Image by 5gyres.com By Marcus Whalen
Staff Writer Polluting the ocean one millimeter at a time. Microbeads pose a serious threat to our environment.“Beat the Microbead.org” has been in a mission since 2012 to end the use of microbeads. Microbeads are small plastic beads normally around a millimeter in size. These beads are not biodegradable, so when they are dumped into the ocean on these garbage islands they beads either float on the surface or sink to the bottom. “Microplastics are the most harmful pollutants currently choking the oceans” the UNEP said.The group has convinced companies all over the world to stop the use of microbeads in their products to help protect our earth. These beads have been found on beaches all over the world.”Recent studies have shown microplastics can be found on almost every beach worldwide, on polar icecaps and just about everywhere in the oceans.” Beat the Microbead.org says. Microbeads have also been found in plankton and other fish. President Obama signed a bill in December of 2015 against the use of microbeads in products. The beads are most commonly found in facial cleansing products.The beads pull the oils out of your skin, but at the cost of ruining our oceans. Some companies are using alternatives to microbeads that still do the same thing, like apricot pits. Burt’s Bees is one company that does this. There are probably many students who attend LJHS who use products with microbeads, and don't even know how poor they are for the environment. This is not a new issue either, these beads have been around for a while but new studies are showing and proving how bad they are for the environment. Image by bbc.com By Tristen Olson
Staff Writer On the 31st of March 2016, in Italy, a group of Archeologists discovered a slab with a written language from the 6th century B.C. The slab is now 2,500 years old. The stone artifact had a language that looked like it was from the Etruscan culture that lasted from the 3rd century to the 6th century. The slab weighed in at 500 pounds and it is more than four feet tall and three feet wide. Archaeologists say that it could be a sacred discovery. The slab has about 70 legible letters on it. “This is probably going to be a sacred text, and will be remarkable for telling us about the early belief system of a lost culture that is fundamental to western traditions,” said archaeologist Gregory Warden. “We hope to make inroads into the Etruscan language,” said Warden. Warden is one of the people that was part of the discovery. He wants the language to come back and for people to recognize it. The archaeologists worked to find the tablets, so anyone can travel to find discoveries on their own. People have said the most active place for archaeology is Oregon State University in Corvallis where a Wooly Mammoth was recently discovered. Image by universetoday.com By Mariane McPherson
Staff Writer “I want to find another Earth. That’s what I’m living for.” Sara Seager, an MIT astrophysicist, has been looking at planets beyond our solar system, known as exoplanets, for about 20 years. Seager believes she knows how to make the discoveries that technology creates. When the first exoplanet was discovered in the 1990s, many questioned the finding and didn’t believe it was real. But with better technology, we have observed more than 6,000 of them, and most are giant balls of gas. With so many planets coming out and being discovered, the race is on to identify one that resembles Earth: a rocky world with liquid water and suitable to host life, just like ours. "Atmospheres are important because they're a way to look for signs of life: we look at gases that don't belong and may have been produced by some life form," Seager explains. Seager did not want to simply look for distant planets, she set her eyes on something more specific-- their atmosphere --and she was the first person to do so. "If you look at a rainbow very closely, you see tiny little dark lines between the colors, pieces that are missing. Those lines are there because Earth's atmosphere is taking away some of the light,” said Seager. "It's like skunk spray: a tiny bit of sodium can make a very big signature," she says. To find life, we need small rocky planets - like ours. Image by livescience.com By Sankalp Patil
Staff Writer 2015 was the warmest year on record, every where in the world, and we are to blame. Most of us have heard the term “global warming”, but nobody really pays attention to it. Or even if they do, they think it means hotter summers and beach time. But what they don’t know is that global warming is the one biggest cause of natural disasters. It is also the leading cause of animal extinctions. This year was one of the worst due to El Nino. That is basically when warm water goes north and the cold water goes south. This causes a bunch of weather issues and also dramatically increased the level of global warming. Global warming is basically when smoke and exhaust from factories, cars, and mainly CO2 goes into the sky and forms a blanket of gas. So, when the sun’s heat goes to Earth, instead of bouncing back into space, the blanket of smoke exhaust and Co2 keeps the heat trapped. This is called the greenhouse effect, and it is the number one reason for animal extinction. In other words Global Warming is the increase of Earth's average surface temperature due to greenhouse gases that collect in the atmosphere like a thickening blanket, trapping the sun's heat and causing the planet to warm up. As novelist Margaret Atwood wrote on Medium, "It's not climate change. It's everything change." Global warming cause the ice caps and any other stray icebergs to melt. Over time, this causes the ocean levels to rise causing low lying islands to be submerged. This also causes the ocean to warm up, and this sometimes is just too much for some species and they go extinct. That’s just one of the many things that global warming changes. Climate scientists on Live Science claim that 2015 was the hottest year on record “by a mile” and it was caused by global warming. The world’s average surface temperature has increased by around 0.6 degrees Celsius over last 100 years claims Discovery. Now that may not sound like a lot, but in the recent years, the temperature has been increasing more than it has over the last 100 years. “Global warming isn't a prediction. It is happening,” states James Hasen. “and we need to do something about it." Image by discovery.com By Maia Leeds
