8Th Grade Distance Learning: Week of June 1St

8th Grade Distance Learning: Week of June 1st

Monday, 6/1 Tuesday, 6/2 Wednesday, 6/3 Thursday, 6/4

ELA Module 4 Lesson 10 Part 2 Module 4 Lesson 11 Part 1 Module 4 Lesson 11 Part 2

Watch this video: Watch this video: Watch this video: https://gm.greatminds.org/kotg-ww/k https://gm.greatminds.org/kotg-ww/k https://gm.greatminds.org/kotg-ww/k nowledge-for-grade-8-ww-m4-l10-p2 nowledge-for-grade-8-ww-m4-l11-p1 nowledge-for-grade-8-ww-m4-l11-p2 ?hsLang=en-us ?hsLang=en-us ?hsLang=en-us&wchannelid=gb0lns ffr7&wvideoid=kb0k8rkw7i Read Chapter 7. Answer the question from 15:30 and send your answer to Mr. Castro. No work to submit today.

Math Khan Academy: Pythagorean Khan Academy: Distance Khan Academy: Distance Formula Theorem Word Problems Watch this video: Watch this video: Watch this video: https://www.khanacademy.org/mat https://www.khanacademy.org/mat https://www.khanacademy.org/mat h/engageny/on-grade-engageny/8t h/engageny/on-grade-engageny/8t h/engageny/on-grade-engageny/8t h-engage-ny/engage-8th-module-7 h-engage-ny/engage-8th-module-3 h-engage-ny/engage-8th-module-3 /8th-module-7-topic-c/v/example-fi /8th-module-3-topic-c/v/the-pythag /8th-module-3-topic-c/v/pythagorea nding-distance-with-pythagorean-t orean-theorem?modal=1 n-theorem-1?modal=1 heorem?modal=1 Classwork: Distance Word Classwork: Pythagorean Theorem Classwork: Distance Between Two Problems Word Problems ws #1 Points Worksheet Homework: Homework: Homework: https://www.khanacademy.org/mat https://www.khanacademy.org/mat https://www.khanacademy.org/mat h/engageny/on-grade-engageny/8t h/engageny/on-grade-engageny/8t h/engageny/on-grade-engageny/8t h-engage-ny/engage-8th-module-7 h-engage-ny/engage-8th-module-3 h-engage-ny/engage-8th-module-7 /8th-module-7-topic-c/e/distance_f /8th-module-3-topic-c/e/pythagore /8th-module-7-topic-c/e/distance_f ormula?modal=1 an-theorem-word-problems--basic ormula?modal=1 ?modal=1

Science Read “We’re better equipped to Read “Century after pandemic, Read “World's biggest hornets, Read “What will happen to the find extraterrestrial life now than science takes its best shot at flu” with a sting that can kill, land in environment after the pandemic?” ever before” and send your and send your answers to Ms. United States” and send your and send your answers to Ms. answers to Ms. Barrientos. Barrientos. answers to Ms. Barrientos Barrientos.

Social Complete the reading in this Join Mr. Swadlow’s office hours for the rest of this week’s work! Studies packet and answer the questions that follow.

Have a wonderful summer! We will continue to post updates on Class Dojo. Please reach out to Mr. Dwyer, Ms. Gamble, or Mr. Frat with any questions over the summer.

Monday Pythagorean Theorem word problems ws #1 Name ______

Solve each of the following. Please draw a picture and use the Pythagorean Theorem to solve. Be sure to label all answers and leave answers in exact simplified form.

1. The bottom of a ladder must be placed 3 feet from a wall. The ladder is 12 feet long. How far above the ground does the ladder touch the wall?

2. A soccer field is a rectangle 90 meters wide and 120 meters long. The coach asks players to run from one corner to the corner diagonally across the field. How far do the players run?

3. How far from the base of the house do you need to place a 15’ ladder so that it exactly reaches the top of a 12’ wall?

