Many middle school curricula include attention to ancient American people and their cultures. This blog entry may be helpful in making connections to the nature of science and scientific enterprises as part of an integrated approach in studying the Anasazi or ancient Peublos. The story titled “Vanished: A Pueblo Mystery,” published in the New York […]

This week’s blog draws from several news sources—washingtonpost.com, The New York Times, Science News Online and Science Friday. All these sources have stories and photos related to a study published March 7, 2008, in Science by researchers Victor Polyak and Carol Hill. (Science Friday features a 15-minute audio clip of an interview with Polyak.) The […]

Is your unit on climate and weather approaching? Here’s some current research you can use to enrich students’ understanding of weather. It can help you make real-world connections from the textbook and classroom to the research scientists working to understand the science of hurricanes.
The news comes from ScienceDaily. The article, Increased Hurricane Activity Linked to […]

The irony of Greenland’s name has intrigued many of us, but according to a January 8, 2008, New York Times story, In Greenland, Ice and Instability, the irony may be short-lived. A series of unusually warm springs has increased the ice melt, and contributed to a cascade of related events. The melting ice is darker […]

Depression, Exercise, and Genetics
Chances are some your students or their family members are currently battling depression, and thus may be interested in this story. The link between regular exercise and mood enhancement has been known for some time now. Scientists have established that exercise increases levels of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, which in […]

With the popularity of science-fiction movies like Jurassic Park that simplify the effects of DNA and genes and ignore environmental factors, teachers may find it challenging to convey to students the important role of the environment on gene activities, and vice versa.
For example, individuals may possess a gene combination that could predispose them to certain […]

Will we ever find a suitable, sustainable, and reliable substitute for fossil fuels? Sure, there’s wind, water, or solar power, but these sources are dependent on the conditions of nature and are not always reliable. ScienceDaily reported, on November 3, 2007, that two microbiologists, Rhonda Zeltwanger and Michael Cotta at Washington University in St. […]

Uncertainty in science? Is that normal? Of course it is, and researchers can typically quantify the degree of certainty they hold in their conclusions. For example, a research report might read, “Our data analysis indicates with 95% certainty that X is causing Y.” But some research results are not so linear and one-dimensional as […]