Staff Writer Like Jasmine in Aladdin, scientists have discovered, “A whole new world!” There has been solid evidence of a new planet, planet nine, scientist call it. Scientists are shocked when they find evidence of a fairly large planet tracing a strange, and highly elongated orbit in our outer solar system. And when further research is conducted, professionals find it to be true! Only the scientists are finding rock hard evidence, but haven’t yet laid their eyes on it. "This would be a real ninth planet," stated Brown, the Richard and Barbara Rosenberg Professor of Planetary Astronomy. Having a ninth planet has open doors to a whole new world ready to be picked apart and discovered. This planet has been said to take around 10,000 to 20,000 years to orbit the sun, just once. Scientists are getting excited about discovering a new planet. "There have only been two true planets discovered since ancient times, and this would be a third. It's a pretty substantial chunk of our solar system that's still out there to be found, which is pretty exciting." says Brown, just amazed by the idea of being able to research, and learn about a huge world of about five thousand times the size of Earth. Image by beautydentalchicago.com By Wanchi Chiang
Staff Writer Have you ever been told to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day to stay hydrated? Or that you shouldn’t eat too much sugar as it will make you seriously hyper? Despite how you believed or believe these so called ‘facts’, that are surprisingly rather not truthful. During winter time, you’re most likely to wear thicker clothing to keep you warm. Primarily because your mother doesn’t want you to catch a cold due to the freezing weather. Well, what mom worried about isn’t the root of the problem. Fevers and colds are transmitted by contact with a sick patient, not by going out in the snow, where there is less virus than in your own home. Although viruses do tend to span in December, this doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the climate. It is most likely due to staying in your cozy house full of heat. When you see screaming children running wild at a birthday party, you might tell yourself, that’s definitely because of the sugary chocolate cake. That might be little too far from accuracy. Scientists have found out in a study that sugar is not responsible for hyperactive activity, nor change in cognitive skills. However, after being told their children have savored a bowl of sweets, parent are likely to raise their expectations, therefore concluding the child had gotten more hyper due to the sugar. As we are all taught in elementary school by our trustworthy teachers, there are five senses in the human body--- touch, smell, hear, taste, and sight. Perhaps add another 16 senses and it might just be true. A sense is ‘any system that consists of a group of sensory cell types that respond to a specific physical phenomenon and that corresponds to a particular group of regions within the brain where the signals are received and interpreted,’ in this case, a human body has plenty of these. Researchers agree that there are about 21 senses. “Oh really? I have never known that before, I always thought that I only had 5 senses. ” Reacted Anna Cunningham when told this myth is untrue. An example other than the ‘original’ 5 is proprioception, which is the sense that tells the brain where your body parts are. Without this sense, you probably won’t be able to get the food into your mouth so easily. Last but not least, the summer reminder, ‘you should drink 8 glasses of water per day’. No matter how many times this is said to be wrong, the science-less ‘fact’ remains in the worry of people. The origin of this myth is from a 1945 Food recommendation, declaring that the daily water recommendation for adults is 2.5 liters, which is about 8 glasses of water. However, the article also stated that much of this amount is contained the normal consumption of food already, an important fact missed by many. There is 1 milliliter of water in each calorie of food, so drinking 8 liters of water a day might just be a little too much. ‘But it won’t do any harm if I drink a little extra water, right?’ Wrong, and Aaron E. Caroll, a pediatrician, agrees strongly with this. "Contrary to many stories you may hear, there’s no real scientific proof that, for otherwise healthy people, drinking extra water has any health benefits," said Aaron. Image by theparentbackpack.com By Milla Beremski
