This week’s blog focuses on Earth Day, April 22. There is no news article accompanying today’s blog. Instead, we provide you with an assortment of resources related to Earth Day. Do you know how Earth Day started? You can find the answer to that question and more in The History of Earth Day by Gaylord […]

This week’s post focuses on the definition of species and its implications beyond science content knowledge—specifically, how the definition is related to species conservation and protection.
For example, the brown bear of the Iberian Peninsula is a different species compared with other European brown bears because it is geographically isolated, right? According to a press release, […]

Seed gene banks exist throughout the world. As you might guess, their purpose is to catalog, store, and protect as many varieties of plants as possible. These banks are useful to plant breeders trying to find crop species that are more drought or disease resistant, for example. They also provide a resource for countries in […]

No one wants to see pandas, polar bears, or penguins go extinct. Why have organizations like the World Wildlife Fund been so successful in garnering the general public’s support for their conservation efforts? Perhaps it is because we find these animals appealing on an affective level. In many people’s minds, they’re worth conserving for emotional […]

The American Association for the Advancement of Science news site, EurekAlert!, brings us this week’s topic. Increasing rates of extinctions have focused conservation biologists on finding the most effective means of preserving biodiversity. Releasing captive-bred animals is one. However, a review of 45 published studies of 17 different carnivores revealed the high mortality rates of […]

When are root hair cells not root hair cells? When they differentiate into skin cells! According to Growing Artificial Skin From Hair Roots, a recent article from ScienceDaily, researchers in Leipzig have perfected a technique in which they use a person’s root hair cells as a source of stem cells that can be cultured […]

ScienceDaily has brought us yet another interesting article related to the NSES Life Science Content Standard. My guess is that middle school teachers’ and students’ olfaction capabilities might be a bit superior to the general public’s, given my personal experience in teaching middle school! Nonetheless, scientists from Northwestern University’s School of Medicine report that imperceptible […]

Looking for another opportunity to integrate math and science? How two researchers applied game theory to explain the coevolution of microbes and humans and to predict some “pretty bad epidemics” in our biological future was the subject of a story in ScienceDaily, October 20, 2007. The original model by microbiologist Martin J. Blaser […]

“A total of 16 large fires are burning 1,010,720 acres throughout the country. The majority of the fire activity remains in the West.” This statement was part of the daily report on the National Interagency Fire Center home page on September 14. Does the number of acres seem shockingly high to you? Can you fathom […]

Looking for a timely and concise way to integrate the grades 5-8 National Science Education Standards into a study of the impact of acid rain? Read on!
Middle school students have probably heard of “acid rain” and know it to be a bad thing. They might even know it comes from nitrogen and sulfur compounds emitted […]