Ashlee calculates lung capacity during today's lab. A couple more weeks of human body work and onto the fetal pig lab!

In lab this week, we're studying ways we can influence human heart rate. One interesting concept in the mammalian dive reflex, a response that has evolved in many mammals including humans. Heart rate plummets in response to underwater conditions to conserve oxygen. We're using Vernier Lab Quests to document this.

Build-a-Body: http://www.spongelab.com/slxdev/interactives/buildabody/en/whole/index.html

Groton Central School is in the running for a $100,000 technology award from Samsung Electronics! Please vote for our video at the following website: www.samsung.com/solvefortomorrow Or search for "Earthship Groton" on Facebook where you will find a link to vote. Thanks for your support and remember you can vote every day for the next month!

Learn more about the Groton HoneyBee Project!

There's a good article on NPR's website about the risk of Lyme Disease...caused by a bacterium spread by certain species of ticks. Our warm winter will probably result in an above-average number of ticks in our wooded areas this year so please educate yourselves. Above is a risk map. We're in a low-risk area but it's still best to check yourself after coming indoors.

8TH ANNUAL GREEN BUILDING SEMINAR SERIES
(5) Thursdays, February 9, 16 & 23 and March 1 & 8, 7:00-9:00pm
at First Unitarian Church of Ithaca Annex, 208 E. Buffalo St.(near Aurora), Ithaca NY

February 9: Earthships! A showing of the award-winning documentary, Garbage Warrior, will be followed by a discussion with one local couple who recently built an earthship and another who are working on one this year with Michael Reynolds (the leading earthship guru, featured in Garbage Warrior). For more about the film, visit: http://www.garbagewarrior.com/

February 16: Deep Energy Retrofits. What does it take to turn a typical home into a super-performer? Jon Harrod of Snug Planet and Ian Shapiro of Taitem Engineering will walk you through their process for making a home super energy-efficient and discuss the huge benefits that can result.

February 23: Rehabbing Old Windows. With a few simple repairs and improvements, you can make your old windows perform as well as new ones. Mark Pierce, Extension Associate with Cornell University's College of Human Ecology, is an expert in energy efficiency issues in residential buildings, and Shad Ryan is the Owner of On Balance Solutions, which specializes in vintage and historic sash rehabilitation. They will discuss the benefits of keeping your old windows and walk you through the process of fixing and tightening them up.

March 1: Affordable Green Building. Following up on last year's popular seminar, we've invited two local experts to discuss different strategies for keeping your green building projects affordable, including the decision-making process that goes into incorporating green building practices and materials that are healthy, safe, resource-efficient, and durable but that don't cost a premium. Scott Reynolds is the Director of Construction Services for Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services, and Joe Laquatra is the Hazel E. Reed Human Ecology Extension Professor in Family Policy at Cornell University, whose teaching and research efforts focus on sustainable aspects of housing.

March 8: High-Efficiency Heating Systems. So, you've made your home as energy-efficient as possible and now your old boiler isn't just inefficient, it's oversized. There are a lot of options these days. We'll discuss high-efficiency biomass and fossil fuel-fired systems, mini-splits, geothermal, masonry heaters, and more, including how heat-recovery ventilation works as part of the system.

Admission: $8/seminar or $35/series. No need to preregister. 

Please visit http://ccetompkins.org/gbss to check for changes or cancellations on the day of the seminar!
For more information, contact Guillermo Metz at (607) 272-2292 or email gm52@cornell.edu.