Bowerbirds Rituals

The scientists from Queensland (Australia) published and interesting research on bowerbirds, native to Australia and Papua New Guinea. The birds are well known for their distinctive courtship rituals, which involves males constructing intricate bowers. To decorate the bowers, males collect shiny and brightly colored objects, and the purpose of this creation is to attract females. Because plants such as potato bush have bright purple flowers and green fruit, high numbers of such plants could be found around the bowerbird’s bowers, as birds collect the fruits for display in order to further decorate their bowers. Females are especially attracted to bowers with lots of fruit. What is fascinating is that by collecting the fruits, birds actually grow plants around their constructions rather than building them around locations with high number of the plants. Of course, plants grow around the bowers because the birds gather the fruits and seeds germinate in the ground especially so because bowerbirds keep the area around their bower clear of grass and weeds, creating the soil ideal for germinating and because they sometimes use the same patch of soil for up to ten years. Although it cannot be said that the birds intentionally cultivate the plants, it is still the first time that a species other than humans has been cultivated plants for purpose other than feeding. What is even more fascinating is that the males’ behavior may even cause a change in the appearance of fruits in the same way farmers select the plants with certain features. In this case, because the birds prefer green over the other colors the fruits from plants around the bowers were slightly greener than those found on other plants.

Buoy Data Post

During the past month we my class and I have started learning about waves. We had to research about some of the waves that are occurring in the current time. Our teacher provided us with a great link which about the national Buoy data from all of the planet. We have learned that waves are a transfers of energy from one place to another. Waves are formed from energy that is caused on the see floors by tectonic plates. Tectonic plates are big pieces of land on which the worlds continents lie. Tectonic Plates constantly move which causes energy being released and making waves or earthquakes. What I have noticed is that the highest waves are mostly occurring in big oceans such as the Pacific and in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. This is because of constant moving of tectonic plates. The lowest waves mostly occur in smaller bodies of water such as the Mediterranean sea or around the north Pole. This is one of the causes why Tsunamis form. In the deep water force has been released and has been pushed up at the top. The pressured water travels and until it reaches the sea shore it will form a big wave or a series of waves which is also called tsunami. People are mostly badly affected by these waves. It destroys practically the whole coast. But when the water goes back and makes tide, it leaves fertile silt which is very useful for farming.

Reflection

During the past unit in Science class, My class and I learned about Astronomy. Some of the things we learned about, how does the motion of the sun and the moon control the water on earth. Tides on Earth control the water level on earth, types of tides are: High tides, meap tides, low tides, and spring tides. Another concept we leaned was about other planets in our Solar System. We also focused about outer planets, not about only our Planet Earth. We learned that there are two types of planets, terrestrial and gass planets. Uranus is a example of a gass planet, while mercury is an example of a telesales planet. Regarding all of this information, the human kind had to do research for a long period of time. The first formal research was in the 15 century when Galileo Galilei have noticed new stars in the sky. Unfortunately, the church in those times was very strong and powerful, but also very straight forward, thus Galileo was banished from the country. Through centuries of research the human race came up with a new technology of space craft and space probes which have been led into space which even today stands in space, which collect data and research for us, n order to have a wider knowledge of the outer space.

Waves Lab

Science Lab Materials: • Ripple tank filled up with water • Pipette • Styrofoam ball • Clay sticks Making Waves Hypothesis: I hypothesize that, whatever drop is released to fall in the ripple tank it will cause waves which will cover the whole area that is given; in this case it is the ripple tank. Data Analysis In the first part of the experiment, where the waves were created by the drop of water released from about 10 height, the waves in the ripple tank behave according to the place where they have been produced: if the wave was created in the center of the ripple tank, it traveled in the form of concentric circles until it reached the edges of the tank. If the waves were produced in the corner of the ripple tank, or in the middle of the ripple tank’s side, they traveled in a form of semi circled ripples, also reaching the very opposite end of the tank. When the waves were created In the corners, center, and at one end of the tank as well, they started to spread either as circles or semi circles; but when they collided they canceled out each other and interrupted each other’s movement. In the second part of the experiment, interaction between waves and barriers was observed. Whichever wave was produced, it traveled under the floating paper towel or under the Styrofoam ball. However, when a solid object i.e. stick of modeling clay, was placed in the tank the waves started to splash the edges of the clay stick. When the two clay sticks were placed so that a gap of about 2 cm was created, the waves travel as semi circles until they reached the barrier and then split into smaller waves and pass between the barriers using every possible passage to continue their movement. On the other hand, no matter how many Styrofoam balls were placed next to each other on the water surface, and no matter in which part of the tank the waves were created, they would always move under the floating objects lifting them slightly, without interrupting their own movements. Conclusion In every phase of the experiment waves showed the ability to travel as far as the end of the tank, even when they were interrupted by solid objects placed shortly apart from each other. Their shape depends of the place of their creation: if they were created in the middle of the tank, they formed full concentric circles, while the ones formed in the corners or at the ends were forming concentric semi circles. Waves have the property to transform the mechanical energy which was used to create them i.e. the energy of a drop of water falling on the water surface is further transform into wave energy. Also, the higher the amplitude and faster the frequency, the bigger/stronger the waves are. As for the waves interaction with each other and in with the solid objects in their paths, when colliding with each other waves tend to cancel out each other’s movements.