Reading and Reasoning

2312
by Kim Stanley Robinson

This is the summary of the book

 Kim Stanley Robinson transports us 300 years into the future to 2312, where humanity’s future lies in the balance when some of its greatest triumphs— terra-formed habitats—are undermined by tragedy.

Technological breakthroughs have opened gateways to an extraordinary future. Earth is no longer humanity's only home—new habitats have been created on moons, other planets and in between. The solar system has been changed ,transformed, Venus has been cooled to the point where the atmosphere has solidified, and half of Titan’s atmosphere has been exported. None of the techniques can be applied to Earth, however, because some of the methods aren’t suitable for an inhabited world. And, because the Earthicans have become mere pawns of the capitalist system, they’re seen only as poor rabble who may be a threat to the free off-worlders.

But a chain of events forces mankind to confront its past, its present, and its future. The first, an unexpected death that will change Swan Er Hong’s life, occurs on Mercury, in the city of Terminator, a miracle of engineering on an unmatched scale. Swan once designed worlds only she could imagine. Can she now destroy them?

Book Review of 2312

In the story, much of the human race has left Earth due to overheating and decides to make suitable habitats on other inner planets, " geo-engineering". Not a parent to be proud of: but Earth's political influence is carried to the very edge of the solar system, where the children have grown so wilful they're planning to turn Neptune into a second sun. The main characters,Warham and Swan.
  Into this utopian mix of sandbox and civic responsibility are brought Warham and Swan. He's large, froglike and a Titan, she's thin and from Mercury; neither of them is really a he or a she, of course. Warham is mature and steady, Swan a little flighty and self-centred. They grow to love and treasure their differences as they fight together against terrorism.
  This book is a really nice read as it is and it is set in the future, making it more interesting!
 
 

 

Examples of work done by me

I heard from my seniors that we had to prepare early for the EOYs, and that one way is to do past year papers as a form of practice. Hence i went to print out last years EOY science paper and i did this paper over the weekends. I found it relatively harder as many more topics were tested but its also easier in a sense that the questions tested are not that hard. Here are some pictures of the work i did. Lets wish hard-work pays off !!!!:)

Hazard Symbols!Term 1

Graphs!Term 2

Cover!

One of the Qs!

Laboratory Sessions

Term 1 /2 Sessions

  1. Our first laboratory session was held. In this session we learnt the rules we must obey in the laboratory to maintain our safety. For example: we must wear safety goggles when we heat substances and do experiments.
   After that we tried out the bunsen flames and were taught of the difference between a luminous-flame and a non-luminous flame. The major difference is that the luminous flame is able to be seen and has a orange colour whilst a non-luminous flame cannot be seen. The non-luminous flame is also hotter than the luminous flame.
   We were also taught how to handle the bunsen burner and prevent a strike back from happening. I experienced a strike back and there was a loud hissing sound. The teacher came in time and turned off the tap before adjusting the air-hole with a glass rod.

2. Our next laboratory session. We got used to the apparatus in the lab. We also got our seating arrangement. Today we did a practical on mixing two substances to form a chemical reaction.

3. Today, was the first time we used the beaker for boiling. We boiled water. After boiling we were taught of how to plot graphs. Many of us plotted the graphs wrongly as we did not know the way to do it at a secondary level.

4. We had another practical on plotting graphs. The next few practicals were practice and we did not do much.

Term 3 sessions
 1. This is one of the interesting laboratory sessions
-We were given a beaker of ACID and a egg. We had to dissolve the egg's shell with the acid and than put the egg in a beaker of water. This process took relatively long but it was nevertheless fun. We did another experiment while the egg shell dissolved.  We used a visking tubing filled with sucrose in distilled water. This was a experiment to show the process of osmosis. The egg became bouncy after some time as water has entered it. After this lab session we had observed osmosis and had a better understanding of how osmosis works.

2. In this session, we looked at our cheek cells under the microscope. It was my first time using a microscope and i was pretty excited. We had to scrape off our own cheek cells and apply iodine on it to make it more visible under the microscope. After this session, i learnt how to operate a microscope and tried it for the first time. I also had a close up look at how our cells look like.

3. In this session , my science teacher showed us how compounds are made. She did so by using a magnesium ribbon. Once the ribbon was in contact with the flame, a bright light was formed for a moment and white ashe was the result. This showed that a chemical reaction has taken place as light and heat was created.

(This are only some of the practicals but they are the more interesting and the ones that i benefited more from, hence i chose them)

 

Iodine solution  

This are some of the pictures i took during the sessions!

Boiling water!

Alchohol and leaf!

Independent research on science

CHLORINE

Chlorine, when people hear this word, they will most likely think of the substance found in swimming pools. However there is much more to it. Chlorine is necessary to most species of living organisms, including humans in the form of chloride ions. So what are Chloride Ions ?

