Maternal Depression Affects Teens

Based on recent studies, researchers found that teens with depressed mothers are more likely to battle depression themselves. Researchers found that teen depression is not only linked to genes but it mostly occurs when a teenager is living with or around a mother who is depressed. They also found that teens with depressed fathers do not usually become depressed because of their surroundings but if they do develop depression it is probably due to genes. They said that this is because mothers usually take most of the responsibility for nurturing their children.

When a mother is depressed, it usually negatively affects her parenting skills, she has difficulties interacting with her children, and can cause problems with her marriage if she is married. Researchers say that this may cause problems with their children and can affect how they do in school and how they do socially. This causes the depression to spread from the mother to the child. When a mother is depressed this also causes her children to develop behavioral problems.

When psychologists did a study with depressed moms and began giving them antidepressants and other treatments to aid their depression, there was a noticeable difference in the mothers and teens. Children improved most when their moms responded to treatment within three months. In the study 70 out of 123 mothers improved within a year. When the teen's moms began to come out of their depression so did they and this greatly improved the teen's emotional health. The study proved that mother's changes can greatly improved their kids'mental health and depression.

sources:

URL=http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/36386/title/Teen_depression_No_genes_required

by A.M.

Visual Test predicts Math Scores

Number Sense

Are you good at estimating numbers of things? Well, if you are this special skill could help you get higher test scores in math. Studies done at John Hopkins University of Baltimore showed that people that have a good sense of estimation have had better math scores on standardized tests than people who didn't have good estimation skills. All humans have this estimation, but it depends on how high the skill is in your body.

Researchers from the University of Baltimore tested 64 fourteen-year-olds. They told them to look at a picture of blue and yellow dots. Each picture had 10 to 32 dots on it. Some pictures had more blue dots than yellow and others had more yellow than blue. Then the students had to pick the picture with the most dots of one color. The trick was that the students only had a fraction of a second to look at the picture. The researchers found a wide variety of how well the students could pick out which picture had more of one color dots. Some kids could clearly distinguish which picture had more of the same color dots, but others couldn't. Then, the researchers looked at the fourteen-year-old's test scores all the way from kindergarten to 8^th grade. The kids who did well on the dot test also did very well on their standardized math tests. In addition, the kids who didn't do that well on the dot test also had lower test scores on their standardized test scores.

This study shows that there could be a link between low test scores and how people can estimate in their head. Scientists still are continuing to look at this possible resolution and are still researching if a person's number sense is linked to their overall math education.

By: M.B.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/36601/title/FOR_KIDS_Math_and_our_number_sense

Ringworm: NOT an exotic creature from a Harry Potter Novel

Although the term ringworm sounds like just a worm and a ring, it is very far from that. Ringworm is a serious skin disease that can also affect the nails and scalp too.
Ringworm first starts out as a red rough patch or a bump. It becomes very itchy and uncomfortable, and over time it may start forming into a ring shape with itchy, red bumps surrounding it. But, not every person who is infected develops the rings.
Ringworm can also be known as athlete's foot, once it affects the feet. Athlete's foot usually doesn't involve the rings like in ringworm on other areas of the body, instead, usually there are scaly, itchy patches between the toes. Ringworm can also be found on the scalp, in this case, it begins resembling a pimple, before becoming patchy, flaky, or scaly. This can cause the hair on the infected area to fall out, or cause the scalp to become tender or swollen. Ringworm can also affect the nails on the the hands or feet. The nails might become very thick and become a deep yellow or white color. It is also very common that the nails become very brittle.

Ringworm is very difficult to prevent. The fungi that cause it are extremely contagious, they easily spread from one person to another, you can also become infected from contact with animals.
The best you can do to protect yourself from the infection, is to just basically cover areas of your body that come in contact with public areas. Such as wearing flip flops in public showers and locker rooms, and to wash sports clothing very regularly. It is also important to shower and wash your hands every day, and especially after touching animals.

Ringworm is fortunately very easily treated. If ringworm is ever a problem for you, your doctor will recommend an anti fungal medication. Also, an ointment or cream will do the job for a skin infection but if the nails or scalp are infected the anti fungal medicine is the way to go.

by LT

Sources:

http://kidshealth.org/teen/infections/fungal/ringworm.html

Make an Interactive White Board out of a Wii Remote

Watch this video!

Johnny Lee gives a demonstration about how to use a Wii remote in some amazing ways.

Take a look!

I'd like to encourage some of you to try this project.





Click here: Johnny Lee Profile on TED.com

be good,
Mr. Hazen

Ice Cream is an Igneous Rock

Summary

The article I read stated ice cream was like an igneous rock. The author or authors believe this because of two qualities that both have. The first is how they are made, and second, what the particles look like under a microscope.

