Discovery on Antarctica

By: Nick

     20 years of drilling. Drill drill drill. Finally! Recently, Russian researchers have found a lake on Antarctica. Lake Vostok is the largest lake of Antarctica, 50 miles wide and 160 miles long. That is huge! It is similar to Lake Ontario, near New York. American and British researchers have drilled other lakes too, but they are smaller and younger.

     Scientists around the world are eager about this discovery of the lake. They are waiting for water samples to test. They want to see if there is any possibility of life in that dark, cold lake. There might be bacteria, thriving in the unknown. Who knows? Nobody so far. The bacteria could be similar or the same as the bacteria on the ocean floor. " The more we learn about life, the more we learn about its ability to grow and survive and do well in environments that we formerly thought were too inhospitable." That's what one of NASA's senior scientists, David Morrison, said.

     Drilling Lake Vostok has made it easier and a lot more possible to test new and different technologies. Those technologies could also be used to test similar parts of the solar system. "Conditions in lakes in Antarctica are the closest we can get to those where scientists expect to find extraterrestrial life." said Valery Lukin, the head of Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute. Researchers believe that the conditions of the lake are close to those found under an ice crust on Mars, Jupiter's moon Europa, and on a moon of the planet Saturn. The study of Lake Vostok will help scientists determine which part of space to research next.  Do you think that there is a possibility of life that has a complex mind like us? Why or why not?

My Quarter Collection
By: Jessie

        Do you ever collect quarters? Well I do. I started by having a lot of different state quarters, about 40 because my dad has quite a bit of change in a little bag. We decided to start by buying one of those maps where you can insert a carved out hole for every different state you have. We also have the territory quarters. The territory quarters that I have are Northern Mariana Islands, Americans Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S Virgin Islands.

Now that I am finished with the state quarters, I am now working on the new kind of quarters the national parks quarters. I only have a couple of national park quarters. It will probably take a while to finish that collection because only a few come out each year. When finally all of them come out, it will be 2021. Are you interested in collecting quarters? Why or why not?

Risks and Inventions

By: Shivani

Thomas Edison and his invention of the light bulb.

 Last summer, I saw a band performance on my way to a game. I was amazed to see how well these young students performed together. In my mind, I thought I could never perform as well as them. This year, when I had the opportunity to sign-up for my school band, I decided to take the risk and try to learn a new instrument. Though at first I could not play a single note, I practiced every week and guess what!! I played a trio in my first performance.
What is a risk? I was surprised to read that one of the definitions of risk is “Threats and Opportunities”. I thought risks were only threats as a result of uncertain and unknown elements that could cause failures and areas to avoid. We normally neglect the opportunities and inventions aspect that may be hidden in the risks. Just imagine how the world would be like if nobody took risks due to the fear of failures. Do you think great inventions like the Iphone, Ipad, satellites, or even basic sources of necessities or luxuries like light, heat, road vehicles, airbuses and ships would have been possible without taking the risk to research and invent something new? The society mocked Steve Jobs when he introduced the $400 worth I-phone in a market when phones were available for free. He still took the risk and introduced his product into the market.We all are aware of the successful results. Did you know that Michael Jordan, the baseball rookie was knocked down in his first game with the Chicago Bulls? He finally became a favorite basketball player and led the team to win the Olympics. Thomas A Edison failed 6,000 times before finding the right filament for his light bulb. Isn’t that an amazing outcome of taking the risk to venture into an area that was unknown to mankind before these inventions were made?
There is a quote by Thomas Edison that said, “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Failures and risks can lead to great things because of trying again. If you believe in what you do, have the courage to take a risk, accept and learn from the failures, and try again, then you are bound to succeed. The learning is in the journey and not in the end result. The journey gives us the exposure to new experiences to help us make better decisions and eventually gives birth to newer inventions. Are you willing to take the risk to try something new in spite of the possibility of failing initially? Just like I tried to learn the clarinet, please share one new area that you will risk to try this year.