Category: Science

Skeletons and Sea-Creatures: Learning about the Blobfish!

Blobfish…Why the ‘World’s Ugliest Animal’ Isn’t as Ugly as You Think It Is

In Defense of the Blobfish: Why the 'World's Ugliest Animal' Isn't as Ugly as You Think It Is | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine

The blobfish is the world’s ugliest animal. But we don’t think the contest was very fair

Adapted from The Smithsonian, 2013

Poor sad blobfish, voted the world’s ugliest animal. 

It’s that time again, when the whole world gathers together to pick on the blobfish.

Yesterday, after the votes were counted, the blobfish was named the world’s ugliest animal. The run-off was led by the Ugly Animal Preservation Society. The Society was looking for a mascot, an ugly mascot. As the Society says: “The panda gets too much attention. We want to see the uglier animals too!”

But we think the world was too hard on our friend the blobfish (or, if you want to call him by their proper name—and really, they’d prefer it if you would!—Psychrolutes marcidus).

Honestly, we think that droopy blobfish up there is actually holding up alright considering everything it’s been through. Psychrolutes marcidus are a deep water fish that live off the coast of Australia, somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 feet beneath the waves. Down there, the pressure is up to 120 times higher than it is at the surface. 

You wouldn’t want to be in the deep ocean without a strong submarine. And, likewise, the blobfish really doesn’t like being up here.

Many fish have something called a swim bladder, an organ full of air in their body that helps them move. When you take fish with swim bladders out of their natural habitats that air sac “may expand when they rise, which harms the fish”. 

See what we mean about the blobfish having a hard time? 

The blobfish doesn’t really have much of a skeleton, and it doesn’t really have any muscle. So, up here, it’s saggy and droopy. In fact, super-deep water fish often have minimal skeletons and jelly-like flesh. They are almost like a water balloon! 

Image above: what’s inside a blobfish? The bones are dyed red, the cartilage is dyed blue. What do you notice? 

So why do we think the world is too hard on the blobfish? Because if we put you 4,000 feet below the water your body and organs would be crushed and you’d probably become gooey and gross. 

Meanwhile, the blobfish can withstand the deep sea. We think they are quite a lovely fish when they are left alone in their home. 

The Blobfish: 5 Facts About the Ocean's Ugliest Mug – 30A

Image: (left) the blobfish in the deep ocean look very different from the blobfish we usually see in photos (right)

Mystery Fruit & Vegetable Investigation: SCI-FRI

Today for SCI-FRI, our class and Ms. Ramen’s class investigated some unusual fruit and vegetables! Many of these fruits and vegetables are commonly used in different cultures and found in different countries across the world. We used our observational skills to draw a diagram and describe each of the fruit and vegetables. Do you recognize any of these fruits/vegetables?

Above, left to right: pink pineapple, mo qua, rambutans

Below, left to right: pomegranate, young coconut, apple pear

After we made our observations, we cut open the fruit and vegetables to examine the inside. We noticed there were many different colours and shapes of seeds. Many of us have tried these fruits and vegetables before!

 

Above, left to right: lotus root, custard apple, papaya

Below, left to right: dragon fruit, bitter melon, mangosteen

Some questions to consider:

-Why are some of these fruits and vegetables commonly eaten in some countries and not others?

-How could we learn more about all the interesting, tasty, and unusual fruits and vegetables in the world?

 

Creating Hypotheses: Mentos and Soda Experiment

What makes for an accurate and informative Science experiment? Well, we need to make sure we have a strong hypothesis, a clear control, and a variety of variables. Today, we began our investigation into the question: how can we create the largest, most dramatic eruption when mixing Mentos and soda?

So far, we have tested 2 liter bottles of Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Zero, Pepsi, Orange Crush, generic brand cola, and soda water (our control). We noticed that the Diet sodas performed very well.

Now, as a Scientist you must decide… what variables should be manipulate to get different results? Should we test smaller bottles of pop? Different kinds of soda (ex: Sprite, Root Beer)? Should we use different amounts of Mentos? Would other candies have similar effects?

We will continue this investigation over the next week!

Bees and our Ecology: Bonus Resource

https://www.dkfindout.com/us/animals-and-nature/insects/making-honey/

We’re exploring the important role the bees play in our environment. Feel free to click on the link above to find out more about the process of making honey (click on the blinking black dot for information about each stage).

The video below is a VR ‘Honeybee’ experience you can also access using a smartphone, laptop, or tablet.

We’ll continue exploring bees this week. Stay tuned for more information about these important creatures!

 

Paleontologists and Reconstruction: Imagining what Dinosaurs Might Have Looked Like

Taking fossil evidence and turning it into a ‘reconstruction’ (an estimate of what a living dinosaur might look like) is challenging work! Often, fossils are not fully complete and are missing lots of key pieces. Usually organs, skin, and feathers do not fossilize as easily as bones and teeth. Special artists try their best to use the ‘clues’ left by fossils to imagine what living, breathing dinosaur species would look like!

These ideas change over time, with more information and more fossils. Check out what Scientists used to think dinosaurs looked like below!

Above: an early sculpture of life-sized iguanodons in Crystal Palace Park.

Below: a more recent artist’s reconstruction of an iguanodon.

Who knows what we will learn about dinosaurs in the next 10, 50, or even 100 years!

Science Activity: April 13th

Dueling Dinos Article_ April 13th Science

Please click on the link to access an article about a very interesting fossil. This fossil seems to show 2 dinosaurs fighting to the death. Scientists are very excited to study this fossil, which has been ‘hidden’ for 14 years.

After reading the article, please brainstorm:

  • Do you think that people should be allowed to buy or keep fossils? Should all fossils be sent to museums? Why?
  • Why is it important that we study fossils? What do fossils teach us about ancient history?
  • Imagine you found a fossil. Would you give it to a museum? Would you sell it? Would you keep it? Explain.

Please write these answers on a piece of paper, or e-mail your ideas to Ms. Ward.

Flower Dissection

Today, our botanists continued to examine the structure of flowers and plants! We dissected a daffodil, a tulip, and an iris. We noticed that each of these flowers had pollen inside! We also examine the pollen and stamens under our microscope (pictured below):

Image: the stamen (left) and pollen (right) of a daffodil under a microscope

 

Sour Candy Chemistry: Testing for Acids

Did you know sour candy usually contains an acid (usually citric acid)? To investigate which candies contained the largest amounts of acid, we tested them using a base (baking soda). The more bubbles we observed, the more acidic the candy was! We tested Sour Skittles, original Skittles, Smarties, sour gummy worms, gummy bears, and sour watermelon candies.

Check out our results!