News from the polar regions in February included news of the many effects of climate change in the Arctic, surprising discoveries of fossils and marine species, and how Antarctica’s environment aided NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander project. Missed these stories the first time? Read on!
Climate change continues to affect the Arctic region, leading to melting glaciers, […]

Rick Holt, a 2008 Iditarod finisher, near Finger Lake. Photo courtesy of John Concilus.
It’s that time again – the 37th annual Iditarod Sled Dog Race across Alaska will begin at 10 am, March 7, 2009. This ceremonial start is in downtown Anchorage, with the competitive start (or “restart”) scheduled for Sunday, March 8, 2009 in […]

Aerial views of migrating land mammals are not that unusual today, but videos of migrating Arctic marine mammals were—until this past summer.  
A camera crew aboard a helicopter captured the summer migration of the narwhal, an elusive, medium-size whale, for a natural history unit of the British Broadcasting Company (BBC). According to a news story […]

On March 20, the Spring Equinox, NASA invites a worldwide audience to observe Sun-Earth Day. Among the events planned is a webcast at 1:00 p.m. EST, featuring a panel of scientists, students monitoring the sun, and images and visualizations.  
With the theme Our Sun, Yours to Discover, the NASA Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum hopes to […]

March 18 will be the eighth quarterly Polar Day sponsored by the International Polar Year (IPY) organization to enable schools and other groups worldwide to join in celebration of polar research. The March theme is Polar Oceans.
Ocean-related activities will continue throughout the week of March 17-26. Resources provided by IPY include virtual balloon launches, activities […]

The 106 passengers and crew stranded when the adventure cruise ship Ocean Nova ran aground have been safely transferred to another ship.  The Clipper Adventure rescued the passengers and crew and is returning to Ushuaia, Argentina’s southernmost city, where the 15-day polar exploration originally began.
 The Ocean Nova ran into trouble in high winds near an Argentinian […]

You are invited to share your International Polar Year (IPY) activities and resources with other teachers at the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) conference, March 19-22, in New Orleans.
The Arctic Research Consortium (ARCUS) is organizing Teacher Share! A Share-a-Thon for Teachers Involved in IPY on Saturday, March 21, from 9 to 11 a.m. at […]

Tonight at 7pm EST we’re having an online chat in the TappedIn online learning community - http://tappedin.org. We’ll be working our way through the February 2009 issue of the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears online magazine. If you can’t join us, you can still take “our tour” below. We meet the first Thursday of each month […]

Image by Wilson A. Bentley. 
Did you know that while no two snowflakes are exactly the same, they are all six-sided? Snowflakes’ hexagonal shapes are due to the molecular structure of ice. As you might know, each water molecule is made of two hydrogen atoms bonded to one oxygen atom and looks something like this:
 
As water […]

On Wednesday, Feb. 4, Jessica Fries-Gaither will present “Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears: Integrating K-5 Science and Literacy” at the 2009 Educational Technology Conference in Columbus, OH. The presentation is scheduled for 2 pm in room C226. During the session, participants will be introduced to the Beyond Penguins project and the variety of technological tools […]