Science in My Mind

S N C 2 D 5 - A

M r s . M a c D o n a l d

1 s t P e r i o d

1 s t S e m e s t e r

Raun Damani SCIENCE JOURNAL

Water on Mars Curiosity was launched up into space and it successfully landed on the great desert we call Mars. The launch and the landing were all over the news for a week or so until it all died off. As I was looking for an idea of what to research for I remembered that we now have a piece of metal with wheels somewhere on Mars.

1I decided to hit the inter-webs for some new news about Curiosity and its findings. I stumbled upon two articles about finding a, bedrock that once used to be home to a “fast moving” stream of supposedly water. The two articles are from usatoday.com and npr.org and suggest that the smooth pebbles on the bedrock could only have been smoothed by water. It is believed that the water was moving approximately 3 feet per second and was about ankle or hip deep. One of the articles stated that there are 3 necessary things needed for life…water, energy such as the heat from the sun and last but not least “organic carbon” is needed. It going to be a while before we drill into those rocks to further investigate, but for now Curiosity is going to continue its expedition to Mount Sharp.

After reading all this I decided to scroll down to the comments section to see what others thought about this. One comment that caught my eye was made by a user named Raising Eyebrows on npr.org stating “I hope that someday we find evidence of an ancient civilization on Mars. And I want their final recorded message to be: Due to global warming, we're moving to the 3rd planet." I found this hilarious but it was then that I realized that how do we actually know that the liquid that was flowing thorough that stream was water. I scrolled further down and saw many people had the same concern and many also said since we are exploring a crater on mars how do we even know that the stuff we’re finding is even from Mars, for all we know it could have been left over from the crater.

That’s when the big question hit me. Why the crater? Why are we exploring the crater and not some other part of this huge planet? The solution to my question came from cosmomagazines.com. This huge crater had a name; it’s called the Gale Crater and looks like Australia from above! The theory behind placing the rover in the crater is that first if there ever was water on Mars then it would’ve pulled in and filled the crater with water creating a sort of lake. Secondly, now that all the water has dried up we can see years of history my examining the sides, walls and mountains of the crater by studying the rock layers. The last argument is that from far it

looks like the crater contained some sort of clay or sulphate minerals that formed due to a wet environment.

Many questions still remain such as how do we know the liquid was water? Or is this really Mars or just the State of Arizona with a scale shot of pictures? We can only hope for the best.

Over the Phone Therapy is a practice conducted by therapists for a long time. Therapy can relate back to the olden days. Before being a therapist was a career it was done by any average friend, person or bartender. Studies show that talking about your problems and having others listen to them help you get over your problems or at least calm your mind down enough allowing you to think of a reasonable solution. We all need therapy at one point or another and receive it without noticing. Many go to therapists to talk about their problems who help them search deeper for the cause or root of the problem or write their findings and report to a family member or friend on how to help the other.

No one can call themself a therapist and open up an office now-a-days. You need a degree and certification to preform cognitive therapy and through multiple courses you will learn how to evaluate and cure the patient. Cognitive therapy is usually conducted in a quiet room with the patient and is face-to-face. But due to new research reported on sciencedaily.com it is said therapy for various problems conducted over the phone is just as effective and is much, much, much cheaper. The new price and the accessibility of the service makes it rather easier for many people to receive the therapy they need to continue living better and healthy lives. The price drop is an astounding 36.2% drop per session. With the recent downfall of the economy therapy is more than ever needed against patients and with the new cut down on prices will help many receive treatment. In Britain it is said that mental illness effects one in every four persons in Brittan. The National Health Services also known as the NHS spends more on mental health than it does on cancer, heart disease, stroke and asthma put together.

Upon reading this article I decided to research what different types of therapist are there. I found that there are many different types of therapists besides cognitive therapists out their providing therapy for many different problems and issues that many of us face. Some of the more popular types of therapists are listed below that I found from careercruising.com: “Speech-Language Pathologist- Helping people overcome communication

problems…everyone from a child with a stutter to an older person who has suffered a stroke. Bereavement Counsellor- Help people cope with the death of a loved one. Recreation Therapist-Sports, arts, and other recreational activities can be very effective forms of therapy. Respiratory Therapist- Help people with breathing problems like asthma and emphysema. Radiation Therapist- Health care professionals who use special radiation treatments to help people fight cancer.

Occupational Therapist- Helping people with mental or physical limitations lead independent and productive lives. Physiotherapist- Prescribing exercises, stretches, and other treatments to help patients deal with physical injuries or infirmities. Massage Therapist- For medical reasons or simple relaxation, massage is a very popular form of therapy. Art / Music Therapist- Using the creative power of art or music to help people deal with physical, emotional, and psychological problems. Marriage and Family Therapist- Advising individuals, couples, and families. Physiotherapy Assistant- Helping physiotherapists treat patients who have suffered a loss of mobility.”

