SkillUp Coalition

SkillUp is a non-profit organization that provide free and paid training for career ranging from information technology to becoming a teacher.

About:

Our non-profit connects workers with the right tools, resources, and support to make confident career shifts. We’ll help you find training and high-growth, good-wage jobs that don’t require a degree.

SkillUp connects workers with the right tools, resources and support, so they can make confident career shifts, find quality living-wage jobs, and position themselves for promising career growth.

Our History:

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken an economic toll on America’s workers. To address this critical need, we launched the SkillUp Coalition in July 2020, an upskilling non-profit coalition built to help America’s laid-off and furloughed workers access the training and employment opportunities they need to secure a place in the economy of the future.

Rather than push workers back into jobs just like the ones they left, SkillUp allows workers to leverage current skills while building new skills that are suited to in-demand jobs with promising career paths.

Now two years later, SkillUp comprises over 90 organizations including training and education providers, tech firms, employers, and philanthropies. We have connected over 1 Million workers to career and training supports throughout the country and are eager to reach even more in the coming years.

We proudly support all workers, at any stage of their journey, and create an affordable, equitable, upskilling ecosystem that allows anyone the opportunity to claim their career.

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Hacking Darwin - Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity

"A gifted and thoughtful writer, Metzl brings us to the frontiers of biology and technology, and reveals a world full of promise and peril." ― Siddhartha Mukherjee MD, New York Times bestselling author of The Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene Passionate, provocative, and highly illuminating, Hacking Darwin is the must read book about the future of our species for fans of Homo Deus and The Gene. After 3.8 billion years humankind is about to start evolving by new rules…

From leading geopolitical expert and technology futurist Jamie Metzl comes a groundbreaking exploration of the many ways genetic-engineering is shaking the core foundations of our lives ― sex, war, love, and death.

At the dawn of the genetics revolution, our DNA is becoming as readable, writable, and hackable as our information technology. But as humanity starts retooling our own genetic code, the choices we make today will be the difference between realizing breathtaking advances in human well-being and descending into a dangerous and potentially deadly genetic arms race.

Enter the laboratories where scientists are turning science fiction into reality. Look towards a future where our deepest beliefs, morals, religions, and politics are challenged like never before and the very essence of what it means to be human is at play. When we can engineer our future children, massively extend our lifespans, build life from scratch, and recreate the plant and animal world, should we?

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The Book of Investing Wisdom

The Book of Investing Wisdom is an anthology of 46 essays and speeches from the most successful, well-known investors and financiers of our time. In their own words, these legends of Wall Street share their best investment ideas and advice. You'll hear from Bernard Baruch on stock market slumps, Peter Bernstein on investing for the long term, Joseph E. Granville on market movements, John Moody on investment vs. speculation, Otto Kahn on the New York Stock Exchange and public opinion, William Peter Hamilton on the Dow theory, and Leo Melamed on the art of futures trading, to name just a few. Offering practical advice, strategic wisdom, and intriguing history, The Book of Investing Wisdom will inspire and motivate everyone from the professional money manager to the do-it-yourself investor to the business student.

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Analyze Text Connections

1. Domes have a long history. Domes occur in nature. Lava domes form when viscous magma from deep below Earth's crust erupts and hardens. Weathering and erosion shape natural domes. Salt even forms domes when it breaks through surface rock layers. For example, Avery Island in Louisiana is a salt dome.

2. For centuries, native peoples have built huts shaped like domes. The nomadic Inuit built domes for dwellings. They cut snow into blocks and piled them in a spiral shape, leaning in slightly, to form a dome.

3. Domes as architectural elements proliferated after about 100 A.D., when the Romans realized that an arch form could be turned into three-dimensional space. Before the Romans, buildings looked like squares or rectangles with pillars to hold up the heavy roofs. The Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis is a good example of architecture based on pillars. The ancient Greeks built the Parthenon using 46 outer pillars and 23 inner pillars.

4. Compared to the Greek method of using pillars for support, Roman domes derived support from rotunda walls. The domed ceiling of the ancient Roman Pantheon is intact today, although it was built using heavy concrete.

5. The architectural dome, simply defined, is  type of roof structure. In appearance, it resembles a huge bowl. Domes were built taller over time and therefore heavier. Builders tried various methods to reduce the weight, including iron or tension rings to reduce stress and prevent collapse.

6. A breakthrough came in 1420 A.D. when an obscure goldsmith named Filippo Brunelleschi won a commission to design the heavy dome that still sets atop the Santa Maria del Fiore design puzzled architects until the twentieth century, when a professor discovered Burnelleschi's diagram that showed a bricklaying pattern resembling a series of flowers.

7. The latest breakthrough came in the 1940s, when R. Buckminster Fuller designed the geodesic dome. Fuller conceived the dome as a series of triangles. The configuration of the triangles reduce stress. As a result, geodesic domes not only look different but they are also much stronger in comparison to past domes that evolved from the arch. Spaceship Earth at Walt Disney World's Epcot Center is often cited as a modified geodesic dome.

8. Domes are common architectural features today. They appear on churches, synagogues, and government buildings. Many sports arenas are shaped as domes.

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Make Inferences and Use Text Evidence as Support

1. When thinking about genuine United States currency, what bill comes to mind? Most people believe it is the one-dollar bill; however, when it comes to American currency, no other bill currency is more genuine than the two-dollar bill. In fact, the Continental Congress authorized the first two-dollar bills in 1776, nine days before the Declaration of Independence was printed. Those first bills were known as Continentals.

2. More than a half dozen public figures have appeared on the two-dollar bill. In 1862, a profile of Alexander Hamilton was on the front of the bill. The back of the bill featured a seal in the center and a large 2 in each corner. In 1917, Thomas Jefferson appeared on the two-dollar bill and the old Capitol building was pictured on the back of the bill. This version was the largest of the two-dollar bills; it was 40 percent larger than the size of bill currency currently in use. Today, Thomas Jefferson is on the front of the two-dollar bill and John Trumbull's painting, Declaration of Independence, is on the back. The original painting included 47 men at the signing, but that was too many people to squeeze onto the back of the bill! The painting was adapted and only 42 of the original 47 men appear on the back of the note.

