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i like music

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Today's Wonder of the Day was inspired by Ryan. Ryan Wonders, " Who invented Lamborghinis? " Thanks for WONDERing with us, Ryan!

If you're a fan of sports cars, you may have through a few hot rod . You might also look at pictures or watch videos of exotic cars on the Internet or via your favorite social media apps.

Many people don't know that Lamborghini got its start making something quite different than exotic sports cars. When Ferruccio Lamborghini started his first business, it manufactured tractors. It was quite successful and the money he made allowed him to buy himself a nice sports car: a Ferrari.

Legend has it that he had trouble with the clutch on the Ferrari and tried to tell Enzo Ferrari how to fix it. Ferrari supposedly was and told Lamborghini to stick to tractors. Instead, Lamborghini chose to start his own sports car company and released his first vehicle, the 350GT, in 1964.

And the rest, as they say, is history. Lamborghini soon became famous for its groundbreaking sports cars with names like Miura, Countach, Diablo, Murciélago, and Aventador. Some models can now easily reach speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour.

If you have your heart set on a Lamborghini, you'd better start saving today. Lamborghini only produces a limited number of each model every year. Prices start at $200,000 and some models can exceed a half million dollars or more!

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Today's shiny, new Wonder of the Day is really fast and very expensive!

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My mom

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The massive spinning wheel on the surface of the Presumpscot River in Westbrook, Maine (Credit: Tina Radel /City of Westbrook)

A giant spinning wheel of ice on the surface of the Presumpscot River has enthralled crowds in Westbrook, Maine since Monday, January 14, 2019. Many locals have likened it to crop circles -strange patterns that appear mysteriously overnight in farmers' fields, which have long been theorized to be markers of extraterrestrial communication - and speculated that the icy ring is a landing site for an alien ship. Unfortunately for UFO enthusiasts, experts say that the rare winter phenomenon is a natural occurrence.

Most scientists agree that the disks form when slush, or ice, freezes on the surface of a moving body of water, usually at a bend in the river or stream. However, there is some debate about what causes them to spin. A 1997 study published in the Royal Meteorological Society theorized that the force of the water current pushing the ice results in a whirlpool or eddy beneath it and causes it to spin. As the piece of ice rotates, its edges hit surrounding rocks and get smoothed and transformed into a near perfect circle.

However a 2016 study, published in the scientific journal, Physical Review E, asserts that while river currents may help initially form the disk, it is the changing temperature that helps maintain its rotation. According to the researchers, when ice melts on top of a slightly warmer river, a vortex, caused by the heavier cold water encountering the less dense warm water, is created. They believe it is this whirling underground water column that causes the ice to rotate, and note that the warmer the water on the bottom, the faster the disk spins.

But University of Southern Maine physicist Paul Nakroshis is doubtful this theory holds for Westbrook's spinning ice plate. In a conversation with Maine Public Radio, he noted that the river is not warm enough for melting ice to be the cause. "Most likely the cause of the rotation is just the river water going by the disk," he said, adding, "Once it starts rotating in that direction, it's probably going to continue."

Aerial view of the giant disk taken by a drone (Credit: Tina Radel /City of Westbrook)

Regardless of how it formed or what causes it to rotate, Westbrook residents are enjoying their swirling plate, which measures an impressive 300 feet in diameter and is much larger than most reported ice disks, which span a mere 20 or 30 feet across. Though some meteorologists had feared the severe winter storm, which swept through the area this past weekend, would freeze it in place, the apprehension proved unfounded. On Sunday, January 20, 2019, Westbrook officials reported that the magnificent disk appeared to have become even larger and was spinning as furiously as before. The extension of the incredible winter phenomenon will not only allow the locals to enjoy it for a few more days but also enable scientists to study the disk in further detail and perhaps solve the mystery of its rotation once and for all!

Resources: nationalgeographic.com, pbs.org, the city of Westbrook facebook, Gizmodo, com, pressherald.com

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Sorry, The Rotating Ice Disk In Maine Is Not The Work Of Aliens

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A giant spinning wheel of ice on the surface of the Presumpscot River has enthralled crowds in Westbrook, Maine since Monday, January 14, 2019. Many locals have likened it to crop circles -strange patterns that appear mysteriously overnight in farmers' fields, which have long been theorized to be markers of extraterrestrial communication - and speculated that the icy ring is a landing site for an alien ship.

