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The Earth is the planet we live on, It's one of eight planets in our solar system. The Earth is the third planet from the sun after Mercury and Venus. The earth as far as we know is the only planet in the whole universe that has life. Earth is approximately 4.543 billion years old. Earth was formed after the solar system settled 4.5 billion years ago. The gravity from the newly placed solar system pulled gases and dust together to form our Earth. The Earth is made up of four main layers. The inner core is the first layer. The core is a solid sphere and is made up of iron and nickel. The core is about 759 miles in radius, the temperature is about 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Surrounding the core is the outer core. The outer core is made up of iron and nickel fluids. The outer layer is approximately 1,400 miles thick. In between the outer core and the crust is another layer called the mantel. The mantel is the thickest layer. It is 1,800 miles thick and is made up of molten rock and is the consistency of caramel. Next, the final layer is the earth's crust and is made up of mostly oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium. At the bottom of the ocean in the Earth's crust is thinner and goes about 3 miles until it reaches the mantel. The surface of the Earth is 70% water and almost all of the volcanoes are under the Earth's oceans. Earth was created after our solar system was. Our solar system was created about 4.5 billion years ago from a dense interstellar cloud of dust and gas. The dense cloud collapsed possibly because of a shockwave from a nearby star that was exploding. When this happens it's called a supernova. After the cloud collapsed and it formed a solar nebula. A solar nebula is a spinning, swirling disk of material. At the center, gravity pulled more and more material in. After a while, the pressure in the core was so great that hydrogen atoms started to combine and form helium and that released a lot of energy. After that our sun was born and took up 99% of the available matter. Mass farther away in the disks were also clumping together and smashing into each other forming bigger and bigger objects. These objects got big enough that gravity started to form them into spheres. These spheres became planets, dwarf planets and large moons. The asteroid belt is made out of bits and pieces of an earlier solar system that couldn't form planets. Other leftover pieces became asteroids, meteors, and small moons. The planetary system that we call home is on the outer edge of the Milky Way Galaxy. Our solar system consists of our stars, the Sun and everything connected to it by gravity. Such as Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Also dwarf planets such as Pluto and dozens of moons and meteorites. Outside of our solar system are more planets than stars in the night sky. We have discovered thousands of other planetary systems orbiting other stars in the Milky Way. The Milky Way is one of perhaps 100 billion galaxies in the universe.

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~Katie Ottensmiere

Thanksgiving this year is gonna be on Thursday, November 28. Thanksgiving Day, an annual national holiday in the United States and Canada celebrates the harvest and other blessings of the past year. Americans generally believe that their Thanksgiving is modeled on a 1621 harvest feast shared by the English colonists or known as pilgrims of Plymouth and the Wampanoag. pilgrims haunted wild turkeys during the fall. During thanksgiving most families eat pumpkin pie, we eat it because it is a symbol of harvest time. For first thanksgiving most Americans had a traditional Thanksgiving meal includes a turkey with stuffing, cranberry sauce, potatoes and pumpkin pie (or sweet potato pie if you are southern). The first drink was actually cider. The pilgrims used cranberry sauce to dye fabric and used it for the medicine too. Thanksgiving is always on the fourth Thursday of November. When Africans came to the new world as unslaved people, they substituted sweet potatoes for yams. Pumpkin pie was not the first dessert at Thanksgiving it was actually a filled pumpkin with milk, honey, and spices backed to form the custard. 

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-Kelsee Adam

               One thing is fairly certain about the expansion of the universe it might have enough energy to stop its expansion and recollapse. It might also have so little energy density that it will never stop expanding, but gravity was certain to slow down the expansion over time. Now the slowing of the expansion has never been observed but theoretically, the universe had to slow. The universe is full of matter and the force of gravity pulls all matter together. Then in 1998 the Hubble space telescope observations of a supernova that showed that a long time ago the universe was actually expanding slower than it is today. So this means that the force of gravity has not been slowing down the expansion of the universe. We know how much dark energy there is because we know how it affects the universe's expansion. Other than that it is all a mystery to us. But it is a very important mystery that we need to investigate. It turns out that about 68% of the universe is dark energy. Dark matter makes up about 27% of the universe. The rest or everything found on earth and everything observed without instruments, basically, all normal matter makes up less than 5 percent of the universe. One explanation of dark energy is that it is apart of space. Albert Einstein was the first person to realize that empty space is just nothing. Space has many properties, many that we are just now beginning to understand. The first property that Albert discovered was that it is possible for more space to come into existence. Then one version of his gravity theory, the version that states the cosmological constant that makes a second prediction. That is empty space can possess its own energy because this energy is a product of space itself. Then as space expands more of this energy comes into existence. As a result of this, this energy would cause the universe to expand faster and faster. Another explanation for how space acquires its own energy is the quantum theory of matter. In this theory, empty space is actually full of temporary particles that continually form and disappear. But when scientists calculated how much energy this would give empty space it came out wrong way wrong. The answer came out way too big about 10120 times too big. That is a 1 with 120 zeros after it. It's very hard to get an answer even an approximate answer so it remains a mystery. What is dark matter exactly? Well, first of all, it is dark, meaning that it is not in the form of stars or planets that we see. Observations show that there is far to little visible matter in the universe to make up the 27% required by the observation. 

                Dark matter is also not in the cloud form like normal matter is in space, matter made up of particles called baryons. We know this because we would be able to detect baryonic clouds by their absorption of radiation going through them.  Third Dark matter is not antimatter, because we do not see the rare gamma rays that are produced when antimatter annihilates with matter. Lastly, we can rule out dark galaxy-sized black holes on the basis of how many gravitational lenses that we see. High concentrations bend light passing near them from objects farther away. But we do not see enough lensing events to suggest that objects make up the required 25% dark matter contribution.

