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By: Savanah Eve Stewart, 12
I went to Gulf Shores with my family for summer vacation. We were tired from the four hour drive on Sunday. We decided to hang out with our neighbors by the pool. Normally, we would have been on the beach that evening looking for crabs. Little did we know that a rare sea turtle had swum ashore to lay its eggs in the canopy right next to ours. Early Monday morning as my Mimi and Papa Ronny walked the beach they saw the Bon Secour Wildlife Rescue people examining what they believed to be where a sea turtle had come and laid its eggs. Sure enough, as they began to dig the Bon Secour Wildlife Rescue people found 128 round eggs in the shape of ping-pong balls. They believe that the turtle that laid the eggs is an endangered species called the Kemp Ridley sea turtle. There are only 1,000 females that are known left of this species. The Bon Secour Wildlife Rescue people carefully moved the eggs to a safer spot. They were only able to move 126 because two of the eggs were broken. The area on the beach where the eggs have been moved is now posted. There is a $100,000 fine and time in jail if the eggs are harmed in any way.
If you would like to follow or adopt this nest you can go to: http://www.alabamaseaturtles.com and visit the nesting season statistics. The ID number is C-1 and the date found is 6/9/08 on West Beach 2. I will continue to have weekly follow-ups on this sea turtle and will have more interesting information on the Kemp Ridley sea turtle.
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In A Nutshell
By Dylan Waer, 11
A serial story in three parts.
If you missed part one read it in our June 11 issue available in the Cub Reporter Archive.
“You’re interrupting me. I was saying I need you to help me war against humans. They’ve started to build tree houses everywhere,” said Jumpy. “We’ll help. We already have three nut catapults and fifteen chili peppers,” said Jerry and Gibson, Jumpy’s nephews. “Good! Do you all have nut cars?” said Jumpy. “Yes,” said everyone. “Then lets go!” said Jumpy. Everyone ran to their nut cars and sped off. One hour later, Jumpy said, “Wow! They’ve struck again. Now three trees have tree houses. Prepare the nut catapults and chili peppers.” “Owe!” said Jerry, when a kid picked him up by the tail. “Fire the catapults!” said Jumpy. Zing! Zing! Zing! Konk! A nut hit one of the tree houses and three boys came out with water guns. “Let’s shoot the squirrels,” said one of the boys. “Oh Great!” said Jumpy. Splash! Splash! Two squirrels went down and limped back up. One squirrel threw a chili pepper into a boy’s mouth and the boy turned bright red and ran to his tree house. Another boy turned and ran away. Three squirrels went down but got back up and ran again. “We have nine squirrels left,” said Jumpy, “it’s time to try my latest invention-the nut shotgun.” Jumpy took out his nut shotgun, pulled the trigger, and fired. It sent one boy running and two more squirrels went down. “Retreat, we need more troops and catapults,” said Jumpy. All the squirrels ran to their nut cars. “Follow me,” said Jumpy, “The man is not at his house right now, we can hide there.” All the squirrels raced to the house and hid in a cupboard. “What now,” said Gibson, “ we only have seven squirrels left?” “Hmmm.” said Jumpy, “the humans have gone too far with this. It is time we went to the squirrel government in Washington D.C. There, we can discuss this with the press.” “Jumpy, there is no way, even if we go to D.C. that we are ever going to win the war,” said Jerry. “Don’t worry, I have extra nut shotguns. But before we leave, we have to recharge our nut cars, ”said Jumpy. “Oh, I have extra batteries,” said Gibson “Here, everyone.” Gibson handed out extra batteries. “Good, let’s go!” said Jumpy. All the squirrels went to their nut cars. “I’ll go out first to see if it is safe,” said Jerry. Jerry sped out the door and didn’t call back. “Uh Oh! We better check on him,” said Jumpy. Jumpy ran to a window and saw Jerry covered with frost and ice. Icicles were hanging from all over him. Jerry was frozen and snow was falling. “Winter, it’s here!” said Jumpy.
(To be continued in next week’s Cub Reporter!)
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by Aleem Ahmed, 15
H2O=Life. This equation represents an undeniable truth. H2O is water’s molecular structure, a composite of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms. From streams to oceans, glaciers to ice caps, clouds to raindrops, even our body’s cells and interstitial fluid—water is the sine qua non of life. Water is the only naturally occurring inorganic chemical compound that is found in all three states of matter; solid, liquid, and gas. Water also has a large liquid range: it freezes at 0o Celsius (32oF) and boils at 100oCelcius (212oF), and has one of the highest specific heats of any known substance, requiring large amounts of energy to raise the temperature just a few degrees.
Water’s solvent capabilities enable it to move substances through living organisms. According to Jeffery Bada, a planetary scientist at California’s Scripps Institute of Oceanography, “Water is probably the best solvent in the universe. Everything is soluble in water to some degree.” Water’s excellent ability to dissolve substances enables cells to absorb valuable nutrients, minerals, proteins, and chemicals for biochemical processes that keep them alive. Compounds which dissolve only in water, such as amino acids and DNA, would otherwise float around the cell. “They would just be globs of gunk,” says Bada. Water also plays a vital role at the cellular level by binding enzymes, which catalyze chemical reactions. In the absence water, these reactions would be terribly slow, or not occur at all. Thus, water is life.
Scientists have ranked water as second to oxygen as an essential to life. This is evident from the fact that nearly 2/3 of the average adult human body weight is water. The brain is composed of 70% water, lungs nearly 90%, and blood is 83% water. Dehydration can lead to many ailments; in his book Your Body’s Many Cries for Water, Dr. Fereydoor Batmanghelidj notes that dehydration may cause asthma, hypertension, allergies, migraine headaches, and even death.
Water is the omphalos of all ecosystems. Both reduced water quality and quantity have serious results on wetlands and marshes, rainforests and grasslands, coral reefs and polar regions. These all consequently affect all forms of plant and animal life.
Water covers 75% of Earth’s surface and maintains a livable temperature range. Oceans influence weather and climate conditions around the world by absorbing heat from the sun and spreading it through surface currents. The natural water cycle of evaporation and condensation recycles water between the Earth, the atmosphere, and all living organisms. Water shortages and drought severely damage agriculture, causing skyrocketing food prices, revenue loss, and in many cases, famine.
H2O=Life. This equation is the simple truth of life. From cells to the climate, water’s chemical properties make it essential for life. In streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans, water is the sine qua non of life.
Works Cited
Tyson, Peter. “Life’s Little Essential” Public Broadcast Service NOVA. July 2004
(Author Unknown). “Importance of Water.”
Perlman, Howard. “The Water In You” USGS Water Science for Schools
Ball, Philip. Life’s matrix: A Biography of Water. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York 2000