howtoons: keyword: nature

watch the robotic fly FLY!

whew! the narrator of this video may have the most boring voice we've ever heard, but check out the awesome miniature robotic fly that this group at Harvard has created! Get ready for it - it's "the world's first demonstration of an at-scale micro-robotic insect" ... (built using a "mesoscale manufacturing paradigm" - yikes, that's a mouthfull!).

My favorite part is the cool buzzing noises in the background.

The Fresh Air Fund

Summertimes just around the cornerhow are you planning to spend the long sunny days and the oh-so-good vacation from school and homework? For millions of kids living in the tough inner cities of urban centers like New York City, traditional summertime staples like camp, vacation, and enjoyment of the beautiful outdoors are unattainable or even unimaginable. The Fresh Air Fund is a not-for-profit that has brought children from the NYC area into the outdoors during the summertime since 1877!! The Fund has worked with over 1.7 million children in its long history. The Fund provides camping and educational opportunities to elementary and middle school aged kids, and career and developmental assistance to older children. Free summer vacations? cool! Check out the Fresh Air Funds promotional video, below.

Kids Gardening

It's spring time here in California, and that means plants are starting to grow - it's time to plant your garden!

Check out Kids Gardening, a cool website with resources and information about gardening. You can learn about greenhouses, hydroponics (plants grown in water!), pollination, fruit and vegetable harvesting, and find cool projects that you can try in school or at home!

Reforestation = planting trees!

Yesterday's post about the collapse of the Wilkins ice shelf in Antarctica is one example of the powerful consequences of global warming.

The higher temperatures responsible for the melting of polar ice are a result of excess Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere of the Earth. Halting, or even slowing, global warming will require at least two important actions from the people and countries on Earth: 1) reduce the amount of CO2 that we produce, and 2) remove some of the CO2 already in the atmosphere.

Howtoons could write a whole BOOK about reducing CO2! (maybe we should :) What are some ways to REMOVE CO2 that is already in the atmosphere? You already know one easy way to remove CO2 from the air - plant trees! Trees (and other green plants) consume CO2 in the same way that humans consume Oxygen (O2) when we breathe. Trees produce O2 - fresh oxygen for people to breath!

There are many local and international organizations that are dedicated to protecting our existing forests, parks, and green spaces. Many more are dedicated to creating NEW trees and forests. Here are two interesting organizations that plant trees in order to reduce air pollution, improve the fertility of the landscape, and make for a more beautiful and livable environment.

Tree Nation is an ecological project with the goal of planting 8 million trees in Niger, Africa, to fight desertification. Desertification is the conversion of fertile land into desert.

The United Nations Environmental Program Billion Tree Campaign is a worldwide effort to plant trees to fight climate change.

Check it out - make where you live greener and plant a tree in YOUR backyard!

Melting Ice Shelf

Scientists studying the Antarctic have observed that a massive field of ice called the "Wilkins ice shelf" is close to collapsing into the ocean. Scientists have been filming the ice shelf as it breaks into pieces for several weeks - see the video below.

In the past three weeks, 405 square kilometers of ice have broken off the Wilkins ice shelf into the sea. Only a thin strip of ice prevents the shelf's remaining 13,700(!) square kilometers from breaking off as well. The collapse of ice shelves like Wilkins is linked to rising temperatures from global warming. Scientists originally thought that the Wilkins ice shelf would survive for another 30 years - the rate of its collapse is alarming.

McNasty

(warning - this one is pretty gross!)

One of my favorite types of movies is ZOMBIE movies - zombies are (make-believe) undead monsters that continue to "live" after they die. Zombies walk around at night and torment the living.

I bet you didn't realize that FOOD could become a zombie, too? When most food gets old, it starts to rot - this is called decomposing. Fungi (or mold) start to grow on the food and it turns green, blue, and starts to look "fuzzy". It is a natural thing for the mold to eat the food, and once it starts, that food is dead - YOU don't want to eat it!

So you know that fast food is bad for you, right? Fast food (hamburgers, fries, etc.) is unhealthy and not good for your body. But who knew that fast food can also become zombie food! Check out this video of fast food that is left out for a long time - would you want to eat those ZOMBIE FRIES??!

An apple a day

Whoah, I didn't know people could be so interested in apples as to produce this list of apple facts:

http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/apples/facts.html

They did miss one though. It takes about 1 Joule of energy to lift an apple from a table to your mouth. That means if you lift one apple from the table to your mouth in 1 second it takes 1 Watt of power.

Inner life of the cell

Cells are "building blocks" of life. If you tried to build a person out of LEGOs you would need over 100 trillion blocks for all the cells! Everything alive has cells, they're like little machines that eat and do little jobs all the time. They're hard to see without powerful microscopes, so here's a fantastic video called "The Inner Life of the Cell" - the cells sure are busy!

HOW TO - Make a Pringles can windmill!

Windmills look like big fans, but they're powered by the wind. The first windmills were used over 2,000 years ago to grind up corn and pump water. Most of the windmills you see today covert wind energy into electricity, they're called wind turbines.

A famous book called Don Quixote de La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes has windmills throughout the story. The main character Don Quixote thinks windmills are monsters!

You can make your own windmill from a can of Pringles potato chips, you'll need a pringles can, a few nuts and bolts and a tiny motor. Check out this how-to to see how it's done!

Make a "trash puppet" - sea turtle marionette

Sea turtles live in all the oceans except for the Arctic Ocean, brrrr, it's too cold there! They use the Earth's magnetic field to figure out where to go and where they've been - just like a compass. Some Sea Turtles can grow up to 7 feet and weigh 1,300 pounds - that's a lot of turtle! Sea turtles live really long, up to 180 years and they always return to their birthplace to lay eggs.

Here's how to take some trash and things laying around the house to make your own "trash puppet" a sea turtle marionette. You'll need:

1 clear plastic deli container with a snap-on lid, like the ones that parmesan cheese comes in. This is the turtle's shell.
4 plastic spoons to make the flippers. Carefully break off the handles of the spoons, leaving only about one-half inch of the handle and the scoop part. An adult could also snip off the handles with wire cutters, but don't try that yourself.
1 plastic container from individual-size pudding cups. This is the turtle's head.
4 wine bottle corks for legs
4 buttons2 for eyes, 2 for anchors for your marionette strings.
1 piece of sponge for the turtle's tail
5 twist ties
2 popsicle sticks for your marionette control
4 small screw eyes to connect the legs to the shell
Thick white glue
Nail
Hole punchthe kind you hold in your hand
Heavy thread
Acrylic paints, if you'd like to paint your turtle

Read more at the San Diego Zoo's site for putting your trash puppet together.