Koalas for School....

Try visiting Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane, Australia, or, checking out their educational programs.
http://www.koala.net/lonepine/index.htm

If you can't get there, look up Australia on a map and create a virtual visit or design a travelogue for a pretend visit.

What is special about the animals found at this sanctuary?

Have you been there? Tell us about it.

One of my Boston students did get a chance to go there. She is now a scientist that works on marsupials. We raised grant money for her to go. You might be able to raise funds for your own studies there.

Try using Google map (and comparing it to plotting the same trip using a paper map, in case the computer is down...) to go from:

Murdoch University

90 South St

Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia

to:

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary
Jesmond Road, Fig Tree Pocket Qld 4069, AUSTRALIA

and, then, to:

Sydney Airport
www.sydneyairport.com.au
The Ulm Building
1 Link Rd, Sydney International Terminal, NSW 2020, Australia

for the trip home to your own country.

Dr. J

Integrated Science of Cheese Making

First, enjoy the film:


Plants, sheep, dogs, microbes...
Botany, agriculture, microbiology, cooking, culture, Italy

What science do you see?

A history of cheese-making from Switzerland is presented at http://www.swissworld.org/en/switzerland/swiss_specials/swiss_cheese/history_of_cheesemaking/

More information on cheese-making : http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20041013/Feature1.asp

http://www.goat-cheese.co.il/thecheese1.html gives information on cheese-making in Israel.

Some great pictures: http://www.farmhousecheeses.com/cheese_making.shtml

Bats in the News

Bats in the News!!!! Click this link

Post under development. Check back in a few days for this post. Meanwhile look at some of the other posts. Thanks.

The Science of Groundhogs...

Groundhog day is celebrated in the United States on February 2nd each year. The myth that goes with it is that if the groundhog comes out and sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather. "In the United States the tradition derives from a Scottish poem:

As the light grows longer

The cold grows stronger

If Candlemas be fair and bright

Winter will have another flight

If Candlemas be cloud and snow

Winter will be gone and not come again

A farmer should on Candlemas day

Have half his corn and half his hay

On Candlemas day if thorns hang a drop

You can be sure of a good pea crop"

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_day#Historical_Origins. Accessed February 2, 2008)

But what about the science of groundhogs? Here's a link from the Universityof Michigan Museum of Zoology. You can learn about classification, Marmots, see pictures and learn other names for ground hogs. One starts with, "W." One starts with, "M." You can learn about diet and distribution of groudhogs and about their habits. If you go outside, you might see a groundhog today. You can observe it and make your own prediction about winter.

Do groundhogs have importance? You bet they do! http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/mammals/woodchuck/ is another site about groundhogs and offers a different perspective and some drawings. You might try doing some of your own drawings from your own observations. Or, in todays digital age, you might take some digital pictures. If you are in the United States, you might share your findings with a pen-pal (pen-friend) or e-mail pal overseas.

A third link on groundhogs is from the Smithsonian Institution, http://www.mnh.si.edu/mna/image_info.cfm?species_id=146 gives another name for a groundhog: "whistle pig." Can you whistle like a groundhog? What happens if a groundhog whistles and you whistle back?

Did you know a groundhog is a vegetarian? Perhaps you can eat a vegetarian meal today as part of your traditions of groundhog day. You can discuss vegetarian diets and also talk about groundhogs. Enjoy the day. It may snow tomorrow! (Of course, you can enjoy snow, too, but, it is nice to think about spring!)

(c)2008 J. S. Shipman.

How long do birds live? How many offspring do they have?

Hi! Recently I was asked questions on birds. The answer got truncated by the program handling the answer. I decided to re-create the answer here, thus, this post.

I am very excited to get your question. One reason is that my nephew is very interested in birds and we often watch them and talk about them. My mother, too, likes birds. My parents have a bird feeder and also go bird-watching. They are in their eighties. I think the birds help keep them young!

