Teeth

Emer has researched and prepared another informative article about ....TEETH!  Well done Emer! 

The teeth help to prepare food for digestion by cutting and grinding it up. Each tooth is set into the jaw, which has a soft tissue covering called gum. During our lives we have two sets of teeth baby teeth (20) and later permanent teeth (32).

Parts of a tooth;

Enamel: A substance similar to the bone, though it is harder (the hardest substance in the body) and has no living cells. It consists of tightly-packed crystals of apatite, a mineral which contains calcium, phosphorus and fluorine.
Dentin: A yellow substance which forms the second layer inside a tooth. It is not as enamel but, like it, has many of the same constituents as bone. It also contains collagen fibres and strands of cytoplasm. These run out from the pulp cells in the pulp cavity. 
Cervix: The part of a tooth just below the surface, lying between the crown and the root.
Enamel: A substance similar to bone, through it is harder and has no living cells. It consists of tightly- packed crystals of apatite, a mineral which contains calcium, phosphorus and fluorine.
Cement: A bone- like substance, similar to enamel but softer. It forms the thin surface layer of the root and is attached to the jaw by the periodontal ligament.
Pulp cavity: The central area of the tooth, surrounded by dentin. It is filled with a soft tissue called pulp, which contains blood vessels and nerve fibre endings. These enter at the base of a root canal. The blood vessels supply food and oxygen to the living tissue, and the nerve fibre endings are pain receptors.
Different types of teeth and their functions:

Wisdom teeth: Four molars ( the third ones in line), lying at the end points of the jaws. They appear last of all, when a person is fully mature. Often there is no room for them to come through and they get stuck in the jawbone, or impacted. A few people never develop wisdom teeth.


Sources: The Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Science

Salters Festival of Chemistry at UCC

Well done to our team of scientists who represented the Coláiste Muire 

at Salter's Festival of Chemistry in UCC recently! 

First year students on the team: 

Niamh Morgan, Niamh O'Shea, Ben Barrett and Tony Lynch 

As well as representing the school in the laboratory during the chemistry competition, the students also toured some important parts of the UCC campus. 

Ogham stones 

Honan Chapel 

At the end of the day, our students had an exclusive tour of a research laboratory from Coláiste Muire past pupil Paul Buckley, who is working on his PhD in atmospheric chemistry in UCC. Paul explained how each of the instruments in his lab are used to collect and analyse information about the quality of air in Ireland. 

Thank you to Salter's Institute of Chemistry and to the Chemistry department at UCC for organising and hosting this successful event.

The Brain

The Brain:



Functions of the brain:

FRONTAL LOBES: You use your frontal lobe nearly everyday. You use it to make decisions, such as what to eat or drink for breakfast in the morning, as well as for thinking or studying for a test. The frontal lobe is also where our personality is formed and where we can carry out higher mental processes such as planning. In addition, the frontal lobe is necessary to being able to speak fluently (without fault) and meaningfully.

PARIETAL LOBES: The parietal lobe carries out some very specific functions. As a part of the cortex, it has a lot of responsibilities and has to be able to process sensory information within seconds. The parietal lobe is where information such as taste, temperature and touch are processed. Humans would not be able to to feel sensations of touch, if the parietal lobe was damaged.

OCCIPITAL LOBES: The occipital lobe is important to being able to correctly understand what your eyes are seeing. These lobes have to be very fast to process the rapid information that our eyes are sending. Similar to how the temporal lobe makes sense of auditory information, the occipital lobe makes sense of visual information so that we are able to understand it. If our occipital lobe was impaired or injured we would not be able to correctly process visual signals, therefore, visual confusion would result.

TEMPORAL LOBES: The temporal lobe mainly revolves around hearing and selective listening. It receives sensory information such as sounds and speech from the ears. It is also key to being able to understand speech. In fact, we would not be able to understand someone talking to us, if it wasn't for the temporal lobe. This lobe is special because it makes sense of the all the different sounds and pitches(different types of sound) being transmitted from the sensory receptors of the ears.