3. The U.S. Treasury has included the two-dollar bill in its currency for all but ten years of its history. The bills were taken out of a circulation in 1966 and did not return until 1976. Bank teller and cashier drawers did not have a slot for two-dollar bills. Accepting the bills created havoc in the drawers. The use of a two-dollar bill to buy a snack from a vending machine was not possible either. The machines were not programmed to accept that denomination. The same was true at ticket kiosks for purchasing bus or train tickets. It became apparent that few places wanted to accept the two-dollar bills, so people will not want to carry them in their wallets.

4. The two-dollar bill returned as legal currency in 1976. Why bring back something that had been so unpopular? The answer is simple. It costs money to print money. At the time, the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, an agency within the U.S. Treasury, spent about a nickel for each one-dollar bill it printed. They could print a two-dollar bill for the same amount, but they would only need half as many bills. The treasury issued 400 million two-dollar bills that year.

5. At first, banks reported a great demand for the bills, but after a week, interest dropped sharply. People were not requesting them to use like their other currency. They were tucking the bills away in drawers and boxes or giving them to their children or grandchildren as a special gift. Circulation of the bills was sluggish at best. The same problems existed with cash drawers and vending machines. In addition, since the bills had been out of circulation for a decade, many store clerks would turn the bills away believing they were counterfeit or fake currency.

6. The treasury has not totally given up on the two-dollar bill, though. There are still more than 1.5 billion dollars of them in circulation. The last printing was in 1995. One-dollar bills have a life span of about 18 months. The two-dollar bills do not get out much though, so they last about six years. The longer life means fewer bills are destroyed, so new two-dollar bills need to be printed less often.

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Determine Main Idea and Summarize Part 2

1. Many people start each day by eating a crisp, delicate waffle dripping in melted butter and warm maple syrup. If you are one of these people, you can thank Cornelius Swarthout for this delicious breakfast food. Swarthout invented the first stovetop waffle iron. This Troy, New York, resident received a patent for his invention on August 24, 1869. Swarthout described his invention as a device to bake waffles.

2. Waffles existed long before Swarthout's invention. Ancient Greeks cooked an early version of waffles. The flat cakes were cooked by pouring batter between two hot metal plates. The flat cakes were then eaten with herbs and cheese.

3. By the 1200s, waffles were a part of European diets. A grid pattern was added to the metal plates, which made the cakes look much more like the waffles we eat today. The pilgrims brought their waffle plates with them when they came to America in the 1600s. Thomas Jefferson is rumored to have been a big waffle fan who held "waffle frolics." He would serve sweet and savory waffles at these parties.

4. Swarthout's invention made waffle-making easier and safer. Cooking with the old-style heated metal plates often resulted in burned fingers and hands. The waffle iron allowed cooks to flip their waffles without touching the heated plates. Cooks removed a plate from the top of their coal-burning stove. The waffle iron fit into the opening. The cook poured batter onto one side of the iron and closed the lid. After a few minutes, the cook used the long handle to turn the iron over to cook the other side. A clasp on the iron kept the waffle from falling out as it was turned.

5. The waffle iron made it easier for people to enjoy waffles at home. As a result, the dish became more popular. Today in the United States, people enjoy waffles with butter and syrup, fruits and whipped cream, and other sweet combinations. Savory waffle combinations, such as chicken and waffles, are also popular. Around the world, people enjoy different waffle varieties. For example, the Dutch eat stroopwafel, syrup sandwiched between two thin waffles. In Scandinavia, people enjoy heart-shaped waffles with cheese or cream and jam. Hong Kong is home to waffles spread with butter, peanut butter, and sugar. No matter how you want to enjoy your waffles, take a moment to appreciate the man who made them possible-Cornelius Swarthout.

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Determine Main Idea and Summarize Part 1

Read the passage. Then answer questions 1 through 6

1. When it comes to watching sports, football reigns supreme in the United States. However, when it comes to number of participants, football takes a back seat to fitness sports. Fitness sports include activities such as walking, running, and weightlifting. The most popular option is walking. About 60 percent of American adults walk for fun and exercise. It is most common in the West and Northeast; however, the number of recreational walkers in the South is on the rise.

2. These are numerous articles on the health benefits of walking. Medical experts say to get the most health benefits from walking and you should walk at least two and a half hours a week. Individual walks should last at least ten minutes. A brisk pace will result in the walker breathing harder, which leads to healthier heart and blood vessels. The benefits of following this advice include achieving and maintaining a healthy weight and lowering your risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, depression, and even some cancers.

3. Walking has become so popular that many city and community planners are now designing areas with walking paths. Studies show only about half the walkers in the United States walk the recommended amount of time each week. Access to safe and convenient places to walk encourages people to increase their walking time and encourages more people to participate in this fitness sport. Cities and communities are responding to this need for safe walking paths.

4. Walking has also become big business. Most Americans have at least one or two pairs of walking sneakers in their closet. Tracking the steps or miles walked has become a popular by-product of the sport. Electronic pedometers and distance tracking phone apps provide walkers with a record of how far they have gone, as well as a comparison to past achievements. Many millions of dollars are spent each year on fitness apparel and electronics related to walking.

5. Walking also has the benefit of being able to be completed on an individual basis or with a group. A solitary walk provides walkers with a chance to clear their minds and recharge their batteries. Many walkers form walking groups with friends and neighbors. Not only these groups provide social interaction for the participants but members also encourage each other to extend their distance to increase their pace. Individuals should choose whichever method helps them to meet the recommended walking time and pace standards each week.

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YOUMARES 9 - The Oceans: Our Research, Our Future

This book is the final product of the YOUMARES 9 conference, held from 12 to 14 September 2018 in Oldenburg, Germany. From all areas of marine sciences, bachelor, master, and PhD students were asked to contribute. The oral and poster presentations of this conference represent the most recent research in marine sciences. All presentations were part of a topical session, which were also organized and moderated by early career scientists. Apart from handling the presentation abstracts, all session hosts were given the opportunity to write a review article on a topic of their choice in their area of research. These peer-reviewed articles and the corresponding abstracts are compiled in this book.

The 2018 edition of the YOUMARES series started with an icebreaker event at the State Museum for Nature and Man in the city center of Oldenburg. All participants were welcomed by Prof. Ursula Warnke (State Museum for Nature and Man), Prof. Oliver Zielinski (Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, ICBM), and Prof. Dieter Hanelt (German Society for Marine Research, DGM). Some introductory games, food, and drinks indeed broke the ice, especially for the people who have not already been part of the YOUMARES family.

