Science

This week in science, we had a day off so, we had a shorter week.

On tuesday, we started looking at teh documertries.  I learnt that one of the things that make us is bipetilism. Thi sis when we could walk upright on both legs.

Then we also discussed the way we are classified. This is how we classify things/species

categories: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.

There is a simple pneumonic that can help students remember the organization of nature:Kangaroos Play Cellos, Orangutans Fiddle, Gorillas Sing.

If we take a Ring-tailed Lemur, we can trace it through the hierarchy of nature, taxonomy as follows, it belongs to:

The Animal …Kingdom 
sharing with all other members of this group the need to feed on organic matter (unlike plants which can create energy using light and minerals)

The Chordate (or vertebrate) … Phylum 
sharing with all other members of this group of animals, a back bone with a hollow nerve chord

The Mammal … Class
sharing with all other members of this group of vertebrates, the ability to feed their offspring on milk and having a body covering which includes fur

The Primate … Order
Sharing with all other members of this group of mammals, a thumb that can be opposed to the other digits, binocular vision and various more broadly defined characteristics (including high intelligence, relatively long maturation period for the young, dental similarities, tendency for complex social organization, and generally bearing one or two young)

The Lemuridae … Family
Sharing with other members of this group of primates, a slightly longer nose, smaller brain, long slender limbs, a tail, more specific dental features including the grooming comb formed by the lower incisor and canine teeth

The Lemur … Genus 
Sharing with other members of this group of lemurs, scent marking methods, vocalizations, aspects of social structure and overall body shape

The Ring-tailed Lemur … Species

I have to cite this: http://www.tigerhomes.org/animal/curriculums/lemurs-4.cfm

Just like that, we are classified live this:

 Kingdom: Animalia  
                Phylum: Chordata                  Class: Mammalia                  Order: Primates                  Family: Hominidae                  Genus:  Homo                  Species: sapiens  So, we are classified as Homo Sapins. Thi s is the most dynamic way of saying what we are. 

This week in science

during this week in science, we did not do too much due to other things. We first discussed the Lamarkian evolution. This was a theory which if one species uses a trait that it wants, over a long period of time, the trait will become to them and their children will also have that trait. This is partially true. When we want to change ourselves, we must do so to suit our enviornment. We also learnt how we slowly evolved. We started as apes. then went to then centuries from thhen, we have evolved into the walking humans we are today.

The extra credit for this week is what primate do we fall into?

answer: We fall into the higher primates category. this is so becasue we have a more complex brain structure and are therefore smarter. Apes fall into this category too.

 The other category is the lower primates group. this conists of animales like leamurs.

This week in science, we learnt about evolution and matural selection in iguanas. The iguana originated in the color green and was a land mammal. Then,somehow the iguana's decendents got to the galapognos Islands. then they started sto evollve. The iguana was unable to live very much. Therefore, they evolved very slowly. The iguana feirst survived on some vegetaion that was left there on the island. Then they reproduced. Then the iguanas died from natural process and the children feasted on the parent's bodies. Then like that, the children reproduced and the th eparents died to let the chi;ldren eat their bodies. Like that, the iguana populaiton increased on the galapogonose islands. Then the iguanas had a genetic mutation. This gave them more possiblities of survining at that location. exp...(camoflagueing into rocks,gills to survive underwater.) And so, the iguanas survived the galapognose. Then on Friday, we had a quiz on this.

This week in science

This week in science, we did not accomplish much but, it was a handful. On Monday, we finished presenting our cockroaches experiment data. Then on Tuesday, we debriefed on the experiments. We learnt that the traits that are in the roach will help it survive in the wilderness and face the enviorment that it lives in. 

Then for the rest of the week, we went on to simulations that teach us about one main idea: The traits that we have are to help us live in the area that we live in. When we first came to humans, we did not loose our fur from monkeys, all of a sudden, we evolved and changed in to humans with skin and no fur after many generations of changing. SO, slowly, our DNA changes to make our offspring bodies in to  more suitable to the enviorment that we live in.

That is what i hypothesize the reason for us having us do this unit.