Both ice cream and igneous rocks are made somewhat alike. Ice cream is made by collecting chemicals and putting them all together. You freeze the mixture below its freezing point. While the mixture is freezing you want it stirred so it is smooth. But you must freeze it quickly to eliminate the possibilities of ice crystals growing large and ruining the ice cream. An igneous rock comes from a volcano; it is made of lava, so as it cools down it becomes a solid just like freezing ice cream makes it almost a solid.

Then it says in the article that a scanning electron image shows ice cream particles are like igneous rocks. In between the ice cream particles, ice crystals and air bubbles, is a sugar solution that separates the particles. In the article it also says that an igneous rock has separated mineral crystals in a glassy groundmass. So their make up looks similar.

Opinion

I found this article very educational, yet interesting. Without reading this article I would have never given any thought to that ice cream may be some kind of igneous rock. The writer's opinion was backed up with sufficient evidence, which made me really believe that ice cream could be some type of igneous rock, and I would love to learn more about the subject.

By: TL

http://www.boingboing.net/208/08/21/ice-cream-is-an-igne.html

Picture

http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00461/images/igneous.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y152/boo_licious/misc4/BlueCheeseIceCream.jpg

Icy Discovery on Mars

An Icy Discovery on Mars, but Where's the Water?

A couple of years ago the Mars Odyssey spacecraft had discovered signs of water ice several inches below the surface. In a follow up experiment about two months ago water ice was discovered on Mars by NASA! However, since then NASA's Phoenix Mars lander has not found any more water.

Bits of water vapor were detected in the Martian air by Phoenix's weather station. Scientists expected that as the nighttime temperature got colder with the capacity of moisture Martian air can hold, this would result in minuscule specks of moisture falling to the ground, landing on dust particles. Then a probe would pick up the presence of water. But Mars has not cooperated.

The first time it worked, but since then it has not worked. On Earth, when this happens it results in morning dew. Scientists are currently troubleshooting why it worked the first time but has not since. They might try to stick the probe deeper into the soil closer to the ice layer.

This ice discovery was huge in the search to find life on Mars, but another step won't happen unless they find more water!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/science/09mars.html?ref=todayspaper

EO

Record-Breaking Ice Shelves Seperate

What Happened?

Over the course of the summer, there were two giant icebergs that were broken off of Ellesmere Island in Arctic Canada; one in late July, and one in August.

July, 2008

In late July, two giant pieces of ice, one 5.4 square miles and the other 1.9 square miles, broke off of the Ward Hunt Shelf on Ellesmere Island. It has been said that it was the largest break off on an ice shelf since the break from Ayles Ice Shelf, with a size of 25 square miles. Before the major breakaway, scientists already discovered deep cracks in the ice shelf.

The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf

The Ward Hunt Shelf, at a size of about 170 square miles, has been said by scientists that it began about 4,000 years ago. Ice shelves are thick layers of ancient ice and snow that build up over the years. Ellesmere Island used to be surrounded by one large ice shelf, but in the early 1900s, it split into five smaller ice shelves, with the Ward Hunt Shelf being the largest of them.

August, 2008

In early September, a similar incident happened, except larger. The Markham Ice Shelf separated and the 19-square-mile shelf is now floating in the Arctic Ocean. Scientists were surprised by this, being that they were studying the shelf, but the harsh weather paused their research, and when they started again, the shelf was gone. One scientist, David Mueller, said that two blocks separated from the Serson Ice Shelf and smaller blocks detached from the Ward Hunt Shelf as well.

What Made The Breaking Happen?

One scientist, Luke Copland, said that "reduced sea ice conditions and unusually high air temperatures have facilitated the ice shelf losses this summer". He also said that because of other cracks that were found, especially in the Ward Hunt Shelf, the shelves are going to continue to disintegrate. All of the breaks over the summer were caused somewhat by global warming. The high air temperatures were caused by global warming, and the reduced underwater ice conditions were most likely from global warming as well. A long time ago, shelves that would break off would have ice eventually grow back in its place, but because of the global warming issues, there isn't any hope for regrowth, which means that the ice will eventually die off and will melt completely if no action is done to save the planet. If we can solve global warming, then the ice in the Arctic and the Antarctic won't melt, and the world will be a happier place.

Who and What Global Warming Affects

Global warming affects everything, especially the animals and plants that live in the regions that global warming is affected most. In the Arctic and Antarctic regions, the polar bears and the penguins are affected the most. They live and survive on the ice and in the icy water, so with melting ice and warming waters, both the polar bears and the penguins can't survive. Many underwater animals are also affected by the increasing temperatures from global warming. If we don't act fast, the world will never be the same.

by GG