4. What is the length of the diagonal of a 10 cm by 15 cm rectangle?

5. The diagonal of a rectangle is 25 in. The width is 15 in. What is the area of the rectangle?

We’re better equipped to find extraterrestrial life now than ever before By Smithsonian.com, adapted by Newsela staff on 05.21.20 Word Count 862 Level 1070L

Jupiter's moon Europa may have the ingredients necessary for hosting life: liquid water, an energy source and organic compounds. Photo: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

The odds of getting a message from life beyond Earth are not easy to figure out. Even the best experts do not have a number.

"Anybody who gave you a figure would be talking about religion, not science," says Jill Tarter. She is an astronomer who has spent most of her life pursuing the quest to find signals from alien life.

New technologies and more data, though, are making it more likely.

SETI: Search For Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence

The chances are going to be 1,000 times better in the next decade than the last, says Andrew Siemion. He is the director of the Berkeley SETI Research Center. SETI stands for Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Siemion spoke in Seattle, Washington on February 15 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, or AAAS. He reported a new release of data from a project that records radio signals from space.

Tarter helps advise SETI Research. She described new search projects the group is working on. One project, Laser SETI, will place 96 cameras at 12 locations around the world. The cameras will look for "intelligent" optical signals from space.

Scientists also have many new places to look for life. The Kepler space telescope has helped astronomers find thousands of stars with planets. They have spotted dozens of rocky, Earth-like planets orbiting their stars at the right distance for there to be liquid water, an indicator of habitability.

Alien life could also still be hiding closer to home. Finding intelligent life in our solar system seems unlikely. However, microbial biology might live on moons such as Enceladus of Saturn and Europa of Jupiter. Robots could test alien soil, while telescopes search for signs of biological activity, like combinations of certain molecules.

Looking For A Biosignature

Nikku Mandhusudhan is an astronomer at University of Cambridge in England. He said the "ultimate breakthrough" for scientists will be finding a biosignature in the atmosphere of distant planets. A biosignature is a substance that provides scientific evidence of life.

No one molecule would be a definite sign of life. However, many life-related molecules detected in the atmosphere of a planet with other suitable conditions, like a comfy temperature, would be strong evidence.

The grand prize for scientists, though, is intelligent life. SETI searches for signs of technology created by alien life, most likely in the form of "unnatural" radio waves.

An alien could find life on Earth by exactly that method. In the 1990s, Carl Sagan and other astronomers used Galileo spacecraft's pass by Earth to check for signs of our existence. The giveaway was narrow-band radio emissions.

Radio Waves: "Unmistakable Indicator"

"That as far as we know is an unmistakable indicator of technology, and an unmistakable indicator of life," Siemion said at the AAAS meeting. "And indeed it is the most detectable signature of life on this planet as viewed from a distant vantage point."

Earth-based radio telescopes listening to the cosmos might hear a deliberate message. However, they cannot pick up radio-wave "leakage" from alien civilizations. A new project, though, now in the planning stage, would have the power to receive unintentional communication, at least from nearby stars.

Siemion explained that scientists were looking for electromagnetic energy or frequencies that stand out, which could appear as either radio or optical signals. Such patterns could reveal intelligent activity regardless of their purpose, Siemion pointed out.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Receiving a message would teach scientists about how long a society with advanced technology can survive.

How Would Earth Answer A Message?

"The lifetime of a technological civilization … is a very difficult thing to predict," said Siemion. "And of course, looking around at our own civilization you have reason to question what that term might be."

A signal from space, though, would probably come from a much older civilization.

Success in receiving a message raises other issues. The alien message could likely be in a language no earthling could understand. Then, someone on Earth would have to decide how to reply. SETI researchers agree that no response should be made until all of Earth's countries come to an agreement about who should speak and what to say, however, global agreement currently seems implausible.

