Thirty, twenty-nine, maybe thirty-two? How many days until we start our summer break? If you have a fabulous summer vacation planned, you are probably aware of the exact number! Maybe you plan on hiking one of the U.S. national parks or rafting a wild river. Or perhaps your plans take you to more exotic locales […]

Did it sneak up on you again this year? Kidding aside, Richter Scale Day is April 26, the birthday of Charles Richter (1900-1985), inventor of the Richter scale. Most middle school science curricula include earth science studies in plate tectonics and its related phenomena, including earthquakes. Catastrophic events, such as the recent Italian earthquake, provide […]

It is estimated that 5 percent of global emissions of carbon dioxide comes from the manufacture of cement. Some clever manufacturers are finding ways to not only reduce the carbon footprint of the industry but possibly reverse it! That is to say, it seems possible to capture CO2 and store it in concrete, i.e. sequester […]

A massive ice bridge, 40 km long and more than 500 m wide, that once connected two islands is no longer. See http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=36060 for a great visual: a labeled photograph of the area. The ice bridge had been in place for hundreds, probably thousands, of years and held back the Wilkins Ice Shelf. Now scientists […]