Analyzing Key Ideas in an Informational Text

Right after creating three equal isosceles triangles connected together, the reader should

• fold the two outermost triangles and fold them 90 degrees up to form two ears for the fox.

• begin by choosing a traditional piece of origami paper and folding it in half.

• make sure the two triangles that form the ears are hidden by the bottom triangle.

• double check the folds and turn the paper 180 degrees until the bottom triangle is facing forward.

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Popularity of Yoga

Yoga is a form of spiritual exercise that originated in ancient India. It focuses on a person's physical as well as mental well-being. It is based on practices that include holding certain body postures, deep breathing, and meditation. This practice came to America around the year 1920.

Until the early 1900s, people only had conventional forms of exercise such as running and jogging. In 1920, a famous Indian guru visited the United States to address a conference on yoga, and this was when people in America first became aware of yoga.

However, people only practiced yoga in the 1950s when Indira Devi established a yoga school in Hollywood. Soon many famous Hollywood actresses took up yoga and said that it made them feel lighter, healthier, and made their skin glow. Immediately, this ancient spiritual practice turned into a popular craze, and everyone wanted to learn yoga to reap its benefits.

How does the passage develop the idea that yoga brought something new to America?

• by stating that Americans needed breathing exercises in their lives

• by stating that people required a lot of training and help to improve their lives

• by stating that Americans were mainly not interested in health

• by stating that people mainly used conventional types of exercise before yoga

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CCSS.RI.5.8

adapted from Genome Editing

Genome editing is a method that lets scientists change the DNA of many organisms, including plants, bacteria, and animals. Editing DNA can lead to changes in physical traits, like eye color and disease risk. Scientists use different technologies to do this. These technologies act like scissors, cutting the DNA at a specific spot. Then scientists can remove, add, or replace the DNA where it was cut.

One way that scientists use genome editing is to investigate different diseases that affect humans. They edit the genomes of animals, like mice and zebrafish, because animals have many of the same genes as humans. For example, mice and humans share about 85 percent of their genes! By changing a single gene or multiple genes in a mouse, scientists can observe how these changes affect the mouse's health and predict how similar changes in human genomes might affect human health.

Scientists at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) are doing just this. The Burgess lab, for example, is studying zebrafish genomes. Scientists in this lab delete different genes in zebrafish one at a time to see how the deletion impacts the fish. The Burgess lab focuses on 50 zebrafish genes which are similar to the genes that cause human deafness so that they can better understand the genomic basis of deafness.

Scientists are developing gene therapies, treatments involving genome editing, to prevent and treat diseases in humans. Genome editing tools have the potential to help treat diseases with a genomic basis, like cystic fibrosis and diabetes. There are two different categories of gene therapies: germline therapy and somatic therapy. Germline therapies change DNA in reproductive cells. Changes to the DNA of reproductive cells are passed down from generation to generation. Somatic therapies, on the other hand, target non-reproductive cells. Changes made in these cells affect only the person who receives the gene therapy.

In 2015, scientists successfully used somatic gene therapy when a one-year old in the United Kingdom named Layla received a gene editing treatment to help her fight leukemia, a type of cancer. Doctors tried many treatments before this, but none of them seemed to work. Scientists received special permission to treat Layla using gene therapy. This therapy saved Layla's life. However, treatments like the one that Layla received are still experimental. The scientific community and policymakers have to address technical barriers and ethical concerns surrounding genome editing.

How does the passage illustrate the idea that genome editing could be helpful to humans?

• by describing how the Burgess lab deletes one gene at a time in zebrafish

• by explaining how gene therapies could be used to prevent and treat diseases

• by showing that mice and humans share about 85 percent of their genes

• by suggesting that genome editing should be used to treat some forms of cancer

Space Food History

adapted from National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The food that NASA's early astronauts had to eat in space is a testament to their fortitude. America's first man to eat anything in the near-weightless environment of Earth's orbit found the task of eating fairly easy, but found the menu to be limited. Other Mercury astronauts had to endure bite-sized cubes, freeze-dried powders, and semi-liquids stuffed in aluminum tubes. Most agreed the foods were unappetizing and disliked squeezing the tubes. Moreover, freeze-dried foods were hard to rehydrate and crumbs had to be prevented from fouling instruments.

The astronauts complained, and on the Gemini missions eating improved somewhat. The first things to go were the squeeze tubes. Bite-sized cubes were coated with gelatin to reduce crumbling, and the freeze-dried foods were encased in a special plastic container to make reconstituting easier. With improved packaging came improved food quality and menus. Gemini astronauts had such food choices as shrimp cocktail, chicken and vegetables, butterscotch pudding, and apple sauce, and were able to select meal combinations themselves.

By the time of the Apollo program, the quality and variety of food increased even further. Apollo astronauts were the first to have hot water, which made rehydrating foods easier and improved the food's taste. These astronauts were also the first to use the "spoon bowl," a plastic container that could be opened and its contents eaten with a spoon.

