B4 Wednesday, October 9, 2013
MINI PAGE
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Roswell Daily Record TM
Mini Spy . . .
Mini Spy and Basset Brown are watching the International Space Station cross the night sky. See if you can find: s LADDER s COMB s EXCLAMATION s CUP s HEART s STRAWBERRY s PIG s KITE MARK s WORD -).) s CUPCAKE s TOOTH s NUMBER s KNIFE s FEATHER s FORK s SPOON s ARROW s CHERRY s CANE s SOCK s PENCIL s NEEDLE
ĂĹ 2013 Universal Uclick
from The Mini Page ĂĹ 2013 Universal Uclick
Experimenting in Orbit
International Space Station Far from Earth, about 220 miles up in space, astronauts and cosmonauts are performing experiments. On the International Space Station, or ISS, scientists can conduct tests in conditions that are impossible to create on Earth. In order to learn more about these important experiments, The Mini Page talked with an ISS program scientist. The first crew began living onboard the International Space Station in 2000. People have been living there ever since.
A tiny pull of gravity The space station is unique (you-NEEK), or unlike anything else, because of microgravity. Microgravity is a state, or condition, where the force of gravity seems to be tiny. “Micro� means “very small.� With microgravity, things seem to be weightless. Gravity is a force that pulls people and things toward physical bodies, such as Earth. The ISS is close enough to Earth that the Earth’s gravity is still strong. The gravity is about 90 percent of that on Earth. But things act as if they weigh almost nothing on the station. This is because of a condition called free fall.
art courtesy NASA
Rookie Cookie’s Recipe Turkey and Cheese Noodle Casserole
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa floats through the space station.
You’ll need: s OUNCE PACKAGE EGG NOODLES s OUNCE PACKAGE REDUCED FAT CREAM CHEESE s POUND GROUND TURKEY s OUNCE CARTON REDUCED FAT SOUR CREAM s CUP ONION CHOPPED s OUNCE JAR SPAGHETTI SAUCE s CUP GREEN PEPPER CHOPPED s CUPS SHREDDED CHEDDAR CHEESE What to do: 1. Cook noodles according to package directions; drain. 2. Brown ground turkey with onion and green pepper in large skillet. 3. In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese and sour cream. 4. Pour noodles into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and mix with one cup spaghetti sauce. 5. Mix remaining sauce with turkey and vegetables. Spread on top of noodles. 6. Layer cream cheese mixture next, spreading evenly over turkey mixture. 7. Top with cheddar cheese. 8. Bake in 350-degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until cheese is melted and casserole is bubbling. 9. Allow to sit for 5 minutes before cutting into squares. Serves 8. You will need an adult’s help with this recipe. from The Mini Page ĂĹ 2013 Universal Uclick from The Mini Page ĂĹ 2013 Universal Uclick
Meet Heidi Swedberg
from The Mini Page ĂĹ 2013 Universal Uclick
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Supersport: Max Scherzer Birthdate: 7-27-84 Hometown: St. Louis, Mo.
Every time Max Scherzer steps on the pitcher’s mound, $ETROIT 4IGERS FANS EXPECT A VICTORY Why not? After all, the All-Star right-hander had charged to a big-league best 19-2 record by early September, a major reason the Tigers led their division. Scherzer, a former college All-American at the University of Missouri, baffles batters with different pitches, including a blazing fastball. He recorded 209 strikeouts in his first 190-plus innings. $ETROIT LIKES 3CHERZER FOR OTHER REASONS (E S ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN CHARITIES SUCH AS $REAMS #OME 4RUE AND 'LOVES FOR +IDS AND HAS TAKEN time to visit children in hospitals and participate in a team caravan tour in the offseason. He’s a good guy — but he’s one tough Tiger on the mound.
