Science at Bangor & in the News
In chemistry this week we started out talking about the idea of mass: the amount of matter (aka stuff) something has. We investigated the idea of mass by completing a series of 6 lab experiments. The image below is from the fan favorite: touching a 9V battery to a fluffed pad of steel wool. We started analyzing our data at the end of the week and will wrap up what the lab means at the beginning of this week. Science 9 used our experience from the pasta lab as a starting point to talk about characteristics of science and learning about different types of variables in experiments. We will continue to talk about these ideas for the entire year, so our practice in identifying variables was time well spent. This week we will put our practice to work as the scientists investigate how changing one variable in an experiment can affect the outcome.
The big splash in the news lately has been the discovery of fossils of a new human ancestor: Homo naledi. The new fossils were found in an cave complex in South Africa. The opening was so small that the only scientists who could recovery the fossils were a team of small women. One exciting aspect of the discovery for me was that one of the lead scientists is from my alma mater, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Professor John Hawks reported that the bones indicate that Homo naledi was short (adult height of 5'0"), built for walking long distances and climbing, and had a smile that was probably more human than ape-like. He also said that it appears the bodies were intentionally placed in the cave and not trapped. Scientists still have years of analysis ahead of them to determine the age of the fossils and other information about what our ancient ancestors ate, how they aged, and where they may have lived.
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Ms. Lyons
Science is amazing, check it out! Archives
May 2016
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