The task of eating in space got a big boost in Skylab. Unlike previous space vehicles for astronauts, Skylab featured a large interior area where space was available for a dining room and table. Eating for Skylab's three-member teams was a fairly normal operation: footholds allowed them to situate themselves around the table and "sit" to eat. Added to the conventional knife, fork, and spoon was a pair of scissors for cutting open plastic seals. Because Skylab was relatively large and had ample storage area, it could feature an extensive menu: 72 different food items. It also had a freezer and refrigerator, a convenience no other vehicle offered.

How does the author develop the relationship between food and the astronauts?

• by describing that the astronauts were unhappy with their food choices, so changes were made

• by describing that food was the main concern of all astronauts who were involved in travel

• by describing that food variety was directly linked to why so many astronauts chose their jobs

• by describing that the astronauts demanded food variety, so changes were made

Space Food History

adapted from National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The food that NASA's early astronauts had to eat in space is a testament to their fortitude. America's first man to eat anything in the near-weightless environment of Earth's orbit found the task of eating fairly easy, but found the menu to be limited. Other Mercury astronauts had to endure bite-sized cubes, freeze-dried powders, and semi-liquids stuffed in aluminum tubes. Most agreed the foods were unappetizing and disliked squeezing the tubes. Moreover, freeze-dried foods were hard to rehydrate and crumbs had to be prevented from fouling instruments.

The astronauts complained, and on the Gemini missions eating improved somewhat. The first things to go were the squeeze tubes. Bite-sized cubes were coated with gelatin to reduce crumbling, and the freeze-dried foods were encased in a special plastic container to make reconstituting easier. With improved packaging came improved food quality and menus. Gemini astronauts had such food choices as shrimp cocktail, chicken and vegetables, butterscotch pudding, and apple sauce, and were able to select meal combinations themselves.

By the time of the Apollo program, the quality and variety of food increased even further. Apollo astronauts were the first to have hot water, which made rehydrating foods easier and improved the food's taste. These astronauts were also the first to use the "spoon bowl," a plastic container that could be opened and its contents eaten with a spoon.

The task of eating in space got a big boost in Skylab. Unlike previous space vehicles for astronauts, Skylab featured a large interior area where space was available for a dining room and table. Eating for Skylab's three-member teams was a fairly normal operation: footholds allowed them to situate themselves around the table and "sit" to eat. Added to the conventional knife, fork, and spoon was a pair of scissors for cutting open plastic seals. Because Skylab was relatively large and had ample storage area, it could feature an extensive menu: 72 different food items. It also had a freezer and refrigerator, a convenience no other vehicle offered.

Why does the author include America's first astronaut in the first paragraph?

• to elaborate on the idea that astronauts often complained about the food

• to describe what the first astronaut ate in space while orbiting the earth

• to explain that the first astronaut found most of the food appetizing and easy to eat

• to emphasize the lack of food choices by stating the opinion of a real astronaut

Tags

CCSS.RI.5.8

Space Food History

adapted from National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The food that NASA's early astronauts had to eat in space is a testament to their fortitude. America's first man to eat anything in the near-weightless environment of Earth's orbit found the task of eating fairly easy, but found the menu to be limited. Other Mercury astronauts had to endure bite-sized cubes, freeze-dried powders, and semi-liquids stuffed in aluminum tubes. Most agreed the foods were unappetizing and disliked squeezing the tubes. Moreover, freeze-dried foods were hard to rehydrate and crumbs had to be prevented from fouling instruments.

The astronauts complained, and on the Gemini missions eating improved somewhat. The first things to go were the squeeze tubes. Bite-sized cubes were coated with gelatin to reduce crumbling, and the freeze-dried foods were encased in a special plastic container to make reconstituting easier. With improved packaging came improved food quality and menus. Gemini astronauts had such food choices as shrimp cocktail, chicken and vegetables, butterscotch pudding, and apple sauce, and were able to select meal combinations themselves.

By the time of the Apollo program, the quality and variety of food increased even further. Apollo astronauts were the first to have hot water, which made rehydrating foods easier and improved the food's taste. These astronauts were also the first to use the "spoon bowl," a plastic container that could be opened and its contents eaten with a spoon.

The task of eating in space got a big boost in Skylab. Unlike previous space vehicles for astronauts, Skylab featured a large interior area where space was available for a dining room and table. Eating for Skylab's three-member teams was a fairly normal operation: footholds allowed them to situate themselves around the table and "sit" to eat. Added to the conventional knife, fork, and spoon was a pair of scissors for cutting open plastic seals. Because Skylab was relatively large and had ample storage area, it could feature an extensive menu: 72 different food items. It also had a freezer and refrigerator, a convenience no other vehicle offered.

How does the author illustrate the idea that food choices ultimately improved over time?

