An article made the Wall Street Journal recently, it talks about the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill 21 years ago. They tell us that up to 20 different types of animals haven’t recovered and the oil is still found inches below the beaches surface. It is important for me as a local to remember what happened. And I think we need to learn more about these spills and how to recover from them.
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a good example. Exxon claims in this article that they will help clean the spill. Oil companies should be more prepared for these spills. There going to happen and I am sure one day another spill could happen here. We need to learn how to clean these disasters up. I am glad everyone is helping each other in this disaster.
What are the best methods for cleaning oil?
How can Oil companiess prevent spills in fishing areas or habitats?
From: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/4/29/1272558627486/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-rig-006.jpg
I have been learning about the recent explosion that caused an oil spill from a BP offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The leak is currently releasing 5,000 barrels of oil per day. They have failed to maintain the spill by burning and plugging the hole. This could be the worst oil spill in history, even worse then Exxon Valdez Oil Spill that took place in our back yard in 1989.
This is a total disaster for everyone in the United States, it can effect almost everyone. My family has had to deal with this type of thing for the last 20 years. I really hope that BP will come through and repay the damages that were caused.
From: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/29/us/29spill.html
Who will get effected the most?
What is the best way to clean this up?
Illustration of Bonnericthys. (Credit: Robert Nicholls.) From: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100227171454.htm
I read this article about a giant prehistoric fish that killed tons of plankton. It was a plankton killing machine, with a huge mouth! Scientist have recently found the fossils of this animals in the Asia, U.S., and Europe areas. They age back to 66-172 million years ago. These guys went extinct when the dinosuors died!
I thought this article was cool because this was like a dino-fish. And that his body was built for eating lots of krill. Here is another website for other types of prehistoric fish! I think it is very interesting learning about these types of topics!
How many plankton do you think this fish could eat in a day?
Could it eat more Plankton then a whale?
We have been learning a lot about how smart octopuses are and how they are the smartest invertebrates. These guys are very interesting. This article called “Smart Octopus?” told me that octopuses can do a number of very intelligent things. Some of them are they can learn simple mazes tell between shapes and patterns, use landmark navigation while foraging, use tools, show play behavior and have individual personalities. And these are all proven by scientists!
I was amazed at reading this. They are almost like humans in a freakish way. I also read that they had an octopus open a screw top lid to get out food. This is a very cool thing that octopuses can do. I learned that the yare not as smart as human children but are very smart creatures.
What else could they train octopuses to do in the future?
I read this article about how the attack of the Asian Carp could cost America in the billions! These carp are very ugly, always hungry, and weigh up to 100lbs. They eat 40% of their body weight. the reason these carp are a threat is because they are getting past the high-tech electrical defense system that keeps them out of the great lakes. they could wipe out a whole fish population because of how much they can eat. this could make the 7 billion dollar fishing industry in these areas go under.
What could we do to keep these carp from killing all the fish? how do we solve the problem of them getting by the defense system? is there a better system they could create?
I just read this article about how Dubai moved 1,100 coral-encrusted rocks, each weighing about five tonnes! They had to move it so it wouldn’t get damaged by future development.
Traditional methods of moving coral is too damaging so they had to use a new method. Usually 30% of coral dies while being transported, this time only 7% did. They attached the coral to the bottom of a 90 foot barge and moved it to the new area not going over 2 knots. ”Nothing like this has ever been attempted before and we are very pleased with the outcome.”
I read this article becasue I am interested in what people are doing to help preserve our habitats and help the earth. I thought this was very interesting. Take a look at this website for more information on rebuilding coral reefs.
Do you think this is good for our planet? What could they do better to save more coral next time?
In this article I read, about a missing scientific robot (called “Waldo” for short), that has been missing since Monday Aug. 31 2009. This Robot has been patrolling the waters of Southwest Florida waters looking for red tide. “The AUVs are designed to glide up and down and forward through the water, sending signals to satellite each time they surface.” “Waldo was tooling along offshore from Venice just fine, making reports every two hours between Aug. 26 and 31.” “Then, bam, it just stopped sending a signal.”
They think Waldo had a malfunction or a leak or a computer problem. Waldo costs around $100,000! I choose to write aboout this topic because it is very interesting how they lost such an expensive and important tool. Do you think the reward should be higher? Why is waldo so important?
