Theory paper topic ideas

C&K*s Mommie wrote: Does anyone have any idea about what topics I should lean towards for writing a theory paper? I have a theory paper and another paper due soon, and I still have no clue on what I plan to write on. Never have written a theory paper before, so I am trying to get a headstart now. Any idea directions would be helpful.

mckayleesmom replied: How about the theory that some people believe that the portrait of the Mona Lisa was that of Leonardo Devinci himself??....I always find that interesting...

C&K*s Mommie replied: hmmm... never heard of that... but yes that is an idea! a good one at that!! THANKS!!

mckayleesmom replied: Alot of people believe that that was his self portrait

mckayleesmom replied: Ok..another question....Does this theory have to be yours...or someone elses that your writing about?

C&K*s Mommie replied:

It would have to be my theory on any topic, I choose. But everyday we have to write (2) journals, one where the topic is given to us & we have to respond and the second is another topic of our choosing. Right now I am still stumped as to what news article I am going to use today for my journal. There are many out there, but few that I have an opinion on, at least enough to write about.

mckayleesmom replied: my husband said you should write a theory paper on why you never see baby seagulls.... He is such a dork.

PrairieMom replied:
heyyyyy.... why DON"T you ever see baby seagulls? (other than because i live in South Dakota?)

gr33n3y3z replied:
good idea rats with wings thats what we call them here at the shore and he is right you never see a baby one

C&K*s Mommie replied: why do you not see them??

Alice replied: HOw about the theory that animals can detect natural disasters before science can? There was an article in today's paper (Newsday, NY) about it.. how how few animals died in December's tsunami, and about how scientists are looking in to what happened in that respect with the hurricanes.

It would be a lot of research, but it sounds interesting!

canddsmom8 replied: That is a really good one, Alice! I have heard that too. And here where we live, in Tornado Alley, I have seen that to be true. You can tell when a big storm is coming cause all the birds, squirrels and other wildlife take cover before the warning is even out there.

C&K*s Mommie replied: those are good ideas.... I will have to look into that. I had heard about something like that with horses, and dogs-- but I did not know that even more animals sense a weather change--- or even of all things.... a TSUNAMI!! WOW that is interesting!!

Alice replied: Here's the article:A recipe for predicting disaster?

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Does he sense something? (Thirteen/ WNET NY)


NATURE: CAN ANIMALS PREDICT DISASTER?


Observation and experiments around the world try to answer the question. Sunday at 8 p.m., WNET/13.


BY DIANE WERTS
STAFF WRITER

November 11, 2005


Who needs The Weather Channel? Man's best friend just might be man's best disaster detector. It works even better if your animal pal is an elephant or amphibious hippo.

But dogs and cats can also do the trick when it comes to knowing an earthquake is on the way. Some call it anecdotal evidence, though Bay Area retired geologist James Berkland is writing science papers about the spike in lost-pet newspaper ads in the days preceding such tremors as the massive 1989 World Series jolt. Fifteen lost-dog ads to 57 was such a jump, Berkland called his local paper, which dutifully reported the seemingly silly prediction - on the very day of the quake.











"Can Animals Predict Disaster?" on PBS' Sunday "Nature" series collects testimony such as that at the same time it tracks scientific attempts to explain this long-observed phenomenon through the tested use of infrasound and electrical energy. It's one of those subjects where the theory-and-proof discipline of academia meets the average person's good old-fashioned common sense. Which makes it an especially appealing "Nature" hour.

Its explorations range from zoos in Cincinnati and Oakland, Calif., to nature preserves in Sri Lanka and Botswana. Add time travels to encompass fourth century BC rats and worms fleeing a Greek temblor and Japanese folktales of an "earthquake catfish" used for predictions. While this hour isn't immediate enough to include the recent American hurricanes (next week's "Nature" does a quicker turnaround for "Katrina's Animal Rescue"), the center point is certainly seared into our recent memory - last December's Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed a quarter-million people. But surprisingly few animals.

"Why?" is the question, and writer-producer Jeff Swimmer follows a half-dozen separate geologists, biologists and conservationists trying to figure that out. Japanese researcher Motoji Ikeya has catalogued 1,200 pet indications of the 1995 Kobe quake, which he relates to growing pressure in the granite and quartz landscape there conducting electromagnetic energy. Small fish and reptiles are his experimental subjects. Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell studies elephants in Africa's Kalahari who place their trunks on the ground in a "freezing posture" that may turn them into "an amazing infrasound detecting machine." Then she takes that knowledge to the Oakland zoo where an elephant is trained to respond to different pulses - and grows increasingly sensitive to them.

This elephant can communicate what she senses with movements of her trunk, but biologist Bill Barklow finds amphibious hippos in the Botswana marshlands can relay their infrasound threat warnings from herd to herd down river. What does it all mean? Unfortunately, tying it all together to truly understand this animal phenomenon - or to make real (human) use of it - is still a work in progress.

But what a work it is on "Nature." Public TV detractors who say other cable channels have taken over much of PBS' mandate should take a look at what they blithely deem superfluous. The cinematography and editing, even the narration of shows like "Nature" (produced for PBS by WNET), remain light-years superior to nearly all their cable counterparts. The in-depth explanations are clearer, the experts more vibrant, the filmmaking viscerally dramatic enough to avoid that alienating whiff of "educational" viewing. Public TV also smartly made an early move to high-definition filming - "Nature" is simulcast in HD - which ensures its programs will remain vividly potent for years to come. That's a great service mandate in action, delivering learning so painlessly we don't even know it's good for us.


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