Mexico city is a city 5 times the size of Australia, but recently it’s been looking like a ghost town, as many of the people living there are hiding in their homes in fear of swine flu; or influenza type A.

All flu has its own species but animals with similar cells can exchange flu. Pigs don’t look like chickens, and pigs don’t look like humans, but they all have similar cells. Experts reckon that a pig had pig flu and at the same time had bird flu and the two viruses combined to make a new flu and that pig gave it to another pig that had human flu and those combined to makethe swine flu.

I think that the public is reacting in the wrong way. It’s not going to cause a pandemic because we are better prepared for a pandemic then at any point in history and it’s going to die out very quickly.

by Jonathan. C

We’ve all known about global warming for a long time, but I bet you didn’t know that carbon dioxide is also affecting the ocean, making it acidic.

It all goes wrong when the gas is turned on near the ocean. High winds blow the smoke spewed out of smoke stacks into high waves and it then reacts with the water to form carbonic acid.

Coral is actually the sketon of polyps, tiny creatures about the size of a match head, and if you’ve ever put a bone in acid you will konw it goes bendy. Well coral, instead of bending, dissolves, so reefs, like the Great Barrier Reef, could disappear in 15 years time.

Another problem is that the plankton in the ocean is getting smaller and smaller, and oceanologists say that they could disappear completely. This is a problem because tiny shrimp like creatures called krill feed on plankton and larger fish feed on them, and even bigger fish feed on them, so this could affect the whole food chain.

I think we should do everything we can to reduce carbon emissions and find ‘greener’ solutions, because it will affect the creatures on land and at sea.

Jonathan .C

Dengue fever is a terrible disease and hundreds of people in north-east Queensland are infected.

Most mozzies will just give you an itchy lump, but the Aagis Aegypti (A.G.S – ejipt- I) mozzie carries the fever. The fever causes headaches, upset tummies so sore they feel like they are going to break, which is why it’s also called break bone fever. most people get over it in about a week and a half, but sometimes peolple go to hospital, and in rare cases, it’s fatal.

This type of mozzie doesn’t buzz and it doesn’t fly around your face, so it can attack before you notice it. It also likes warm, humid areas, which is why it thrives in Queensland, and prefers human blood to anything else.

The fever can get spread when people go on holidays overseas. If they go, get the fever, come back, and get bitten by an Aagis Aegypti, it spreads to hundreds of other people.

In some schools in affected areas, kids get free mozzie repellent before they go out to recess.

It is an extremely horrible disease and scientist are working on a cure and I think they should.

I would like to see your responses to whether mozzie nets should be compulsory in affected areas.

Jonathan C

Cyclone Hamish was stalking Queenslands coast for a fortnight, and at times it was a category 5, which is the highest you can get. With winds of up to 250 km/h, it was worse than Katrina in America. Luckily for Queensland it stayed out to sea, but it still caused extreme rain and flooding.

At least 600 people were evacuated from holiday resorts on islands because it was too risky to stay. No one was killed but they are saying that the other 2 fisherman not found may have been.

During Hamish, a container ship was damaged and oil is now everywhere. Penguins and marine life are now covered in oil and have to be cleaned.

I’m not sure so I would like to see your responses to whether they should keep the animals in captivity until they clear the oil or if they should release them now.