Archive for February, 2009

Teaching Whooping Cranes to Migrate: Will It Save Them From Extinction?

Success stories in animal preservation are not very common. Since 1973 when the Endangered Species Act was passed, only 16 species of over 1,350 have been delisted. The whooping crane is not one of them, although its numbers have increased from 21 in 1941 to over 350 today. On February 22, 2009, the NYTimes.com published […]

Posted in Topics: Birds, Climate, Conservation, Ecology, Life Science, Science

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Fires in Australia: An Anomaly or Part of an Emerging Trend?

If you saw a newspaper or the news on TV at all last week, you must have heard about the catastrophic bushfires in southern Australia. Most were clustered 50 - 100 km northeast of Melbourne, capital city of the state of Victoria; yet there were other fires scattered across a wider area as well. The […]

Posted in Topics: Climate, Earth Science, Environment, Weather

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Forensic Science Under the Microscope

According to TV’s CSI, forensic science can do no wrong. Thus, if you are a criminal, wear gloves and a hairnet, brush over footprints left in the dirt, and leave no evidence behind.
Remember the O.J. Simpson trial for the murder of Nicole Brown? It appears the police botched the evidence collection, calling the investigation into […]

Posted in Topics: Anthropology, Forensics, Life Science, Methods of Science, Nature of Science, Science

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The Science of Chocolate: Just in Time for Valentine’s Day!

What do your students know about the food of the gods, chocolate? Do they know it is extracted from a plant? Do they know where the plant occurs naturally, how it is cultivated, or processed? Do they realize the scope of the chocolate industry worldwide? What news stories relating chocolate to health are valid? Why […]

Posted in Topics: Agriculture, Ecology, Genetics, Science

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