The scientific part of the conference was hosted by the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg and its Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM). After some welcome words by Prof. Esther Ruigendijk (University of Oldenburg, Vice President for Early Career Researchers and International Affairs) and Prof. Oliver Zielinski (ICBM), we started a plenary discussion bridging marine sciences with ocean governance and conservation. The vivid discussion was moderated by James G. Hagan (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, VUB). The discussants on the podium were session hosts of the 2018 YOUMARES edition: Meenakshi Poti, Morgan L. McCarthy, Thomas Luypaert, and Liam Lachs (all VUB, experts in the field of environmental conservation), Pradeep A. Singh, and Mara Ort (University of Bremen, representing the field of ocean governance). They were joined by Prof. Zielinski (ICBM, University of Oldenburg) and Dr. Cornelia Nauen (Mundus Maris, Brussels). The opening morning was completed by a keynote talk of Prof. Frank Oliver Glöckner (Max Plank Institute for Marine Microbiology and Jacobs University Bremen) on the “Ocean Sampling Day, an Example for Science 2.0.”

One afternoon was reserved for workshops and excursions. Participants could choose from workshops like “How to turn science into a story?,” “Publishing in Natural Sciences,” and “Knowledge transfer in marine science” as well as guided tours through the city center of Oldenburg or the Botanical Garden of the University Oldenburg and others.

The remaining time was filled with a diverse spectrum of talks and poster presentations of cutting-edge research results obtained by the conference participants. In total, 109 talks and 33 posters were presented in 1 of the 19 sessions. Including session hosts, helpers, presenters, and listeners, a total over 250 people contributed to YOUMARES 9.

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Anatomy 101: From Muscles and Bones to Organs and Systems, Your Guide To How The Human Body Works

The human body has always amazed mankind. Early scientific drawings and diagrams demonstrate the long-standing fascination with the body. Even cave drawings and later hieroglyphs illustrate that people were aware of the complex machinery of the human body. Our fascination continues to the present day, as we dig ever deeper into learning everything we can about the human body. Our understanding has advanced dramatically in just the last 20 years alone.

The study of the human body is divided into two different but closely related disciplines. Human anatomy is the study of the structure of the human body while physiology is the study of its function. Together, they help us understand how the human body works. In this book, you won’t just learn the structure of the human body and the functions of its various parts, you’ll also discover why it does what it does.

Cells, tissues, and organs are often intricately arranged to facilitate many functions simultaneously; complex biochemical processes take place that enable your body to perform those functions. In Anatomy 101, all of these processes and structures of the human body are explained. After reading this book you’ll know the human body inside and out.

The amount of complexity can seem overwhelming when you’re studying anatomy and physiology, especially at first, and particularly if you don’t have a strong background in biology. Don’t be intimidated! This book is designed for the reader who doesn’t already have a PhD in biochemistry. Even if it’s been a the reader who doesn’t already have a PhD in biochemistry. Even if it’s been a few decades since high-school biology, with careful reading, you’ll be able to grasp the principles described in this book. By starting with a solid foundation, you will eventually master the intricacies of the human body. Don’t forget that you already have a head start: you own a human body.

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500 Nail Design - Inspired and Inventive Looks for Every Mood and Occasion

Have you ever seen those beautifully painted salon nails and wished that you could create the same intricate designs yourself? The beautiful thing about nail art is that anyone can do it. Seriously, anyone! All you need is a few simple tools and you’ll be creating gorgeous nail designs in no time. Nail art is the perfect accessory because it can be custom tailored for any personal taste or style. The best thing about nail art is that there is a design for every skill or patience level, and you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get awesome nails. The keys, as with mastering any skill, are patience and practice. Even if you only have fifteen minutes, you can easily create compliment-worthy nails! This book showcases all levels of nail art, from simple beginner designs, to more complex and complicated designs for the accomplished nail artist.

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3D-Printing Changes U.S. Government Operations and Procurement

Additive manufacturing—also known as three-dimensional (3D) printing—has the potential to fundamentally change the production and distribution of goods. Unlike conventional or subtractive manufacturing processes, such as drilling, which create a part by cutting away material, additive manufacturing builds a part using a layer-by-layer process. Additive manufacturing has been used as a design and prototyping tool, but the focus of additive manufacturing is now shifting to the direct production of functional parts—parts that accomplish one or more functions, such as medical implants or aircraft engine parts—that are ready for distribution and sale.

Support from federal agencies, such as the National Science Foundation(NSF) and the Department of Defense (DOD), was instrumental in the early research and development into additive manufacturing. According to the Science and Technology Policy Institute, since 1986 when it firs began funding additive manufacturing, NSF has expended more than$200 million on additive manufacturing research and related activities.

Now, several federal agencies are involved with the research and development of additive manufacturing, including NSF, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), NIST, DOD, and the Department of Energy. Within DOD, several research organizations are involved, including the research laboratories of the Army, Navy, and AirForce and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

These federal agencies support research at federal laboratories, academic institutions, and small and large companies, sponsor technical conferences, and participate in standards development. To help guide research and development efforts, federal research and development agencies have supported the development of several technology roadmaps. Further, in August 2012, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, also known as America Makes, was founded as publics-private partnership to accelerate the research, development, and demonstration of additive manufacturing and transition technology to the manufacturing industry in the United States. Its federal partners include the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Education, and Energy, NASA, and NSF. America Makes is part of a broader National Network for Manufacturing Innovation that is designed to stimulate advanced manufacturing technologies and accelerate their commercialization in the United States. The interagency Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office manages the network and includes participation from all federal agencies involved in U.S. manufacturing. It is designed to enable more effective collaboration in identifying and addressing manufacturing challenges and opportunities that span technology areas and cut across agency missions.

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Spectrum Science

Science is about discovering the reasons why things happen in the universe , so it shouldn’t be a surprise to learn that scientific knowledge is gained through reasoning. There’s more than a single way to reason, though, and one plays a much bigger role in science than any other.

Deduction is a form of reasoning that uses broad, generalized facts to draw conclusions about specific questions or events. For example, let’s say you got to bed one night, wakeup at dawn, and the ground is covered in a layer of fresh snow. You also see a line of tiny footprints imprinted on the snow. Using deductive reasoning, you know an animal walked there during the night. You reach this conclusion because, a: animals leave footprints when they walk through snow; and b: the snow fell during the night; therefore, c: an animal walked across the snow during the night. If a and be are true, then c must be true.

Deduction doesn’t really lead to new knowledge, though. When a more general truth is already known, deduction simply proves that more specific instances are true as well. You know that gravity causes objects to fall when they’re dropped, and an apple is an object, so concluding that an apple will fall when it’s dropped isn’t particularly informative.

