Friday, July 31, 2015

Rerun Article: New Techniques for Cloning Old Creatures

Dr. Steve (top) is among the scientists trying new techniques for cloning extinct marine creatures such as this mosasaur (bottom)

How exactly have scientists been cloning dinosaurs? Well, it is done in several different ways, but Jurassic Park's technique was to extract DNA from mosquitoes that bit the dinosaur's blood when alive. The mosquitoes eventually landed on the trunk of a tree and got stuck in the sap. After a long time, the tree sap would get hard and become fossilized, just like a dinosaur bone, preserving the mosquitoes inside. Using sophisticated techniques, they extract the preserved blood and they have dinosaur DNA! Then, they insert the DNA into the embryos of alligator eggs (which were from a farm, not a wild nest by the way) and they hatch a baby dinosaur. Ever since Jurassic Park closed due to escaping carnivores, scientists have been cloning these legendary beasts. The technique I mentioned works well for dinosaurs, but lately, scientists have turned their interests to other creatures – marine reptiles! And due to certain “problems” scientists come across when trying to clone them, they are trying new and exciting techniques. To get the latest scoop, my junior photographer, Daniel P. Smithwater and I went to Dr. Steve Stevenson, the chief geneticist at AAI, also known as Animal Adventures Institute. He used to work with the company that was trying to create Jurassic ParkInGen, before the park closed down and he happily told us what's new in the cloning world. When asked what's up with cloning sea reptiles, he responded saying, “As you know, scientists have been interested in cloning dinosaurs since Jurassic Park. But recently, we've turned our attention to other types of animals – marine reptiles. 'What's the problem?' you ask? When cloning dinosaurs, we get our DNA used in cloning from mosquitoes trapped in amber right? Well, have you ever seen mosquitoes go swimming and suck the blood of sea creatures underwater?” Dr. Steve explained that contrary to popular belief, dinosaurs only lived on land. The flying and swimming “dinosaur-like” reptiles, that God created on the Fifth Day of the week to create everything, were not dinosaurs (that's right! Pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, mosasaurs, pliosaurs and ichthyosaurs aren't dinosaurs). So since mosquitoes can't swim, getting DNA from extinct marine reptiles proved tricky. “When Jurassic Park was preparing to open (which of course it never did),” says Dr. Steve, “we managed to clone some marine reptiles called mosasaurs (these creatures were sort of like monitor lizards with flippers that could grow to lengths of over 50 ft.) through the same process that we cloned dinosaurs, but it was tricky, since mosquitoes that bit marine reptiles are rare in amber.” The next obvious question I asked Dr. Steve was how the mosquito even bit the marine reptile in the first place. Dr. Steve is quoted for saying, “All we know is that a few did. I have a theory though: say a mosasaur washed up on a beach or perhaps swam in a swamp that was connected to the ocean and died. If part of the mosasaur's body is above water, a mosquito could suck blood, but this would be rare. This is why we've had trouble cloning marine reptiles.” Here at AAIDr. Steve has managed to clone a few marine reptiles, but through a different process. “The process through which we cloned extinct marine reptiles for Animal Adventures Institute was also tricky, but a little bit easier than the Jurassic Park technique. Instead of extracting it from mosquitoes, we got it straight from unfossilized sea reptile bones that have been uncovered by our dig team led by Dr. Samuel Adamson and his wife, Indiana. In fact, since Jurassic Park closed, I think we're the only science team in the world that has succeeded in cloning marine reptiles.” However, new science tricks may prove cloning extinct reptiles much easier, as Dr. Steve explains. “You see, my assistant, Oliver Oviraptor (yes, he's a dinosaur), suggested that perhaps other animals bit extinct marine creatures. So I did some research and, to my amazement, I learned that there was such a creature – marine leech-like parasites!” Dr. Steve also told me that these leech-like parasites have been found encased in, not amber, but in ice! You see, after the Flood of Noah's time, the Ice Age began and ice caps appeared at the poles. These leech-like parasites would suck the blood of marine reptiles and if the marine reptile was in water too cold for the parasite, the parasite would drop off and get frozen in the water, where it was turned to ice. “And these parasites are now being uncovered in ice packs near both the North and South Pole.” He also began to say that these samples are still under study, so whether they contain enough DNA to clone something is still a mystery. But hopefully, this will open a whole new world when it comes to cloning. In closing, I asked Dr. Steve if we should be expecting “Cretaceous Sea World Adventure Park” anytime soon, and today, I'll close with his response. “Don't give your hopes up. We're still studying these amazing parasites that once bit marine reptiles. But with a little hope, and a lot of providence, a 'Sea World' version of Jurassic Park might be possible . . . and if we do, let's hope they don't cause havoc!