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Coral reefs provide homes for many marine plants and animals (Credit: Jan-Mallander/Pixabay/CCO)

Coral reefs are some of the most diverse and vital ecosystems on Earth. The colorful underwater colonies of coral polyps, held together by calcium carbonate, provide homes for many marine plants and animals and help keep the ocean's nitrogen levels balanced. But while scientists are aware of where the world's reef systems are located, there is no complete record of all the different types of coral that live there. Now, NASA researchers are hoping to entice nature lovers, both experts and amateurs, to help them create a comprehensive database of these all-important ecosystems by playing a fun, interactive video game!

"Aquatic ecosystems, particularly coral reefs, remain quantitatively misrepresented by low-resolution remote sensing," Ved Chirayath the director of the Laboratory for Advanced Sensing (LAS) and a research scientist at NASA Aames Research Center, told Eos. The poor-quality satellite imagery can be attributed to ocean waves that distort and weaken reef images.

To bypass this hurdle, Chirayath and his team developed a high-performance camera, FluidCam, which can be attached to small drones to take up-close photos of coral systems and create 3-D images. The data collected by FluidCam, which has been mapping the shallow coral reef systems in the South Pacific for the past two years, combined with existing satellite imagery, has resulted in thousands of high-quality 2-D and 3-D images, which need to be categorized. Chirayath and his colleagues hope to crowdsource the monumental task with their cleverly entitled NeMO-Net (Neural Multi-Modal Observation and Training Network) video game.

FluidCam allows researchers to capture clear coral images (Credit: NASA.Gov/LAS)

NeMO-Net participants begin by taking a tutorial on how to map the boundaries and textures of a coral, categorize it, and navigate around the reef. Once they have mastered the basics, they are allowed to explore the reefs and classify the corals they observe. To continue playing, and get to the next level, a player has to maintain a high level of accuracy.

The participant's reliability is verified either by evaluations received from other players or by his/her ability to correctly categorize the "trick" coral images - ones already verified by experts - that are sprinkled throughout the game. Once the classification results are confirmed, they are used to train a proprietary algorithm to organize corals automatically and create a global data set of reefs. Each player's game status is identifiable by his/her reef animal avatar. They all begin as planktons, and then advance up the coral reef food chain to clownfish and beyond, leaving behind their old avatars to populate the reef with vibrant marine life.

The NeMO-Net iPad game will help scientists create a comprehensive database of the world's coral (Credit: NASA.Gov/LAS)

NeMO-Net, which will be released as an iPad game in the upcoming months, currently includes data from reefs near Guam, American Samoa, and Western Australia. Though it will initially be available only to scientists, Chirayath and his team plan to release it to the general public in late 2019, once all the kinks have been ironed out. So, stay tuned.

Resources: NeMonet.info, Eos.org

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NASA's NeMO-Net Will Give Scientists A Valid Excuse To Play Video Games

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Coral reefs are some of the most diverse and vital ecosystems on Earth. The colorful underwater colonies of coral polyps, held together by calcium carbonate, provide homes for many marine plants and animals and help keep the ocean's nitrogen levels balanced.

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As the Moon moves completely into the umbra, it turns a "blood," or reddish-orange, color (Credit: NASA)

Overnight from Sunday, Jan. 20 into Monday, Jan. 21, stargazers will be treated to what promises to be a spectacular total lunar eclipse. Also being referred to as the "super blood moon" - "super" because the Moon will be at perigee and appear larger, and "blood" because of its reddish-orange color during totality - the eclipse will be seen in its entirety in North and South America, Europe, and western Africa.

January 2019 eclipse visibility (Credit: NASA/Wikipedia Commons/Public Domain)

Lunar eclipses are a result of the Earth coming in between the Sun and the Moon. As you may be aware, the Moon shines because its surface reflects light from the Sun. When our planet gets in between the two, its shadow falls on the Moon, resulting in what we refer to as a lunar eclipse. However, instead of going dark, our satellite transforms into what is commonly called a "blood moon." Though regarded as a bad omen by some, the spooky color is caused by the Sun's rays bending around the edge of our planet and landing on the lunar surface. However, since the Earth's atmosphere scatters shorter wavelength light (colors like green or blue), only the longer wavelengths, or the redder-end of the spectrum, reach the surface of the moon, making it appear "blood" red.

