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Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Flatworms Minute Predators of the Rock Pool

One of the easiest ways to find the smallest animals that inhabit rock pools at the seaside is to collect fronds of red seaweed and examine them in a shallow dish of sea water under a low power microscope. I discovered this little flatworm this afternoon amongst the seaweed fronds from a rock pool on the Northumberland coast at Low Newton. It’s about two millimetres long and the images here were taken at magnifications of x40 (whole animal), x100 (head) and x400 (eye). Free-living flatworms, some tropical examples of which are over 30cm. long, belong to a very large phylum of animals called the Platyhelminthes that includes notorious parasites like liver flukes. These minute marine flatworms are predators on even smaller marine organisms. Their mouth is in the middle of the underside of the flattened body and opens into a highly branched digestive tract that you can see clearly as the dark brown network in the low power image of the whole animal (top). Flatworms are equipped with a pair of very simple eyes that are efficient at detecting the direction of light but don’t form images. They open via a ‘pinhole’ (just visible in the bottom photograph) and are lined with just a few light receptors attached to nerve endings. Flatworms glide around with the aid of thousands of rhythmically-beating cilia (see video) that cover a surface layer of large brick-like cells that you can see around the edge of the animal in the middle photograph. Freshwater flatworms that are very similar to this marine species, but are black rather than translucent, are present in every garden pond and can often be seen gliding around under the surface film.

How the Turtle Saved His Own Life Jataka tales in English

A king once had a lake made in the courtyard for the young princes to play in.

They swam about in it, and sailed their boats and rafts on it.

One day the king told them he had asked the men to put some fishes into the lake.

Off the boys ran to see the fishes.

Now, along with the fishes, there was a Turtle.

The boys were delighted with the fishes, but they had never seen a Turtle, and they were afraid of it, thinking it was a demon.

They ran back to their father, crying, "There is a demon on the bank of the lake."

The king ordered his men to catch the demon, and to bring it to the palace.

When the Turtle was brought in, the boys cried and ran away.

The king was very fond of his sons, so he ordered the men who had brought the Turtle to kill it.

"How shall we kill it?" they asked.

"Pound it to powder," said someone.

"Bake it in hot coals," said another.

So one plan after another was spoken of.

Then an old man who had always been afraid of the water said:

"Throw the thing into the lake where it flows out over the rocks into the river.
Then it will surely be killed."

When the Turtle heard what the old man said, he thrust out his head and asked:

"Friend, what have I done that you should do such a dreadful thing as that to me?

The other plans were bad enough, but to throw me into the lake! Dont speak of such a cruel thing!"

When the king heard what the Turtle said, he told his men to take the Turtle at once and throw it into the lake.

The Turtle laughed to himself as he slid away down the river to his old home.

"Good!" he said, "those people do not know how safe I am in the water!"

What is digestion?

When you eat, your food begins a long journey through your body.
Most of your food is broken down into lots of tiny, simple pieces so that your body can use it.
This breaking- down process starts in your mouth and is called digestion.
The various substances that aid in digestion are known as digestive juices.
Your body uses food to acquire energy. Food contains special chemicals that provide energy in your body’s cells.
Energy keeps all the different parts of your body working.
Without energy, all your muscles and every other part of you would stop working.
Food also helps your body grow and repair parts that have become worn out or damaged.

Food to keep you healthy

Food contains many different substances that work together to keep you going.
Food substances that give you energy are called carbohydrates and fats. Carbohydrates are found in foods like potatoes, rice, and bread. Milk, butter, and cheese are fatty foods.
The parts of your food that help your body grow and mend itself are called proteins. These are mainly found in meat, milk, eggs, nuts, and grain.
Your food also contains vitamins and minerals, which help you stay healthy. They make the chemicals in your body work properly.
Food also contains tough parts called fiber. Fiber helps to keep your intestines in good working order.
We take in water from our food, as well as water from what we drink.
Your blood needs a great deal of water to carry all these substances around your body.

