Sunday, November 14, 2010

How Should Species be Selected for the Endangered Species List?

What do you think should be the primary deciding factor in placing a species on the Endangered Species List? Which other factors should be considered?

Pygmy rabbit, Scientific American

Survival denied: Birds, fish, plant, pygmy rabbits lose out on endangered species protection Oct 7, 2010 09:10 AM 

"A variety of rare and threatened species have been denied protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in recent weeks, including North America's smallest rabbit and a plant that may already be extinct in the wild.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which makes the final determination on which species get protected status, ruled that some of these species deserve protection, although not as much as other, higher priority species."  Read more...

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

AP Environmental Science Invasive Species Report

actnow.com.au
If you would like to sign up for a specific invasive species for your project before class on Monday, you may sign up in a comment to this post. Remember that each student must report on a different species. Add your first name and last initial  if you comment anonymously so I know which student signed up!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Interesting Careers in Science

Biologists from the Field Museum are studying biodiversity in the Amazon, a tropical jungle. If you were a field biologist, which biome would you study and why?

Photo by Alvaro del Campo
Jaguars are the largest cats in the Americas. A jaguar print at Yagua River measured five inches across.

Wednesday, Oct. 27
"Life is tough for tropical mammalogists. They work on a group with a limited number of species, maybe 150 at places like the ones we are in, and most of those species are bats and rats. Other than monkeys, most of the large mammals in the Amazon are rare. To detect them, mammalogists look for signs — scat, tracks, scratch marks, anything to let them know that a species is here. Worse, they have yahoo ornithologists reporting weird bats, and clueless botanists seeing rare deer. But they have to follow up on these reports. They also have to work night and day. Some mammals (monkeys, for example) are out in daylight hours, but for most, nighttime is when they are active."

Monday, October 18, 2010

How do you approach "impossible" problems?

Mr. Geissbühler achieved the "impossible" in the article from the New York Times below. Can you describe a time when you solved an "impossible problem" and the process you used to solve it?                                                                                                                                                                                          
                        Luke Geissbühler
In a Takeout Container, a Trek to the Stratosphere

A 100,000-FOOT VOYAGE
Luke Geissbuhler tethered a video camera to a weather balloon and launched it in August from Newburgh, N.Y. The trip took 90 minutes, and a seven-minute video became a viral success.
By SAM GROBART
Published: October 12, 2010, The New York Times

Luke Geissbühler has raised the bar in the cool-dad competition.

In August, Mr. Geissbühler, a 40-year-old director and cinematographer, tethered a video camera to a weather balloon and sent both more than 100,000 feet into the stratosphere. The camera safely returned to the ground with the help of a small parachute.

The entire trip took about 90 minutes, but a seven-minute account of the voyage, posted on the video-sharing site Vimeo, has become a viral success, garnering more than one million views since it was first uploaded on Sept. 19. The breathtaking video, with its NASA-like views of the Earth’s curves, has made Mr. Geissbühler the latest in a long line of scrappy, do-it-yourself geek heroes. (It can be seen at www.brooklynspaceprogram.org/BSP/Space_Balloon.html.)

The instigator for this particular space program was Mr. Geissbühler’s 7-year-old son, Max, who had made more than a few requests for a handmade spacecraft.
“Our creative process works this way: he asks for the impossible,” Mr. Geissbühler said, “and then I have to tell him why it’s impossible. And then I start to question that. And then I start to investigate that.”

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

What do you think?

Twice a month, I will post a picture, a quote, a video, or a short reading for you to respond to. You must respond at least once during every grading period, but only once for each topic. Please keep your posts relevant, concise and school appropriate. Thanks!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Friday, January 8, 2010

Final exams are approaching!

The last opportunity for earning extra credit is the winter reading test on Monday, January 11 during lunch. Bring your book and arrive no later than 12:43 PM. Remember, there are no make-up exams!

Final exams are 3 weeks away. Please take some time this weekend to organize your study schedule and plan for success!

APES students will take the Unit 6 test, and begin The Apprentice Project during their final exam. For an introduction to the apprentice project, check out the Prezi below...

Biology students should begin reviewing EVERYTHING they have learned (or should have learned) this semester. Your Final Exam will be comprehensive.





APES Second Semester Service Learning
Check out this Prezi for an introduction to The Apprentice Project