"The exact color that the moon appears depends on the amount of dust and clouds in the atmosphere," NASA scientists told Space.com. "If there are extra particles in the atmosphere, from say a recent volcanic eruption, the moon will appear a darker shade of red."

The Moon does not completely darken as it passes through the umbra because Earth's atmosphere refracts sunlight into the shadow cone (Credit: Eggishorn/Wikipedia/CC-SA-4.0)

Lunar eclipses do not occur every month because the plane of the moon's orbit is slightly tilted in relation to that of Earth's. Hence, the satellite is not always in perfect alignment with the Earth and Sun, which in addition to a full moon, is necessary for a total eclipse to occur. Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be seen from specific areas, a lunar eclipse is visible from every place that is on Earth's night side. They also require no special viewing glasses and typically last about an hour, giving viewers ample time to enjoy the event.

This year's show will begin at around 10:35 p.m. (EST) when the Earth's shadow begins to traverse across the front of the Moon and starts blocking the Sun's light. By 11:40 p.m. (EST), the Moon will be "swallowed up by the Earth's surface for about an hour. As our planet moves on, it will gradually start to receive the Sun's rays and return to its full glory by 1:45 a.m. (EST).

The supermoon lunar eclipse as it moved over NASA's Glenn Research Center on September 27, 2015 (Credit: NASA/Rami Daud)

The January eclipse, the only one in 2019, is particularly favorable for US residents given that it will be visible across the contagious 48 states. More importantly, totality will begin before midnight, allowing even early sleepers to enjoy the event. Best of all, it coincides with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, which means kids of all ages will be able to stay up and watch the amazing event. If that is not enough incentive to view the eclipse how about this? The Jan. 20-21, 2019 total lunar eclipse will be the last one until May 26, 2021, and the last one visible from the United States until May 15-16 2022!

Resources: Space.com, NASA.gov

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Don't Miss The Spectacular "Super Blood Moon" Eclipse On January 20

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Overnight from Sunday, Jan. 20 into Monday, Jan. 21, stargazers will be treated to what promises to be a spectacular total lunar eclipse. Also being referred to as the "super blood moon" - "super" because the Moon will be at perigee and appear larger, and "blood" because of its reddish-orange color during totality - the eclipse will be seen in its entirety in North and South America, Europe, and western Africa.

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As the Moon moves completely into the umbra, it turns a "blood," or reddish-orange, color (Credit: NASA)

Overnight from Sunday, Jan. 20 into Monday, Jan. 21, stargazers will be treated to what promises to be a spectacular total lunar eclipse. Also being referred to as the "super blood moon" - "super" because the Moon will be at perigee and appear larger, and "blood" because of its reddish-orange color during totality - the eclipse will be seen in its entirety in North and South America, Europe, and western Africa.

January 2019 eclipse visibility (Credit: NASA/Wikipedia Commons/Public Domain)

Lunar eclipses are a result of the Earth coming in between the Sun and the Moon. As you may be aware, the Moon shines because its surface reflects light from the Sun. When our planet gets in between the two, its shadow falls on the Moon, resulting in what we refer to as a lunar eclipse. However, instead of going dark, our satellite transforms into what is commonly called a "blood moon." Though regarded as a bad omen by some, the spooky color is caused by the Sun's rays bending around the edge of our planet and landing on the lunar surface. However, since the Earth's atmosphere scatters shorter wavelength light (colors like green or blue), only the longer wavelengths, or the redder-end of the spectrum, reach the surface of the moon, making it appear "blood" red.

"The exact color that the moon appears depends on the amount of dust and clouds in the atmosphere," NASA scientists told Space.com. "If there are extra particles in the atmosphere, from say a recent volcanic eruption, the moon will appear a darker shade of red."

The Moon does not completely darken as it passes through the umbra because Earth's atmosphere refracts sunlight into the shadow cone (Credit: Eggishorn/Wikipedia/CC-SA-4.0)

Lunar eclipses do not occur every month because the plane of the moon's orbit is slightly tilted in relation to that of Earth's. Hence, the satellite is not always in perfect alignment with the Earth and Sun, which in addition to a full moon, is necessary for a total eclipse to occur. Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be seen from specific areas, a lunar eclipse is visible from every place that is on Earth's night side. They also require no special viewing glasses and typically last about an hour, giving viewers ample time to enjoy the event.

