My last blog, Flowers

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Well, flowers are a part of reproduction in angiosperms.  Angiosperms use flowers, fruit and pollen to reproduce by doing a process called pollination and fertilization.

Pollination means to move pollen from a stamen of a flower to a pistil of a another flower. Fertilization is giving the egg all it needs to turn into a seed. Gymnosperms use male and female cones and pollen to reproduce.  They also use pollination and fertilization.

Pollen is moved to different flowers is by using pollinators. Pollinators are usually small animals for flowers like insects, birds and bats.

They move the pollen by going to a flower for nectar, then the anther of that flower will brush up against the pollinator and will release pollen on to it. It will then go to another flower for more nectar. The stigma of a flower will come and collect the pollen off the pollinator to the flower's egg to become a seed.

The stamen, which is a male reproduction part, holds pollen or male sex cells but the stamen has two sections in it. One is the anther. They're the top part of the stamen and they release the pollen during pollination. The other parts are the filaments and they support the anthers.

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The pistil is the female reproduction part and it has four sections.   In it, one is the stigma and it collects pollen during pollination with its sticky tip. The second one is the ovary. It holds the flower's eggs for pollination and fertilization.

The third one is the style. It's the tube the pollen goes down to the ovule to turn the flower's egg into a seed. The fourth one is the ovule. It produces the egg in pollination and fertilization.

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Three methods of seed dispersal are wind, animals, and water.  A lot of plants use wind to move their seeds some where else.  Plants also use animals to move their seeds by putting their seeds in fruit, then an animal will come and take it somewhere else. Plants use water to move their seeds some where else.

My favorite flower is the rose.  They're 100 species of roses. To protect themselves from small animals, some have small, sharp, thorny prickles.

Most roses are in Asia, but people use roses for different reasons.  Roses can be put into jelly, jam and marmalade and is used in skin products. They are also used in vitamin C.  Roses can be up to 7 meters tall.  The word rose came from the French.

Bye, that's really the end of my blog.

Seed plants

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Many seed plants have a way of getting all the food, water and nutrients they need by transporting it through vascular tissue.

The vascular tissue that transports food through a plant from its leaves to its roots is called the phloem. The part that transports water and nutrients through a plant from the leaves is called the xylem.

They are 300,000 species of seed plants and there are two groups of seed plants.  The are called gymnosperms and angiosperms.

The gymnosperms reproduce their seeds by using cones which hold the seeds and drop on the ground. They are also the oldest trees. Some species of gymnosperms are conifers, ginkgoes, cycads and gnetophytes.

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Angiosperms hold their seeds in fruit and get animals to take them away so plants won't grow under them and fight over nutrients.

They are most of the plant species. There are two classes of angiosperms called monocots and dicots.  Monocots have one seed leaf in it's seed and dicots have two.

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People get a lot resources from seed plants like building material, paint, soap medicine, rubber, oil, clothing and oxygen. Seeds have embryos in them and the plant makes food, water and nutrients to keep in the seed so the embryo can grow.

Seeds are what give seed plants the ability to survive on land away from lots of water and also what gives them the ability to survive really dry or cold environments.

Bye! That's the end of my blog.

Plants

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Hey! Today I'm talking about plants.  All plants are green. The substance that makes them green is called chlorophyll. This is stored in containers called chloroplasts, which also changes energy from the sun into nutrients in each plant cell.

Each plant cell has a cell wall which helps maintain its structure.  It is made of cellulose which prevents some plants from drying out.  Plants also have a chamber to store leftover nutrients called a vacuole.

There is also the nucleus of the plant cell. It sends messages through the plant cell and puts everything in place. These functions are called organelles. There are also about 285,000 species of plants.

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The difference between vascular and non-vascular plants is that vascular plants, like trees, have roots.  They can also move resources through them and can grow branches.

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Non-vascular plants, like mosses and algae, don't have roots, can't move lots of resources through them, and can't grow branches.  Non-vascular plants came earlier then vascular plants. Then plants evolved and made vascular plants.

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Plants have also adapted to living on land by getting different ways of protection and support to survive environments on land.  An example is how cactus have thorns to not be eaten by animals and to store water for nutrients. 

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The first plants came from the sea and adapted to land over time.  It takes a long time for different types of plants to adapt to different environments, but they have adapted to survive powerful environments.