Science is mainly based on induction, which, in a way, is the opposite of deduction. Inductive reasoning uses specific examples to draw more general conclusions. Going back to the tracks in the snow, induction might lead you to conclude that a possum walked across the yard at night. In five years, you've never observed any animals but possums during the night. The tracks also appear to have been made by a small, four-legged animal. Therefore, it was most likely a possum that crossed the yard. Inductive reasoning leads to most likely conclusions, but there's always a chance, no matter how small, that something else is the answer.

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Space and Time

Does the relativity of motion represent the most defining feature of our Universe? Or is it only a facet, a partial interpretation of a reality that hides different rules and a totally new fundamental mechanism?

Wherever we would gaze into the vastness of space, a lot of cosmic bodies (stars, galaxies, planets) can be seen moving continuously, each one relative to all the others. We cannot pinpoint one of these bodies and say that we found a truly fixed point in space; therefore, it is easy to state that the relativity of motion must be a given of our universe. Consequently, the Theory of Relativity (special) should be able to decipher all the mysteries of motion and to formalize all the laws of physics related to this subject.

However, based on the current model of our universe's birth, the Theory of the Absolute[2]has identified an absolute "point" within this vast expanse of space and tries to harmonize the two interpretations of the cosmic symphony. It starts from the same simple premise, namely the speed of light is a universal constant. As it was previously stated in my Prime Theory series, the intergalactic space (the regions of space that are far away from any cosmic object) provides an ideal, uniform framework in which the movement of a body or a simpler granular structure can have any absolute speed -up to the maximum value c. This limitation also applies to fields and photons of any kind, being determined by the intrinsic characteristics of the spatial granular fluid.

But things are more complex than that, check out Chapter 11 of [3] -"A unique reality". The presence of a body with significant mass (planet, moon, star) produces an important perturbation (sub-quantum fluctuations) to all the gravitational fluxes in the neighborhood and changes the characteristics of space within a large radius around. Practically, this creates a new granularization (on a larger scale) of the spatial fluid from the big sphere circumscribed to the cosmic object, imprinting this whole region with a special feature of local absolute. If a certain cosmic area is populated by several cosmic bodies, there will be the same number of regions (separate or overlapping) with absolute features and each region will follow the trajectory of its source and will inherit its rotational movements.

Once we come very close to a cosmic object and a certain limit is passed, the absolute feature of its surrounding space becomes dominant and will determine all the movements inside this region. The photons, for example, will move at the speed limit c relative to this absolute framework. Consequently, a laboratory placed on the Earth's surface is lying inside its region of absolute space (for now, we will ignore the direct effects of gravitation and planetary rotation). It will rotate in sync with the planet -therefore, with the local absolute -and, for any experience made with light, it may be considered a perfect Absolute Frame of Reference (AFR). This also represents the minimal frame in which we can study the relative motion, considering that one or several Inertial Frames of Reference (IFR) are moving uniformly in regard to it.

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Spectrum Science

Science begins with curiosity. Taking an interest in the world around you and asking questions about how and why things happen is just the first step, though. Scientists depend on a wide range of skills and tools to help them investigate and discover the answers.

As a scientist, you’ll need to know how to use certain tools. Whether it's a scale, a microscope, a laser, or a Bunsen burner, you need to be familiar with each tool’s function and how it’s used safely. Laboratories can be places for discovery, but they can also be places of danger. Being careful, precise, and safe are a scientist’s top priorities in the lab.

The specific tools scientists use each day depend on which scientific discipline they’re involved in and the kind of research they’re doing. However, certain skills are used nearly every day in every kind of science.

One of the most basic skills is careful observation. Observation is the key to all good scientific research. Whether you’re conducting experiments, studying animals in the wild, or digging through the ground in search of ancient bones, you need to observe everything closely and take detailed notes. An event that seems minor or unimportant when it happens may turnout to be the reason an experiment fails or succeeds. If you don’t bother tore cord the event—or even notice it—then your research will be incomplete and your results will be unreliable.

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Trickle-down climate risk regulation

Climate change impacts—including flooding, wildfires, and crop failures—are destroying eco-systems, homes, infrastructure, farms, and businesses. Regulators around the globe are paying increasing attention to what these events mean for banks and the financial system, with several attending not only to bank impacts from, but also bank contributions to, climate change. The European Central Bank, for example, is signaling to banks that they must plan and make their transition away from financing of fossil fuels—to respond not only to their own risks but also to the science pointing to the necessity of this transition for the planet and financial system. Yet in the US, the primary regulators of national and com-munity banks are narrowly zeroing in on risks posed to the largest banks—those with over $100 billion in total consolidated assets—without attention to these banks’ role in financing green-house gas–emitting activities and what they mean for other important financial actors. Such a “trickle-down” approach to regulation—assuming that protecting big banks will protect other, smaller financial entities and the financial system more broadly—obscures the financial crisis that is already underway and inadequately responds to scientific evidence on distinctive features of climate risk and impacts.

Big banks should be worried about climate risks. Loans for fossil fuel–related activities are at risk of rap-idly losing value, causing banks that hold them to suffer major losses. Bank balance sheets will also suffer when property damage creates loan defaults. Still, de-spite promises by most to reach “net-zero” emissions by 2050, big US banks remain the world’s largest fossil fuel financiers, apparently believing they can ditch their fossil assets before the energy transition torpedoes their value and that physical impacts to investments in one location can be offset by safe investments elsewhere.

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College Admission Process

As you think about the next chapter of your life, you may have visions of what you would like to study or where you would like to go to college. Regardless of where you are at on that journey, it is our goal to help you better understand yourself and the higher education options available in order to make the most of your college experience. Making a great decision today will help with many follow-on decisions down the line. Likewise, eliminating colleges and career choices from your list(s) of consideration will help winnow down decisions to make them more tenable.

What is the best college for you? Please understand finding the best college is like asking someone the best move in chess. The answer to both questions: it depends. We will provide the platform to set you up for success. The work and time to achieve these goals is up to you.

With so much information out there, where do I begin? The beginning of the journey starts with introspection. It requires you to be very candid with yourself and ask some tough questions. Once you have a realistic picture of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and limitations the next steps in the process get progressively easier.

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Power Quality

Electrical power is becoming one of the most dominant factors in our society. Power generation, transmission, distribution and usage are undergoing significant changes that will affect the electrical quality and performance needs of our 21st century industry. One major aspect of electrical power is its quality and stability – or so called Power Quality.