Written by: Mr. Smiley
Photographer: Daniel P. Smithwater
Edited by: Christian Ryan and Joy Hammond

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Next Issue: The Boa Constrictor Killing Method

Friday, July 24, 2015

Rerun Article: The History of Pizza

An all-time American favorite - Pizza!
 I looked around for something new to see when I realized I was hungry for lunch. Suddenly, I smelled a sweet aroma and hurried over to where it was. It was a pizza parlor! Yum! I love pizza! I ordered my pizza with pepperoni and some flies then I sat down. I noticed a black bird near the street...it's a crow!....or maybe it's a raven, I really can't tell them apart. I was too starving to follow the bird. I looked at the pizza pie in front of me and my mouth watered! I gobbled up each slice one by one, delicious! Pizza has a very fun and interesting history! Did you know that Americans eat 350 slices of pizza every second? Which means that everyone eats about 23 pounds of pizza each  year (not including lizards, like me, who mostly eats flies and sorts)! People have put so many different toppings on the pizza including, peanut buyer and jelly, bacon and eggs, mashed potatoes, sweet corn, eel, squid, coconut, curry, pickled finger, minced lamb, cottage cheese, and green peas! Wow! That's some strange toppings (wonder when they'll have fly pie! I mean fly topping on pizza)! Would you choose one of those toppings? Did you know that around the early years of A.D, foods similar to our pizza existed before Jesus even walked the earth? Pizza became a word in Naples, Italy. Pizza was to describe the spicy flat bread in their language, 1000A.D. 1500's, tomatoes were tried in Europe to South America. Because of its redness, people thought that the tomatoes were poisonous! 1700's, pizza was served as a strange dish in the cities of Europe. In the 1830's, the first pizzeria opened in Naples, called the Port'Alba. Fascinating fact, the oven lining for the bakery's wood-fired oven was made from lava rocks from Mount Vesuvius. In 1889, pizza was born! Because the queen of Italy, Queen Margherita wanted to try this pizza so Raffaele wanted to bake something patriotic. He used the colors of their flag; green, white and red for his pizza. The tomatoes were red, basil and oregano for green but then he was in a predicament. You see his pizza crust wasn't white enough, he came up with plan. He added white cheese (no one thought of that as a topping) and the pizza became a success. In 1943, Ike Sewell and Ric Ricardo invented Chicago- style pizza. In 1945, the veterans of World War II brought home a taste of pizza and it became a hit. Frozen pizza was commercialized in 1957. California introduced, "designer" pizza, letting people choose different varieties for their pizza. The most amazing and delicious thing happened in December of 1990. Norwood Hypermarket in South Africa baked a pizza that filled half a football field and weighed nearly 27,000 pounds! It used up 10,000 pounds of flour and lots of pounds of cheese and onions ( yuk onions! Not my favorite choice). Of course naturally, you'd never think that a lizard, like me, would know such stuff and get years right and all but I'm a talented lizard. A lizard with a blue notebook, a notebook recorded with almost everything I know in it. Yup, okay I admit I'm not that smart...I saw a cardboard sign on the table, where I'm eating, and read off it. Anyway, I should get going. Oh dear...I think I forgot my wallet! Ahhhhhh this check is for seven dollars. It's the flies, I knew it! Hmmm well, gotta go, I have to find my wallet and pay for the pizza. This is Lizzy the Basilisk Lizard reporting live at.....I really don't know where I am.....oh well, goodbye! 

