Book Review: Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story of Africa
Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story of Africa Author & Illustrator: Jeanette Winter Publisher: Harcourt, Inc. Price: $17 ISBN: 978-0-15-206545-4 Reading Level: Ages 4- 8 Pages: 32 “I can begin to replace some of the trees here in my own backyard- one tree at a time.” Wangari’s Trees...
Emergency Medicine From A Teen’s View
Teen EMT is an occasional series documenting the experiences of high school senior and SciJourn reporter KiOntey Turner as she works with patients on real ambulance calls in St. Louis. Riding down Natural Bridge Ave. on the north side of St. Louis City in an ambulance sent chills down my spine. I realized that I...
From toilet to table: biosolids for fertilizer
The food you eat may be growing in stuff that you once flushed down the toilet. At the O’ Fallon, Missouri wastewater plant (2 MB PDF) 350 tons of Class A fertilizer--the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) top rating--is produced on average each month. Known as biosolids, the fertilizer is derived from human and other organic waste. Farmers use it...
Seismograph
Pictured is a seismograph, which is used to measure earthquakes. According to Saint Louis University earth sciences professor, Dr. Keith Koper, seismographs, such as this one, can detect major earthquakes all the way from China. The biggest earthquake ever detected, which occurred in Chile, was magnitude 9.5 on the Richter scale. Each...
The I-64 makeover: More than just a face-lift
The I-64 project status sign, located on the I-170 approach to Brentwood, Missouri, has been counting down the months and days until project completion since early January of 2008. Recently it reached the 6 month milestone. When the countdown finally reaches zero and the new I-64 opens for traffic, nearly $500 million dollars (and countless hours of...
Social Networking and Teens
Are you or your friends addicted to social networking? Does social networking affect you and your friends? A survey by SciJourner of 51 youth, ages 21 and under, finds that nearly a third say they are “addicted” to social networking, but only 8% of the teens and young adults surveyed feel that social networking affects their...
Healthy Choices: Are You Making Them?
“Do you live to eat, or do you eat to live?” asks Youth Exploring Science (YES) Supervisor Joshua Sams. Think of a wonderful McDonald’s lunch a cheeseburger, medium French fries, a medium drink, and an apple pie compared to the typical YES lunch of a ham or turkey sandwich. Which one would you prefer? Diabetes, high blood...
Thinking about a tattoo?
If you are thinking of getting a tattoo it’s important to get the facts. Tattoos can be marvelous works of art that symbolize something or someone in your life, but are there any health risks? According to Shaun Oldershaw, there are very few risks from getting a tattoo as long as a professional does them. Oldershaw...
Uniforms – One Less Distraction or Conformity?
Uniform requirements have been the center of heated debates for years. In 2005–06, about 14% of school principals reported to the U.S. Department of Education that their school required students to wear a uniform. That is an increase from 1999–2000, when the percentage of principals who reported that their school required students to wear uniforms was 12%. ...