Mosses were one of the first plants to come from the sea.  They come from a group called bryophytes.  They can live in any continent and since they don't have roots, they absorb water and nutrients through their leaves.

Mosses usually live on forest floors. There are 12,000 species of moss and they also have rhizoids, which allow them to absorb water through their leaves. Rhizoids also let mosses survive without getting that much sun.

Bye that's the end of my blog.

The science fair

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Well, the Science Fair took a long time to work on for me, but in the end it turned out good.  Now first, before I started on my Science Fair board, I needed to find out my topic by looking at everyday questions.

Once I found my topic which was "Can different types of foods create electricity", I had to build a hypothesis for it. That means I had to answer the question, then put why I thought that was the answer.

Also, I chose that topic because I was interested in electricity and wanted to create it.  When I put my hypothesis, I had to do some research about what question I was trying to find the answer to.

Now, the next thing I had to do for the Science Fair is to put the materials and procedure. That means I had to put the things I used to do my experiments and put how to do the experiment.  At first I didn't have the right materials, but I borrowed a voltmeter from my uncle who is an electrician.

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The experiment got messy, but in the end I got the right results and did the right research to answer questions like, "What type of acids did all of my foods that I experimented on have?" The orange and lemon had citric acid, the zucchini had pantothenic acid and the potato had phosphoric acid.

Then, after I took pictures while I did the experiment, I wrote all of the results, hypothesis and other research down. Once I did that I had enough information to write my conclusion which is using the scientific method.

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After I did my conclusion, I had enough information and pictures to start my display board. It took a long time to put all the information and pictures on there,but once I did that I had to put the title of the project on the board.

I also found out that if you had enough foods with a lot of acid and connected them with copper and zinc wires, someone would be able to power a really big electricity source.

After that I rehearsed presenting to the judges. I was really good at it, but I didn't want them to ask a lot of questions, so I rehearsed that too.

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When it was time to present our Science Fair projects and while I was waiting for the Judges, I thought of ways of doing my presentation and to speak clearly.

When I was done I did good by speaking clearly, looking at the judge instead of reading off the board, explaining it clearly and thought the Science Fair was a good experience.

Bye that's the end of my blog.

Mammals

Hey ,yeah I'm talking about mammals.  Mammals have mammary glands, that's what they use to feed their young milk.  Some mammals are monotremes like platypuses, sweat milk to feed they're young.

Mammals also have hair, backbones, breathe air, are warm blooded and have mammary glands.  Mammals are similar to birds because they both have back bones, breathe air and are warmblooded.  The difference is  birds don't have fur or mammary glands.

Placental mammals give live birth and feed their babies with milk. They also are the biggest group of mammals.

Monotremes lay eggs, sweat milk and they have different types of defenses.  The platypus has a poisonous tip on the side of their feet that they put in to predators when threatened.  Spiny anteaters roll in balls and protect themselves with the sharp points on their back.

Marsupials have pouches and leave babies in them while feeding them milk until they develop.  Mammals can also adapt to different environments by using their healthy body systems to stay active and survive.

                                                   My favorite mammal is the jaguar.

It is the only big cat that lives in the Americas and they live in rain forests.  They're near extinct and are relatives of the leopard.  They also live in large habitats and have a bite hard enough to go through a turtles shell.

The jaguar can weigh up to 211 lbs. and can have a length that's 6ft 4in. Jaguars also climb trees to pounce on their prey and eat large animals like bulls.  They also live mostly in south america and they use their fur color for camouflage.  They have adapted to swimming and eating fish.

Bye that's the end of my blog.

John F. Kennedy and the civil rights movement

                                                             http://www.loc.gov

In the civil rights movement there were a lot of great people, but the one I'm talking about is John F. Kennedy.  He was a big part in the civil rights movement, he was one of the reasons African Americans we're treated equally.  He helped by giving African Americans federal jobs and ended home discrimination by allowing African Americans to buy better houses in the 1960s.

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He also helped end bus discrimination by saying that African Americans could sit where they want.  He enforced laws against voter discrimination by motivating African Americans to register to vote and making proposals for African Americans that lead to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

He also helped end education discrimination by enforcing the law of putting whites and African Americans in the same school.  He also helped end racial discrimination and thought all people should be equally treated.

