The infamous spas of Japan are not only attractive to us humans, our monkey relatives have also come to appreciate them. The Japanese Macaque (日本猿 in Japanese), the northern most non-human primate in the world, thrives in the Hell Valley of Nagano, Japan （長野の地獄谷、日本）. During the blasting blizzards of winter, monkeys in the area gather at these volcanic springs for warmth, soaking in the waters. Not only that, this intelligent species wash their food before they eat. Experiments and observations have shown that these animals wash the sand away from their sweet potatos at the seaside before consumption, making them the only non-human primate to do that, and one of the 3 animals in the world to adopt this ingenius solution, the other two being humans and raccoons.
Below is a segment from the last installment of BBC's "Life", showcasing their perculiar behaviour: Enjoy!
Monday, September 6, 2010
EOY is coming...
The science End-of-Year examination is coming.... For the September un-Holidays, our science teacher have stuffed us with 3 papers... I am now rushing through the pile of holiday assignments on my desk. Together with papers from other subject teachers, Oh NO! Perhaps the teachers might want to give us each paper separately at different times, then when we complete a topic, we attempt the questions of the topic on the papers. This would be less tiring for both students and teachers, breaking up the papers into several portions. This would be much better than stuffing us with so many things just before the exam!
Fun Cloud Making Experiment! :)
This is a video on making your own cloud!
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Enjoy! :D
Credits: Steve Spangler
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Enjoy! :D
Credits: Steve Spangler
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Carnivorous Plants
Many of us might have heard of the Venus Fly-Trap. Carnivorous Plants are plants that get extra nutrients from animal prey (not energy). They thrive in areas where insects are abundant and where the soil is poor in nutrients so have to find alternative sources. They still photosynthesize as sunlight is sufficient, and they cannot animals into energy. Here are some examles of carnivorous plants:
Venus Fly-Trap:
Probadly the most famous of the carnivorous plants, venus fly-traps are snap traps. They lure insects with tasty substances on the leaves. However, they don't snap the insect when it lands. The trigger is like a time bomb, once an insect touches one hair, the timer will start, counting 30 seconds. If the insect doesn't touch another hair, the timer will reset. But if the unlucky insect triggers the trap, the leaves will shut in less than a second, trapping the prey in some sort of a prison cell. Once in a while, the insect might trigger the trap at the outside of the leaf, so might escape. But most of the time, there is no way out. The plant then excrete digestive juices and digest the insect. Two days later, the trap reopens and the husk of the insect falls out, waiting for the next victim.
Sundew:
Sundews are probadly the hardiest of all carnivorous plants, laying their roots on every continent other than Antartica. They are flypaper traps. Insects that are attracted by the sweet but extremely sticky substance on the trap will get stuck. The leaf then coils around the victim and digests it. Below is a video from BBC's "Life", showing the hunting techniques of both the venus fly-trap and the sundew.
Pitcher Plant:
Pitchers modify their leaves to resemble a bottle. There will be a pool of digestive juices where any insect that falls into the trap will be digested. Like many carnivorous plants, they attract victims with sweet subtances. The landing platform of the pitcher is very slippery, so the insect will fall into the pool below. There, the protein and nucleic acids of the animal would be digested. To prevent overflowing during rain, the pitcher have evolved an "umbrella" to prevent rainwater from entering the pool. Though dangerous the pitcher may be, some animals make use of the pitcher and stay there for life... Below is a video on one of these opportunists, from the BBC masterpiece, "Planet Earth".
Of all the discovered carnivorous plants so far, none of them is a man-eater, all targeting arthopods, or the most, small amphibians and reptiles. But, rumours say that man-eating trees dwell in the depths of the Amazon and Madagascar... Who knows what secrets scientific discoveries might reveal about the private lives of these seemingly-peaceful organisms?