Machine Learning Could Help

The priority right now, though, is finding a message in the first place. The project might require help from nonhuman intelligence in the form of advanced computers. Recent developments in artificial intelligence research should soon make machine learning an effective tool in the search for extraterrestrial life, Tarter said.

"The ability to use machine learning to help us find signals in noise I think is really exciting," she said. "Historically we've asked a machine to tell us if a particular pattern in frequency and time could be found. But now we're on the brink of being able to say to the machine, 'Are there any patterns in there?'"

It's possible that an artificially intelligent computer might be the first thing on Earth to discern a message from an extraterrestrial.

"I think there's something particularly romantic," said Siemion, "about the idea of machine learning and artificial intelligence looking for extraterrestrial intelligence which itself might be artificially intelligent."

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Quiz

1 Read the following statement.

Scientists have discovered nearby planets with the potential to have microbial life.

Which sentence from the article provides the BEST support for the above statement?

(A) The Kepler space telescope has helped astronomers find thousands of stars with planets.

(B) They have spotted dozens of rocky, Earth-like planets orbiting their stars at the right distance for there to be liquid water, an indicator of habitability.

(C) He said the "ultimate breakthrough" for scientists will be finding a biosignature in the atmosphere of distant planets.

(D) However, many life-related molecules detected in the atmosphere of a planet with other suitable conditions, like a comfy temperature, would be strong evidence.

2 Read the following paragraph from the section "Radio Waves: Unmistakable Indicator."

What conclusion is BEST supported by the paragraph above?

(A) Alien life is unlikely to be found using radio emissions.

(B) Carl Sagan found proof of alien life through radio emissions.

(D) Radio waves were used to detect life on Earth as an experiment.

3 Read the following claim.

Scientists are extremely close to finding proof that extraterrestrial life exists.

How would Andrew Siemion MOST likely respond to this claim?

(A) He would agree and say that it is almost certain that they will find extraterrestrial life within the next decade.

(B) He would say that the chances are greater now than in the past, but would caution that it is hard to predict when it may happen.

(C) He would disagree and say that few advances have been made recently, so the chances of finding extraterrestrial life soon are low.

(D) He would say that extraterrestrial life likely does not exist if they have not found it with the technology they already have.

4 Based on the article, what is the MOST likely reason the author includes the perspective of Jill Tarter?

(A) to highlight the perspective of a scientist who is actively working to find signals of intelligent alien life

(B) to highlight the perspective of a scientist who is skeptical that alien life will ever be discovered

(D) to highlight the perspective of a scientist who is skeptical about finding extraterrestrial life

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.

Exit Ticket: Who do you think had a better plan for reconstruction of the Union and why, Lincoln or Johnson? Do you think the country would be in a better position if Lincoln were never killed? ______

Homework: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N466WTClpe4

After watching the video, do you think Andrew Johnson was the worst president? Why or why not? ______

Tuesday Name______

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©T O2Z0F1h4B 7Kjust6aX kSaoZfStOw5aHreeI QL7LFCb.h u zAZlFlN RraijglhLtcs6 ErxelsWe3rOvteCdM.N P kMpaXdbei 6w2i0tWha oINnmfBignPiEtJeD xGmeSo7m9eCtMrOyX.U -1- Worksheet by Kuta Software LLC Century after pandemic, science takes its best shot at flu By Lauren Neergard, Associated Press on 01.23.18 Word Count 1,252 Level MAX

In this October 1918 photo, St. Louis Red Cross Motor Corps personnel wear masks as they hold stretchers next to ambulances in preparation for victims of the influenza epidemic. A century after one of history’s most catastrophic disease outbreaks, scientists are rethinking how to guard against another strain of super-flu. Photo from Library of Congress via AP

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The descriptions are haunting.

Some victims felt fine in the morning and were dead by night. Faces turned blue as patients coughed up blood. Stacked bodies outnumbered coffins.