(Chloride Ions are important electrolytes found in body fluids and are responsible in acid balance.)

Now, back to chlorine. Chlorine is a chemical element and its symbol is CI. Chlorine has a great potential of oxidizing , which led to it being used as a common disinfectant and bleaching. What is Oxidizing?

(Oxidizing , its the process of removing electrons from another substance using a oxidant. An example of a oxidant is chlorine.)

Hence chlorine is used for the sanitary of swimming pools. This is a picture of a bottle of Chlorine. It is a greenish-yellow liquid that is transparent.

                                                                                                                                                                                    

LIGHT
Light, this word is familiar to us all. I decided to research on it as i found it mysterious, light, what is it made of? Light, how is it created? Hence, i started researching on light. Light is electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye. Light is responsible for one of our 5 senses, sight. Light is given off through a light source. Heat is mostly always given off when light is formed, however there are cases that light is formed without heat given off. So whats a light source?
(Light source in simple terms, is just a object or substance that produces light. The sun for example, is a light source, the largest. The Earth spins around the sun in a fixed speed, causing different continents and countries to have different day times and night times. The Sun is a natural source of light. It gives off light and produces heat at tremendous amounts everyday.)

Do you know that one substance that can give off light without giving off heat is found in our body? This substance is called the Phosphorus. This is first found in Hennig brand in Germany in the 16th century. He found it in a quest to find gold in the human body. Our urine, was gold in colour and hence he believed if he seperated it from the other substances, he would find gold. It was said that he boiled it, heated it, till it became paste, and continued until it became a white coloured waxy substance, Phoshorous. He had no idea he had discovered a new element and hence sold his discovery for a cheap price. He named phosphorus Icy Noctiluca as it gave off a bright light while staying extremely cold. Robert Boyle, who the discovery was sold to, remade phosphorus and used it to light splinters of wood, creating our modern day matches. It was later stated to be a element.

Major Scientific Incidents And Breakthroughs

NUIG scientists make breakthrough in breast cancer research!

  Scientists at NUI Galway have discovered a new class of genes which could help to suppress tumour growth of breast cancer cells.

This groundbreaking research was led by Professor Charles Spillane of NUI Galway’s Genetics and Biotechnology Lab and Professor Michael J Kerin of the National Breast Cancer Research Institute, Galway, who discovered a new genetic control system implicated in breast cancer.

Both research labs are collaborating to investigate a new class of genes called microRNAs which produce small RNA molecules that can switch off other genes in normal and cancer cells. Professor Spillane explains: “There are over 1,500 different types of these small microRNA genes identified so far in human cells and it is a major scientific challenge for us to understand which ones can make the difference between a normal and a cancer cell.”

Professor Kerin highlighted that “Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer worldwide in women and while treatments and outcome are improving there is a compelling need for continued research into its cause and treatment. About 2,700 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in Ireland each year. Advances in cancer biosciences research provide the basis for earlier diagnosis and new treatment regimes for breast cancer.”

The research findings have been published in the latest issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, which is considered the seventh most important scientific journal worldwide by the Eigenfactor ranking system. The research was funded by the Irish Cancer Society, the Health Research Board, and the National Breast Cancer Research Institute (NBCRI) in Galway.

  When i read this article i felt excited for the unfortunate people around the world that has attained breast cancer. Through the hardwork of the scientist in Galway , there will be new ways to reduce the cases of Breast cancer and new treatments to help those who have breast cancer. This is indeed a huge step in the medical industry. I wish the doctors and scientist that are working on this good luck and hope sincerely that the breast cancer patients will benefit as soon as possible from this breakthrough.

     
                                                                                                                                                                                 

Reflection On Personal Growth Term 3

Term 3 Reflections
  In no time at all, another term has passed. This term was very rushed as there were various holidays and numerous events. I am already used to the schedule we do everyday for science, one day a week for practicals in the Lab and one lesson in class. This term we started on biology and i feel that it is interesting. We could look at cells during practicals under the microscopes and use chemicals and so on. Although short, this term was a very fruitful term for science. I have obtained a bottom-line A1 this term under Mrs Koh and i am very grateful for her patience in teaching us. Although a bottom-line A1 is not that good, it is a huge improvement from my previous test and i would like to sincerely thank Mrs Koh again for helping me in term 3.

