Welcome to Gaia! ::

Class activities:

Chemistry:



Starts: First day of the Month
Ends: Last day of the Month


"Alright, let's see how much you've learned. Metal or Non-Metal? (and no, not of the music variety) I'm going to assign each of you an element from the periodic table, and I want you to tell me if it is a Metal or Non-Metal. Bonus points if you can give me an interesting fact about your element!"
Caliper strides about the lecture hall with a bowler hat with a series of paper numbers in it, getting each student to draw one out.


Rules:
1. Do a Random Number Generator between 1 and 118.
2. Check the Periodic Table for which element you've pulled, and write a response of some interesting fact(s) about the element corresponding with your number, including if it is classified as a Metal or Non-Metal.


Biology



Starts: First of the Month
Ends: Last day of the Month, 11:59pm EST

"Each race, be they Daydream or Nightmare has specific features that are unique to that racial group. Looking at your own heritage, what traits do you possess that are linked specifically with your race? This is especially intriguing for the Hybrids in the room, as their pool of possible traits is far expanded."

Rules
1. Post a small roleplay response in thread answering the above prompt (minimum 100 words).


Geology



Starts: First of the Month
Ends: Last day of the Month

"Rocks come in a vast variety of colour, shape, and hardness and have long been used in a wide variety of sciences and trades. Many people prefer the precious gems, but the semi-precious offer a riot of colour and form. I want you to research a semi-precious stone or crystal that starts with the same letter as your name or the name of someone close to you and find a specimen to bring in and show the class."


Rules:
1. Research semi-precious stones that start with the same letter as your character's name, someone close to them.
2. Find an image of one to share in the thread.
3. Be sure to include it's name, and a written response of why your character selected this sample to bring in (100 words minimum).

So it was a loft goal but it was something that Lerin wanted to do. Science had always interested her and while it did take her away from Nasai it was a chance to become her own person. The class was fun and interesting and Lerin loved going. So when they were handed the assignment unlike the groan that escaped from some of her classmates Lerin was looking forward to it. She quickly made her way through the worksheet remembering a lot of the information from her academy days and had to hide a smile as she was the first one done. Well It would be nice to go home to see her small family so with a slight spring in her step she smiled at the teacher as she turned the assignment in and gathered her bags to go home.

Biology was a necessary part of being a science major, and Raleka could say she was excited for it. Although it wasn't her concentration, she enjoyed looking at the details of how things were put together. She had always loved learning about plant cells, knowing she held a bit of them in her own body. In particular, she enjoyed learning about genetics as well.

Today in class, they were covering the well-beaten-to-death Punnett Squares. It was a topic that was hashed out from being an early junior, to now, and beyond. Although Raleka found it to be a rather basic assignment, she enjoyed the involvement of the word "hybrid." It always put a smile on her face. Something about being a part of some age-old science vocabulary felt much different from the category she was so often scooped into.

The worksheet was easy, and at the end of class the winged girl turned it into the professor, confident she had done well.

Xochi loved biology, and seeing the squares filled her with delight. She sat down and began to write down the answers quickly, knowing (most likely) what the sheet asked of her. She turned it in, happy to have a fun little reprieve from all the writing assignments that had been heaped up on her lately.

"Give us an example of an everyday chemical reaction that you encounter in your own life."

Raleka was excited to pipe up about this subject, and she was almost surprised that something so simple had been given to them on their first day. She had learned about chemical reactions in plants, and being a prospective botanist, she knew the cycle of respiration like the back of her hand. "Photosynthesis is a chemical reaction!" she said, eagerly raising her hand. "Plants use the energy from sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into food. It's how they stay alive." Her eyes glinted with a smile after stating her answer. She had been skeptical about the usefulness of a chemistry credit, but perhaps this class wouldn't be too bad, after all.

"With DNA testing it's entirely possible to figure out who is related to who - but is it worth the cost? How accurate do you think DNA testing for cache children would be, considering how long ago their parents may have lived?"


With all of the fuss that was always made about cache orphans, Raleka never sympathized much. She had a mother of her own, and a father she didn't care much to meet. She'd always felt that, as someone who grew up in a normal family, she didn't ever have to worry about the cache or the seemingly endless barrage of orphans that streamed out of its belly. The situation was irrelevant to her. But now, she had an adopted son who was a cache orphan, and up until this point she hadn't even thought of it. It was selfish to think that Annie wouldn't one day wish to search out his birth parents, even if they were long dead, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to ever breach that subject with him.

What about a birth family? Distant cousins, or great great great nieces and nephews Annie wasn't even aware of? Would they be appropriate for Annie to meet, and if he met them, would they even welcome him as one of their own? Annie and Raleka both found a connection in being odd outcasts, and she couldn't imagine him walking happily into a family of Fey. The very thought of it made her uncomfortable. But now, she was approaching it from a fully personal standpoint. She lifted a hand to see if she could muddle through a class discussion answer.

"With DNA testing today, it's highly unlikely that cache orphans would be able to find their actual parents," she said slowly, piecing her thoughts together. "It's safe to say that the majority of people who lived before the creation of the cache are probably deceased, especially in the case of races with shorter lifespans. Because of the nature of the cache we also don't have any paperwork or documentation on who is related to who. But if we had a wide enough DNA database, cache orphan children would be able to find the distant relatives of their parents, and perhaps be welcomed back into their extended families. However, I'd say that's probably only if we had a large DNA database. It's easy to tell what race you are, but not so easy to find out who exactly is related to you unless you had someone in mind. It will likely be several more years before we create technology of that span."

Raleka wished she knew more about DNA testing, and she nervously hoped her answer was sufficient.

Raleka's last class requirement! Yay! Let's hope I know what I'm talking about!

"Rocks come in a vast variety of colour, shape, and hardness and have long been used in a wide variety of sciences and trades. Many people prefer the precious gems, but the semi-precious offer a riot of colour and form. I want you to research a semi-precious stone or crystal that starts with the same letter as your name and find a specimen to bring in and show the class."

Well this was going to be an diffifult assignment. Aspara didn't have much interest in rocks and minerals. Fossils were a bit more interesting, since they'd once been living and showed hints at the phenomorphs of creatures long past, but aside from being pretty she really didn't see much use in gem stones. Once class was dimissed, Aspara had gone to the library and went right to the research section. She was familiar with the shelving system, and easily found an encyclopedia of minerals.

She flipped through the 'A' section, her eyes skimmed through the pages until she found something that actually caught her eyes. There was a dual toned gemstone of purple and yellow with the identifying name of Ametrine above it. With a soft 'huh', she continued to read through what created such a unique gem, deciding that maybe geology wasn't as uninteresting as she'd thought.

By the next class session, Aspara had procured a decent sized piece of Ametrine, cut and polished, and presented her findings in class. Standing before the class, she passed around her sample gem to the class. "I chose to research Ametrine and found that it's a macrocrystalline quartz, meaning that it is a large enough crystal to be easily identified by site, and is a natural bicolor combination of amethyst and citrine. It's color tones can vary from pale to deep colors of violet and yellows, and the color band splits are abrupt with very little color blend between them. The colors found are determined by the levels of oxidized iron impurities. It is a 7 on the Mohs scale, so relatively strong, transparent, and has a crystal structure of triagonal, hexagonal prisms. It's chemical make up is Silicon dioxide."


Ametrine: