ACT Scientific Article Intro

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Shmoop

Description

Penned a quippy introduction to a scientific article featured on an ACT practice test. Distilled complicated information into a digestible summary to keep disheartened teens from gouging their eyes out during the final section of the test.

ACT Reading Prompt | Scientific Article Summary

All right, ladies and gents, time to dust off your lab coats, tighten up your bow ties, and channel your inner Bill Nye: it’s science time! This passage is about a loggerhead turtle named Adelita who swam all the way from Mexico to Japan. That’s a 9,000 mile journey that spans the entire Pacific Ocean! We’re not sure if Adelita is of the teenage mutant ninja variety of turtle, but given her remarkable aquatic feat, the crime fighting guys in green might want to think about recruiting her.

So, how did she do it? We’re glad you asked. As it turns out, loggerheads can use the Earth’s magnetic field as their own personal Global Positioning System (GPS). By sensing the field, they can determine both their latitude – position on the north-south axis – and their longitude – position on the east-west axis – and travel in the right direction. Take that, Garmin.

This revelatory information comes to us care of a few hard-shell loving researchers at the University of North Carolina. In his lab, super scientist Ken Lohmann has been studying the magnetic abilities of loggerhead turtles for over 20 years. Lohmann and his colleague, Nathan Putman, test little baby hatchling turtles by placing them in a massive water tank surrounded by a grid of electromagnetic coils (think Sea World wrapped in giant magnets). Then, they mess with the hatchlings’ sense of direction by manipulating the field around them....but no need to call PETA just yet. Both scientists assure us that no turtles were harmed during the conducting of this research.

By changing only the magnetic fields surrounding the tank, Lohmann discovered that the hatchlings altered their north-south course (latitude) relative to the fields they sensed around them. Putman’s studies used the same methods to show that hatchlings can also determine their east-west positioning (longitude). Before these studies, we knew that many animal migrants, turtles included, had some way of figuring out their longitude, but no one knew precisely how. Well, mystery solved. Next week on CSI: Deep Water, the team dives into the mystery of mermaids.

Outside of the safety of the laboratory tanks, migratory animals may also utilize the positioning of the sun, sea, and stars to guide them. However, thanks to Lohmann and Putman’s experiments, we now have a much better understanding of one of the means through which turtles find their way across vast stretches of unfamiliar ocean: by relying on their own magnetic brand of GPS. Pretty remarkable, considering we get lost on our way home from the grocery store.

But, more than just the inconvenience of having to stop and ask for directions, the hatchlings’ position in the water during their travels is actually a matter of life or death. Yeah...things just got real...really real. You see, hatchlings born off the coast of Florida spend their early days in the North Atlantic gyre – the warm current circling between North America and Africa. There, they are carefree youths: sunbathing, swimming, and sipping Mai Tais (alcohol free, of course). However, if they follow Nemo’s lead and lose their way, they are swept into the treacherously cold waters outside of the gyre and they die. It’s their magnetic sense – their own personal compass – that keeps them safe. Whew! Cold water crisis averted. All turtles present and accounted for.

So, if you’re ever lost at sea a la Tom Hanks in Cast Away (Wilson!), just find a turtle to lead you home.

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