is vote for PS 230 at this web address: http://www.organicitsworthit.org/join/newsletter-sign. Make sure to put PS 230 Brooklyn. You'll be signed up for an organic food newsletter, but you can always cancel it if it's not your thing. PLEASE PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW! Put it on facebook, your blog, wherever! Let's see how many votes we can get! Happy Spring and Thanks!