Written by: Lizzy Lizard
Photographer: Daniel P. Smithwater
Edited by: Christian Ryan, Joy Hammond and Mr. Smiley

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Next Issue: Rerun Article: New Techniques for Cloning Old Creatures

Friday, July 17, 2015

Chaos Reigns at Jurassic World

I was having a pterosaur-rific time at Jurassic World...until they all broke loose.
Disclaimer: We at Smiley's News claim no ownership to anything regarding Jurassic Park, Masrani Global Corporation, InGen or Jurassic World.

PS. This article contains many references to my previous interviews with Simon Masrani, Claire Dearing and Dr. Henry Wu, and Vic Hoskins. So if you haven't already, I encourage you to read those articles for a better understanding of what takes place in this article. And yes, there are numerous SPOILERS here! So if you haven't seen Jurassic World in theaters yet, read with caution.

Well...remind me to thank John Hammond for a lovely weekend! As you might recall, a few weeks ago, my trusty, junior photographer, Daniel P. Smithwater, Lizzy the Lizard, Jack the Jackrabbit (Smiley's News' intern) and I went to Jurassic World – John Hammond's dream brought to life. We were supposed to have the time of our lives, and for a short period of time we did. But little did we know just how the park would turn from wonderful to chaotic in a single day!

We arrived on Isla Nublar – the island on which Jurassic World sits – on June 12, 2015, ready to have a fun time. As a news reporter, I was obligated to write an overview of the park's many attractions. The park was definitely bustling when we arrived on Main Street – which serves as the park's hub. It was filled with many of the brand name shops and restaurants (from Starbucks to Ben and Jerry's). Of course, I was most interested in seeing the park's dinosaurs. My friends and I had a blast watching the Mosasaurus Feeding Show, going to Tyrannosaurus Rex Kingdom, petting baby Triceratops, Apatosaurus and Gallimimus at the Gentle Giants Petting Zoo, seeing how these beasts were created in the Creation Lab and riding the gyrospheres in Gyrosphere Valley among adult Apatosaurus, Triceratops, hadrosaurs and Stegosaurus. As I didn't have the chance to visit the first Jurassic Park, this was an exciting vacation for me. This place was definitely the dream of John Hammond come true. With everything running so smoothly, one might wonder how things could all go so wrong so quickly.

Things changed for an instant for tourists at Jurassic World that day. While we all were enjoying ice cream at Ben and Jerry's (upon Jack's urging), it was suddenly announced over the park's speakers that they had a security breach and that we were not to panic. But that's what everyone did! What must have been hundreds of people, all crowding Main Street, ducked for cover as an enormous flock of pterosaurs, or flying reptiles swooped down for an aerial attack! The flock was mixed with two species that were just freed from the park's Aviary: Pteranodon and Dimorphodon. Now Pteranodon sport a 20-foot wingspan and were quite capable of plucking humans from the ground. The much smaller Dimorphodon on the other hand preferred to attack people with their sharp teeth.

They attacked in great numbers. Many were injured, but only one “fatal incident” occurred. One Pteranodon is reported to have picked up a person and accidentally dropped her into the Isla Nublar Lagoon. As the pterosaurs tried to get her out of the water, the park's 60-foot, shark-eating, Mosasaurus (a giant marine lizard) literally leaped from the water and eat them both. Lizzy was almost a meal for a hungry Dimorphodon, but I managed to throw my ice cream at the creature, distracting it long enough for us to escape. Of course, the Pteranodons were difficult to escape, as they constantly swooped upon us, trying to pick us up into the air. But we managed to escape by hiding under a souvenir cart.