The topics we learnt are:
-Seperation techniques
-Cells
-Solutions and suspensions-mixture and compounds (recap)
-Photosynthesis
-Respiration

Separation Techniques
  Seperation techniques is a relatively easy topic compared to cells and Solutions and suspensions-mixture and compounds. At first i was unclear of some parts but after researching on the internet and looking repeatedly at my notes i became more sure of it.
Cells
  In primary 6 we learnt cells too, but that was simpler than this, now its more in-depth and there are more information to absorb. Cells are the smallest living organism in the human body and is the smallest unit of life. We can only see it under a microscope. Our teacher also mentioned a electron microscope that is not only bigger in size than the microscope we are using but 10000 more powerful, it will be amazing to use one but it is too expensive and hence its not available in HCI. I really wish to be able to use it one day.
Photosynthesis photosynthesize
  This was first taught in our primary 4 syllabus, but now, we are learning it in more depths so as to understand how to plant makes food. The basics were the same though, the plant uses chlorophyll to capture light energy which is in turn used to make food for the plant. However, we learn that the plant stores the energy in chemical form and is released when respiration takes place. We also heard the Photosynthesis song in class.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSHmwIZ9FNw
Respiration
   We learnt about the respiratory system and its functions, we also learnt why we must respire. I learnt new organs like the epiglottis, the larynx, the bronchus, the alveoli in the lungs and the trachea. This was very enriching and it helped me to understand more about how we breath.

Reflections On Personal Growth Term 2

Term 2 Reflections

 Time really passes silently and quickly, in a flash its the end of term 2 and my 6th month in HCI. We learnt things like mixture and compounds and yet more instruments used in Science. The vernier calipers and screw gauge were totally new to me and i have never heard of it before. They were funny looking equipment that was used to measure the external/internal diameter or width of a object. This term we learnt things that was much harder than the things we learnt last term. Homework was still manageable and it was relatively fun. However when it came to the class test, i was caught off-guard, the things we learnt were tested in a different way than i expected and the questions were way harder than i though they would be. Hence my results were disastrous. I learnt from my mistakes and i am working hard for term 3 and the EOYs now, hoping that i can regain a A1.

Topics learnt in term 2

Elements, Compounds and mixtures

  For compounds and mixture , our teacher did not have much time and hence she did not cover much. She cover only the basic structure and what is a element, mixture, compound. It is a interesting topic and i could not understand it at first, however, after asking friends , i understand more of the topic.
Solutions and Suspension
  When i saw this two words, my mind could not find corresponding information, my mind was like" what is this???" However, the teacher soon cleared my doubts after 2 practicals and hands-on experiments at the Lab.
Graphing Skills
  In this term we also learnt graphing skills, they were indeed useful and i soon learnt how to plot graphs to consolidate information and to show a rate of something and how to read graphs. After learning this topic i learnt more on why graphs are important and how we can use graphs in real life to gather information or to present information.
Density
  This word is not new to me, but its meaning is. In primary school i have long heard of Density but i never knew what it really meant. It was really interesting when i learnt it can help to purify substances and separate them too through certain methods using their difference in density.
Three states of MATTER
  This was not new but yet too new to me. We learnt this in primary school but now its very different topic. The basic theory is the same, but tons of new sub-topics are added and its definitely harder !

Reflection On Personal Growth Term 1

Hi , im Huang Ruhao from class 1p2 and this is my Science eportfolio!
Term 1 Experience
  Science in Secondary 1 is indeed very different from Science in Primary School and i am glad we are given a orientation week at the start of the year. After getting used to the NEW kind of learning of science we will be experiencing we started our official lessons. It was alot more fun and engaging compared to Primary school science, we were introduced to various kinds of  scientific instruments and the technology used in science.
  We were given many hands on practices and group discussions, this made it easier to apply the theories we learnt in real life.  Learning science through hands-on exercises and experiments , pair work and group work really made it enjoyable and efficient. I got a 80% mark for science in term 1 and i am happy with the results i will continue working hard to achieve better results in term 2 and 3.

The Topics we learnt in Term 1
Introductions to science and technology
In this section, i learnt of the various new technology used in science. There are tools that help to measure, heat up, cool down, filter, zoom in, clean and more. This equipment are interesting to use and we learnt how they helped in experiments and how we should use them to fully utilize their abilities. We were also taught about equipment that are not used in laboratory but in mines and so forth. It was a very interesting topic and it brings me up to date about the modern technology used in science.
Attitude in Science
In this Topic we were taught about the attitude a scientist should have. This attitudes are applied in experiments or research to ensure a better result. This is hence very important for a science student like me. One of the attitudes is to drill deeper than what u already know. This will allow you to learn many things from just one topic. You may also find out alot of things you do not know and it is a important attitude to have in order to succeed in science.
Drawing of apparatus 
In this we learnt how to draw apparatus in simple symbols. This symbols are useful when u want to illustrate a experiment in a diagram form.
Laboratory rules
We learnt the dos and donts in the science laboratory, this can ensure that we are safe while working in the laboratory. We also learnt Hazard symbols like "acidic","erosion" and more. This alerts us of the contents of bottles and whether they are dangerous , this is hence a very important topic and this knowledge would server use for the next few years in ensuring our safety in the Lab.