CEREBELLUM: The cerebellum is one of the most identifiable parts of the brain due to its unique shape and location. It is extremely important for being able to perform everyday voluntary (done with purpose and intent) tasks such as walking and writing. It is also essential to being able to stay balanced and upright. Patients who have suffered from damaged cerebellums often struggle with keeping their balance and maintaining proper muscle coordination.

BRAIN STEM: The brainstem is the region of the brain that connects the cerebellum with the spinal cord. It consists of the midbrain*, medulla oblongata*, and the pons*. Motor and sensory neurons* travel through the brainstem allowing for the relay of signals between the brain and the spinal cord. Most cranial nerves* are also located in the brainstem.

The brainstem coordinates motor control signals sent from the brain to the body. This brain region also controls life supporting autonomic functions of the peripheral nervous system*. The fourth cerebral ventricle* is located in the brainstem, posterior to the pons and medulla oblongata. This cerebrospinal fluid-filled ventricle is continuous with the cerebral aqueduct and the central canal of the spinal cord*.

Function

The brainstem controls several important functions of the body including:

• Alertness
• Breathing
• Blood Pressure
• Digestion
• Heart Rate
• Relays information between the Peripheral Nerves and Spinal Cord to the upper parts of the brain

~KEYWORDS~
*Midbrain*- A small central part of the brainstem, developing from the middle of the brain.

*Medulla oblongata*- The continuation of the spinal cord within the skull, forming the lowest part of the brainstem and containing control centres for the heart and lungs.

*Pons*- The part of the brainstem that links the medulla oblongata and the thalamus.

*Sensory Neurons*- Sensory neurons are nerve cells that transmit sensory information (sight, sound, feeling, etc.). They are activated by sensory input, and send projections to other elements of the nervous system, transfering sensory information to the brain or spinal cord.

*Cranial Nerves*- The cranial nerves are twelve pairs of nerves that can be found at the bottom surface of the brain. Some of these nerves bring information from the sensory organs to the brain, some can control muscles, and some are connected to glands or internal organs such as the heart and lungs.

*Peripheral Nervous System*- This is the nervous system outside the brain and spinal cord.

*Cerebral Ventricle*- It is one of a system of four communicating cavities (ventricles) within the brain that are continuous with the central canal of the spinal cord.

* Spinal Cord*- The cylinder shaped bundle of nerve fibres and associated tissue which is enclosed in the spine and connects nearly all parts of the body to the brain, it forms the central nervous system.

Prezi: Introduction to the Brain 

Serious Science: What is a Black Hole?

Have you ever wondered what a black hole is? Saoirse has done some research to give you an introduction to these mysterious structures... Well done Saoirse!

A black hole is formed when the center of a large star collapses in on itself. This event is called a Supernova. Unlike a Supernova, which is very bright, the resulting black hole cannot be seen as not even light can escape it. So how do we know they even exist? We know they exist because of the way dust, stars and other matter* are affected by it.

When the large stars collapses, their mass is condensed into a very small space. This causes the strength of gravity to increase.

The reason that not even light can escape from a black hole is because anything that enters it is ripped apart by this intense gravitational energy.*

Black holes are generally 10 to 24 times larger than the sun. However there are also ‘supermassive’ black holes which can be up to a million times bigger than the sun! Astronomers believe that ‘supermassive’ black holes can be found at the center of almost all galaxies, including our very own Milky Way.

So where do all the black holes go? In the 1970s, Hawking showed that a black hole will simply evaporate (giving out a final burst of energy) if it is not ‘fed’ more mass*.

*mass=made up of matter, a physical substance.

*gravitational energy=the force/energy caused by gravity.

Sources:

https://www.esa.int/esaKIDSen/SEM0V1BE8JG_OurUniverse_0.html

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/string-theory-defining-a-black-hole.html

http://www.ducksters.com/science/black_hole.php

http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/black-holes/