Cinnamon Challenge youtube.com is a great source of entertainment and news. It’s a site filled with millions of “youtubers” and viewers not to mention the millions of videos. YouTube alone has brought many concerning issues to the eyes of millions causing humanity to rise up and make sure justice is being served where it should be. It has also showed us thousands of kids, teens, adults and seniors choking on a spoonful of cinnamon.

The cinnamon challenge (link to videos) is a challenge that many try but fail at. It consists of taking a tablespoon of cinnamon and swallowing it without coughing, sneezing or throwing up. There are thousands of videos showing people trying to do the cinnamon challenge. These videos provide a lot of people with an afternoon worth of laughs. My interest in the challenge developed when I saw a peer at school trying to complete

the challenge and failing. As funny as this was I struck with a question…why is it so hard to do the cinnamon challenge?

My questions were answered by a video on YouTube from a channel called “scishow”. A video by the name “The Science of the Cinnamon Challenge” explains why it is so hard for us to do the cinnamon challenge and why we shouldn’t try to do it either.

Our mouth produces approximately a liter of saliva a day. At any given time there’s less than tablespoon of saliva in our mouth. Cinnamon is a powder desiccated from cinnamon tree bark. This means one of the main components of the spice is cellulose which makes it water resistant and resistant to the enzymes humans produce. This makes it hard for us to swallow and as an added bonus when our brain realizes that our mouth is water proof it starts taking necessary actions and forces us to take gasps. The cinnamon then goes down our throat through the pharynx, larynx, trachea and down to our lungs. Once in our lungs the cinnamon infiltrates the soft tissues and alveoli causing inflation, ammonia, or if not and scarring of the lung tissue. Also, don’t forget choking to death and not to mention that cinnamon contains a large quantity of coumarin which can cause liver disease.

So why put ourselves through the agony and pain of swallowing a spoon-full of cinnamon when we can watch others do so. On a side note cinnamon is a very popular spice used in many things such as cakes, cookies, disserts, cereals, fruits, beverages and many dishes in general. According to spiceadvice.com “Cinnamon has been popular since ancient times. Egyptians imported it from China in 2000 BC. Romans believed Cinnamon was sacred, and Nero burned a year's supply of the spice at the funeral for his wife. Finding Cinnamon was a primary motive of world exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries.”

Belugas at Their Best NOC is the name of a white beluga whale at the National Marine Mammal Foundation. Sam Ridgeway works with the National Marine Mammal Foundation and with NOC. In the most recent issue of Current Biology an article that caught the attention of many eyes was about a beluga whale making a human like voice.

This beluga whale has tried to mimic the voice of humans without undergoing any training on the topic what so ever. Whales and dolphins have been trained to match durations of human voices and to match computer generated whistles but never to mimic human voices. The recording shows that the whale’s sounds have a rhythm similar to human speech.

NOC along with other whales and dolphins has been in the presence of humans at aquariums and such. There have been reports of whales making human like noises but they were never recorded and kept for further study until now! Whales often have high pitched voices but this whale’s rhythm had been altered several octaves lower than typical whale sounds which made it much closer to human voices. The most interesting and exciting fact is that whales make sounds through their nasal tract not the larynx like humans. For the whale to make such sounds he had to change the pressure in his nasal tract and make adjustments to many muscles while inflating the vestibular sac in his blowhole. In other words what this whale did wasn’t an easy act.

The sounds show vocal learning by the whale and show great advancement. The confusing issue is that NOC passed away 5 years ago unfortunately and the noises were first discovered in 1984. Where was all this information 30 years ago and why are we just hearing about it? This is great news and would have been more helpful if it was published before NOC passed away so further studies could be performed? Also can we replay this recording to other whales and try to decipher their response to it.

Permafrost that’s not “so” Permanent Almost as much as 44 billion tons of nitrogen and 850 billion tons of carbon are stored in artic permafrost and in the frozen ground. All this could be released due to global warming and thawing of the artic poles. What we are looking forward to is a devastating future where the amount of carbon this planet could almost double. The effects of the nitrogen and carbon releasing, affect each and every one of us on many different platforms.

The story on ScienceDaily explains that the release of carbon and nitrogen that is held within the permafrost could worsen global warming and impact many of our lives. Water resources and climate change are only the beginning of the difficulties we might face. The countdown to the next century or so is a scary one and could bring more horrible findings than this,

The nitrogen and carbon cycles are two of the most important cycles on this planet and could drastically

change the way we live our lives. The nitrogen cycle consists of nitrogen from our air and within our atmosphere finding its way into our soil. May that be through the organisms in the sea, plants fixing bacteria or plane old rain and lightning. The soil nitrate is taken up by plant roots and is transferred to plant and animal proteins. Afterword the dead organisms and faeces undergo another step in the nitrogen cycle and are put back into the soil through ammonium salt and nitrifying bacteria. Onwards the bacteria are denitrified in boggy soil and, the nitrogen is released back into the atmosphere. The carbon cycle with certain similarities and differences is like the nitrogen cycle. Carbon is taken from our atmosphere and is stored in soil, sediments, and ocean surfaces or deep within the ocean through carbon dioxide exchange and photosynthesis. Carbon is released back into the air through carbon dioxide exchange, burning, respiration, decay and burning of fossil fuels.