A century after one of history's most catastrophic disease outbreaks, scientists are rethinking how to guard against another super-flu like the 1918 influenza that killed tens of millions as it swept the globe.

There's no way to predict what strain of the shape-shifting flu virus could trigger another pandemic or, given modern medical tools, how bad it might be.

But researchers hope they're finally closing in on stronger flu shots, ways to boost much-needed protection against ordinary winter influenza and guard against future pandemics at the same time.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. "We have to do better and by better, we mean a universal flu vaccine. A vaccine that is going to protect you against essentially all, or most, strains of flu," said Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health.

Labs around the country are hunting for a super-shot that could eliminate the annual fall vaccination in favor of one every five years or 10 years, or maybe, eventually, a childhood immunization that could last for life.

Fauci is designating a universal flu vaccine a top priority for NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Last summer, he brought together more than 150 leading researchers to map a path. A few attempts are entering first-stage human safety testing.

Still, it's a tall order. Despite 100 years of science, the flu virus too often beats our best defenses because it constantly mutates.

Among the new strategies: Researchers are dissecting the cloak that disguises influenza as it sneaks past the immune system, and finding some rare targets that stay the same from strain to strain, year to year.

"We've made some serious inroads into understanding how we can better protect ourselves. Now we have to put that into fruition," said well-known flu biologist Ian Wilson of The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.

The somber centennial highlights the need.

Back then, there was no flu vaccine. It wouldn't arrive for decades. Today vaccination is the best protection, and Fauci never skips his. But at best, the seasonal vaccine is 60 percent effective. Protection dropped to 19 percent a few years ago when the vaccine didn't match an evolving virus.

If a never-before-seen flu strain erupts, it takes months to brew a new vaccine. Doses arrived too late for the last, fortunately mild, pandemic in 2009.

Lacking a better option, Fauci said the nation is "chasing" animal flu strains that might become the next human threat. Today's top concern is a lethal bird flu that jumped from poultry to more than 1,500 people in China since 2013. Last year it mutated, meaning millions of just-in-case vaccine doses in a U.S. stockpile no longer match.

The NIH's Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger calls the 1918 flu the mother of all pandemics. He should know.

While working as a pathologist for the military, he led the team that identified and reconstructed the extinct 1918 virus, using traces unearthed in autopsy samples from World War I soldiers and from a victim buried in the Alaskan permafrost.

That misnamed Spanish flu "made all the world a killing zone," wrote John M. Barry in "The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History."

Historians think it started in Kansas in early 1918. By winter 1919, the virus had infected one-third of the global population and killed at least 50 million people, including 675,000 Americans. By comparison, the AIDS virus has claimed 35 million lives over four decades.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Three more flu pandemics have struck since, in 1957, 1968 and 2009, spreading widely but nowhere near as deadly. Taubenberger's research shows the family tree, each subsequent pandemic a result of flu viruses carried by birds or pigs mixing with 1918 flu genes.

"This 100-year timeline of information about how the virus adapted to us and how we adapt to the new viruses, it teaches us that we can't keep designing vaccines based on the past," said Dr. Barney Graham, deputy director of NIH's Vaccine Research Center.

The new vaccine quest starts with two proteins, hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, that coat flu's surface.

The "H'' allows flu to latch onto respiratory cells and infect them. Afterward, the "N'' helps the virus spread.

They also form the names of influenza A viruses, the most dangerous flu family. With 18 hemagglutinin varieties and 11 types of neuraminidase — most carried by birds — there are lots of potential combinations. That virulent 1918 virus was the H1N1 subtype; milder H1N1 strains still circulate. This winter H3N2, a descendant of the 1968 pandemic, is causing most of the misery.

Think of hemagglutinin as a miniature broccoli stalk. Its flower-like head attracts the immune system, which produces infection-blocking antibodies if the top is similar enough to a previous infection or that year's vaccination.

But that head also is where mutations pile up.

