Sponges are, healthy?

There are many benefits to use a sea sponge instead of a normal household sponge. A normal man made sponge usually consists of a petroleum base and has chemicals on it, such as triclosan, that effect the bodies nervous system and bodies hormones.  Sea sponges are biodegradable as well and produce no natural toxins. Sea sponges are better than normal sponges in many ways, such as they produce a natural lather that helps to nourish human skin. They are very soft and are hypoallergenic. Another reason is that they will save you money because they last longer than normal sponges and produce the natural lather. They also contain enzymes that inhibits the growth of mold and bacteria, so they are multi-purpose because they can now not only clean yourself but the area around it. Sponges also contain minerals. The minerals contained in sea sponges nourish and benefit the skin, they include, calcium, magnesium, sodium, iron, zinc, and potassium. Next time you think about buying a sponge go buy yourself a real sea sponge and save moolah.


Andrea. "Benefits of Natural Sea Sponges : Sustainable Skin Care." The Best Organic Skin Care. The Best Organic Skin Care, 22 Oct. 2015. Web. 23 June 2017.

Are Gorillas really that strong?

It's well known that Gorillas are pretty strong animals, their build alone is impressive. The way they pound their chest is also an indicator of their pure strength. But just how strong are they? not only that but, how strong are they compared to humans? To start, Gorillas don't use their back legs as much as humans do. Mainly because they move around on all fours, and not the classic two leg human stance. Also Gorillas weigh a whole lot more then humans, yet their still about to run at incredible speeds. Which shows that despite their huge weight difference, they can still out run a human.

Moving on to the upper body of a Gorilla, this is where they are their strongest. It is said that they are up to six times stronger in their upper body then their human counterpart. This gap is pretty significant, Gorillas are way stronger then humans. So if a Gorilla and a boxer decided to fight, ill take the Gorilla any day of the week.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/questions/how-strong-are-gorillas

Lemur tell you a tail

According to two new studies, the species' population of the ring-tailed lemur has fallen between 2,000 to 2,400 animals, which is a shocking 95% decrease since the year 2000. To put that number into context, there are now fewer lemurs living in the wild then there are living in the zoos around the world. Factors that have drove this decline were the rapid habitat loss, from deforestation, hunting, and the illegal pet trade that has been happening with the endangered species. The situation is so horrible that many of the sub populations now consist of fewer than thirty of the lemurs, and they have disappeared from at least 15 main sites that they used to call home since 2000. As a result of this research, ring-tailed lemurs are going to be included in the next editions of the biennial list of the world's 25 most endangered primates. And to stop this decline will only present numerous amount of challenges, although the situation can change, it can only be by the help of conservation efforts in Madagascar.


Citation:
Platt, John R. "Ring-Tailed Lemur Populations Have Crashed by 95 Percent." Scientific American Blog Network. Scientific American, 13 Jan. 2017. Web. 22 June 2017.

Stressing isn't the Bestest

Stress is a natural reaction the comes from our body's natural alarm system of the "fight or flight" response. This automatic response developed from our ancient ancestors in a way to protect themselves from potential dangers. Now a days we do not confront the threat of being eaten but we do confront other dead lines in our life. Stress is from when we are stuck in this fight or flight position and it can have long term or short term affects. There are short-lived minor stress that can have an impact on you like sweaty palms for example. But there is also Chronic stress, this stress is when it starts to interfere with your ability to live a normal life. The longer stress lasts the worse it can get for a person physically and mentally.

What we can do to prevent stress is:
-Identify what's causing the stress- You should monitor your state of mind throughout the day and make a list to organize your thoughts to become more efficient and to be able to set reasonable expectations for yourself.
-Build strong relationships- A relationships can be a source of stress but they can serve as stress buffers, so be sure to have somebody you can reach out to when you need a different perspective of life.
-Walk away when you're angry- Before reacting to a situation regroup your thoughts and reconsider, physical activities can also help work off stress too.
-Rest your mind- To distress yourself you should get the recommended seven or eight hours of sleep and to also cut off any distractions when you sleep at night. Also yoga and meditation is a good method to practice.
-Get help- Ask for help and consult with s therapist if you feel too overwhelmed.

Citation:

America Psychological Association. "How Stress Affects Your Health." American Psychological Association. American Psychological Association, n.d. Web. 22 June 2017

Eyes of the Mantis Shrimp.

The mantis shrimp is quite a interesting animal with quite the interesting set of eyes. The deep water predator has what is called a "compound eye" which is "made out of  thousands of small units that each detects light independently". Most humans have three types of cells called photoreceptors for detecting red, blue, and green light. However, within a mantis shrimps eyes there are "12 to 16 different  photoreceptors". This allows the mantis shrimp to see more colors but not in a way many would think. The mantis shrimp can detect ultraviolet light with their eyes in conjunction with the normal light spectrum visible to humans. Mantis shrimp react to this ultraviolet light in different ways; for example "they find some short wavelengths of UV so repulsive that they’ll avoid food that’s paired with those wavelengths".  Theories to why the mantis shrimp have ultraviolet vision are that it could do with "aggressive signaling" or it " might help it to process images very quickly without much contribution from its brain". This lack of more complex brain communication could be helpful for such a fast attacking predator. To add to the eyes complexity "The receptors that detect red to violet colours are connected to different nerves than the ones that detect UV, and both streams lead to different parts of the brain". This means that the mantis shrimp developed its over complicated way of sight two times.