Staff Writer The LJHS science fair is a way for students and peers to expand their knowledge on a certain science topic. 8th graders give their thoughts on the science fair. “It’s very hard and challenging and kind of cool,” Lex Moosa, 8th grade, states. Some people think it can help expand your knowledge, just like Moossa says. A science fair project is simply a research project that is entered into a competition called a science fair. All students in 8th grade may participate at LJHS. It is a requirement and some students do not agree with that. “I think it’s unnecessary to do,” Xander Houck, 8th grade, exclaimed. "It can definitely expand people's knowledge but some students do not like the idea of taking the time to make a very big poster on a specific topic." Teachers want to see if students can start and finish a lab all by themselves and they thought that a science fair would be the perfect opportunity to show learning. The science fair will be held at LJHS on Tuesday, January 23 from 6:00-8:00 pm. Image by capemeares.org By Macy Barhyte Staff Writer Could you imagine not having fresh water to shower for a month? What about not having electricity for a month? How about not having your phone? That's what will happen if the Cascadia earthquake hits. Washington, Oregon, and a little bit of northern California will be affected. Scientists have no idea when it's going to hit. It could be today or not even in our lifetime. The earthquake will be a big one, and it could be a magnitude of 9.0 or larger. According to OPB.com, the shaking will be severe and poorly built structures will crumble. Furniture will fly all around the house if not bolted to the walls or ground. To prepare for the big boom, bolt down your water heater. Also, know how to turn off your gas. If you don’t turn off your gas your house can blow up. Another way to prepare is to get 14 gallons of fresh water and 42 meals per person. You should have a meeting place with your family because phones will be out. Water and electricity will be out for a month. The water and sewage will be out for a year. Police and fire will be out for about six months. Health care facilities will be out for about 3 years. So be prepared for the major consequences. Kenneth murphy director FEMA’s Region X, says “This is one time that I’m hoping all the science is wrong, and it won’t happen for another thousand years.” It's a little concerning that they have no idea when it's going to hit. Murphy also said,“Our operating assumption is that everything west of Interstate 5 will be toast.” According to the Lake Oswego review, LOSD schools are poorly built. This means our school won’t be able to withstand the earthquake. Overall, the Cascadia earthquake is frightening but if you know what’s coming, you will be better prepared. Image by the Oregon Zoo By Emily Bachman
Science Editor Lions, Tigers, and Bears oh my! Seventh graders from Lakeridge Junior High School will be going on a very exciting field trip to the Oregon Zoo on March 8th! Everyone is looking forward to seeing all the animals and taking a day off school. The seventh graders will leave school and load the buses at 9:10. The chaperones will join them as they venture to the Oregon Zoo. While there, students will split into groups and then explore the zoo. Although this trip will be very fun, the kids will have to complete a few worksheets involving mostly science, but also math and language arts. This trip will allow students to study about what we are learning in class and to observe and analyze animal adaptations in person. The fee for buses and entry is $7.00. When there, we can see new elephant enclosure. The elephants habitat is four times larger then the old habitat and is home to the baby elephant Lily and her family. Zoos provide more then 142,000 jobs. They also have positive community based assets. Zoos allow everyone to get a further understanding of animals and see them in a local place. Some more positive aspects zoos give is that they are leaders in the protection of endangered species. Clearly, almost everyone notices these benefits because 80% of Americans believe that zoos are important enough to local communities to be supported by government funding. Overall, the LJHS seventh graders are pumped to go on this field trip and looking forward to see the 48 species that live at the zoo. Image by newsweek.com By Maddie Champion
Staff Writer The Martian, released October 2nd, is a movie that has twists and turns in every way possible. The movie also related to what 7th graders at Lakeridge Jr. High are learning about science this unit.The movie takes place on Mars and the 7th graders are learning about astronomy. The movie had events going wrong after everything was going great, such as when there was a big explosion that caused the astronaut to lose all of his crops that he had worked on for months. This movie was shown at the Lake Theater. The film is about a group of astronauts who travel to Mars when a storm comes. One of the astronauts is hit by debris and thrown back as the group attempts to leave and go back to Earth.The astronaut was left “dead” on Mars, as the others fled away. The astronauts feared if they didn’t leave they would all be dead and no one would make it back home to Earth. “It was a great thrill; every time something was going good, something went bad. For example the mission to discover Mars was going great until the storm came and people were left behind,” Hannah Dorros, a 7th grade student, said. Hannah gave the movie a 4 out of 5. “When the astronaut was left behind during the storm I thought he was going to die,” Taylor Aldrich, a 7th grader from Lakeridge Jr. High, said. Taylor gave the movie a 4 out of 5 as well. The movie ended up being 2 hours and 22 minutes long, and every second of it was exciting. The movie was PG-13 because there were a few swear words throughout it . The director, Ridley Scott directed the amazing cast of Matt Damon (Mark Watney), Jessica Chastain (Melissa Lewis),Kristen Wiig (Annie Montrose), Kate Mara (Beth Johanssen), Jeff Daniels (Teddy Sanders) as well as other amazing actors and actresses. They whole movie was a beautifully done. |
LJHSLakeridge Junior High School is an award- winning academic institution located in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Archives
May 2016
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