A turning point toward better vaccines was a 2009 discovery that, sometimes, people make a small number of antibodies that instead target spots on the hemagglutinin stem that don't mutate. Even better, "these antibodies were much broader than anything we've seen," capable of blocking multiple subtypes of flu, said Scripps' Wilson.

Scientists are trying different tricks to spur production of those antibodies.

In a lab at NIH's Vaccine Research Center, "we think taking the head off will solve the problem," Graham said. His team brews vaccine from the stems and attaches them to ball-shaped nanoparticles easily spotted by the immune system.

In New York, pioneering flu microbiologist Peter Palese at Mount Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine uses "chimeric" viruses — the hemagglutinin head comes from bird flu, the stem from common human flu viruses — to redirect the immune system.

"We have made the head so that the immune system really doesn't recognize it," Palese explained. GlaxoSmithKline and the Gates Foundation are funding initial safety tests.

In addition to working with Janssen Pharmaceuticals on a stem vaccine, Wilson's team also is exploring how to turn flu-fighting antibodies into an oral drug. "Say a pandemic came along and you didn't have time to make vaccine. You'd want something to block infection if possible," he said.

NIH's Taubenberger is taking a completely different approach. He's brewing a vaccine cocktail that combines particles of four different hemagglutinins that in turn trigger protection against other related strains.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Yet lingering mysteries hamper the research.

Scientists now think people respond differently to vaccination based on their flu history. "Perhaps we recognize best the first flu we ever see," said NIH immunologist Adrian McDermott.

The idea is that your immune system is imprinted with that first strain and may not respond as well to a vaccine against another.

"The vision of the field is that ultimately if you get the really good universal flu vaccine, it's going to work best when you give it to a child," Fauci said.

Still, no one knows the ultimate origin of that terrifying 1918 flu. But key to its lethality was bird- like hemagglutinin.

That Chinese H7N9 bird flu "worries me a lot," Taubenberger said. "For a virus like influenza that is a master at adapting and mutating and evolving to meet new circumstances, it's crucially important to understand how these processes occur in nature. How does an avian virus become adapted to a mammal?"

While scientists hunt those answers, "it's folly to predict" what a next pandemic might bring, Fauci said. "We just need to be prepared."

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Quiz

1 This list of sentences from the article supports the argument that scientists are closer to developing a universal flu vaccine.

1. But researchers hope they're finally closing in on stronger flu shots, ways to boost much- needed protection against ordinary winter influenza and guard against future pandemics at the same time. 2. A few attempts are entering first-stage human safety testing. 3. Researchers are dissecting the cloak that disguises influenza as it sneaks past the immune system, and finding some rare targets that stay the same from strain to strain, year to year.

Which additional sentence from the article provides the MOST COMPLETE argument that scientists are closer to developing a universal flu vaccine?

(A) A century after one of history's most catastrophic disease outbreaks, scientists are rethinking how to guard against another super-flu like the 1918 influenza that killed tens of millions as it swept the globe.

(B) Labs around the country are hunting for a super-shot that could eliminate the annual fall vaccination in favor of one every five years or 10 years, or maybe, eventually, a childhood immunization that could last for life.

(D) A turning point toward better vaccines was a 2009 discovery that, sometimes, people make a small number of antibodies that instead target spots on the hemagglutinin stem that don't mutate.

2 Read the paragraph from the article.

What can be inferred from this paragraph?

(A) Past flu viruses are not an accurate way to predict how the virus will change or behave in the future.

(B) The flu virus changes drastically every 100 years so scientists will have to abandon their past research.

(D) Poorly researched vaccines were the reason why the outbreak of 1918 was so deadly around the globe.

3 What role do animals play in outbreaks of the flu virus?

(A) Many scientists have been infecting various animals with flu to understand how their antibodies work differently than ours.

(B) Many dangerous outbreaks of flu have begun when there were not enough vaccines to protect many domestic animals.

(C) Many scientists believe vaccines containing flu from birds and pigs are the most effective way to prevent another outbreak.