The Space Laboratory Everything changes
The effects of outer space
Everything we know — all biological, chemical and physical processes — developed in the gravity on Earth. When we take away Earth’s gravity, things act differently. For example, crystals grow larger, flames are rounder, and plant roots not only grow down, but out toward food. The ISS allows us to study how things change in microgravity. This helps us learn why things act the way they do on Earth. In microgravity, things don’t always act the way scientists expect.
Space radiation, temperature differences and other conditions in outer space can destroy materials. Experiments mounted on the outside of the ISS are helping scientists figure out which materials last longest in space. One of the samples from ISS experiments survived so well that it was used to create a coating for Curiosity, the rover now exploring Mars.
photo courtesy NASA
photo by Philip Holahan
Heidi Swedberg plays the ukulele (yoo-kuh,!9 LEE ACTS SINGS AND TEACHES (ER LATEST #$ IS h-Y #UP OF 4EA v 3HE MADE THE #$ WITH THE Sukey Jump Band. Heidi has acted in several TV shows, including “The Wizards of Waverly Place.â€? She has also acted in several movies, including “Galaxy Questâ€? and “Kindergarten Cop.â€? She teaches ukulele classes at elementary schools in Los Angeles. She taught the ukulele to kids at an orphanage in Haiti. She has worked with Outside, a group that brings music to places such as senior centers and care homes for the elderly. Heidi, 47, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and grew up in Albuquerque, N.M. She began playing the ukulele when she was 5. She majored in theater in college. After college, she trained at a theater in Kentucky and then moved to New York City to act in films. from The Mini Page ĂĹ 2013 Universal Uclick
Height: 6-3 Weight: 220
from The Mini Page ĂĹ 2013 Universal Uclick
On Earth, flames form a teardrop shape (left). In microgravity, flames grow into a rounder shape.
Astronaut Karen Nyberg works with a microgravity experiment on the ISS.
Success story ! DISEASE CALLED $UCHENNE MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY $)3 TROE FEE affects about 1 in 3,500 boys. It causes muscles to waste away. In microgravity, crystals grow bigger and more regularly shaped. This lets researchers get a better look at protein crystals involved in this disease. They have identified a substance in the protein that they couldn’t find on Earth. This is helping scientists develop better treatments.
photo courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
About 150 experiments are going on at any time in the space station. Many experiments last six months or longer. As with most scientific testing, it can take three to five years before experts realize benefits from the experiments. Five space agencies, from Japan, Canada, Europe, Russia and the United States, helped build and operate the station. All the partners can perform experiments onboard the station, and scientists share results with everyone else.
photo courtesy NASA
Experimenting onboard ISS
Gravity pulls on everything the same way. It doesn’t matter if things are different sizes or shapes. If there were no air, a feather would fall as fast as a bowling ball. But on Earth, the air slows the feather down. In space, the station, the crew and everything in the station are falling around Earth at the same speed. Because everything is falling together, everything seems to float. This is called free fall. But the space station is orbiting the Earth at just the right speed, about 17,500 miles per hour, so the spacecraft never falls all the way to Earth, but keeps orbiting it.
photo courtesy NASA
photo courtesy NASA
Free fall
The Mars rover Curiosity took this picture of itself while exploring Mars. from The Mini Page ĂĹ 2013 Universal Uclick
from The Mini Page ĂĹ 2013 Universal Uclick
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Humans in Space Protecting our health
Astronaut Leland Melvin exercises with a resistance tool on the space station. It doesn’t help astronauts to lift weights in space because weights seem to weigh almost nothing.
Each year, students compete to create the best computer code to guide little satellites called SPHERES. ISS crew members hold a competition with the winning SPHERES in free-fall conditions on the station. More than 43 million students from 49 countries have worked with researchers on space station experiments. Middle school, high school and college students all work on ISS experiments.
Cells of the body
Technology
Animal and human cells act very differently in space. Cells form into more circular shapes. Because fluids flow differently in microgravity, the fluids in cells act differently. Cells do not communicate with each other in the same way. These different ways of acting can cause problems for scientists. But they can also help researchers see things in new ways. For example, by studying how cells act in space, scientists hope to learn how to better control cancer cells, which also act differently than normal cells.