A lot of African Americans didn't have as much power as other people, but because of John F. Kennedy every person today has rights. When I went to a history center I learned a lot of African American history like how a lot of blacks helped fight in the civil war and how there was a lot of people who helped in the civil rights movement.

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He also made proposals that lead to something called the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  His civil rights proposals became law under the act and one of them was saying that all people should have equal access to public places.

Bye that's the end of my blog.

birds

There's been a lot of animals I've talked about.  Now I'm talking about birds.  As you probably know, birds have feathers, but there are other special things about them like how they have two types of feathers.  They're called contour and down feathers.  Contour feathers are what make birds look smooth, sleek and colorful.  Down feathers give a layer of protection from a bird's skin and  keep birds warm.

Birds are also warm blooded or endothermic and their body temperature stays the same.  Each one of a birds' feathers is connected by hooks, so if one of their feathers get ruffled, they connect it back with the others.  Birds also constantly breathe through their air sacs to make them lighter and fly easier.

They also don't have any teeth, so they use their beak to tear the prey apart.  Some birds might not have beaks, so instead they have bills.   Water birds have these.  Bird's bones are hollow because if they weren't, they would be too heavy to fly.

They also have curved wings so air can lift them up from below. Also Georgia's, official state bird is the Brown Thrasher.

My favorite bird is the Peregrine Falcon. They can fly up to 202 mph and are also raptors.  That means they hunt other animals.

They eat mammals, reptiles and insects by diving through the sky and catching them by surprise.  They used to be endangered because of DDT, but they're not endangered any more.  DDT contaminated all of their food and put chemicals in lakes and plants.

They can live anywhere except polar regions, high mountains and tropical rain forests. It's also the fastest flying animal in the world. They live on scrapes or cliffs.

Bye that's my blog

Reptiles

Hey, I'm talking about reptiles.  Yeah, like dinosaurs, crocodiles and snakes.  Some people think they're amphibians, but they're not because they can't breathe under water.They also have dry and scaly skin because they stay in the sun all day.

Some reptiles, like crocodiles and alligators, go in water but they stick they're heads out to breathe. They also stick them out to see their prey. They also have large scales called scutes.  They shed them one at a time.

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Snakes are another reptile group.  They have different ways of catching prey. Some might use venom or swallow them whole.They also shed there skin all at once.They also have these things called pit sensors that can sense heat in mammals thats why they are able to know where the prey are when they're hunting. They  also  gluide they're called flying snakes.

Turtles are another reptile group.  There are different types of turtles like the sea, alligator snapping and the mud turtle. They also have huge scales called scutes and have to come up to surface to get some air to breathe.

Lizards are reptiles too.  They have to shed their skin in pieces.  There are also 3,800 species of them. Some lizards have detachable tails and can live on any continent except Antarctica because reptiles have to live in warm areas. They have to because they're cold blooded and need warm body temperatures.

Bye...that's the end of my blog.

year 2012

This year is going to be awesome!  I've already had an awesome 3 days and 2012 just started.

Winter break was good.  For Christmas I got gift cards, a remote control car and video games.

My Grandpa came over from Los Angeles to visit for Christmas and we had a good time eating and watching movies.

New Years was also good.  On TV we watched the ball drop in New York.

My friends and family celebrated in their own way.  We had a good time drinking champagne, hot chocolate and eggnog.

I hiked with my friends and moved into my new house.

Happy 2012, Bye!

Amphibians

Hey people! I know my last three posts have been about animals that live underwater, but now I'm talking about animals that can live on water and land.  They're called amphibians. Amphibian means double life because amphibians can live on land and water.

That's because they go through this thing called metamorphosis.  That's when they start off living in the water and breathing with gills as a tad pole.  When they go through metamorphosis they lose their tail, grow legs and live on land by using lungs to breath.

There's three types of amphibians. One is called arans, which are frogs and toads they can jump really high. Frogs jump higher than toads because toads are bigger than frogs.  Some frogs and toads have special ability's like poison, gliding, camouflage or seeming bigger by puffing up.

The second one is urodeles which are newts and salamanders. They have long flat tails, arms and legs.

