The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is almost ready to be reactivated after over a year’s wait. The enormous machine has been cleaned, repaired, and modified, and could begin operations this weekend.
Space station supplies weren’t the only thing on board the Atlantis shuttle when it launched on Monday. Thousands of tiny Caenorhabditis elegans worms were also aboard. The worms will help scientists learn more about the effects of zero gravity.
Many university students are registering for spring and summer courses. We have a list of over 100 geology field courses and field camps, mostly in the United States.
With the Leonid Meteor Shower peaking on November 17th at between 2:00 and 4:00 AM you might be interested in an article by David Lynch that explains two topics: “How to Observe a Meteor Shower” and “What Causes Meteor Showers?”.
Michigan State University is in the midst of a budget reduction process.
“As many as 30 academic majors, specializations and other programs could be affected. It could also include the closures of two departments – the Department of Geological Sciences and the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders. While communicative sciences and disorders could be closed, graduate degree programs would continue, relocated within the Department of Communication.” Quoted from the MSU website.
If you enjoy rock tumbling a new book by Steve Hart titled “Modern Rock Tumbling” gives a great introduction to the hobby. It has good sections on vibratory tumblers and ceramic media that have not been well-covered in previous books about the subject.
The National Academies have prepared a report on science activities outside the classroom. Things like museums, parks, and television programs have shown to greatly bolster people’s interest in science. The report is available as a hardcover book, or can be read online for free.
“Research experiences for science teachers can have a direct impact on the achievement of their students, increasing their performance significantly on state assessments. There are also economic benefits–to the schools and to society at large–in having science teachers take part in research experiences.” Quoted from the NSF press release.
The Smithsonian Museum is preparing a new addition: The Hall of Human Origins. It will feature how humans evolved over the last 6 million years, and is slated to open on the museum’s 100th anniversary in March 2010.
Join PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) for a special live event celebrating Earth Science Week 2009, “How We Know What We Know: Looking at Climate Change Through Polar Science.” Polar researchers Dr. Julie Brigham-Grette and Dr. Ross Powell and PolarTREC teacher Tim Martin will discuss climate research conducted in the Arctic and Antarctica through sediment coring.
The live online event will take place Friday, October 16, at 9 a.m. Alaska Daylight Time (7 a.m. HST, 10 a.m. PDT, 11 p.m. MDT, 12 p.m. CDT, 1 p.m. EDT).
K-12 teachers can apply for the Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship, a paid fellowship for K-12 math, science, and technology teachers. Einstein Fellows spend a school year in Washington, D.C. serving in a federal agency or on Capitol Hill.
The Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling is sponsoring an Ocean Science Art contest. Students can submit a drawing, painting, or other artwork featuring the JOIDES Resolution scientific expeditions ship and its work. Winning classrooms and schools will be visited by JOIDES Resolution crew and staff.
Electron microscopes used to be the size of a car and cost $1/2 million or more. Now, Hitachi has a table-top model that plugs into a standard wall outlet, sends the view to your laptop, costs about $60,000 and is very easy to use.
Earth Science Week begins on October 11 and you can get their October Newsletter at the www.earthsciweek.org website. It contains lots of ideas for Earth Science Week, teaching resources and more.
Want to see yourself and your students on the Earth Science Week website? Simply send photos from your Earth Science Week celebrations and activities (along with any necessary signed permission forms). Earth Science Week staff will post selected images on the Earth Science Week Photo Gallery. Get information here.
Next week is Earth Science Week. You still have time to visit their website for teaching ideas, see what’s happening or to download their free calendar of events.
A great collection of resources for “Teaching About Energy in Geoscience Courses: Current Research and Pedagogy” have been posted at the “On the Cutting Edge – Professional Development for Geoscience Faculty” website.
“NASA’s Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging spacecraft known as MESSENGER will fly by Mercury for the third and final time on Sept. 29. The spacecraft will pass less than 142 miles above the planet’s rocky surface for a final gravity assist that will enable it to enter Mercury’s orbit in 2011.” Quoted from the MESSENGER website.
“The Smithsonian is addressing the global challenge of climate change with special exhibitions and ongoing research. You will be able to participate in these investigations and deepen your understanding through the Smithsonian Online Education Conference: Climate Change. Throughout the days of September 29 through October 1, 2009, you’ll explore Smithsonian research and collections related to the evidence, impact, and response to climate change.” Quoted from The Smithsonian website.
One of the highlights of last year’s Earth Science Week celebration was “No Child Left Inside” Day, an event that engaged hundreds of students in outdoor learning activities and received coverage by news media from NBC to NPR. This year, you’re invited to take part!
You can view a copy of Earth Science Week Update which contains lots of information about Earth Science Week Programs such as….
* ‘No Child Left Inside’ Day Comes to Your School
* Field Notebook for Students Featured in 2009 Toolkit
* One Month Left to Enter Earth Science Week Contests
* How to Put Your Event on the Map – Online!
* Shine a Media Spotlight on Your Great Activities
* Online Climate Change Conference by Smithsonian
* NASA Offers Educators ‘Eyes on the Earth’
* Women in the Geosciences Day Coming in October
* PolarTREC Now Accepting Applications for 2010-2011
* You’re Invited: Geoscience Outreach and Dinner
PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) applications from teachers for the 2010 (Arctic) and 2010-2011 (Antarctic) field seasons are due on October 5, 2009. PolarTREC pairs K-12 teachers with researchers for polar research experiences. Teachers spend two to six weeks in the Arctic or Antarctic, working as part of the science team. All major expenses associated with teacher participation in PolarTREC field experiences are covered by the program, including transportation, food, lodging, and substitute teacher costs.
Here is a website where you can download and print an unlimited number of state maps for students. For all fifty US states there are county maps, cities maps and outline maps.
PBS has a new children’s series titled “Dinosaur Train”. The star of the show will be Buddy, an animated Tyrannosaurus rex. Paleontologist, Scott Sampson, research curator at the Utah Museum of Natural History will be featured in live-action segments within the show.
This interesting fact sheet has fossil photos, environment descriptions and paleogeographic maps for ten fossil sites in Utah spanning a time range of 500 million years. Featured fossils include trilobites, fish, plants, dinosaurs and ice age mammals.
Welcome! Every day you can find links to several earth science news topics right here.
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Hobart King
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