 

-Katie Ottensmeier 

 

 

Christmas started by celebrating the birth of Jesus. The term Christmas is mass on Christ’s day. This is also referring to the winter solstice and the german term Yule. Christmas has been celebrated since the early 20th century and the German word Weihnachten actually started the Christmas traditions.  When the Germans first started Christmas it was observed by the Christians. The Christians thought that gifts should play a role in Christmas, they added Santa Claus into the picture. Christmas is also a sacred and religious holiday. Around the world, people have been adding practices and traditions that are secular in nature. Christmas is also known as the celebration of Jesus. Christmas was declared an official holiday in 1870 in the United States.  The Scandinavians celebrated Christmas over a 12-day period and it all started with a log that would burn for those 12 days and then burn out. The Scandinavians also believed that when there was a spark from the log, a new caf or pig was going to be born that year. At the end of December, it was a perfect time for celebration in most areas of Europe, at that time of year, most cattle were slaughtered. The reason they were slaughtered is that they did not have to be fed during the winter if they were slaughtered. The cattle that were slaughtered, were used as fresh meat for the winter. Also, most wine and beer made during the year was finally fermented and ready for drinking. In Germany, people honored the pagan god  Oden during the mid-winter holiday. Germans were terrified of Oden, as they believed he made nocturnal flights through the sky to observe his people. Then he would decide who would prosper and who would perish. Because of his presence, many people preferred to stay inside. In Rome, where winters were not as harsh as those far north, Saturnalia a holiday honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture, was celebrated. Beginning in the week leading up to the winter solstice and continuing for a month, Saturnalia was a hedonistic time, when food and drink were plentiful and the roman numeral was turned upside down. For a month, slaves would become masters. Peasants were in control of the city. Schools and businesses were closed so that everyone could join in the fun. Also, around the time of Winter solstice Romans observed Juvenalia a feast honoring the children of Rome. Members of the upper class often celebrated the birthday of Mithra, the God of the unconquerable sun, on December 25th. It was believed that Mithra, an infant God was born of rock. For some Romans, Mithra’s birthday was the most sacred day of the year.   

 

~Kelsee Adam   

 

 

Have you ever woken up from a dream that was so detailed and vivid that it seemed real? It's such a weird experience that sometimes makes you wonder, “what is a dream”? Scientists have tried to answer that question for years. The short basic answer is that dreams are subconscious imaginings that include sounds, images, and other sensations while you sleep. So when do you dream? You dream while you’re in the REM (rapid eye moment) sleep, which is the deepest stage of sleep. This stage makes up about 20-25 % of an adult sleep and it occurs in intervals that can last from a few minutes to thirty minutes. You cycle to REM sleep a number of times during the night. If you happen to wake up in the morning during REM, the dreams seem fresher in your mind. What do you dream about? Dreams can be about anything and everything, they can be magical, strange, exhilarating, or horrifying. Bad dreams can be called many different things such as bad dreams, nightmares, or night terrors. Dreams could include the most obvious people, like people that you know such as family members, friends, and pets along with people that you have never met before. They can take place in a familiar setting like school or work. The setting could also be somewhere faraway like the moon or a fictional place such as a character’s house from a Tv show. People also have lucid dreams, lucid dreams are dreams when a person knows that they are dreaming. Research shows that lucid dreaming comes with a boost of activity in parts of the brain that are usually restful during sleep. Lucid dreaming happens when you’re between REM sleep and being awake. Some lucid dreamers have the capability to influence their own dream and changing the story. This is a good tactic, especially during a nightmare. Many experts say that you should just let your dreams flow naturally. Nightmares are things that all age ranges experience. They usually happen due to stress, conflict, fear, trauma, emotional problems, medication or drug use, and last illness. If you have a certain nightmare over and over again your subconscious might be trying to tell you something. Listen to it. If you can’t figure out why you’re having bad dreams, talk to a mental health provider. There are many theories about why we dream but know for sure. Some researchers say that dreams have no purpose or meaning. Others say that we need dreams for our mental, emotional, and physical health. Studies have looked into the importance of dreams to our well being. In one study researchers woke up people just as they were going into REM sleep. They found that those who weren’t allowed to dream had more tension, anxiety, depression, a hard time concentrating, lack of coordination, weight gain, and a tendency to hallucinate. Many experts say that dreams exist to help solve problems in our lives, incorporate memories, and help process emotions. 

 

~Katie Ottensmeire     

 

People may not realize this but kids are cyberbullying online. Cyberbullying is something that takes place over devices like phones, computers, tablets, media, etc.  Cyberbullying also includes sending pictures or hurtful text messages. It also includes sharing private or personal information about somebody else. Some of the cyberbullying can get you into some criminal trouble or unlawful behavior. This does bring some personal concerns to people. Cyberbullying does harm people. The way this harms people is this could be on their record when they cyberbully. This can be persistent because people can continuously communicate 24 hours a day. It can also be permanent because some of your thoughts and opinions are permanently published online. The last thing about cyberbullying is the fact that it is hard to notice. Teachers and parents do not notice what he/she is doing online. Schools should respond to bullying anyway, there is a law for schools to follow specifically for cyberbullying. There is also data collected on cyberbullying so you better watch out about what you say about people. Some states do not have laws on cyberbullying. Some schools may deal with cyberbullying by getting the law involved if they are needed in a situation that happened in school.  The 2017 School Crime Supplement collected data among students ages 12- 18 who reported being bullied at school during the school year, 15% were bullied by text messages or being online. In 2017, the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance system indicated that an estimated 14.9% of high school students were bullied online. This was twelve months prior to the survey. Keep in mind, bullying in general affects how you do in school academically and socially.

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~Christa Hedberg

                           

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