Look UP in the SKY!

Kansas is one of the best places there is to see clouds. They change constantly and can be alternately fascinating and terrifying. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has had a program for several years now that encourages students (with a teacher’s help) to observe and record clouds. It is called the Ceres S’Cool Project and brings observations from around the world into one large database! Besides learning about cloud formations, you can learn about time zones, satellite orbits, and how to keep data for science experiments. Can you believe that only one school from Kansas (Saints Peter and Paul School in Seneca) has participated in this project?

You can locate the Ceres S’Cool Project at http://asd-www.larc.nasa.gov/SCOOL/ . See if you and your class would like to participate. The only requirements are a teacher, some students, a place to observe the sky (that should be easy) and a convenient satellite overpass, which they help you with. See some great pictures from participants around the word at http://asd-www.larc.nasa.gov/SCOOL/photo_album/ .

Research clouds and cloud formations by using the databases offered through your State Library at http://www.kslc.org/ by going to the database list and using SIRS Discoverer or Thomson/Gale’s Kids InfoBits. Type in CLOUDS and receive hundreds of articles from magazines, newspapers, and journals. A SIRS search also offers reference articles from Compton’s Encyclopedia and World Almanac. A Kids InfoBits search will result in articles from Weekly Reader, Science Weekly, Children’s Digest, and Science World.

For more advance research try a ProQuest search of WEATHER AND CLOUDS. It will return many articles from titles such as the Journal of Climate, Plane and Pilot, Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, and Monthly Weather Review. Thomson/Gale’s general search of CLOUD PHYSICS will offer articles from Geography Review, Earth, Smithsonian and much more!

It is all there from the State Library of Kansas.

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder!

From your State Library to You:

The cuttlefish ranges in size from about 3 inches (8 centimeters) to about 5 feet (1.5 meters) long. Its oval body is commonly brown with crossbands and purple spots. It is brilliantly metallic in the sunlight and often changes color. The cuttlefish's body is surrounded with a frilled fin.

Night is dangerous for giant Australian cuttlefish. They live in rock reefs and are known to dive to the depths of the nearby sea grass to avoid being eaten. For years scientists have studied the beautiful colors that these animals (these cephalopods are kindred to the squid and octopus) can turn. However, until now they have only studied them during daytime.

Technology has improved enough to allow these scientists to study them at night using a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) with a video camera attached. What they are discovering is cuttlefish DO change color at night too! The reason postulated is that their predators have good night vision and can find them, and that the night vision and color adaptation skills of the cuttlefish are good enough to keep themselves hidden in plain sight.

Because visual predation in the world under the ocean at night has not been studied, scientists are excited to be discovering information from the other half of the daily cycle of life – at least in the Australian cuttlefish.

The above picture and definition are from the World book Encyclopedia which you and your students can locate at the State Library of Kansas site http://kslc.org/ . You can also find cuttlefish articles in SIRS, Thomson-Gale (InfoTrac) which includes the article by Roger Hanlon, et al Adaptable Night Camouflage by Cuttlefish from The American Naturalist vol. 169:4 (April 2007) that inspired this entry, and from ProQuest.