This year's show will begin at around 10:35 p.m. (EST) when the Earth's shadow begins to traverse across the front of the Moon and starts blocking the Sun's light. By 11:40 p.m. (EST), the Moon will be "swallowed up by the Earth's surface for about an hour. As our planet moves on, it will gradually start to receive the Sun's rays and return to its full glory by 1:45 a.m. (EST).

The supermoon lunar eclipse as it moved over NASA's Glenn Research Center on September 27, 2015 (Credit: NASA/Rami Daud)

The January eclipse, the only one in 2019, is particularly favorable for US residents given that it will be visible across the contagious 48 states. More importantly, totality will begin before midnight, allowing even early sleepers to enjoy the event. Best of all, it coincides with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, which means kids of all ages will be able to stay up and watch the amazing event. If that is not enough incentive to view the eclipse how about this? The Jan. 20-21, 2019 total lunar eclipse will be the last one until May 26, 2021, and the last one visible from the United States until May 15-16 2022!

Resources: Space.com, NASA.gov

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Don't Miss The Spectacular "Super Blood Moon" Eclipse On January 20

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Overnight from Sunday, Jan. 20 into Monday, Jan. 21, stargazers will be treated to what promises to be a spectacular total lunar eclipse. Also being referred to as the "super blood moon" - "super" because the Moon will be at perigee and appear larger, and "blood" because of its reddish-orange color during totality - the eclipse will be seen in its entirety in North and South America, Europe, and western Africa.

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micah

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Newsela | "'Bird Box' challenge" and other dangerous YouTube pranks banned

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YouTube is cracking down on "prank" videos that go too far.

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Winter can cause severe depression in some people (Credit: KRiemer/Pixabay/CCO)

Many of us experience mood shifts during the colder, shorter, and gloomier winter days. However, for those diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), winter blues take on a whole new meaning. While mental health professionals have attributed the symptoms of SAD, which include depression and a feeling of hopelessness, to the lack of sunlight, no one was sure how the brain made the connection. Now, some researchers have found the culprit - a brain circuit which connects special light-sensing cells in the retina with the areas of the brain that impact our moods.

The research that eventually led to this groundbreaking discovery began in the early 2000s when Samer Hattar, chief of the section on light and circadian rhythms at the US National Institute of Mental Health, and David Berson, a neuroscience professor at Brown University, were studying retinal cells. Back then, most scientists were under the impression that there were only two kinds of photoreceptor cells in the retina - rods and cones. However, Hattar and Berson were confident that there were more. "People used to laugh at us if we say there are other photoreceptors distinct from rods and cones in the retina," says Hatter.

RGC's have a direct pathway to the brain's area responsible for regulating
moods (Credit: Jamie Simon, Salk Institute for Biological Studies)

But the skeptics turned into believers when the team found the retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in 2002. However, the photoreceptor cells, which contained a light-sensitive substance called melanopsin not found in rods and cones, were not part of the ocular system.

Instead, they played a crucial role in helping keep the brain's internal clock in sync with changes in the amount of light received. The finding led many scientists to assume that this circadian function also explained seasonal depression.

But Hattar and Berson were not satisfied. They were confident there was a better explanation for the disorder. Sure enough, in 2018 while exploring the function of these new cells in a study involving mice, Hattar's team found a pathway linking RGCs to the area of the brain responsible for regulating moods. When these cells were present, an artificially-shortened cycle of light and dark caused a version of depression in the mouse. But when the team removed the cells with gene-editing tools, the mouse did not become depressed. The researchers, who published their findings in the online journal Cell on August 30, 2018, concluded that the direct connection between melanopsin and moods might be a key factor for the seasonal disorder, which impacts over 10 million Americans.

Intrigued by Hattar and Berson's findings, Jerome Sanes, also a neuroscientist at Brown University, decided to investigate whether the results apply to human brains as well. His team put young adults in an MRI machine and measured their brain activity as they were exposed to different levels of light. This enabled them to identify brain areas that were receiving signals from the photoreceptors. Sure enough, they observed that the regions of the brain which responded to the variations in light intensity were the same ones that are responsible for depression and other affective disorders. "It's very likely that things like seasonal affective disorder involve this pathway," says Sanes.

