https://padlet.com/19darmom/x4zpvjskpxrt AP Environmental Science en-us 2018-01-02 18:01:48 UTC 2026-01-04 11:36:29 UTC hello@padlet.com 19darmom https://padlet.com/19darmom/x4zpvjskpxrt/wish/217870122 The last time the there was back-to-back drops in the life expectancy was 50 years ago, and it just happened once again. The life expectancy rate in 2016 was 78.6, down 0.1 from 2015. Although, the life expectancy rates are different from men to women. Women's life expectancy rate is at 81.8 years of age and has continued along that track for the last two years. The leading cause of death in 2016 was heart disease, followed by cancer and surprisingly, unintentional injuries. These unintentional injuries range from drug overdoses to car crashes. It is stated that the overall drop in life expectancy is due to an "uptick in the age-adjusted death rates for unintentional injuries" such as Alzheimer's disease and suicide. But, with the technology and medical advancements we have today, there is not that much to worry about in the fact that the life expectancy rate has dropped once again. ]]> 2017-12-22 15:50:45 UTC https://padlet.com/19darmom/x4zpvjskpxrt/wish/217870122 19darmom https://padlet.com/19darmom/x4zpvjskpxrt/wish/218514676 The Anchiornis was a bird-like species of dinosaur that had four wings and was roughly the size of a pigeon. In fact, the name even means "non-bird". Doesn't seem all that striking does it? The New York Times recently reported that scientists have in fact realized that the Anchiornis had feathers that changed the way they think about the flight of birds. With feathers that were small bushy plumes covering its back and neck, the Anchiornis did not have much use of them for flying. Unlike modern birds, this prehistoric bird had feathers that were not aerodynamic enough to allow for it to fly, but rather glide from tree to tree. The Anchiornis also did not have the reverse toe of modern birds, keeping them from having the ability to perch on trees. This discovery has allowed scientists to have more insight on how birds evolved from the dinosaurs, but has also made it a more complex path to how birds are they way they are today. It is only a stepping stone that shows the evolution birds have had throughout our history. ]]> 2018-01-03 14:58:46 UTC https://padlet.com/19darmom/x4zpvjskpxrt/wish/218514676 19darmom https://padlet.com/19darmom/x4zpvjskpxrt/wish/218519236 Whether or not Trump believes that climate change and global warming are real, events around the globe seem to be proving him wrong. New York Times reporters flew into the Arctic in order to find evidence of how ice was melting into the oceans at an exponential rate. Ice from ice shelves are melting in a downward motion, and into the sea, causing scientists to become scared the acceleration of this could cause an "unstoppable disintegration". In the worst case, the rapid melting of the ice shelf in Antarctica would cause the ocean to rise so far that civilizations along coasts would have to flee inland. While this may seem extremely unrealistic, maybe even too "Hollywood", the melting could cause many things to happen, especially at this rate. With all of this in mind, scientists are still frustrated with the information they lack, causing their projections for the future to be very shaky. They could be dead on, decades too fast, or decades too slow. What scientists do know is that the ice is melting at an alarming rate and the global community should care about finding out more information on how this will affect us both now and later. ]]> 2018-01-03 15:09:55 UTC https://padlet.com/19darmom/x4zpvjskpxrt/wish/218519236 19darmom https://padlet.com/19darmom/x4zpvjskpxrt/wish/218588460 A new study on Yellowstone's super volcano offers a simple explanation to its plume, a subducting tectonic plate which has been sinking for millions of years beneath North America. This plume has long been a subject of debate due to the fact that scientists cannot trace it to the core-mantle boundary. So, the scientists cannot seem to determine exactly how deep the plume extends into the Earth. Thus, the super volcano is maybe connected to the Earth's core. But, the recent discovery that the plate beneath the super volcano has been sinking does allow the scientists to consider that it is sinking and will continue to sink, increasing the heat in the plume. If the heat continues to build up, the super volcano has a larger and larger chance to erupt and change Yellowstone National Park as the world knows it. As for the history of the volcano, The last time it erupted was 640,00 years ago. The plate has moved northeastward from southwestern Idaho to its current location under the Yellowstone National Park. The shifting and eruptions that have happened there have caused a pattern of volcanic craters that very similarly resemble the hot spot of volcanic craters that created the Hawaiian island chain. ]]> 2018-01-03 18:06:07 UTC https://padlet.com/19darmom/x4zpvjskpxrt/wish/218588460 19darmom https://padlet.com/19darmom/x4zpvjskpxrt/wish/220621735 It may seem like an astounding, and even fake, news headline, but it is indeed true. The warming ocean waters in Australia's Great Barrier Reef has caused the eggs of pregnant female sea turtles to be female. When a green sea turtle lays an egg, the embryo determines its sex by the temperature the sand is at the time it is incubated. Although, even with this information it is still hard for scientists to determine the exact imbalance of the population. In order to get this data, the scientists tested the hormone levels in turtles along the Great Barrier Reef to find their sex. After, they used their genetic data to conclude what beach the individuals had originated from. But, Michael Jensen an expert from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, says that this occurrence is nothing he wouldn't see out of the realms of reality. This news is still troubling because in the long run, scientists are unsure of how harmful this event will be on the entire population of Sea Turtles. ]]> 2018-01-11 15:22:40 UTC https://padlet.com/19darmom/x4zpvjskpxrt/wish/220621735 19darmom https://padlet.com/19darmom/x4zpvjskpxrt/wish/223359885 Fracking has long been a hot topic in the environmental world. Of recent, Canada has experienced earthquakes and now, scientists are giving blame to the amount of fracking fluid that is injected into a well. Fracking consists of digging a hole in the Earth's surface in order to obtain before a high-pressure water mixture is pumped inside to release the gas inside. This then allows the gas to flow up towards the top of the well for workers to harvest. Over time, specifically three years, the fracking in Canada has become more and more evident with more wells and mature operations. During these three years, as operations have become more intense, the volume of the liquid injected into the fracking wells have increased exponentially. And once the volume reached  10,000-cubic- meters, it beings to trigger earthquakes. Before, scientists still had questions on why the earthquakes were occurring, but with this new evidence from their study, there is ways to stop the "natural" disasters from happening. ]]> 2018-01-22 15:00:31 UTC https://padlet.com/19darmom/x4zpvjskpxrt/wish/223359885