Experiments on the ISS have helped experts make better machines for use on Earth. For example, knowledge gained from building the station’s robotic arm has led to a special robot. It can perform surgery too tiny and precise for a human surgeon. This technology is especially useful for performing surgeries on children and babies and has saved dozens of lives. Experimenters are working to develop techniques to refuel satellites. Now, satellites may work for about 25 years, but then they quit working.
Salmonella bacteria, which cause food poisoning, are especially dangerous in space. ISS researchers are trying to find a vaccine against them.
photo courtesy Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID, NIH
photo courtesy NASA
photo courtesy NASA
Some of the most important research onboard the ISS has involved the study of humans living in space. For example, studies have shown that people’s immune systems, or the systems battling disease, are weaker in microgravity. This is a problem for people living in space for long periods. Astronauts lose about 2 percent of their bone mass each month they are in space. This is much higher than bone loss on Earth. After 40 years of experimenting in space, researchers from the U.S. have found the right mix of exercise and nutrition to prevent bone loss in astronauts.These findings are helping to treat bedridden patients and the elderly on Earth, who are in special danger for bone loss.
All the following jokes have something in common. Can you guess the common theme or category?
The Mini Page thanks Camille Alleyne, assistant program scientist for the International Space Station, for help with this issue.
Add` i]gdj\] ndjg cZlheVeZg [dg hidg^Zh VWdji djiZg heVXZ# Next week, The Mini Page is about the interstate highway system.
The Mini Page Staff Betty Debnam - Founding Editor and Editor at Large Lisa Tarry - Managing Editor Lucy Lien - Associate Editor Wendy Daley - Artist
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<j^YZ id i]Z 8dchi^iji^dc The popular nine-part series on the Constitution, written in collaboration with the National Archives, is now packaged as a colorful 32-page softcover book. The series covers: s the preamble, the seven articles and 27 amendments s the â&#x20AC;&#x153;big ideasâ&#x20AC;? of the document s the history of its making and the signers P
Sam: How do lambs travel as astronauts? Stan: In spacesheeps! Sophie: Where do you park at the space station? Sia: At a parking meteor! Shelly: How do you organize a flight to the space station? Simon: You need to plan-et carefully! from The Mini Page ĂĹ 2013 Universal Uclick
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Space Station
TRY â&#x20AC;&#x2122;Nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; FIND
Words that remind us of the International Space Station are hidden in the block below. Some words are hidden backward or diagonally. See if you can find: AIR, BODY, BONES, CELL, CREW, CRYSTAL, EARTH, EXPERIMENT, FALL, FAR, FLUID, FREE, GRAVITY, LABORATORY, MICROGRAVITY, ORBIT, ROBOTIC, SPACE, STATION, STUDENTS, TOOLS, WEIGH.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO VISIT THE ISS?
H W E I G H F A R
T T C M S P A C E
R F O E B O N E S
A F R O L L V Y Y
E B A E L L T T T
Y A O L E S N I I
R S I D L K E V V
O T C R Y N M A A
T N I L M O I R R
A E T D T I R G G
R D O I I T E W O
O U B U B A P E R
B T O L R T X R C
A S R F O S E C I
L C R Y S T A L M
from The Mini Page ĂĹ 2013 Universal Uclick
Ready Resources The Mini Page provides ideas for websites, books or other resources that will help you learn more about this weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s topics. On the Web: s NASA GOV ISS SCIENCE s USA GOV D'0GG% s SPACESTATIONLIVE JSC NASA GOV At the library: s h4HE !MAZING )NTERNATIONAL 3PACE 3TATIONv BY THE editors of YES! Magazine s h3PACE 3TATION 3CIENCEv BY -ARIANNE * $YSON
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