RGCs have a direct connection to the brain areas that affect moods (Credit: Hatter Et al./Cell.com)

While Sanes' findings need to be confirmed, the researchers involved in the two studies are quite confident that this newly-found circuit is the link between light exposure and mood. The researchers are not sure why the lack of light impacts some people more severely than others. Hattar is also curious about another thing. "You will understand why you would need light to see," he says, "but why do you need light to make you happy?" Whether we are able to solve these mysteries remains to be seen. Meanwhile, the scientists recommend getting as much daylight as possible to keep those winter blues at bay!

Resources: NPR.org, cell.com.

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Suffering From Intense Winter Blues? Blame It On The Brain Circuit

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Many of us experience mood shifts during the colder, shorter, and gloomier winter days. However, for those diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), winter blues take on a whole new meaning. While mental health professionals have attributed the symptoms of SAD, which include depression and a feeling of hopelessness, to the lack of sunlight, no one was sure how the brain made the connection.

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Would you like to hear a joke? Okay, here it is: Why can't penguins fly?

Any ideas?

It's because they don't have enough money to buy plane tickets!

Okay, so that's an old joke, but we still like it! And it made us WONDER...why can't penguins fly? After all, they are birds, aren't they?

Yes, penguins are , flightless birds that live in the Southern Hemisphere --especially Antarctica. Unlike the wings of other birds, penguins' wings are more like that make them well- for life in the water.

In fact, penguins swimming through water looks quite similar to birds flying through the sky. Their feathers trap air, which makes them more in the water and them from the cold water.

Penguins spend about half their time in the water and half their time on land. And their don't just help them swim! When they're on land, their and their tails help them keep their and walk .

Have you ever seen a penguin walk? Their walk looks more like a waddle, and they don't move very fast. If a penguin wants to move quickly, it slides on its belly! This is a movement called " tobogganing " after a northern method of sledding.

Okay, so a penguin's help them a lot. Still, why can't they fly? Scientists believe penguins can't fly because they likely had little or no threat from predators in their past. That means they never evolved to fly because they didn't have anything to fly away from. Instead, these birds evolved to become more to better survive in their habitat. They relied on the oceans for food, so developing to swim well was more important than growing wings to fly.

As they exist today, it's easy to see why penguins can't fly. Their , adapted for life in the water, simply cannot get their cute, chunky bodies into the sky. This is especially true for the largest species of penguin, the Emperor Penguin. Emperor Penguins stand over three feet tall and can weigh 75 pounds or more. They'd need some pretty strong wings to fly through the air!

It's easy to see why penguins would choose advanced swimming ability over flying. How about you? Would you rather glide gracefully through water or through the air? There are definitely advantages to both, as we can see from all our bird friends!

NGSS.LS1.A, NGSS.LS4.B, CCRA.L.3, CCRA.L.6, CCRA.R.1, CCRA.R.2, CCRA.W.2, CCRA.W.3, CCRA.W.9, CCRA.L.1, CCRA.L.2, CCRA.SL.1, CCRA.SL.2

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Would you like to hear a joke? Okay, here it is: Why can't penguins fly? Any ideas? It's because they don't have enough money to buy plane tickets! Okay, so that's an old joke, but we still like it! And it made us WONDER...why can't penguins fly?

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Today's Wonder of the Day was inspired by Ryan. Ryan Wonders, " Who invented Lamborghinis? " Thanks for WONDERing with us, Ryan!

If you're a fan of sports cars, you may have through a few hot rod . You might also look at pictures or watch videos of exotic cars on the Internet or via your favorite social media apps.

Many people don't know that Lamborghini got its start making something quite different than exotic sports cars. When Ferruccio Lamborghini started his first business, it manufactured tractors. It was quite successful and the money he made allowed him to buy himself a nice sports car: a Ferrari.

Legend has it that he had trouble with the clutch on the Ferrari and tried to tell Enzo Ferrari how to fix it. Ferrari supposedly was and told Lamborghini to stick to tractors. Instead, Lamborghini chose to start his own sports car company and released his first vehicle, the 350GT, in 1964.

And the rest, as they say, is history. Lamborghini soon became famous for its groundbreaking sports cars with names like Miura, Countach, Diablo, Murciélago, and Aventador. Some models can now easily reach speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour.

If you have your heart set on a Lamborghini, you'd better start saving today. Lamborghini only produces a limited number of each model every year. Prices start at $200,000 and some models can exceed a half million dollars or more!

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Today's shiny, new Wonder of the Day is really fast and very expensive!

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Newsela | It's frigid outside, so we'll get snow, right? That's hazy