Fat Bear Week in Katmai, Alaska has passed this year, but there's so much cool bear info to check out:

https://explore.org/fat-bear-week 

Bear Camera Highlights: https://explore.org/livecams/brown-bears/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls 

Past Winners: https://www.nps.gov/katm/learn/nature/fat-bear-week-past-and-present.htm 

BUGLIFE: https://www.buglife.org.uk/bugs/bug-directory/ 

NC INSECTS: https://www.insectidentification.org/insects-by-state.php?thisState=North%20Carolina 

Click here to explore the journey Esperanza took from Mexico to California.

Esperanza leaned around the side of the truck. As they rounded a curve, it appeared as if the mountains pulled away from each other, like a curtain opening on a stage, revealing the San Joaquin Valley beyond. Flat and spacious, it spread out like a blanket of patchwork fields. Esperanza could see no end to the plots of yellow, brown, and shades of green. The road finally leveled out on the valley floor, and she gazed back at the mountains from where they’d come. They looked like monstrous lions’ paws resting at the edge of the ridge. 

Use this GoogleMyMaps to measure the distance on the road between LOOKING OUT and GRAPEVINE. 

https://www.macroinvertebrates.org/ 

KEY: https://www.macroinvertebrates.org/key/#_ 

eDNA is simply DNA that an animal leaves behind in its environment. Dr. Moore explains it like this: “In crime shows, detectives find a criminal’s DNA by taking samples from places they’ve touched, like a door. Animals leave behind their DNA in things like poop, hair, skin, or even pollen.” This DNA can be captured from soil or even the air. Scientists then analyze these DNA samples, comparing them to a database to figure out which species left the DNA behind.

Normally, studying wildlife means looking for animals, setting traps, or searching for their droppings. But this can take a long time, and you might miss rare or small animals. Also, tiny microbes and fungi are hard to track.

Dr. Moore saw how eDNA could be used to study marine life. By collecting water and sediment samples, she could track marine animals in the area, especially how pollution and algae blooms affected the water.

 At a conference, she shared her work with Dr. Phil Levin from The Nature Conservancy, who wondered if eDNA could also work in a forest. That’s how Dr. Moore took her DNA research from the ocean to the Ellsworth Creek Preserve in Washington!

Black in Marine Science BIMSTV: https://www.blackinmarinescience.org/bimstv.html 

Adapted From: https://blog.nature.org/2023/05/24/from-edna-to-breaking-barriers/ 

Emmett Chappelle was born in 1925 in Phoenix, Arizona. His parents worked on a farm, growing cotton and raising cattle. Back then, there were laws that separated people by race, so Emmett went to a school for Black students called Phoenix Union Colored High School, where he was the top student in his class of 25.

After high school in 1942, Emmett joined the army. He took engineering classes and was sent to Italy during World War II. He was injured twice but survived. After returning home in 1946, he studied electrical engineering at Phoenix College. Later, he switched to studying science.

In 1950, Emmett graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in biology. He taught at Meharry Medical College in Tennessee, then moved to Washington for a master’s degree in biology. From 1955 to 1958, he worked at Stanford University and later with a special research group on advanced science.

In 1958, Emmett joined a research group in Baltimore that helped design airplanes and spacecraft. He made an important discovery about tiny living things called single-celled organisms, like algae. He found that they use sunlight to make food, just like plants. This process, called photosynthesis, helps them make oxygen from carbon dioxide and water, teaching scientists more about how these organisms live.

In 1966, Emmett Chappelle joined NASA as an exobiologist and astrochemist, where he worked on the Viking spacecraft, helping to develop tools to collect soil from Mars. He was also famous for his work with bioluminescence, the light produced by living things like fireflies. He created a method to detect tiny amounts of life by using a chemical reaction that glows when mixed with energy from cells. This method helped detect bacteria in water and find infections.

Chappelle also worked on ways to measure plant health using special lasers to see how much photosynthesis was happening in crops. This helped scientists learn about plant stress and growth. He retired from NASA in 2001 at age 76 and passed away in 2019 at age 93.

Text Adapted From: https://kids.kiddle.co/Emmett_Chappelle 

Additional Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUHl-TZeFTk 

Dr. Roger Arliner Young, the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in zoology. Born in 1899, Dr. Young faced many struggles, but her strength made it easier for others to pursue their dreams, too.