Thankfully, help soon arrived as Jurassic World's ACU (Asset Containment Unit) soldiers rushed onto the scene to begin bringing many of the pterosaurs down and causing several of them to flee Main Street. The tourists all were moved into the Hilton Hotel, where we waited until the next ferry came to pick us up and take us all home. What happened to this once happy, bustling park? A lot more than most tourists knew, as it happened behind the scenes!

After we were all safe from danger, I was able to get an exclusive interview with park asset manager Claire Dearing (as you'll recall, this was my second interview with her) to find out exactly why the park went haywire. Claire was glad to see me again and was happy to explain everything. She's quoted for saying, “It's far more complicated than most people are aware. As you know, we had a new attraction that was set to be revealed to the public in three weeks. This attraction was a new species of dinosaurs called Indominus rex.” For those of you who didn't read about my previous chat with Ms. Dearing, Indominus rex was Jurassic World's first genetically-modified hybrid that was claimed to be made up of five different species of dinosaurs: Carnotaurus, Majungasaurus, Rugops and the menacing Giganotosaurus. The base genome was (supposedly) a T. rex. “This asset however was far powerful and intelligent than we realized at the time,” Claire said. “I. rex was able to escape containment and she caused havoc around the island, thankfully away from most of our visitors. She single-handedly killed five Apatosaurus and injured another, killed a heavily-armored Ankylosaurus (something even T. rex won't attempt to do) and completely wrecked one of our bullet and Dilophosaurus venom-proof gyrospheres.”

Next, I asked her why the late Simon Masrani –  ex-owner of Jurassic World and Masrani Global Corporation would have Dr. Henry Wu create such a monster. “That was never the plan,” Claire answered me. “Dr. Wu was supposed to create a new dinosaur suitable for a theme park. But he didn't. We didn't know this at the time, but Dr. Wu was also associated with Vic Hoskins, our ex-head of InGen security. Hoskins secretly employed Dr. Wu to create an experimental biological weapon that could be used in the military. This is why Dr. Wu added the genes of several other species of animals to create the ultimate living weapon: he added the DNA of the cuttlefish (a species of squid-like animal) to allow Indominus rex to blend into its environment (even more so than a chameleon!), an as-of-yet unidentified species of snake capable of detecting the heat signature of other organisms, the tree frog which gave it the ability to block out its own heat exchange (meaning it could hide from our thermal cameras) and the DNA of Velociraptor, presumably for enhanced intelligence, which Indominus rex certainly had.” Claire also said that Henry could have secretly included the DNA of several other animals as well. When asked why they couldn't ask Dr. Wu for more information on what DNA was used to create Indominus rex, she replied, “He actually slipped out sometime during the incident and we haven't seen or heard anything from him sense. It's all very mysterious.”

I then asked Claire what became of the Indominus rex. She replied, “Thankfully, that monster is now dead. She was beaten up pretty badly in a vicious fight between her, our park's pack of four Velociraptors and our Tyrannosaurus rex. But she was eventually killed by the Mosasaurus which leaped out of the water, snagged the hybrid and pulled her into the lagoon; it sort of reminded me of how a killer whale might attack a seal.”

Well, Jurassic World has been brought down to its knees and the park is closed. Is there any hope of it reopening? What is to become of the island? I put these questions to Claire. “As of now, Jurassic World is indefinitely closed,” she said. “The Board of Directors of Masrani Global Corporation are still deciding what should be done about the island. It's all TBD [to be determined] at the moment, but I'm pretty sure a clean-up operation is in order to make sure the extinct creatures – specifically the pterosaurs – stay on the island like they're supposed to. Some have theorized Isla Nublar could become a nature reserve, like Isla Sorna.”

I was hoping that Jurassic World would turn out differently than its predecessor, Jurassic Park, did. Nevertheless, the park's closing opens a new window of opportunity for another great adventure...what that adventure is, no one knows for sure.