Venus Fly-Trap:
Probadly the most famous of the carnivorous plants, venus fly-traps are snap traps. They lure insects with tasty substances on the leaves. However, they don't snap the insect when it lands. The trigger is like a time bomb, once an insect touches one hair, the timer will start, counting 30 seconds. If the insect doesn't touch another hair, the timer will reset. But if the unlucky insect triggers the trap, the leaves will shut in less than a second, trapping the prey in some sort of a prison cell. Once in a while, the insect might trigger the trap at the outside of the leaf, so might escape. But most of the time, there is no way out. The plant then excrete digestive juices and digest the insect. Two days later, the trap reopens and the husk of the insect falls out, waiting for the next victim.
Sundew:
Sundews are probadly the hardiest of all carnivorous plants, laying their roots on every continent other than Antartica. They are flypaper traps. Insects that are attracted by the sweet but extremely sticky substance on the trap will get stuck. The leaf then coils around the victim and digests it. Below is a video from BBC's "Life", showing the hunting techniques of both the venus fly-trap and the sundew.
Pitcher Plant:
Pitchers modify their leaves to resemble a bottle. There will be a pool of digestive juices where any insect that falls into the trap will be digested. Like many carnivorous plants, they attract victims with sweet subtances. The landing platform of the pitcher is very slippery, so the insect will fall into the pool below. There, the protein and nucleic acids of the animal would be digested. To prevent overflowing during rain, the pitcher have evolved an "umbrella" to prevent rainwater from entering the pool. Though dangerous the pitcher may be, some animals make use of the pitcher and stay there for life... Below is a video on one of these opportunists, from the BBC masterpiece, "Planet Earth".
Of all the discovered carnivorous plants so far, none of them is a man-eater, all targeting arthopods, or the most, small amphibians and reptiles. But, rumours say that man-eating trees dwell in the depths of the Amazon and Madagascar... Who knows what secrets scientific discoveries might reveal about the private lives of these seemingly-peaceful organisms?
The Sun
Do you know what components make up our Sun?
The Sun is gargantuan, glowing sphere of hot gas, made of 70% hydrogen, 28% helium, 1% of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen, and the last 1% of misllacenous elements like neon, iron, silicon and much more. The Sun provides heat because its hydrogen burns the helium with its extremely hot core.
The Sun is a star, and the centre and life giver to Earth, allowing plants to photosynthesize and bring warmth to organisms. Many of us might have heard that a star "dies" after the gas have all been burnt. As the Sun's gases decreases bit by bit every day, sooner or later, it would not be able to give life to the Solar System any more. Earth will then be as barren as her neighbouring planets...
The Sun is gargantuan, glowing sphere of hot gas, made of 70% hydrogen, 28% helium, 1% of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen, and the last 1% of misllacenous elements like neon, iron, silicon and much more. The Sun provides heat because its hydrogen burns the helium with its extremely hot core.
The Sun is a star, and the centre and life giver to Earth, allowing plants to photosynthesize and bring warmth to organisms. Many of us might have heard that a star "dies" after the gas have all been burnt. As the Sun's gases decreases bit by bit every day, sooner or later, it would not be able to give life to the Solar System any more. Earth will then be as barren as her neighbouring planets...
Why does Ice float on water?
This was my ACE for last term :)
Objects that are less dense float on liquid that is denser. When water freezes, it actually becomes les dense. Ice is 9% less dense than water. The water exerts a normal force on the ice, so it remains afloat. Unlike other substances which are denser in their solid forms, water is different because of Hydrogen Bonding. Water is a compound, and each water molecule consists of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms. Water molecules are attracted by Hydrogen Bonds between the positively-charged hydrogen atoms and negatively-charged oxygen atoms. When water cools to 4 degrees Celcius, these Hydrogen bonds will alter to hold the oxygen atoms apart, which forms a crystal lattice, ice.
The floating of ice have allowed aquatic freshwater organisms to survive during the winter when the top layer of the river have froze. Unfortunately, it has also caused RMS Titanic to sink to the ocean depths...