The release from the permafrost may have the potential to alter the planets habitability. It’s hard to believe that something that was frozen thousands of years ago could come back and affect us right now in our present day lives. We can all try to reduce our contribution to global warming and slow the process of the artic permafrost melting. This relates to my grant proposal subject in many ways. My group’s idea to have a nitrogen powered car could reduce emissions and give us an excellent way to make use of the nitrogen that surrounds us. Our history and this planets history taunts us and now it’s our choice to see how we take care of it.

Aerospace Engineer Recently Felix Baumgartner made a jump from a helium balloon in the stratosphere. Making this jump Felix was able to break the sound barrier and multiple world records. There is a lot of training and prep put into a project like this by thousands of people for this challenge to be successful.

Although there are many people with many different profession helping out to make this project successful one that struck out at me is an aerospace engineer.

An aerospace engineer’s main tasks are to design aircraft bodies or parts, to create new engines and propulsion systems, develop electronic guidance and vehicle control systems, test designs with computer simulations or models, and to oversee the manufacture of aerospace or aeronautical vehicles and parts. They work for aircraft manufactures, engineering firms, government agencies and research & development companies. They will often work in office spaces using computers and creating or reading blueprints unless they are out on the field testing designs in labs at airfields or in wind tunnels. Cutting edge technology is often involved and deadlines are crucial. Simulations and tests are performed often and can come with a lot of stress.

The career comes with 4 levels. Level one is considered as an engineer in training or EIT. You would roughly make 40,000 to 50,000 a year and would require a bachelor’s degree in an associated subject and registration with provincial or territorial licensing board. Your job would include you performing general engineering analyses under supervision of a licensed engineer, also working to solve problems with other engineers and researchers.

Level 2 is a professional engineer and earnings range from 50,000 to 80,000 dollars a year. You are required to have 2- 4 years of experience as an EIT and successful completion of the exam. You job would require you doing more complex analyses with less supervision and taking on larger more complicated design projects also supervising the work of EITs.

Upon 5-10 years of experience as a professional engineer you can move up to a senior engineer after obtaining a graduate degree. The job pays 65,000 to 100,000 dollars and requires you to review the work of other engineers. You would also be responsible for staff and planning new design concepts and assigning responsibilities.

The final level is supervisory engineer. After pocketing 10 or more years of experience, a graduate degree in engineering or business administration and being involved in major engineering programs and tasks. Earnings would look like 75,000 to 110,000 dollars and you would be responsible for decision making, regulating engineering policy, evaluating new designs, liaising with other departments and carrying out departmental administrative functions such as budgeting.

Paintballs in Space I recently watched a movie about a huge asteroid hurdling towards Earth threatening to destroy all life. I decided to research different theories we as a species have come up with to save ourselves from such catastrophic events occurring. There were many ideas such as hitting it with a nuclear bomb or a large air craft but these ideas did not guarantee our safety and cost too much to fail.

I came across a video made by a student at MIT about his idea of saving us all from an unfortunate event as described above. Sung Wook Paek is a graduate in MIT’s department of

Aeronautics and Astronautics. He says that if we were to send a spacecraft with pellets of paint powder and launched it timed correctly we could save the planet. The initial force of the pellets would move the asteroid of course and if we launched two rounds one to cover the front and one to cover the back of the asteroid we could possibly double its reflectivity. From there on the sun’s photons would deflect the asteroid even more.

The idea and concept won a completion sponsored by the United Nations’ Space Generation Advisory Council. The asteroid Apophis was used as a theoretical test case. Apophis is a 27-gigaton rock that may come close to Earth in 2029 and then again 2036. It has been estimated a good 5 tons of paint would be needed to cover this particular asteroid.

This idea is much safer and cheaper than other ideas and would require the pellets to be made or formed in space due to the potential damage that might occur during the trip outside of earth. Even though this would require us to plan ahead of time it is still an excellent plan. We would need to hit the asteroid with pellets of paint ant 20 years ahead of schedule if we were to pull the asteroid off its earthbound course.

The idea is considered highly at the moment due to its creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. Many say the solar radiation idea is similar to Messenger, a spacecraft orbiting mercury that has solar sails which help propel the spacecraft with solar radiation, reducing fuel needs. But this solution provides more uses than pushing the asteroid of course. Since the asteroid will be a pale white 27-gigaton rock in space it will be easier to track and see from telescopes.

The thought of a 27-gigaton rock hurling at us is scary but its reality. I’m glad to see that there are solutions out there and hope for a safe future.