(D) Many dangerous strains of flu have been linked to the mixing of genes from the 1918 flu with viruses carried by birds and pigs.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 4 Which option BEST summarizes how different researchers feel about the flu virus?

(A) Some researchers feel it is most important to study the way the flu virus of 1918 has continued to adapt and play a role, while others believe it is no longer relevant to their work; all researchers agree prevention and a universal vaccine are essential.

(B) Some researchers feel it is most important to focus on how the flu virus sneaks into the body, while others are interested in the way human antibodies help the immune system adapt to flu; all researchers agree prevention and a universal vaccine are essential.

(C) Some researchers feel initial safety tests are best conducted on human subjects to best gauge their effectiveness, while others think it is safer to experiment on animals; all researchers believe it is important to vaccinate for the flu as early in life as possible.

(D) Some researchers believe initial studies provide evidence that it is possible to create a flu vaccine that will only need to be given once, while others believe it should be given every five to 10 years; all researchers believe it is important to vaccinate for the flu as early in life as possible.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.

Wednesday Math Classwork 6/2/20

1. Rittenhouse Square is about 240 meters long across its diagonal. Assuming that it is a perfect square, answer the following questions. Round to the closest meter. a. Use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the length of the sides of the square.

b. You need to get from Corner A to Corner B. Is it shorter to walk straight across or around the park? How much shorter is the shorter path (in meters)?

c. How large is the park in square meters? (Area of a square = side2)

Math Classwork 6/2/20

525 feet

??? feet 450 feet

2. You get off the train at Broad and Ridge. If you walk up Ridge, how long is the walk to Zuzu’s? World's biggest hornets, with a sting that can kill, land in United States By Associated Press, adapted by Newsela staff on 05.15.20 Word Count 561 Level 1020L

Image 1. A giant hornet from Japan is displayed at the Washington State Department of Agriculture on May 4, 2020, in Olympia, Washington. The insect, which has been found in Washington state, is the world's largest hornet and has been dubbed the "murder hornet" because of its appetite for honey bees, and a sting that can be fatal to some people. Photo:Ted S. Warren/AP Photo

The world's largest hornet is 2 inches long. It normally lives in Asia, but it has recently been found in the United States. These hornets have an appetite for honey bees, and scientists are making plans to get rid of them.

The insect's sting is powerful and can even be deadly to some people, but this is very rare.

"They're like something out of a monster cartoon with this huge yellow-orange face," said Susan Cobey, who is a a bee breeder at Washington State University.

Scientists do not know how or where the hornets arrived in North America. Their usual homes are the forests and mountains of eastern and southeast Asia where they feed on large insects, including wasps and bees.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. "It's a shockingly large hornet," said Todd Murray, who is an entomologist, or scientist who studies insects. "It's a health hazard, and more importantly, a significant predator of honey bees."

Sting Can Kill Humans

People spotted the hornet for the first time in the U.S. in December 2019. The state Department of Agriculture verified two reports near Blaine, Washington, close to the Canadian border.

The hornet can sting through most beekeeper suits. Their stings contain a powerful poison that affects a person's nervous system, which includes the brain and spinal cord. The hornets deliver nearly seven times the amount of venom as a honey bee and sting multiple times. This can kill humans. The Department of Agriculture ordered special reinforced beekeeper suits from China.

Active In Summer And Fall

The hornet's life cycle begins in April when the queen emerges from hibernation. This is when an animal spends the winter in an inactive state. The queen is the hornet that is the mother to most of the hornets in the hive.

The hornets feed on plant sap and fruit. They look for underground dens to build their nests. The hornets are most destructive in the late summer and early fall. They can attack honey bee hives, killing adult bees and devouring younger ones.

This is a problem, because farmers depend on honey bees to pollinate many important northwest crops such as apples, blueberries and cherries. Bees move pollen from one plant to another to help plants reproduce. This is very important for keeping crops healthy. But with the threat from the giant hornets, beekeepers might not want to bring their hives to the northwest.