Honestly the theory about how ultraviolet light could speed up and minimize brain function is both the most probable and also most interesting. I wonder if the ultraviolet light replaces or only adds to a reflex system like the spinal chord in humans. If it does it could be a twice as effective of a reflex system. Although if the ultraviolet reactions are involuntary than it would be pretty annoying to be a mantis shrimp who wants food under the wrong lighting. All I can say is it would be a really light - meal (pun always intended).

Yong, Ed. "Nature's Most Amazing Eyes Just Got A Bit Weirder." Phenomena. National Geographic |Phenomena, 04 July 2014. Web. 21 June 2017.



  

Why Feeding Dolphins Is a Terrible Mistake

When dolphins are fed in the wild, there is a greater risk of injury and death for them. Whether it is intentional or accidental, feeding  dolphins is illegal under the  U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act.  Even  accidently dropping bait into the ocean poses a threat for dolphins. As dolphins learn that they can find food near/from humans, they come closer and closer to boats. Often times dolphins are injured by hitting a boat or getting entangled in fishing nets. Recently, many dolphins have been found dead with fishing hooks engorged in them or found in their stomachs along with many other injuries cause by human interaction. Around 20% of dolphins studied had interactions with humans and nearly a third of them died from injuries cause by the interactions. Over the years these encounters have increased as their has been a rapid increase of boats on the water that are in close proximity to dolphins habitats. This increases the possibility of injuries and deaths in dolphins. Studies have also shown that these habits in dolphins tend to stay once they realize they can get food from humans. Dolphins are highly intelligent animals and once they see a place to get food easily, they tend to stick around. I think this research is important to see how much of a devastating impact humans have on the wildlife, especially in the ocean. Just by carelessly dropping bait into the ocean or even feeding a "starving" dolphin can contribute to their painful death. I think it is crucial that humans learn to not feed animals in the water as it can cause many deaths of marine animals such as the dolphins.

Mote Marine Laboratory. "Feeding wild dolphins can hurt them, new study says." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 13 February 2017

Male Peacocks Mating Call

             


                Researchers wanted to get the reveal the total process of the male Peacocks mating call. They included a biologist Roslyn Dakin on this project and they studied a move that peacocks  do before the females arrive called "shivering". In other words they're just reshuffling their feathers. The researchers continued to studied feathers in a lab. They found out that Rattling birds shake their shorter stiff tail feathers which makes a chain reaction to the fan feathers making them vibrate at the same frequency. Studies show that male peacocks with a lot of eyespots on their wings have more luck with the females.

Reviving Dinosaurs

   Dinosaurs have been extinct for more than 65 million years. That's long before any humans were around to observe their behaviors.

    First researchers start with fossils. These are the preserved remanis of the dinosaurs or the foot prints and other traces they left behind. These remains can provide an idea of a creature's overall size and shape. The process is quided by subtile features on well-preserved fossils that indicate the size and location of a creature's muscles and tendons. such soft tissues normally don't get preserved as fossil(the way that bones sometimes do). So researches typically reconstruct a dino's musicals and tends based on what they see in living creatures today. 

     Now biomechanicists get to work. these scientists study how living things move. Working with computer programmers. they simulate how dinosaurs might have walked ripped open prey or tried to defend themselves from predators. These simulations can be quite detailed. And besides helping moviemaker. They can help scientists figure out what questions need to be answered.

Reaction: This is interesting on a topic of creatures that don't exists anymore its all just a guess.      

Questions: Are they more reptile or mammal?

https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/reviving-dinosaurs-computers-recreate-eating-walking-ancient-creatures

-Posted by Maverick Sumner 

These Killer Whales Exhale Sickening Germs

The article I read is " these killer whales exhale sickening germs." Veterinary pathologist Stephen Raverty studied whales off the west coast of the west coast of north america. he was trying to find out if the breath of killer whales was causing disease since the population of these whales had decreased by 20 over the post 20 years. Raverty decided to take to take samples of whale breath/saliva by using 95.5 meter pole and colet liquid droplets from 12 whales, Their exhaled breath did host disease causing fungi and bacteria since microbes lived in the whales lungs. possible reasons whales contracted disease may be due to farm run-off into the ocean of urine and faces.

Reaction: I didn't know they take samples of the whales breathe. its pretty cool that the researchers can stretch a 5.5 meter pole over a whales blowhole as it surfaced to collect fluid/ saliva to test whale breath for disease. 

Citation: Oosthoek Sharon, These killer whales exhale sickening germs May 15,2017 science news for student. org

-Posted by Ella Worthington

Protecting Pets

In March of 2017, San Francisco passed a law to help shelter animals find homes. It states that pet stores must sell dogs and cats from shelters and rescue groups only. I think that this new law will send a message to any breeders who treat animals cruelly, and protect against animal abuse. Some breeders run puppy and kitten mills, where they raise hundreds of animals at a time in cramped, unsanitary spaces. The animals often go without enough food or water, or proper medical treatment. This law was enacted to combat this treatment and provide a hopeful life for homeless pets. 

http://scienceworld.scholastic.com/Biology-News/2017/04/To-the-Rescue