Nature
"New Statue in Golden Gate Park"
April 25, 2023
By: Robert Leung
Golden Gate Park used to have statues all over until people started to vandalize the statues. At that time, they took down. There were many statues all over the park. You can still see some of the pedestals where the statues used to be today. A new statue that was built by a random person was put up. This statue is of the extinct Xerces blue butterfly. This butterfly was native to the sand dunes of San Francisco, and the last sighting of the butterfly was in 1934. It went extinct due to habitat loss.
This statue of the butterfly was likely put there on Earth Day to show that human development has a huge impact on all things living near where we build. This statue was put on top of the Junipero Serra statue pedestal. In front of the piece of art, there is a plaque that says, “the destruction of the sand dunes of the San Francisco Peninsula was last seen in the Presidio on March 23, 1943.” It’s dated Earth Day 2023. The fate of the statue is unclear but one thing we do know is that humans have massive impacts on whatever they live near. To go visit the statue, you can just look for it towards the front of the Academy of Science. I hope you can go see the statue before the city takes it down. Remember to pray for these butterflies that they have a nice time in heaven. I pray you have a nice time and remember these butterflies.
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"How is Daylight Savings Time Affecting Everyone?"
March 14, 2023
By: Sophia Fong
This Sunday, on March 12, 2023 at 2:00 AM, as we all know, our time was changed to one hour forward. This time change is called Daylight Savings Time. It is when the time is pushed to one hour forward. This means that we will have sunlight for way longer than when it usually stays. Before this time change, it would be completely dark at around 6:00 pm. Nowadays, it will probably stay bright until 8:00 pm at the least. This might seem great, having more time to stay outside and feel the sun shining. However, when you think about it, this is not as good as it may sound. One hour forward means one hour less of sleep. This is extremely unfortunate to those who go to bed late and will also mean you will have trouble going to bed too. Thankfully, we will have lots of time to get used to this time change. The reason for this is because Daylight Savings time will last from spring to summer to fall, all the way to November 5, 2023 at 2:00 am. This time change is only observed in the U.S. Interestingly enough, not all parts of America support this change. The only parts of the U.S. that do not have Daylight Saving Time are Hawaii, most of Arizona, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and American Samoa, though some of these places are not technically US states. How do you feel about this time change? Are you excited or anxious?
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"Endangered Animals’ Numbers Added to the List Throughout the Years"
March 7, 2023
By: Sophia Fong
Endangered animals are not a fun topic, and the numbers are getting scary. Right now, in 2023, there will be a whopping total of 41,415 animals on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List. The Red List is a list of all the endangered animals currently counted in the world. Out of those 41,415 endangered animals, 16,306 of those species are almost completely extinct.
Here are the top three most endangered animals in the world right now and why they are almost extinct. Coming in at number three is the Sunda Island Tiger. As human settlements expand in the region, Sunda Island tigers are increasingly likely to encounter people, which could lead to a further rise in human-tiger conflict. Tiger poaching and illegal trading of tiger parts and products are also of serious concern to their survival.
For second place, there is the Amur Leopard. Amur Leopards are one of the rarest large cats in the world, with only 100 of them remaining. The remaining Amur leopards face multiple threats to their survival, including habitat loss and fragmentation, prey scarcity and transportation infrastructure such as roads. However, there is hope for this rare big cat. Around 75% of their home range lies in protected areas in Russia and China, and they are also moving into suitable habitats outside of these protected areas.
And in first place, not a good thing, is the Javan Rhino. Once found throughout south-east Asia, Javan rhinos have suffered a staggering decline in their numbers due to hunting and habitat loss. The lonely, wild population of Javan rhinos is one of the rarest of the rhino species with only around 75 individuals, which can only be found on the island of Java, Indonesia. The Ujung Kulon National Park, a World Heritage Site, is the last remaining refuge for Javan rhinos. But the area also suffers from the invading Arenga palm, a type of plant, leaving the rhinos with less food to eat and less habitat to roam. Besides, the small Javan rhino population is also extremely vulnerable to extinction due to natural catastrophes, disease, poaching and potential inbreeding.
I really, really hope and pray that these numbers will go down and that breeding will restore these numbers.