Food Digestion Process

1. Your food is mixed and mashed as it passes through your body.
First of all, you chew it with your teeth. Then you mix it in your mouth with a liquid called saliva. At the back of the mouth is a leaf-shaped flap of muscle, called the epiglottis.
As you swallow, this covers your trachea and stops food from entering your lungs.

2. After you have swallowed the food, it passes into your stomach, where a strong acid breaks it down.
This process is helped by special chemicals called enzymes. There are lots of muscles in the stomach wall that mix the food up with digestive juices. The stomach acid also helps to kill germs in your food.

3. From your stomach, food passes into the small intestine. This is where digestion mostly takes place. Muscles keep the food mixture moving around. The useful food substances pass through the wall of the small intestine and into your bloodstream. Your blood then carries them to where they are needed.

What eye colours are there?

There are a lot of different eye colours. The colour youll find most is brown. This colour is the dominant colour in the human species. Secondly, hazel and some other brownish variations are quite common. Blue, a recessive colour, is quite rare in most countries, though some areas have a lot of blue-eyed people. Green and amber are both also extremely rare.

The United States of America (the US)

This country used to be a blue-eyed country but that changed over time. Nowadays, brown is the dominant colour. However, when we only focus on the caucasian American population, blue (light) eyes are more proiment (around 60%).

Ryan Taylor: Canadian model

Canada

Canadians have definitely more blue in their eyes then Americans. Around 67% have blue (light) eyes.

Scandinavia

The Scandinavian countries obviously has the most blue eyed people. Almost 88% of the Swedes are blue eyed. The same counts for Norway. Finland has slightly more lighter eyes (89%) and Denmark a little bit less (85%).

The United Kingdom

Scots are the most blue (light) eyed people in the UK. Around 80% of the Scottish people have blue/green irises. England has also a high percentage of light eyes, around the 74%. Wales slightly less: 68%.

The human body has 639 muscles.

Not all are joined to your bones.

For example, muscles line your blood vessels to keep blood flowing. Your lungs work because of regular muscle movement.

Muscles in the Human Body

Some muscles move only when you decide to stand up, sit down, or move in other ways. These are the voluntary muscles that are joined to your bones.
There are other muscles that work without your thinking about them. These involuntary muscles are made of smooth muscle fibers. They mash the food material in your stomach and then act to move it along through your intestines.
Your heart is made of another special kind of muscle called cardiac muscle. It moves in a regular rhythm as it pumps blood to all parts of your body.

How do muscles work?

Muscles are made of tough, elastic tissue.
They are built so that they can contract, which means that they become shorter.
When the muscles whose ends are joined to bones contract, they pull at the bones and make them move.
Muscles are made up of long, thin cells that join together to make muscle fibers.
When the muscle becomes shorter, all the fibers move closer together, making the muscle bulge.
You can see your muscles bulging and relaxing when you move your arms and legs.
If you bend your elbow and clench your fist, the muscles called biceps in your upper arm will bulge.
Muscles can only pull—they can’t push.
Muscles whose ends are joined to bones work in pairs.
One muscle contracts and pulls the bone one way, and the other contracts to pull the bone back again.

She Loved Baseball The Effa Manley Story

Effa Manley might have remained a footnote to baseball history for most kids if Audrey Vernick hadnt gotten interested in this remarkable woman who became the first woman inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In her picture book biography, Vernick introduces young readers to Manley and places her firmly in the context of her times. Manley was a light skinned black woman who cared passionately about putting an end to injustice. While living in Harlem in the 1930s, she organized a group of community leaders to protest a department stores refusal to hire black salesclerks. The boycott was a success. But Manley didnt stop there.

