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by Aimee

I have two dogs that mean the world to me because whenever I am unhappy or sick they can cheer me up and make me feel better. Anyone else that has dogs or any other animal may notice that pets make you happy when you’re around them and usually other people enjoy the company of your animals as well. It is proven that dogs can make people feel better.

As told in this article, a Therapy Dog is a dog that is trained to show affection and love to people in hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes, mental institutions, schools, and in stressful situations such as disaster areas. The dog will visit the person on a daily basis and provide comfort to the patient.

The idea of a therapy dog came form a woman named Elaine Smith who was a nurse in England. The woman noticed how well one of her patients acted towards visits from a man and his pet dog, a golden retriever. When Smith came to the United States she started a program to train dogs for visits to institutions.

According to Barbara Cowen, a woman who started a program at Cedars-Sinai the dog may only have to stay with the patients for as little as five minutes or as long as an hour, depending on the patient.  Therapy dogs can be any size and any breed. In Cowen’s POOCH program the dogs range from a large golden retriever named Bo to a tiny chihuahua named Bubbles.

Since Smith invented the training programs, studies by health care professionals have shown how therapeutic animals can be. For example, they have been shown to relieve stress, lower blood pressure, and raise patients spirits. Also, it is shown that therapy dogs can even help children overcome speech and emotional problems.

What is it about the dogs that create such a powerful effect? What other types of animals are therapy animals? Do dogs have a certain sense that is special for determining humans’ mood?

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by Jacob (AP Biology)

Ok, picture this: You’re a squirrel minding its own business eating food and just chillin’ when all of a sudden a weird looking squirrel comes out of nowhere starts flagging its tail and barking like mad. You instantly run to a tree and look around for danger but the squirrel stays where it was. Then you realize that the squirrel is a robot.

Well, in real life the squirrel might not realize that the strange squirrel is a robot but this actually does happen. A way to learn more about animal behavior is to use a robot replica of an animal to interact with those animals. This squirrel experiment was used by Hampshire College to see the reactions of squirrels towards differing signals. The squirrels acted as if the robotic squirrel was real because of its sounds and movements.

Other experiments with robot or fake animals have also occurred. A robotic lizard made to show courtship rituals is an example as well as a fake cockroach covered in pheromones of robotic and fake animals used in these experiments. Also, because larger animals are harder to make robots of, speakers have been used to imitate the sounds of animals. In one experiment a parrot thought that there was another parrot in the branches close to it and had a conversation for a long time with the speaker.

The more scientists and researchers use these fake animals the more they learn about the social workings of those animals. “Having these models out in the field is taking us to the next steps of research.” This was said by Greg Demas, director of Indiana University’s Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior about how these experiments are changing the way research happens.

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by Sarah

Information for the following came from the National Public Radio article “New Rubber Sidewalks Tested in 60 cities” by Neil Greenfieldboyce on August 4, 2006.

Rubber sidewalks may be the new in thing when it comes to being environmentally friendly in construction. The man who came up with this brilliant idea was Richard Valeriano, a sidewalk inspector for California. When he would go out to inspect the sidewalks, he would see many parts where trees had cracked the sidewalks for spaces to grow their roots. He thought that maybe rubber sidewalks would be able to stretch more instead of cracking like concrete.

This is how rubber sidewalks began. He soon had rubber sidewalks tested in Santa Monica, California. Now, in sixty different cities rubber sidewalks are being tested as a replacement for concrete sidewalks. Some cities have said that these rubber sidewalks can withstand willow oaks, a tree noted for their tendency to destroy sidewalks.

One good reason to use rubber sidewalks is that they help keep trees in good health by letting them grow. Also, the panels have very tiny cracks so that tree roots underneath the sidewalk can still receive water. Rubber sidewalks are also easier to install than concrete. These sidewalks are made from recycled tires. Kids can still use chalk on them and jump rope on them just like concrete. Yeah!

Although this great idea has come around, some people don’t like it.  Some tree roots are simply too big to be able to allow the use of rubber panels of sidewalk.

The good thing is that people are trying to be ecologically friendly even in cities.

Here are some other articles on rubber sidewalks.

“Rubber sidewalks add bounce to city foot traffic”

“New rubber sidewalks easier on the joints”

What can you do?

Any ideas?

Give it a go if you have an idea and see what happens maybe you can start a trend that could even maybe get some money in your pockets.

by Codie

As I was returning from the grocery store a couple nights ago l couldn’t help but notice this tiny green moth on the front of my screen door. I decided to figure out exactly what type of moth this was. This moth is named the Red-Bordered Emerald. What an appropriate name. This little moth is in the Geometridae family. As I was browsing through all the different websites I discovered, I noticed just how many of these moths I have seen on my own front porch at night. One for example is this moth, the Rosy Maple Moth.

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Every time I notice this moth I can’t help but stop to look at it for a couple seconds. I mean how many times do you get to see a pink and yellow moth?

How are moths important to us though? Well, the caterpillars of certain moths are used for the production of silk. Workers unravel the moths cocoon into single long threads and then combine them with other moth’s silks. Moths also pollinate nocturnal plants similar to the ways a bee does (Worldbook). Next time you’re out late at night keep a watch out for some of these nocturnal beauties.

Which of these moths have you seen on your front porch at night?

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by Miss Baker

Several of you are interested in reading Carl Zimmer’s book Parasite Rex for extra-credit. Click here for his post on what makes the leaves change color in the fall. He’s got a great video and a couple of articles for you to read and comment on.

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by Michael

The world’s hottest chile pepper has just been discovered! It is called Bhut Jolokia which means ghost pepper. It grows in Assam India. It is here Dr. Bosland, Director of the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico University, ran an experiement testing just how hot this chile pepper was. It measured at 1,000,000 Scoville Heat Units - this is twice the amount of the previous hottest chile pepper. What makes a Chile pepper “hot” is the amount and concentration of capasaicinoids. Capasaicinoids have many uses and are active ingredients in some products like tear gas. What would be the usefulness of a pepper this hot?

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by Danielle

It seems to me that we have been talking mostly about the things that are wrong with our world and it’s kind of depressing. I found a video that has pictures of beautiful scenes that look practically untouched. Even though it seems like we have destroyed everything, there is still plenty to save.

The more we focus our attention on the wonders and the realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction. - Rachel Carson

What did you think of the video?

What did you think about Rachel Carson’s phrase?