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 […]

An oxymoron? Perhaps, but 500 million years ago, such a creature roamed the vast seas. That was before the dinosaurs and concurrent with the Cambrian explosion. Scientists who put the fossil parts together described the giant shrimp this way:

. . . this underwater predator had a segmented body, a pair of claws and a circular […]

If your classroom experiences are at all like some of mine, then you know the frustration of having students who either cannot or will not consider the relationship between their book knowledge and its applications in society. I provide what I consider to be scaffolded reading/thinking/discussion opportunities around current science issues connected to concepts learned […]

In his book Hot, Flat, and Crowded, Thomas Friedman challenges policymakers to assume strong leadership and create policies that will change cultures from ones of excessive, thoughtless waste to ones of thoughtful, integrated efficiency with a long-term vision of a sustainable planet. He presents numerous scenarios in which the alternative approach is not only in […]

I recently read The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. One of the issues Pollan calls readers’ attention to is the meaning of “organic.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture appears to have a clear sense of what it means to be organic. See their web page on which 12 links to organic farming-related documents appear. Most […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]