Invasive Species

The hornets are an invasive species, which is a nonnative species that harms an environment. They can dramatically change crop conditions.

Murray says now is the time to deal with the predators. The hope is to eliminate, or eradicate, the hornets from North America as soon as possible.

"We need to teach people how to recognize and identify this hornet while populations are small, so that we can eradicate it while we still have a chance,'' he said.

Scientists will begin trapping hornet queens this spring in Washington. Hunting the hornets is no job for ordinary people.

"Don't try to take them out yourself if you see them," Murray said. "If you get into them, run away, then call us!''

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Quiz

1 Which answer choice describes two CENTRAL ideas of the article?

(A) Scientists are studying a large hornet recently found near Canada. They hope to teach people how to recognize the hornet while populations are small.

(B) Scientists are studying a large hornet recently found near Canada. The hornets can be destructive to bees and plants in the late summer and early fall.

(C) The world's largest hornet has recently been found in the United States. Their usual homes are the forests and mountains of eastern and southeast Asia.

(D) The world's largest hornet has recently been found in the United States. Scientists are working to get rid of the hornets because they kill pollinating bees.

2 Which statement would be MOST important to include in a summary of the article?

(A) An invasive species is a nonnative species that harms the plants or animals in an environment.

(B) Honey bees pollinate many important northwest crops such as blueberries and cherries.

(D) Scientists do not know how or where the hornets first arrived in North America from Asia.

3 WHY are scientists focused on trapping hornet queens?

(A) The queen is the mother to most of the hornets in the hive, so removing queens would prevent new nests.

(B) The queen is the hive leader and gathers plant sap and fruit, which damages apple and blueberry crops.

(D) The queen is the most venomous of the hornets, making her the one most dangerous to human beings.

4 According to the article, WHY did the Department of Agriculture order special beekeeper suits from China?

(A) because the hornets have only been seen in China until now

(B) because the hornets can sting through regular beekeeper suits

(D) because the hornets can be hard for beekeepers to see

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.

Thursday What will happen to the environment after the pandemic? By Christian Science Monitor, adapted by Newsela staff on 05.20.20 Word Count 728 Level 1120L

Downtown Los Angeles, California, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, on April 15, 2020. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data from March shows that Los Angeles had its longest stretch of air quality rated as "good" since 1995 as Safer-at-Home orders were issued in response to the spread of COVID-19. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images

In April experts in health care, economics and policy met virtually to discuss a global issue. But their focus was not been the COVID-19 pandemic or worldwide outbreak. Instead, they were talking about climate change.

Positive Environmental Impact During Lockdown

Though the pandemic is less than six months old, there is already evidence that the way we are reacting to it is affecting the world's environment. For example, China's carbon emissions dropped 18 percent between the beginning of February and mid-March. Carbon emissions refers to the carbon dioxide produced by planes, cars and factories. Gases such as carbon dioxide trap heat in the atmosphere, contributing to global warming, or an overall increase in temperatures around the world.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Pollution in India has decreased dramatically too, according to satellite images from NASA's Earth Observatory. And in the United States, drops in air and automobile travel have also lowered emissions.

But researchers say many of these changes are temporary. For example, the drop in China's carbon emissions is related to how factories stopped operating during the country's lockdown. As the country reopens, emissions are expected to increase again. This is similar to how global emissions grew rapidly after the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009.

Scientists are hoping to find ways to address climate change in the long term. They are looking at how people's behavior has changed, as well as changes in policy decisions that might affect goals for a cleaner environment.

Long-Term Policy Changes Needed

Environmental activists say the pandemic is a reason to push environmentally-friendly policies right now, and they worry that years of climate policy victories could be lost. The Environmental Protection Agency announced last month that it will not enforce environmental regulations during the pandemic.