The view on Power Quality did change over the past few years. It seems that Power Quality is becoming a more important term in the academic world dealing with electrical power, and it is becoming more visible in all areas of commerce and industry, be-cause of the ever increasing industry automation using sensitive electrical equipment on one hand and due to the dramatic change of our global electrical infrastructure on the other.

For the past century, grid stability was maintained with a limited amount of major generators that have a large amount of rotational inertia. And the rate of change of phase angle is slow. Unfortunately, this does not work anymore with renewable energy sources adding their share to the grid like wind turbines or PV modules. Although the basic idea to use renewable energies is great and will be our path into the next century, it comes with a curse for the power grid as power flow stability will suffer.

It is not only the source side that is about to change. We have also seen significant changes on the load side as well. Industry is using machines and electrical products such as AC drives or PLCs that are sensitive to the slightest change of power quality, and we at home use more and more electrical products with switching power sup-plies or starting to plug in our electric cars to charge batteries. In addition, many of us have begun installing our own distributed generation systems on our rooftops using the latest solar panels. So we did look for a way to address this severe impact on our distribution network. To match supply and demand, we are about to create a new, intelligent and self-healing electric power infrastructure. The Smart Grid. The basic idea is to maintain the necessary balance between generators and loads on a grid. In other words, to make sure we have a good grid balance at all times. But the key question that you should ask yourself is: Does it also improve Power Quality? Probably not!

Further on, the way how Power Quality is measured is going to be changed. Tradition-ally, each country had its own Power Quality standards and defined its own power quality instrument requirements. But more and more international harmonization efforts can be seen. Such as IEC 61000-4-30, which is an excellent standard that ensures that all compliant power quality instruments, regardless of manufacturer, will produce Preface X the same results when connected to the same signal. This helps reduce the cost and size of measurement instruments so that they can also be used in volume applications and even directly embedded into sensitive loads. But work still has to be done. We still use Power Quality standards that have been written decades ago and don’t match today’s technology any more, such as flicker standards that use parameters that have been defined by the behavior of 60-watt incandescent light bulbs, which are becoming extinct.

Almost all experts are in agreement - although we will see an improvement in metering and control of the power flow, Power Quality will suffer. This book will give an overview of how power quality might impact our lives today and tomorrow, introduce new ways to monitor power quality and inform us about interesting possibilities to mitigate power quality problems.

Regardless of any enhancements of the power grid, “Power Quality is just compatibility” like my good old friend and teacher Alex McEachern used to say. Power Quality will always remain an economic compromise between supply and load. The power available on the grid must be sufficiently clean for the loads to operate correctly, and the loads must be sufficiently strong to tolerate normal disturbances on the grid.

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PCA - Packaging Corporation of America

Hiring for: General Labor - $18/hr to $23/hr

2nd and 3rd shift - 10% shift premium

Truck Driver - $24/hr to $29.79/hr

Phone Number: 616-949-6610

Location: Grand Rapids Full-Line Plant

4459 40th Street SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49512

Benefits: Medical, Dental, Vision, 401k with company match, Gainshare program, Flexible PTO schedule, and 11 paid holiday a year.

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Analyze Text Structure

Louisa May Alcott

1. Louisa May Alcott was influenced to write from an early age. She was born in 1832, in Pennsylvania, but grew up in Concord, Massachusetts, a center for thinkers and writers. Her father, the social reformer Bronson Alcott, was her teacher. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were her mentors.

2. As a teenager, Alcott helped support her mother and sisters, while her father pursued unprofitable schemes for reform. Alcott was a seamstress, a governess, and a domestic servant at various times, but she kept writing. She published a poem in 1851 and a story in 1852.

3. In 1862, during the Civil War, Alcott served as a nurse in a Union hospital. As a result, she developed a severe illness from which she never fully recovered. Yet the experience had a positive effect. It provided her with the material for her popular manuscript Hospital Sketches, published in 1863.

4. Alcott wrote numerous tales from magazines during the 1860s, but she published them anonymously or under pseudonyms. In 1868-1869, she published Little Women using her own name. Little Women brought Alcott fame and, for the first time, financial security.

5. For Little Women, Alcott drew on her childhood adventures with her older sister Anna and younger sisters Elizabeth and Abigail May. The sisters became Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy in the book, with Jo as the character Alcott based on herself. Little Women and several later books for young people established Alcott's public image as the "children's friend."

6. The reputation endured until the mid-1940s, when tow book-business partners discovered that Alcott had a darker side. These partners matched Alcott with the pseudonyms she had used. They revealed that Alcott had published adult thrillers of revenge, violence, and passion.

7. The discovery led critics to re-evaluate Alcott's life and writings. Some now conclude that Alcott hid feminist messages in Little Women. The fact that Alcott openly campaigned for women's rights later in her life supports this conclusion. Alcott died in Boston in 1888.

Learn to Trade

1. Are you losing sleep over the problem of your job future? Have you thought about learning a trade? A trade generally requires manual labor and training in a specific skill, and this has many advantages. Imagine having a job that allows you to work with your hands, see immediate results, and gain financial security. What's more, you could enjoy what you do.

2. Hundreds of trades exist, so it should be fairly easy to find one that suits you. You might want to be an electrician, a plumber, or a hair stylist, to name only three. New trades keep emerging as well. The developing filed of renewable energy offers opportunities for solar or wind power technicians.

3. Some trades are undergoing labor shortages as workers retire, and this means that newly trained people are in demand. Learning some trades is possible in less time than it take to earn a four-year college degree-and at less cost.

4. Here are questions to help you start thinking about a trade. You might want to consider these in step-by-step order. Remember that a little research in a library or on the Internet can help you find answers.

5. Which trade should I choose?
Decide whether you are more concerned about learning a trade aligns with your interest or done with high earnings potential. Earnings can vary considerably among trades.

6. Do I have physical limitations that would keep me from performing my chosen trade?
Some trades require physical effort. Hair stylists and barbers spend time on their feet. Masonry workers lift heavy bricks or concrete, and they must stand or kneel for long periods.

7. Is my educations adequate for my trade of choice?
Almost always, learning a trade starts with earning a high school diploma or high school equivalency credentials. College courses can be a plus. In addition, learning a chosen trade may require strong math skills, spatial reasoning skills, or communication skills.