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"All About Orchids"
March 2, 2023
By: Robert Leung
Orchids are one of the prettiest flowers in the world, many people say. However, the thing is that they are very hard to grow. Many people try and fail to successfully grow one orchid that produces flowers every year or so. I tried taking care of two, and they have just started flowering again with summer, at least one is. I have an orange and violet colored one and a purple and white one. I have been taking care of these orchids for three years now. They produce flowers every one or two years. The flower will stay there for three to four months. Once the flowers are gone, and the stem has dried out you should cut the stem to try to make the plant want to sprout a new one. I would recommend adding something that the stem to grow on, but you don’t need too. I have mine near a window which gets it more than enough sun, as we have burned them before. This particular plant is an air plant, which means many long roots like roots will come out of the plant. These are called air roots. Don’t cut them completely off, but a nice trim is okay. The best way to water them is with mist or to have them sit in water. I really like the flowers orchids produce, and am not planning on giving up on the orchids yet. These plants are amazing, and I hope everyone is eventually able to grow them.
"The Seven Wonders of the World"
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January 17, 2023
By Anna Wald
Have you ever heard anything about the Seven Wonders of the World? The original list of the Seven Wonders was created by Hellenic travelers (early Greek travelers) about 2000 years ago, but most of the original Wonders have been destroyed. The only Wonder that is still standing is the Great Pyramid of Giza. Recently, a Swiss company wanted to add new Wonders to the original seven, so they put together an online contest and more than 10 million people voted. The voting has already finished, and the winners have been announced.
So, what are the new Seven Wonders? Let’s describe all of them in the order as they appear from east to west on the map of the world. The most eastern wonder is The Great Wall of China. This wall is a barrier that spans over China’s historic northern border. The wall started off as multiple smaller walls about 7 centuries BCE. Later, the first Chinese emperor, Qin Shi Huang unified them into one long wall. The total length is about 13, 171 miles, which includes all its branches. The second Wonder is the Taj Mahal in India. This Wonder is made almost entirely out of white marble and is on the banks of Yamuna River in the city Agra. Shah Jahan, a Mughal emperor, built it as a temple to his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Her tomb is in the middle and is surrounded by 42 acres of land. It took 20,000 workers and 20 years to build. The whole project cost 32 million rupees (around 827 million US dollars, by today's standards).
The third new Wonder is the Petra in Jordan. Petra is an ancient city that is in the southern part of Jordan and is also called “the rose city”. This city was founded by a sophisticated civilization called the Arab Nabataeans. They carved stunning architecture and many stairways out of many of the surrounding rock faces. It got very wealthy from the trade they did but sadly was whipped out by some earthquake. It was rediscovered again in 1812 by a Swiss named Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. The fourth Wonder is the Colosseum in Rome, Italy. It is an amphitheater where gladiators used to fight for their lives. This Wonder was built with sand and stone and it took 8 years to build it. The Colosseum could hold up to 80,000 spectators and was also used for executions, water battles and hunting.
The fifth new Wonder is Christ the Redeemer in Brazil. It stands on the top of Mount Corcovado overlooking Rio de Janeiro. This wonder is about 30 meters tall (about 98 feet) and was designed by a French sculptor Paul Landowski. It is the largest Art Deco sculpture in the world. The sixth Wonder is Machu Picchu in Peru. It was found high in the Andes mountains above the Peruvian Sacred Valley. This is one of the only pre-Columbian ruins that has been found almost intact. Archeologists believe that it was built for the Inca emperor Pachacuti around 1450. A century later it was abandoned and then brought back to public attention in 1911.
Lastly, the seventh and final Wonder is the Chichén Itzá in Mexico. This Wonder lies deep in the state of Yucatan and was built by the Mayans. The tribe that constructed this city were the Itzas. The most famous and celebrated temple is the temple called El Castillo. The temple has 365 steps for each of the days in the year. During the spring and summer afternoons, the sun casts triangular shadows that make it look like a snake is slithering down the north stairway.
Finally, do you like playing board games? Did you know that one of the best board games according to Boardgamegeek.com is “7 Wonders”?
Now you know a lot about Seven World Wonders and I hope you will be able to teach others about this too.