I imagine that the number of times a bird reproduces depends on the type of bird (chicken or robin, for example)and on the particular bird (Just like you like one kind of ice cream and your friend likes another, different birds might reproduce different numbers of times based on preference. Similarly, numbers of offspring and longevity vary among bird families and bird individuals just like they do among human families and individuals. The oldest woman I know is 115 years old, for example. The life span is now 160 for people. Some people die before reaching that age, because of accident or disease. The same kind of thing happens to birds: some live longer than others, some have more offspring than others. But, there are other answers...
I think I can help you find some answers.

Here is a diagram of a "typical" bird life cycle. Click here.
http://www.bird-friends.com/Life.html

There is a bird expert (scruthird@zoonewengland.com, ask for the, "bird expert.") at the Franklin Park Zoo (www.zoonewengland.org) and you can see some of "Bird World" too.

The National Zoo offers bird facts where you can find lots of information. The bald eagle, for example can live 48 years in captivity at zoos (less in the wild). It has two or three eggs a year and typically mates in the spring, but may mate more often.

Teaching printables can be found at: http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/Themes/Life_Cycles/

Another part of the answer addressed the fact that women and men can both be scientists and the student (a girl) asking the question was encouraged to go on in science.

There is a bird game already posted. I'll put a link here: Click!

Well, I haven't recreated the entire answer, but I repeated the work that was lost as well as I could recall it at present.

Edited on 10-20-09:
See comments below for more information. Here is a quote from one of them showing a sample of the kind of information you can find there on many birds:

SPECIES	YR.-MO	SPECIES	YR.-MO.
Laysan Albatross	37-05	White-crowned Sparrow	13-04
Arctic Tern	34-00	House Sparrow	13-04
Great Frigatebird	30-00	Warbling Vireo	13-01

Source for the information on the albatross, tern, and frigatebird shown above: http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/How_Long.html Accessed 10-20-09. Notes: Copyright ® 1988 by Paul R. Ehrlich, David S. Dobkin, and Darryl Wheye,
from The Birder's Handbook (which covers birds of North America), note the date of the statistics (which are now 21 years old), the website data is limited to campus(Stanford) birds (in California) [Thanks to D. Wheye for these added clarifications in the above, "Notes."]

Sailing, sailing...Darwin Sets Sail on HMS Beagle (1831)

Have you seen the Beagle?
Click this link and find a photo of a painting of the HMS Beagle, by Owen Stanley.

Can you imagine sailing on a ship like the HMS Beagle in 1831? You would know the waves! It is hard for me to imagine what it must have been like, however, I like to think about it from time to time. Jotting down ideas helps stretch my thinking.

You might try that mental stretch, too. Write a few lines about what you think it would have been like to sail on a ship like the HMS Beagle in 1831. Can ypou hear the sound of the waves? What do you see?

-----
Edited on 12-27=2009:
I came across this link and thought some readers might like to have access to it. It cites several sources on Darwin and his voyages.
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Charles+Darwin

Are you an inventor?

If you are an inventor, or want to become one, recordkeeping is important. Check out this website on logbooks for inventors:

http://inventors.about.com/cs/logbook/ht/Log_book.htm

TGA Ter [end]

What does the genetic code have in common with your phone number? Well, the title of this blog post might give you an idea. Say your phone number was 617-000-0000 (fake number). If you put an extra number, say 2, for example, into your phone number, what would happen?

Examples:
261-700-00000 Wrong number
621-700-00000 Wrong number
612-700-00000 Wrong number
617-200-00000 Wrong number
617-020-00000 Wrong number
617-002-00000 Wrong number
617-000-20000 Wrong number
617-000-02000 Wrong number
617-000-00200 Wrong number
617-000-00020 Wrong number
617-000-00002 Connection

Out of all the possible numbers resulting from adding an extra, "2," only one results in a connection to you.

A simplification of the genetic code can help you understand what happens or can happen, when the code is disrupted. Think about this for a while. I'll come back and add some more. Remember to use the title for a clue: TGA Ter [end].

(c)2007 J. S. Shipman. All rights reserved.

Zoo Educational Resources

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Education/OnlineResources/default.cfm