More on Ice Floating: http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryfaqs/f/icefloats.htm
http://www.chemistryquestion.com/English/Questions/ChemistryInDailyLife/5c_Water_Ice.html
Video on Ice Floating: Enjoy! :D
Objects that are less dense float on liquid that is denser. When water freezes, it actually becomes les dense. Ice is 9% less dense than water. The water exerts a normal force on the ice, so it remains afloat. Unlike other substances which are denser in their solid forms, water is different because of Hydrogen Bonding. Water is a compound, and each water molecule consists of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms. Water molecules are attracted by Hydrogen Bonds between the positively-charged hydrogen atoms and negatively-charged oxygen atoms. When water cools to 4 degrees Celcius, these Hydrogen bonds will alter to hold the oxygen atoms apart, which forms a crystal lattice, ice.
The floating of ice have allowed aquatic freshwater organisms to survive during the winter when the top layer of the river have froze. Unfortunately, it has also caused RMS Titanic to sink to the ocean depths...
More on Ice Floating: http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryfaqs/f/icefloats.htm
http://www.chemistryquestion.com/English/Questions/ChemistryInDailyLife/5c_Water_Ice.html
Video on Ice Floating: Enjoy! :D
Pelicans eating Gannets?
I have just watched an BBC documentay "Life" on animal behaviour and saw something that I never expected: Pelicans eating gannets!
This incident was filmed off the coasts of South Africa. Changes in ocean currents and melting of glaciers at the poles have caused fish stocks to decrease, and forced many seabirds to hunt beyond their usual hunting grounds and over their limits. With no fish to feed their newborn chicks, great white pelicans have to find an alternative food source. Cape gannets, meanwhile, were forced to abandon their chicks to look for food in the open ocean. The pelicans have reached the gannets' breeding grounds and swallowed entire chicks down their gullets. Back at the nest, the pelican parents spit out half-digested gannet chicks for their own chicks to devour. This is a perfect example of animals being pushed to the extreme due to man's impacts on the environment.
"Life", could be considered as the sequel for globally-acclaimed documentaries, "The Blue Planet" and "Planet Earth". Where the previous works focused on habitats, this one is devoted to organism behaviour. It showcased extraordinary behaviour of organisms that people hardly ever imagined, from sengis creating a racecar track to avoid predators, to pebble toads rolling down mountains to dodge tarantulas. Filmed entirely in High-Defenition, it is a must-watch for all nature lovers.
This is a segment of the fifth installment, "Birds", which shows the pelicans and the gannets. Enjoy! :D
For more information on this documentary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_(BBC_TV_series)
This incident was filmed off the coasts of South Africa. Changes in ocean currents and melting of glaciers at the poles have caused fish stocks to decrease, and forced many seabirds to hunt beyond their usual hunting grounds and over their limits. With no fish to feed their newborn chicks, great white pelicans have to find an alternative food source. Cape gannets, meanwhile, were forced to abandon their chicks to look for food in the open ocean. The pelicans have reached the gannets' breeding grounds and swallowed entire chicks down their gullets. Back at the nest, the pelican parents spit out half-digested gannet chicks for their own chicks to devour. This is a perfect example of animals being pushed to the extreme due to man's impacts on the environment.
"Life", could be considered as the sequel for globally-acclaimed documentaries, "The Blue Planet" and "Planet Earth". Where the previous works focused on habitats, this one is devoted to organism behaviour. It showcased extraordinary behaviour of organisms that people hardly ever imagined, from sengis creating a racecar track to avoid predators, to pebble toads rolling down mountains to dodge tarantulas. Filmed entirely in High-Defenition, it is a must-watch for all nature lovers.
This is a segment of the fifth installment, "Birds", which shows the pelicans and the gannets. Enjoy! :D
For more information on this documentary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_(BBC_TV_series)
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