Dr. Young started studying music at Howard University in 1916, but in 1921, she switched to science after meeting Dr. Ernest Everett Just, a Black biologist who became her mentor. She graduated with her bachelor’s degree in 1923 and went on to get a master’s at the University of Chicago, where she published her first research article in Science about salt in marine parameciums. 

She became an Assistant Professor at Howard University and did a lot of research, including studies on how radiation impacts sea urchins and their eggs. 

Throughout her life, Dr. Young taught at various universities and contributed greatly to marine science.

Text Adapted from: https://marinesanctuary.org/blog/celebrating-wave-makers-dr-roger-arliner-young/ 

More Info:

https://kids.kiddle.co/Roger_Arliner_Young 

More about sea urchins: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/sea-urchins-strange-and-spiny-wonders-of-the-ocean.html 

Joan Murrell Owens grew up by the sea with her dad, who was a fisherman. From a young age, she was super interested in the ocean. She always dreamed of working as a marine biologist, but when she went to Fisk College, they didn’t have any marine biology classes. So, she decided to study fine art and later got a graduate degree in counseling. She worked as a teacher, helping students at a psychiatric hospital and teaching high school students who needed extra help.

At 37, in 1970, Joan finally followed her childhood dream. She went back to university to study animals and the Earth, and she became the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in geology! Joan’s research was about corals, especially button corals, which are deep-sea corals that live alone and were very mysterious. Her work helped people understand these corals better, and she even discovered a new type of button coral and three new coral species!:

More Info

https://www.wowstem.org/post/joan-murrell-owens 

https://kids.kiddle.co/Joan_Murrell_Owens 

"Deep Sea Dawn"

Wright’s research focuses on studying the ocean floor, coral reefs, and using geographic technology to understand the marine world. She co-edited one of the first books about marine Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and is considered a leader in her field. One of her most important works was a 1997 article about how geographers viewed GIS in the early 1990s.

Wright started her career as a marine technician for the Ocean Drilling Program, where she sailed on ten expeditions between 1986 and 1989 in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. She has served on many important science boards, including the National Academy of Sciences Ocean Studies Board and the Science Advisory Boards of NOAA and the EPA. She is a strong supporter of STEM education and science communication and has been featured in many respected publications and programs, including The Oceanography Society, Science magazine, and BBC radio.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQaU6ciTq_s 

Text Adapted From:

https://kids.kiddle.co/Dawn_Wright 

To join our NitroType Class, click below:

https://www.nitrotype.com/join#677D30F3A588D   

CLASS CODE: 677D30F3A588D 

Because the goat makes you learn the home row! 

Thanks, Goat!

Complete two levels this class, and then play Nitrotype!

Click here for DanceMat: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z3c6tfr#zn9s3qt 

Tynker: https://www.tynker.com/community/galleries/marble-race/635801f7218b2c53bb3909ff/ 

MAZE: https://www.mysteinbach.ca/game-zone/1507/maze/ 

Dynamic Systems: https://www.engineering.com/games/dynamic-systems/ 

Wooden Marble Run Builder: https://poki.com/en/g/marble-run 

Metal Marble Run Builder: https://poki.com/en/g/marble-run-simulator 

You can only play level one, go through the tutorial before your build:

https://www.electriceggplant.com/rubeworks/ 

Click Here: https://hourofcode.com/us/learn 

Do we want to find bugs that tolerate pollution or those that are intolerant?

We will find them in their nymph stage--- and they are strange!!! But their adulthood is even weirder!

Free explore or check out the Erosion Hunt I made for 2nd grade

GoGuesser: https://www.geoguessr.com/ 

Build a Working Circuit on PhET: https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/circuit-construction-kit-ac/latest/circuit-construction-kit-ac_all.html 

E-Switch Electron Pathway Puzzle: https://www.cokogames.com/e-switch-circuit-puzzles/play/ 

New Games:

Conductors or Insulators? https://www.sciencekids.co.nz/gamesactivities/circuitsconductors.html 

Choose a Game about Electricity: https://www.cokogames.com/tag/electrical-circuit-games/ 

History of Electricity Article: https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/history-electricity/ 

What would you propose needs to be in a Happy City? 

You need headphones and will need to help each other as much as you can.

Here is the interview paper, you can make a copy if you prefer to type instead of write the answers in your journal.