But before concluding my interview with Claire Dearing, I had to find out for sure whether or not the rumor about her wearing her high-heels during the entire Isla Nublar Incident (2015) were true. With a laugh, she responded, “Yes! I never took them off. It was beyond difficult trying to run in those things, but I wasn't about to walk through those dense jungles barefoot! No way!”

Written by: Mr. Smiley
Photographer: Daniel P. Smithwater
Edited by: Christian Ryan

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Next Issue: Rerun Article: The History of Pizza

Friday, July 10, 2015

Rerun Article: What Cake Pops?...Cake Pops!

For today's article, we've decided to devote it to baking one thing in particular - Watermelon-shaped Cake Pops! But there are other types of cake pops you can make too. What a variety!
Hey there everyone, Lizzy the Lizard here and I'm in the kitchen with my younger sister, Lily. Did I mention that she would make a great chef someday? She watches cooking shows and reads recipe books. Lily is always asking if we could bake something, like cupcakes. Well today she plans on making a batch of watermelon-shaped cake pops with mom. It sounds delicious, can't wait to try them! I decided to ask why she wanted to bake today. "I'm always in a baking mood," she replied, "I just love to bake!" I decided to ask her what ingredients were needed. "You have to have 1 box of white cake mix (Betty Rocker super moist preferred, or you could make your own . . . but that's a whole other process!), 1/4 teaspoon of pink paste food coloring, 3/4 cup of vanilla frosting, 3/4 cup of mini semisweet chocolate chips, 32 lollipop sticks, 1 bag of candy melts, 1 large block white plastic foam, 1 bag (16 oz) of green candy melts, and 1 cup of light green candy melts," Lily the lizard said. "Hey do you mind teaching our readers how to make these delicious treats?" I asked her. "Well you start off by heating the overnight to 350 degrees and spraying a 13 by 9 inch pan with cooking spray. Make and bake the cake mix and use water, oil, and egg whites while adding pink paste food color. Then let the cake cool completely," said Lily. I watched as mom and Lily baked a cake an then laid it down on the counter to cool off. As the cake was chilling, Lily took a line cookie sheet with waxed paper and laid it down on another part of the counter. She checked the cake and then crumbled it up in a large bowl. "Why did you do that?" I asked, confused. "That's how you make the cake pops." Lily explained. She added frosting and the chocolate chips into the mix and stirred it up. "Here's a fun part to me!" she exclaimed. "You take some of the mix and you shape it into a ball or an oval. You should be able to get at least 32 of them. Then you place them carefully on the cookie sheet and freeze them until their firm by putting them in the freezer. Once firm, you transfer the balls into the refrigerator." Lily, mom, and I decided to watch a movie while we waited for the pops to become firm. "Here's were it gets harder to explain," said Lily, "I think mom can explain it better." My Mom was happy to explain (she was also pretty excited to be quoted for the newspaper too). "You remove the cake balls from the fridge," she told us. "Then dip the tip of one lollipop stick into the melted white candy and insert it into one cake ball, no more than halfway in. Then you dip each cake ball into the melted white candy and cover it. After that, you poke the other end of the stick into the foam block but we just used an empty shoe-box and poked holes into it. Do it with all of the other cake balls. Then let them sit in the fridge until their dry meaning until the candy melt has hardened. After that, dip the cake balls in the green candy melt and cover it all up. Then set it back in the fridge." I watched as Lily took a lollipop stick and dipped one of the ends in the white chocolate. I saw her take out one of the cake balls and plunge the stick into it but not all the way. Then she twirled the cake ball around carefully in the bowl of white candy melts. Lily walked over to the fridge and put the other end of the stick into a hole on the top of a box for the cake pop to stand. "Later, after its been dipped in green and dried, we use a toothpick and decorate the cake balls with the light green candy to make it look like a watermelons. You know watermelons need some stripes!" Lily said, excitedly. After the cake pops were done, we each took one and are it. "Wow these are delicious!" I exclaimed. "And it really looks like you bit into a watermelon that has seeds, how cool. "Well that's it for now folks, tune in next time . . . to see me all wrapped . . . in duck tape? Bye, I've got to get another one of these cake pops, it's delicious!

