7th Grade Current Events

Mrs. Walter I love your Wiki!
Blogging is funnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!

Allie ;)

Hi Mrs. Walter! I just read a really interesting article called "Lip-reading babies." It was about how psychologists are studying how babies learn to talk. This study suggests that babies might learn to talk by watching people's lips move while they are talking. Basically instead of just listening to their parents talk to them, they use their eyes to read lips. This study also helps determine if a baby could have autism. It is hard for kids to talk/communicate with others if they are autistic. The new study shows that babies who read lips for a long time (between 1 and 2 years old) could have autism. But psychologists still don't know if this theory is actually true. Rhea Paul, a psychologist from Yale University, said "It is normal for infants to increasingly look away from adults’ eyes and at their mouths from 6 to 12 months of age."

I think that prolonged lip reading doesn't necessarily mean that a child has autism. It could just be that it takes a longer time for them to learn how to talk. This article under "Humans And Health" captured my sight right away!! This was a really interesting article.

"Fats Encourage Overeating"

In this article scientists fed rats fatty foods. They later found that there is a molecule in fats that is also found in marijuana. This molecule can cause an addiction called munchies that makes a person want to eat uncontrollably all of time. This is one reason why foods that make you fat and have ingredients that are not so appealing taste as good as they do. It plays a very bad trick on the mind. This article showed me another reason not to eat foods that are high in fats.

Hi Mrs. Walter! The article I read today was called No Frost Bite for Dogs. Now what I learned from this article is that dogs and animals don't get frost bite is because of the veins in their paws carry blood and to the paw from the heart. The two blood veins generate heat and that keeps the dog's paws so warm. How the people found out the vessels was using a tool called Scanning electron Microscope, shorten (SEM). I learned much more, but these are my quick notes I took. This article is very interesting.

Hi Mrs. Walter, I have read the fascinating article named "No frostbie for dogs". After reading it I have
leanred that a dog's paws don't freeze because of the arrangement of their blood vessels underneath their
skin. The arrangement of their blood vessels keeps their temperature just right. Having the special
arrangement of the blood vessels that dogs do helps them hold onto body heat. Hiroyoshi Ninomiya, an expert
in animal anatomy, led to the study of dog paws. The scientists studied blood vessels called arteries and
veins, arteries can carry warm blood from the heart to the rest of the body. Whereas the veins bring blood
back to the heart. These vessels are so close together that they give off heat; while the warm arteries
heat up the cooler veins. Because of this, the temperature in a dog's paws stays balanced and undercontrol.

Hi Mrs. Walter!! I just read a really cool article called "Fats encourage over-eating." And by the fats it means bad fats. This article was mainly about how pharmacologists (people who study how drugs work) studied how eating fatty foods can lead to having the "munchies," a desire to eat all the time. Pharmacologists know this because they tested this theory on rodents. The fatty foods made the rats eat and eat and eat and eat. The fatty food made they want to keep on eating, and they didn't know when to stop. This was the same when they tested it on humans. It's just that humans are addicted and don't know when they've had enough. This is only in foods with lots of fat. The article talks about how instead of the food pyramid, how there's a "make your own plate." Plus, portion sizes and about fats. (good and bad ones) This article really changed my mind about fats, and it was really interesting!! Others should read this(:

Hey Mrs. Walter!!!!! I read a really interesting article called The Brain Behind The Game. This Article talked about mirror neurons.
Motor neurons are neurons that become active when you do an action or watch someone else does an action. These help a
person predict what is going to happen. For example, if your in a basketball game your mirror neurons will try to predict where the bill will go so you can steal the ball. I really liked this article because I play basketball and know I know more about basketball and my body.

Hey! I just read "Lip Reading Babies." It explained that babies read lips to learn to speak. They match the sound they hear with the shape of the mouth when it is spoken. Babies 8-12 months watched lips when people where talking. Babies who could talk look at the eyes. From 6-12 months is when babies start to look away from the eyes and to the lips. This is helping doctors understand how to help autism. <3 Megan

Hi Mrs. Walter! I just read the article called Rats' Caffeine Brain Boost, which was very interesting. It was about an experiment to see the effect of caffeine on the brain. So, they tested it on rats. The caffeine boosted activity in a part of the brain called the hippocampus. After the rats consumed the caffeine, electrical activity was high in a section of the hippocampus called CA2. This article was very interesting and i hope you guys read this. yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I read an article called "Surprisingly Hardy Flu Germs." Viruses are germs that cause disease. They can reproduce inside an
organism, but not in the outside environment. Scientists have found that some viruses can live outside for over sixth months. The
H1N1 virus lived longer in cool temperatures in less salty water. Some scientists decided to experiment with viruses on different materials. They used wood, plastic, fabric, and metals. On wood germs were gone in a few hours, but on stainless steel the viruses lived for up to nine hours. I think this was really interesting, but also super creepy. Like, there can still be living viruses on everything I touch. And the viruses can still infect me. Which is not good. At all. But it's good to know. I think I'll wash my hands a lot more now. And maybe get some disinfecting wipes to clean off all the surfaces I touch.

Allie :) :) <3

I read the article "Surprisingly hardy flu germs". A viruses are tiny disease causing germs that only reproduce in an organism that they've invaded. It was thought that outside of the human body, they die. But, scientists tested H1N1 viruses, or swine flu. Swine flu viruses died in hot, salty water but survived for months in cool, less salty water. The dried out viruses weren't really dead. On wood, viruses died quickly. On steel, they lived for hours. On other surfaces, they left their DNA. Scientists think that this might be why they were so infectious.

Hey Mrs. Walter!!! I just read "Rats' Caffeine Boost." Scientists are studying how caffeine affects humans by giving rats doses of caffeine. The scientists have discovered that when people drink caffeine, there are electric signals that go off in the CA2 area of the hippocampus. These signals might be able to lessen the symptoms of brain disorders. The more caffeine you drink, the more electric signals there are. I think that if scientists can find a way to lessen the symptoms of brain disorders, then they definitely should!