8. Now you are ready to explore the ways to learn your trade. You might attend a community college or  trade school or learn through an apprenticeship. Explore the possibilities for financial aid. Enjoy the process of discovering your bright future.

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8 Career Success Standards

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The Electro-Magnetic Connection

Who discovered that electricity and magnetism were two aspects of the same thing?

Nineteenth-century scientist Michael Faraday made several important discoveries in chemistry, but it was his work with electricity that had the greatest impact. His interest in electricity was sparked by a series of experiments conducted by Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted. In 1820, Oersted discovered a fascinating relationship between electricity and magnetism. He concluded that an electrical current running through a wire also created a magnetic field around the wire.

Faraday immediately began his own research. Several years later, he designed an experiment that wrapped two insulated wires around a large iron ring. When he sent an electrical current through one of the wires, he detected a current running in the other. The current couldn’t have passed from one wire to the other because of conduction—the insulation surrounding the wires made that impossible. Faraday suspected it had something to do with the magnetic field surrounding the first wire.

Later, Faraday made a coil of wire and placed a magnet inside it. He found that when he moved the magnet back and forth, an electrical current began flowing through the wire. The same thing happened if the magnet remained still and he moved the coil back and forth. Although Faraday wasn’t exactly sure why it was happening, he concluded that the changing magnetic field was causing the current to flow through the wires. He had just discovered electromagnetic induction.

Faraday kept experimenting, and soon he saw that a magnetic field could also have an effect on light. This discovery was the first indication that light is a form of electromagnetic energy.

About 20 years later, James Clerk Maxwell used Faraday’s groundbreaking work to write a series of mathematical equations that clearly explained electromagnetic fields and their effect on matter. Maxwell’s work connected the dots laid down by Faraday concerning light, electricity, and magnetism. In one of science’s greatest moments, Maxwell concluded from his research that light must be a form of electromagnetic energy—a discovery that opened the door to much of the scientific research that would dominate the 20th century.

field: a region in space defined by the strength and direction of a force’s influence

conduction: the transfer of heat or electrical energy through a substance

electromagnetic induction: the creation of an electrical current in a conductive substance when it’s exposed to a changing magnetic field

The electrical current that passed from one insulated wire to the other in Faraday’s experiment happened because of mutual induction. The current running through a wire creates a small, changing magnetic field around the wire. When another wire comes near enough, this changing magnetic field induces a current to flow in the second wire as well.

Nearly all the appliances in your home contain induction motors. An induction motor uses an electrical current to create a circle of changing magnetic fields that cause a rotor to spin.

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Investigating Microorganisms

How did the idea that germs cause disease come about?

Louis Pasteur, a chemist and biologist, held the belief that scientific research should aid in the development and progression of industries. When beverage manufacturing plants were having problems with liquids spoiling during the mid-1800s, Pasteur used his microscope to observe the fermentation process. When a batch was bad, he found that other microorganisms had mixed with the yeast. He showed that heating liquid to around 60°C (140°F) would kill the microorganisms and sterilize the product to prevent contamination. This heating process is known as pasteurization and is still used today to prevent bacterial growth in milk, juice, and other beverages.

Pasteur’s work with fermentation led him to research the origins of microorganisms, which he believed came out of the air. He performed a simple experiment by collecting air at different altitudes into flasks of yeast- filled liquid. The flasks had long, narrow necks that would allow air to enter but would trap dust and microorganisms. The liquid remained free of microorganisms as long as Pasteur didn’t shake the flask. Once shaken, the liquid would begin to host microorganisms and turn cloudy. This confirmed his hypothesis about where germs came from, but other scientists had to be convinced that substances couldn’t just produce germs on their own—an idea known as spontaneous generation.

With a greater understanding of the origins of germs, Pasteur set about to discover better ways to prevent diseases. He was studying chicken cholera, when he left his lab in the heat of the summer and returned to find that his cultures would no longer make the chickens sick. He grew new cultures and injected those chickens as well as a second batch. The chickens that had been previously injected with the damaged batch of cholera remained well, while the new group of birds grew sick and died. He deduced that the summer heat had made the bacilli noninfectious and learned that he could reproduce the effect by growing it in a warmer environment. He went on to create vaccines for rabies and for anthrax in sheep.

Louis Pasteur led the way for a new era of medicine, in which patients could anticipate a cure for their illnesses. His students and colleagues continued to isolate disease- causing bacteria and develop vaccines. Deeper understanding of these bacteria led to the development of antibiotics, which have had a major impact on modern medicine.

fermentation: the process in which microorganisms, especially bacteria and yeast, break down plant or animal materials

microorganisms: single-celled organisms too small to be seen by the naked eye

bacilli: rod-shaped bacteria

Edward Jenner created the first vaccine in the 1790s when he discovered that injecting patients with cowpox would immunize them from smallpox—a similar virus that could be contracted only once.

Pasteur’s work with fermentation led him to the creation of the germ theory of disease—the idea that microorganisms from outside the body can cause disease within it. It took a long time for the scientific community to accept the idea. It seemed illogical to scientists that something that couldn’t even be viewed without a microscope could cause damage to an organism as large as an animal or a human being.

“Where observation is concerned, chance favors only the prepared mind.” —Louis Pasteur

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The Cicadas of Summer

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The Cicadas of Summer

If cicadas emerge only once every 13 or 17 years, why do you hear them every summer?

Each summer in July and August, the steady buzz of cicadas fills the air across much of the United States. Male cicadas produce this noise in order to attract mates. When dozens of cicadas buzz at once, the sound can be loud, but when millions of them are calling out at once, the sound can be nearly deafening.

 Although there are thousands of different species of cicadas, they’re all members of the Cicadidae family of insects. The most common cicadas in America are in the genus Tibicen. They emerge from the ground as nymphs in July and climb into nearby trees to molt. The adult cicada leaves behind its old exoskeleton as it flies off to find a mate, and the empty shells remain clinging to tree trunks and branches.

For a few short weeks, the male cicada’s song can be heard echoing through the trees, but soon after mating, the male cicadas die. The adult females survive a bit longer in order to lay eggs in tiny slits they’ve cut into tree limbs, but then they die as well. Several weeks later, the eggs hatch and the larvae that emerge fall to the ground. They burrow deep into the soil, where they’ll live for the next few years by feeding on juices from tree roots. About three years later, they reemerge as nymphs, and the cycle continues.