After marrying a man as crazy about baseball as she was, Manley and her husband started a baseball team in the Negro National League. Manley worked tirelessly as the Newark Eagless manager, "organizing schedules, ordering equipment, arranging transportation." She also fussed over the players, who fondly considered her a mother hen. After many successful years (the highpoint occurring in 1946 when the Eagles won their leagues World Series), the Negro League lost fans as players left to join the now integrated major leagues. Even here, though, Manley continued to fight against injustice, insisting that the major league owners honor the Negro Leagues contracts and compensate teams for their players. When the National League ended, Manley wrote countless letters persuading the National Baseball Hall of Fame to induct Negro League players. Thanks to her, many were. And in 2006, 25 years after her death, Effa Manley was inducted as well.

She Loved Baseball is an excellent addition to biographies about womens contributions to sports. Children who read at Level 3 should be able to complete the book, although having an adult present to help explain unfamiliar terms and concepts would be a big help. And I agree with Dorothy Seymour Millss assessment in the New York Journal of Books that Vernicks reliance on pronouns can occasionally be confusing, especially to a beginning reader. Several times I had to go back and reread a sentence to be sure of its meaning.

Don Tate did an outstanding job illustrating this biography. His illustrations are fresh and modern-looking, while capturing the spirit of the times.

She Loved Baseball: The Effa Manley Story
by Audrey Vernick
Illustrations by Don Tate
HarperCollins Children, 32 pages
Published: October 2010

This weeks Nonfiction Monday is at Simply Science Blog.

Knowing the Risk of Prostate Cancer Through Finger

There is no simple formula to determine who will have problems in the prostate. Therefore, many doctors recommend that men over the age of 40 years of a medical examination the prostate.

Another way to determine the risk of prostate cancer, at least, according to research published in the British Journal of Cancer, is to look at differences in finger length. It is said that men who have a longer index finger than ring finger had a lower risk for prostate cancer.

Finger length has been formed before the baby was born and is influenced by sex hormones in the womb. The fetus is exposed to less testosterone will have a longer index finger size and protected against prostate cancer later in life.

"The results of this research may someday be used as a screening tool to be combined with other risk factors, such as genetic testing and history in the family," says Professor Ros Eeles, researchers from the University of Warwick and the Institute of Cancer Research, UK.

The study adds evidence of previous studies that mention the link between the influence of hormone balance in fetal and diseases that may be sustained in the future. It is not impossible if the will of the pregnant women can do in ways of prevention of cancer risk in prospective baby.

Even so, the men who have a shorter index finger does not need to worry because prostate cancer is more influenced by the age factor. The older the age of a man, the higher the risk of having prostate problems.

8 Giant Sioux Indians Buried in the Form of a Cross in Missouri Mound

8 Giant Sioux Indians Buried in the Form of a Cross in a Missouri Indian Mound

The Tarleton Cross in Ohio was constructed by the Hopewell Sioux. The Sioux occupied the Ohio Valley fior almost 2,000 years before being expelled in 535 A.D. Mound and burial types would reemerge to the west, in what would be known as the historic Sioux homelands

The cross was symbolic of the Sun deity for the ancient Sioux Hopewell mound builders.

The Southeast Missourian, Dec, 27, 1934
8 Giant Skeletons in Missouri Mound; Light on Past May Be Shed
Springfield, Dec, 27 - Discovery of eight giant human skeletons arranged in four layers so tha each pair formed a cross, in a shallow Indian mound near here apparently sheds new light on the religious customs of prehistoric tribes who once inhabited the Ozarks,
Rev. S.P.Newberry, Springeild archaeologists believed it highly probable that the crosses formed by the skeletons were of religious significance.
"The Indian cross," he explained, "has always indicated a place of worship, In this particular case it seems particular a reasonable supposition that the eight skeletons were those of the high priests of some cult and their attendants.
It was the custom of some tribes to sacrifice a priests attendants when the priest died, and to bury them with him. In the crook of an arm of one of the skeletons was found an ancient stone sacrificial bowl, with markings which were exactly like four strange idols recently discovered by Mr. Newberry in the Coleman cavern north of Springfield.

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