• by explaining how foods had to be rehydrated

• by showing how food was shaped into cubes

• by giving examples of specific types of food

• by describing the texture of different foods

Instructions for Painting a Model Car

Apply a good automotive sandable lacquer base primer. Use a BG740 spray can or airbrush with BGP primer. The primer is a protective coating for the plastic as well as an undercoat for lacquer paint. If you spray too heavy at first, the thinner in the primer can melt its way down to the plastic and make it very soft. If this happens, let it dry out for a few days. Then, try painting again. After the primer is dry, lightly wet sand if needed, to remove imperfections. Make sure not to sand through to bare plastic, if you do recoat with primer again. When you are satisfied with primer coat, select a base coat. Spray 2 to 3 coats of base until your model is covered. If you need to sand, use a polishing kit to sand out imperfections if needed. I use 2400 or 3200 grit cloths to do this if needed. Remember that if you are putting kandy on top of a base, you will see dust, lint, etc. in the base coat, through the kandy. If the base color is what you want as your final color, you can apply 3 to 4 coats of clear, let dry, and polish. If kandy is wanted, spray until you achieve the shade you want. Most of the time it will take three or four coats. Remember the more kandy coats the darker the color will get. If you get dust and lint while spraying kandy, stop, let dry and lightly wet sand out with 3600 or 4000 grit and recoat with kandy. Being careful not to end up with a light spot. After color coat is achieved, we recommend top coating with a good UV stabilized clear sealant. This will protect the paint from the sun and fluorescent light, and provide a glossy surface to polish.

What is the last step in painting a model car?

• Paint on the base coat.

• Coat the car with a kandy.

• Coat the car with a sealant.

• Lightly wet sand the primer.

How to Join

Simply download and print out a copy of the membership form (29kb PDF file), complete, and return by post to the BCA Administrative Office with your payment. If you are paying by credit card you can also submit your application by Fax.

Please consider adding a donation which goes directly to "good works" and helps keep membership fees low which is of particular benefit to our younger members. Please take a moment to look at gift aid: you may be able to make the fee worth even more!

If you require a hardcopy of the form or any other assistance, then please contact the BCA Administrative Office.

Membership Subscription Rates

Membership runs from 1st January to 31st December each year. If you join between 30th September and 31st December you will be enrolled for the following year. Applications processed before the December edition of Crystallography News is posted out will, subject to availability, receive a complimentary copy of the newsletter! If you join between 1st January and 30th September you will be enrolled for the remainder of that year.

If you want to join this club, what is the first thing you should do?

• Pay by credit card for membership and contact the office

• Complete the membership form and make a donation

• Download and print a copy of the membership form

• Return the membership form by post to the BCA Office

Here is a recipe for carrot fries. Follow the directions to enjoy a healthy alternative to regular french fries.

First, preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Next, peel eight carrots and cut them into three-inch-long pieces. Then, cut each of those pieces in half, lengthwise. Line a large metal cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Lay the sliced carrots onto the foil in a single layer. Drizzle two tablespoons of olive oil on top of the carrots. Now, choose your favorite seasoning. You can use regular salt and pepper or something spicier if you like. Cover the fries in 1-2 tablespoons of the seasoning. After you've covered the carrots in olive oil and seasoning, stir the carrots around. This ensures that the carrots won't stick to the foil. Now, take another sheet of aluminum foil and use it to cover the carrots. Put the covered cookie sheet into the preheated oven and roast for 35-40 minutes. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven. Uncover it, and flip the carrots over. Turn the oven temperature up to 450 degrees. Put the uncovered cookie sheet in the oven, and bake the carrots for an additional 15 minutes. Once your carrot fries look crispy and browned on the edges, they are ready to eat. Serve them with ketchup and/or barbecue sauce for a tasty snack.

When are the carrot fries ready to be eaten?

• when the olive oil and seasoning have been added

• when the carrots are stirred around so they won't stick

• when the carrots look crispy and browned on the edges

• when the carrots are cut into three-inch-long pieces

How to Frost a Cake

Cool cake layers in pans on wire rack for 5 minutes. Cover another rack with a towel; place towel side down on top of layer and invert as a unit. Remove pan. Place original rack on bottom of layer; turn over both racks (as a unit) so layer is right side up. Repeat with other layer. Allow layers to cool completely. Before frosting cake, brush loose crumbs from sides and edges of cooled layers. Support cake firmly with one hand and brush crumbs with the other. Place one layer, rounded side down, on cake plate, spread about 1/2 cup of frosting to within 1/4 inch of edge. Place second layer, rounded side up, on frosted layer. Coat side with very thin layer of frosting to seal in crumbs. Swirl more frosting on side, forming a 1/4-inch ridge above top of cake. Spread remaining frosting over top of cake, just meeting the built-up ridge around side. Make attractive swirls or leave the top smooth for decorations.

Before doing anything, it is very important to

• cover the racks with a towel.

• coat the sides with frosting.

• remove the cake from the pan.

• cool the cake layers in pans.