"What we have to worry about is whether ... policy changes are going to be long-term or short- term," said Christopher Jones, director of the CoolClimate Network at the University of California, Berkeley. "If we roll back standards and they remain in place when the economy comes back, we are going to have a real problem."

Researchers say officials should include climate change issues in the government's efforts to address the pandemic. They say this could help the U.S. bounce back from the devastating economic impact of the pandemic.

Many environmentalists look at President Barack Obama's 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as an example of how government initiatives can encourage climate-friendly industry. That bill, which gave $90 billion to promote green energy, is widely credited with launching the renewable energy industry in the U.S. Renewable energy comes from naturally replenished resources such as sunlight and wind.

Kenneth Gillingham, a professor at Yale University, is less optimistic and notes that the pandemic itself has slowed renewable energy efforts.

"There's a slowing down of building new solar farms, of new wind facilities," he says. "Some projects are hitting the pause button. Other projects may not happen for a long time."

Connecting Human Behavior And The Environment

Scientists are pushing awareness about the connection between the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate. For example, both the pandemic and climate change disproportionately affect people of color and other groups that experience discrimination and exclusion. Dealing with environmental issues will be critical for helping people most affected by the coronavirus, said Dr. Aaron Bernstein, a pediatrician at Boston Children's Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School.

He says there is hope in the way the world has responded to the pandemic. For example, people have changed their behaviors by sheltering in place and wearing masks.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. "We are able to mobilize the entire global economy and population for an imminent threat," Jones said. "Everybody is willing to make personal sacrifices to protect the most vulnerable. I think that's quite new."

The question is whether people will see climate change as an immediate threat. Climate researchers see a direct connection between human behavior and the world's increasingly frequent and severe natural disasters, but research shows that most people feel disconnected from both the impacts and causes of climate change.

However, researchers say there is still a chance for people to change their behaviors in response to climate change. They think this is possible because people changed their behaviors in response to the pandemic.

"It can make people feel that what was previously unthinkable is plausible," Jones said. "They know what the experience feels like."

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Quiz

1 What is the relationship between the following selections from the article?

For example, China's carbon emissions dropped 18 percent between the beginning of February and mid-March. Carbon emissions refers to the carbon dioxide produced by planes, cars and factories. Pollution in India has decreased dramatically too, according to satellite images from NASA's Earth Observatory. And in the United States, drops in air and automobile travel have also lowered emissions.

(A) They are both central ideas related to scientists' concerns about how environmental policies will affect the economy.

(B) They are both central ideas related to the contrast between environmental policies in different countries during the pandemic.

(C) They are both supporting details for the central idea that the world's reaction to the pandemic is positively affecting the environment.

(D) They are both supporting details for the central idea that a reduction in global travel is most responsible for a drop in carbon emissions.

2 Which of these statements would be MOST important to include in an objective summary of the article?

(A) The Environmental Protection Agency must reverse its decision to stop enforcing environmental regulations.

(B) Researchers and activists say the pandemic is a good time to push for environmentally friendly policies.

(D) Renewable energy investment would be an ideal way to help the environment during the pandemic.

3 How are the opinions of Christopher Jones and Dr. Aaron Bernstein connected to each other?

(A) Jones's opinion that economic issues are related to climate change issues is directly disputed by Bernstein's opinion.

(B) Jones's opinion that climate change was previously unthinkable for most people is developed by Bernstein's opinion.

(C) Bernstein's opinion contradicts Jones's opinion that people should worry about whether climate policy changes are long-term or short-term.

(D) Bernstein's opinion supports Jones's opinion that the behavior of people during the pandemic provides hope for fighting climate change.

4 How is the coronavirus pandemic different from climate change?

(A) Most people have recognized that the pandemic is an imminent threat.

(B) Most scientists agree that policies are needed to deal with the pandemic.

(D) The pandemic carries the potential to greatly affect the entire global economy.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.