Israel’s Solar Panels by Jacob Berry

Israel’s Solar Panels

Right now Israel is planning to build the world's largest solar power plant. This will be placed in the Negev (a large area of desert). This is really stunning because Israel is roughly the size of New Jersey and is creating largest Solar Power Plant in the World.

The site for all of the solar panels in going to be 1000 acres of land which is roughly 1.5 square miles. This site will be able to supply 500 megawatts at the end of the project. To put this into perspective 80 megawatts is enough to supply 160 thousand people with energy and Israel is planning to build one with 500 megawatts. That is enough energy to provide one million people with clean, and renewable energy.

Hypothetically if Israel had 87 square miles filled with solar panels they could generate enough energy to supply power to the whole country of 8 million people. This project is an incredible step towards effective renewable energy.

Questions:

1. Why doesn't the United States start to develop a network of solar panels?
2. How large a piece of land do you think we would need to power all  the people in the USA?

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/45123#.Vk89gnpOI4Y

What is Sleep Paralysis, and is it real? by Stephanie Ruiz

What is Sleep Paralysis, and is it real?

Sleep Paralysis is the sensation of not being able to move when falling asleep or waking up. Your mind is alert and your eyes can see, but the rest of your body is paralysed. Hallucinations are very common, these range from hearing things, sensing a presence and seeing “demons” in the room. On average these experiences last anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes, in some rare cases they may even last hours. Sleep paralysis is harmless but it may lead to anxiety and difficulty sleeping. Some people may experience sleep paralysis once or twice in their life, others may have it more often. It's more common among teenagers and young adults.

When you sleep your body releases chemicals to stop you from thrashing around during REM, when your experience vivid dreams. This chemical locks down everything in your body except your eyes and your diaphragm, so you won’t act your your dreams. This chemical release may still occur when you are waking up causing you to not be able to move.

There is no cure for sleep paralysis but by getting regular sleep and not using your phone or watching tv before you sleep can help relieve this.

At the beginning of this year, a documentary called The Nightmare was made, which focuses on sleep paralysis and it gives the viewer a sense of what happens when someone goes through this phenomenon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoPsjWqvwT4

1. Have any of you experienced sleep paralysis? If yes, can you tell what you experienced?

2. Why do you think this affects teens and young adults more?

The Wonders of the Milky Way by Max McGowan

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/early-stars-found-swirling-milky-way-center

The Wonders of the Milky Way

All over the galaxy we can find remnants of stars and other particles that have been around since the beginning of the universe, but recently astronomers have found starts at the very center of our galaxy since the beginning times. In Australia, 23 stars with very low metal content (a sign of very early stars) were found at the center of our galaxy. Such a high number surprised many astronomers because there are a lot of stars and gases in the galaxy’s jam-packed center, finding these stars is like “finding a needle in a haystack.” The star with the least amount of iron had one ten-thousandth as much iron as the sun. That’s like if you took all the iron in the sun and compressed it, you’d get a fist-sized rock. In comparison, if you did the same thing to the low-iron star, you’d get a tiny pebble. All of these stars of which have a very tight orbit around the center of the Milky way. Astonishingly, the oldest star found in the small cluster is estimated to be around 13.2 billion years old

Questions

1. Since we have found such old stars in the middle of our galaxy, is it possible that we could find other interesting things?
2. Do you think since these stars are so old, the if they were to explode from such a far distance, would it affect earth in any way?

Endorphins or Endocannabinoids Give That High by Nick Grove

Endorphins or Endocannabinoids Give That High

Endocannabinoids are, essentially, internally produced cannabis. Cannabis contains cannabinoid molecules. So for the new study,researchers with the Central Institute of Mental Health at the University of Heidelberg medical school in Mannheim, Germany, rounded up healthy lab mice, tested their anxiety levels by putting them in cages with pockets of darkness and light (anxious animals stick to the shadows), and then gave them running wheels. Mice generally like running, engaging in the activity even when they are not being pursued. That suggests, researchers believe, that they gain some kind of reward from it, experiencing the mouse version of a runner's high. That possibility was borne out in the new experiment, when the scientists noted elevated levels of endorphins and endocannabinoids in the animals' bloodstreams after running. The scientists also found that the animals were more tranquil after running, spending more time in lighted areas within their cages something that anxious, twitchy animals won't do and that they were more pain tolerant when exposed to slight physical discomfort.In general, these mice were more chill than before. But when the researchers used drugs to block the workings of some of the animals' endocannabinoid system, so that receptors in the animals' brains couldn't take up the molecules, their post-run cool disappeared. The animals proved to be as anxious after running as they had been before, and very sensitive to pain. Without a working endocannabinoid system, they developed no runner's high. However, when the researchers similarly blocked the animals response to endorphins, while leaving their endocannabinoid system unchanged, the mice enjoyed all of the soothing effects of running. They were calmer in their cages afterward and seemed to experience less pain. Even without the ability to respond to endorphins, in other words, they were more relaxed after running, strongly suggesting that endorphins do not contribute to the high, but endocannabinoids do.

What are other activities do you think release endorphins?

Do you think people that don't exercise are more stressed and uptight then people that do?

If endorphins didn't exist what would daily life be like interacting with others?

http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2015/oct/19/study-endorphins-lack-euphoria-bond-201/