Although Tibicen cicadas are more common, the Magicicada genus is the one that makes the news. They emerge in the millions—and sometimes even in the billions—every 13 or 17 years, depending on the brood. In some wooded areas, the swarms are so thick that you can quickly end up with a dozen cicadas clinging to your body. The sound can be so overwhelming that it can be difficult to hold a conversation.

Entomologists believe there are a total of 15 Magicicada broods that emerge in different years and in different areas scattered across the eastern U.S. In 2004, Brood X emerged after its normal 17-year absence. Covering an area from Illinois to New York, and south to Georgia, Brood X is the largest of all the broods. Red-eyed cicadas filled the air. Because Magicicadas emerge a little earlier than Tibicens, most of them had mated and died by mid-July. The forest floor was littered with millions of rotting cicada carcasses, but chemicals released by the decomposing bodies provided important nutritional elements to the soil.

nymphs: insects that haven’t reached full maturity; nymphs look like adults, but they are smaller, don’t have fully-developed wings, and can’t reproduce

molt: to shed an outer skin or covering in order to allow growth 

brood: a group of young that hatch at one time

Cicada is a Latin word that means “tree cricket.”

Cicadas are harmless; they don’t sting or bite.

When millions of cicadas are buzzing at once, the sound can reach 90 decibels. That’s loud enough to damage your hearing if you’re exposed to it for too long.

Cicadas are a common treat in parts of Asia. Although they are edible, and trying a few won’t hurt you, the cicadas in the U.S. may contain trace amounts of pesticides, so it’s not recommended that you eat too many of them.

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Dating 101

How can scientists determine the age of objects and events from Earth’s past?

Antiques dealers can use style, workmanship, and materials as clues to date a piece of furniture or a vase. It’s quite a bit more complex for scientists to assign an age to a fossil, a piece of rock, a tree limb, or even a geological event. Like an expert in antiques, a paleontologist or geologist will gather clues about an object. Then, he or she will use the information to determine the object’s age. Over the years, methods of dating have improved and allow most materials to be dated with accuracy.

Relative dating was used before a reliable method of absolute dating was discovered. It allowed scientists to determine the order of events or tell whether one object was older than another. For example, using the law of superposition—one of the principles of relative dating—a geologist knows that the oldest beds of rock form the bottom layers in a series, while the most recent are on top.

When methods of absolute dating became possible, scientists could assign an actual age to objects and events, instead of just ordering them in time. Radiometric dating, developed after radioactivity was discovered in 1896, is one of the best-known methods. It’s based on the theory that radioactive elements decay at predictable rates.

Carbon dating is frequently used to date organic remains. It’s based on the fact that there is always a specific percentage of all carbon that exists as the isotope carbon-14. Those unstable carbon-14 isotopes steadily break down and turn into nitrogen-14. Other processes ensure there is always the same percentage of carbon-14. However, when the organism dies, the percentage will not stay at its stable amount. Over a period of 5,730 years, half the carbon in a dead plant, for example, will have changed to nitrogen. This is called the half-life of carbon-14. In another 5,730 years, half the remaining carbon will have changed to nitrogen. By measuring how much carbon-14 there is in the organic material, scientists can tell how old it is.

One problem with using carbon dating is that it’s useful only to date things that are less than about 40,000 years old because carbon’s half-life isn’t very long. Other radioactive elements can be used for some types of dating, but like carbon, they also have limits.

One type of dating isn’t superior to another. In fact, scientists generally use more than one method when possible. This allows them to double-check their conclusions and be sure that they are as accurate as possible.

relative dating: ordering events or objects in time without assigning actual ages or dates

absolute dating: determining an actual age for an object or a date of occurrence for an event 

radiometric dating: a method of absolute dating in which the amount of a radioactive element that remains in a material after it has begun to decay is measured Using radiometric dating, Earth has been dated at 4.5 billion years old. The planet’s oldest rocks were formed about 3.8 billion years ago, but meteorites in our solar system have been dated at 4.5 billion years old. Earth and the meteorites would have formed at the same time—with the formation of our solar system—so they should be approximately the same age. Dendrochronology is the use of a tree’s growth rings to determine the age of a tree and what the environmental conditions were like during its lifetime.

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GRFJCC Student Handbook 2022

Job Corps is a major training and employment program administered by the Department of Labor. Job Corps was created to address the severe employment problems faced by socially and economically disadvantaged youth throughout the United States. Job Corps was originally established by the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. Current authorization and funding for the program is through the Workforce Investment Act. Job Corps is designed to assist young people that can benefit from the wide range of services offered. These services include educational/ career technical skill development, work experience, career counselling, basic health care, social skills training, and related developmental services. The unique combination of training and supportive services provided in a Job Corps program is intended to prepare every student to secure meaningful employment, pursue higher education/training, or satisfy entrance requirement for a career in the military.

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The Evolution of Ideas - Quiz

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The Evolution of Ideas

How does new knowledge change the way scientists look at old discoveries?

Around 1909, Charles Doolittle Walcott received a bit of interesting news. Canadian railroad workers were collecting “stone bugs” that they had found while cutting a path through the Rocky Mountains. Walcott was the head of the Smithsonian Institute, and a respected paleontologist, so he rushed to see what kinds of fossils had been found.

From 1910 to 1917, Walcott collected more than 65,000 specimens from the area—a massive fossil bed he named the Burgess Shale. After Walcott returned to Washington, D.C. with his fossils, he began the task of categorizing them. He didn’t recognize many of the creatures, so he classified them as odd examples of organisms already known to have existed in Earth’s prehistoric past. Eventually, the fossils ended up in drawers at the Smithsonian, and there they sat, mostly forgotten, for almost 50 years.

In the 1960s, Canadian scientists decided to take another look at the Burgess Shale. They discovered even more fossils, and a new study, led by Harry Whittington began. He traveled to D.C. and reexamined Walcott’s forgotten fossils. Many years had passed since their discovery. A lot of new information was known about Earth’s earliest life-forms and how they had evolved into the diverse organisms of today. Whittington and the other scientists were shocked to discover such a huge collection of creatures that looked like no other organisms they’d ever seen before.

Most fossils have an evolutionary line that can be traced to other creatures in the fossil record, or even to organisms that exist today. Many of the creatures in the Burgess Shale fossils, though, seemed to have appeared at just this one time in history. They didn’t slowly evolve over time into other known organisms. Instead, something seemed to have happened that caused them to become extinct soon after this one appearance in the fossil record.