                                                                                                                                                           

The third one is apodas. They're called caecellians because their look is like a snake or a worm, but they're amphibians and don't have arms or legs. They also don't see really good and light affects they're eyes so they stay underground.

That's the end... Bye.

bony fish

                                        

Hey all you people out there! Today I'm talking about bony fish. Yeah, they're the fish that look like Nemo and his friends.


You guys might wonder how fish float so much better than us.  Well, they have this thing called a swim bladder.  A swim bladder helps fish float around everywhere like a balloon.  When it inflates they float up, when it deflates they sink down.

Hey, have you guys ever wondered how fish know when a predator is coming? Well, they have have a thing called a lateral line. They're organs that can sense movement in the surrounding water around them.

Fish breath using gills.  Oxygen from the water passes through them and when the oxygen runs out and turns into carbon dioxide, it goes back into the water.

Now let me tell you about the different types of fins like the dorsal fin.

The dorsal is at the back of a fish.  There can be up to three of them on one fish.  It's used to keep balance in the water.

The caudal fin is the tail fin.  It's used to swim away from predators.

The pectoral fin is on each side of a fish near its head.

The anal fin is at the bottom of a fish and is used to stay straight while swimming.

The pelvic fin is on each side of a fish  at the bottom and helps it go up or down.

The adipose fin is between the caudal and dorsal fins.

The lateral line on a fish is a sense organ that detects movements in water.



The flying fish actually glides using his pectoral fin by pushing them up. They live in tropical areas and can glide to as high as 160ft.

They can stay in air  for 45 seconds and can go up to a distance of 1,300ft. in one glide. They do this to escape from predators or to get somewhere fast.

The American Eel can go up to 6ft. long and live in fresh waters. They also eat dead fish, carrion and insects and can weigh up to 9 pounds.

These fish spawn once a year and stay in groups.   They have to jump over things, dodge predators and swim through obstacles to spawn.

Bye all you people.

Why leaves change color

Hey, Have you guys ever wondered how leaves change colors?  Well they don't really change, they have this thing called chlorophyll that makes them look green.

Leaves need a lot of sunlight to do photosynthesis and that's how they make chlorophyll.  It normally happens in the Spring and Summertime.  In those seasons, the sun normally stays up for 15 hours a day.

When fall comes, the sun is only up for 11 hours a day and the leaves don't have enough sun light to make chlorophyll. Since they can't appear green, they change colors.

Cartonoids are the chemicals that are in leaves when they turn orange or yellow.  Anthocyanins are in leaves when they turn red or purple.  The last chemical is called Tanins.  They make leaves look brown or black.

Now we're at the end of the leaf life cycle when it's winter and all of the leaves die because they have only have 9 hours of sunlight. That's not enough sunlight for the trees to do photosynthesis, which is how they make their food.

 

That's the leaf lifecycle...Bye.

Rays

Sciencedog is back. Today I'm talking about rays. Yeah, these fish are really similar to sharks because they're both cartilaginous fish. That means they don't have real bones.  Instead they have bones made out of cartilage. That's the stuff our noses and ears are made out of.

They can grow up to 6.5 ft. long and can weigh up to 790 lbs. Their bodies are smooth, unlike sharks that have sandpaper skin. They flap their arms to hover and swim over the ocean floor. They can also hide in the sand so predators can't find them.

Some sting rays and rays use their electric and venomous tails to fight off predators. Their tails are also really sharp and strong and can go through wooden boats.



These guys have to eat so let me tell what they eat. They eat mollusks,crustaceans and sometimes small fish, but most of the time they don't eat small fish because their eyes are on top of their heads and their mouths are at the bottom. They eat their prey by swooping down on them and surrounding them with their tails.

                                                    Like that video? cool right!!!

You have a better idea about how they look and what they do. Now it's time to name my favorite type of ray, the Thorn Back Ray.

This ray can be as much as 3ft. long and can weigh up to 9lbs. He is called the thorn back ray because he has a strong and thick spine.  It eats shrimp, crab, crustaceans and small fish using it's tail and ability to surround fish. It rests in seabeds like mud, gravel or sand.

Before I go I want to compare rays to skates. A lot of people think they're the same thing, but they're different.  Rays have kite shaped bodies and light tails.  Skates have triangular shaped bodies and heavy tails.

Bye and Have a happy Halloween!