Written by: Lizzy Lizard
Photographer: Daniel P. Smithwater
Edited by: Christian Ryan, Joy Hammond and Mr. Smiley


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Next Issue: Chaos Reigns at Jurassic World

Friday, July 3, 2015

Rerun Article: Age-Old Jellyfish Visits Animal Adventures Studios

The average lifespan of a human is around 60-90 years. As modern medicine gets better and better, we live even longer. The oldest person alive in “recent” times died at the age of around 120 years old. But that’s nothing compared to heroes of the Bible. Adam, the first man, lived around 930 years. Seth, Adam's third son, lived about 912 years. Noah lived about 950 years and Enoch lived on earth until he reached 365 years of age when God took him away. But the person who’s lived the longest, by no coincidence also has an extremely long name – Methuselah! Methuselah lived to be 960 years old until death. If he had lived another 30 years, he would have been 1,000 years old! But these long-lived people were of Bible times. Animals, even ones living today have some pretty long lifespans as well. Elephants live to be about 80+. Tortoises can live around 200 to perhaps around 250 years old. Many whales can live into their 400’s. The recently cloned sauropods – or long-necked dinosaurs – can live to be 200 years old or more. Recently, a jellyfish by the name of Jello has come to stay at Animal Adventures Studios (the part of Animal Adventures Inc. (AAI.) that does TV broadcasting and movies). He seems like a pretty old guy, so after asking if he’d like to be an interviewee, I asked him how old he is. Jello is quoted for saying, “I am 6,000 years old and counting.” Whoa! Now a lot of people reading that response must be thinking, “this guy needs to go in the Lunacy Aquarium!” At first I thought this was a little weird too so I asked him if he was kidding. “I do not kid,” says Jello. “Many people think I’m hoodwinking them when I tell them my age, but I’m not. You see, I’m from a species of jellyfish called Turritopsis nutricula, or the Giant Immortal Jellyfish. God created us as an amazing breed of jellyfish. See, most jellyfish have a fixed lifespan, but as my species name suggests, we don’t! Whenever we start aging and getting physically old, we have an amazing ability – we just revert back to the polyp or baby jellyfish stage. Then we grow up and get older until we revert again! Isn’t it amazing? The only way we get killed is by predators or illness. But most of us are really, really small, so many of us get eaten easily. Only a few ‘lucky’, or rather, ‘providential’ ones get to such a large size as I am.” I, as the reporter, was shocked that a jellyfish could live so-o-o-o long. I was still curious if the jellyfish was telling a tall tale, but I did my research and found otherwise. In fact, here is the webpage I looked at to see if the jellyfish was telling the truth. And sure enough, there really is a species called the Immortal Jellyfish. Who knew? God actually did create animals with the ability to keep on living. I then asked Jello if other animals have been given this gift. “Well, as you know not many animals can keep on living, but this gift might be shared with another invertebrate that is often served boiled red on a large platter at Red Lobster restaurant. Yes, that’s right, the lobster might also have the ability to keep on living, scientists aren’t yet sure. I guess they might be able to know the answer if they didn’t kill them for food so much!” I then decided to visit AAI.’s leading geneticist, Dr. Steve Stevenson to see what he thinks about this. This was his response: “Not many people know about the abilities of the Immortal Jellyfish. But perhaps these animals will be able to help the human race. You see, if we study the jellyfish to see how they are able to live so long, maybe we will be able to reveal how we humans can do the same. Who knows? These jellyfish could help us a lot!” Who knew a jellyfish could be so fascinating? I guess tales of animals with long lives really are telling the truth and not such a “long-lived tall tale” after all!

Written by: Mr. Smiley
Photographer: Daniel P. Smithwater
Edited by: Christian Ryan

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Next Issue: Rerun Article: What Cake Pops?...Cake Pops!