Sunday 26 June 2016

Alex's Learning Log 1-5

Learning Log 1
Date:26 June 2016


What I did:
I decided to read up on some articles on BBC. While scrolling through, this article caught my attention. The title was “It is surprisingly rare for an alligator to kill a person”. I was surprised by the heading as alligators are known to be dangerous and can kill. Thus, I decided to read that article.


What I learned:
Word I do not know:
Tallied-to counts or to reckon up


Summary: These attacks are rare because typically alligators are afraid of humans. They have been hunted since the Europeans got to the US, and they almost went extinct explaining their fear for humans.A 2010 report tallied all the reported alligator attacks over the 81 years from 1928 to 2009. It found there were only 24 deaths from alligators in the United States, most of them in Florida.When you factor how many people live in the country where alligators are abundant, it turns out there are only about 0.06 attacks per year per 100,000 inhabitants. That is a remarkably small number considering the nature of these alligators. The International Union for Conservation of Conservation of Nature(IUCN) also says that only 6% of American alligator attacks are fatal.

Learning Log 2
Date:25 June 2016
Source:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URuMb15CWJs


What I did: I went to the TedEd to watch some exciting videos. This video caught my attention. Its title was “The pleasure of poetic pattern”.


What I learned:
I discovered that the rhythm and pattern of words can either lift or low listeners, amplify or diminish the line, unify or diversify the idea. I will quote an example “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see”. I also learned too much repetition is bad and can backfire. It is like writing the same sentence again and again.I also learned that the repetition of vowel sounds is called ascents.I will quote an example “So long live this and this gives life to thee”. I also learned that there should be variations in poetry.


Learning Log 3
Date:24 June 2016


What I did: I was looking through about any exciting news about astronomy. Then, I came across this article called “Ancient gusts of cosmic radiation could have affected Earth's biology.”
I read the whole article, and it was fascinating.


What I learned:
I found out that a supernova event signifies the end of a star’s life. Not only do they leave clouds of gases and elements lying around for the next solar system to use, but they also emit gusts of cosmic radiation, which, according to a new study, may have had a profound effect on the biology of our planet in the past.
The cosmic radiation from the two supernovae had an extreme effect on the creatures on Earth at the time as well as its atmosphere. It may have increased the cancer rates and mutation rates, especially in larger animals. Furthermore, the cosmic radiation could have sped up evolution because of a particle called muon.Muons are similar to the electron, but they have about 1837 times its mass. They pass straight through the body and  contribute to about ⅙ of the overall radiation we receive. However when the supernovas exploded the amount of muons drastically increased, speeding the process of evolution.


Learning Log 4
Date 23 June 2016


What I did: After reading through some articles about astronomy, I tried to find some more interesting articles for me to read. Then, this article caught my eye. Its title was “Pluto’s largest moon may have once had an ocean”. I was very intrigued by this topic. I previously thought that Pluto did not have a moon.


What I learned:
Charon, which is a moon of Pluto,o nce had a subsurface ocean that has long since frozen and expanded, pushing out on the moon’s surface and causing it to stretch and fracture on a massive scale.Charon’s outer layer is primarily water ice. When the moon was young, this layer was warmed by the decay of radioactive elements as well as Charon’s own internal heat of formation. It could have been warm enough to cause the water ice to melt deep down, creating a subsurface ocean. However Charon cooled over time, causing the ocean to freeze and expand.

Learning Log 5
Date:26 June 2016

What I did: I was researching about optical illusions because I had just seen a television show about magic. I wanted to find out how these magicians do magic just by using optical illusions. I looked up the wikipedia to find out what optical illusion meant.

What I learned:An optical illusion is an illusion that is caused by the eye and characterized by visually perceived images that differ from the real object. The information gathered by the eye is processed in the brain to give a perception that does not tally with a physical measurement of the stimulus source. There are three main types: literal optical illusions that create images that are different from the objects that make them, physiological illusions that are the effects of excessive stimulation of a specific type (brightness, colour, size, position, tilt, movement), and cognitive illusions, the result of unconscious inferences. Pathological visual illusions arise from a pathological exaggeration in physiological visual perception mechanisms causing the aforementioned types of illusions.

No comments:

Post a Comment