In his popular book, Wonderful Life, evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould argued that this characteristic helped prove his idea that luck plays as much, if not more, of a role in evolution than natural selection does. Gould’s book angered the scientists who were still studying the fossils. They felt that Gould was misinterpreting their data to support his hypothesis.

By the 1990s, paleontologists Derek Briggs and Richard Fortey had reclassified most of the unusual Burgess Shale organisms as arthropods. The fossilized creatures were ancient relatives of insects—not completely unique life forms that had never evolved.

fossil bed: an area of land that contains fossils

diverse: of different kinds, forms, or types evolutionary line: the sequence of organisms that descend from one particular organism evolutionary 

biologist: a scientist who studies the origins and evolution of living organisms

misinterpreting: understanding or explaining incorrectly

arthropods: the largest phylum in the Animal kingdom, it includes insects, spiders, and crustaceans

Trilobite fossils found at the Burgess Shale helped scientists date the other creatures found there to the Cambrian period, which lasted from 530 to 520 million years ago. This period in Earth’s history saw a phenomenal increase in the diversity and abundance of Earth’s life forms within a relatively short time. Another of Stephen Jay Gould’s debated hypotheses was that evolutionary change occurs in sudden bursts, followed by long periods of stability.

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Reconstructing the Past

How do scientists figure out what dinosaurs looked like?

Do you know what dinosaurs look like? You’ve probably seen their images hundreds of times. Although most people could easily describe one, the truth is that no one really knows what dinosaurs looked like. The creatures that the word dinosaur bring to mind are actually the joint creations of paleontologists and artists. While they do their best to be scientifically accurate, a lot of educated guesswork is involved.

Fossils are the source of most of what is known about dinosaurs. As paleontologists unearth dinosaur bones, they must note the location of the bones in relation to one another. This information can be useful when they assemble a skeleton. It’s very rare to find all the bones of an individual dinosaur. Many are washed away by water, moved by scavengers, or damaged by bacteria or the effects of weathering. Scientists look for other dinosaurs of the same species so that they can assemble a complete skeleton.

An in-depth knowledge of animal physiology is necessary because it can give paleontologists clues about how dinosaur bones fit together. The study of other dinosaur skeletons can also provide information, though there is no guarantee that all other dinosaur skeletons have been put together correctly.

Once a complete skeleton has been created, the next step is to determine how the muscles and tendons would have filled out the body of the dinosaur. Soft-tissue generally isn’t preserved because it decays too quickly. However, soft tissues often leave microscopic marks on bones. The places where muscles were attached also leave marks. By comparing these marks to the marks on the bones of modern-day animals, paleontologists and artists can make more accurate predictions about the outward appearance of dinosaurs.

It’s impossible to know what colors the dinosaurs were, but they are usually drawn in shades of brown and green, because these colors would have provided camouflage. Making this assumption requires researching the environments where dinosaurs lived. By choosing this sort of coloration, scientists also assume that dinosaurs could see in color—otherwise color camouflage wouldn’t have protected them from one another.

Although there are new ways of learning about the appearance of dinosaurs, it’s likely that some elements of what they looked like will always remain a mystery. Filling in the details will be left to the paleontologists who study them and the imaginations of the artists who portray them.

paleontologists: scientists who study life from past geological periods

physiology: the study of the structure and makeup of organisms and how they function

In some labs, CT scans—like the kind hospitals use to do brain scans—are used on dinosaur skulls. Then, researchers use computers to create 3-D models of the insides of the skulls. This helps them figure out the size of the dinosaur’s brain and can even give them information about the animal’s sight or sense of smell.

An elephant’s trunk is muscle and its large, floppy ears are made of cartilage, a relatively soft material. This means that the skeleton of an elephant would give no indication of two of its most recognizable features.

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Scientific Reasoning

What’s the difference between deductive and inductive reasoning?

Science is about discovering the reasons why things happen in the universe, so it shouldn’t be a surprise to learn that scientific knowledge is gained through reasoning. There’s more than a single way to reason, though, and one plays a much bigger role in science than any other.

Deduction is a form of reasoning that uses broad, generalized facts to draw conclusions about specific questions or events. For example, let’s say you go to bed one night, wake up at dawn, and the ground is covered in a layer of fresh snow. You also see a line of tiny footprints imprinted on the snow. Using deductive reasoning, you know an animal walked there during the night. You reach this conclusion because, a: animals leave footprints when they walk through snow; and b: the snow fell during the night; therefore, c: an animal walked across the snow during the night. If a and b are true, then c must be true. 

Deduction doesn’t really lead to new knowledge, though. When a more general truth is already known, deduction simply proves that more specific instances are true as well. You know that gravity causes objects to fall when they’re dropped, and an apple is an object, so concluding that an apple will fall when it’s dropped isn’t particularly informative.

Science is mainly based on induction, which, in a way, is the opposite of deduction. Inductive reasoning uses specific examples to draw more general conclusions. Going back to the tracks in the snow, induction might lead you to conclude that a possum walked across the yard at night. In five years, you’ve never observed any animals but possums during the night. The tracks also appear to have been made by a small, four-legged animal. Therefore, it was most likely a possum that crossed the yard. Inductive reasoning leads to most likely conclusions, but there’s always a chance, no matter how small, that something else is the answer. Scientific knowledge is gained through inductive reasoning. Scientists observe specific events, whether they occur in nature or in controlled experiments. Then, based on the accumulated evidence from many specific observations, they draw conclusions about the world. Much of what we think of as scientific fact began as a hypothesis. A hypothesis is an explanation— based on background knowledge and observations—for very specific events that occur in the natural world. Hypotheses are tested in scientific experiments, and if not proven wrong, they often become the building blocks of theories. A theory is an explanation that applies to multiple events. In other words, a theory is a broader, more general explanation. Since science is based on induction, even the strongest hypotheses and theories have to be adjusted if new evidence appears.

reasoning: the process of forming conclusions, judgments, or inferences based on facts or other evidence 

deduction: reasoning from the general to the specific, in which a conclusion must be true because it’s based on true statements 

induction: reasoning that uses specific events or facts to draw more general conclusions 

evidence: something that helps either prove or disprove a conclusion

theory: a statement that explains a group of facts or phenomena; most accepted theories have been repeatedly tested and can be used to make predictions about nature

hypothesis: a statement that explains a specific fact or phenomenon; a hypothesis is tested in each scientific experiment

The example of deductive reasoning that’s probably more famous than any other is: Socrates is a man. All men are mortal. Therefore, Socrates is mortal.

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