ScienceMaster - September 2003 Newsletter

Back To School, Back To Work

It's almost an automatic reaction in September to talk about the end of summer and returning to school, our studies and our work. I think it has to do with finding beginnings and endings, to mark the passage of things. We may be wired into this type of thinking on a deeper level than one would think. I grew up in New England. The seasons are very pronounced. You can't mistake early spring or early autumn. Later, I moved to California where there are two seasons, a mild, rainy season and a long, warm season, almost an endless summer. After four or five years of living in California I began to notice that it too had four seasons, more subtle than in New England, but seasons just the same. On reflection, even Hawaii, where I visit once a year, has its own cycles of weather, its own seasons. Perhaps it has more to do with the hours of daylight, I don't know. It does provide some good markers for the beginning of one thing and the end of another. So, here we go again back to school, back to our studies with a fond farewell to summer.
Graphic courtesy USDA

Oops, We Spoke Too Soon
Last month I was commenting on the lack of West Nile virus infections. Looks like I spoke too soon. Colorado and some neighboring states are reporting more than a few cases now. Maybe my comments should have been on why the late start this season. To view the number of cases per state click [Here]

New Science Bookstore Open For Business
ScienceIQ.com has opened the virtual doors of its brand new science bookstore. Here you will find recommendations on books from ScienceIQ's science writers, and editors. Not sure what you are looking for? Just use the easy search option for a list of suggested reading. This is an easy and fun way to go shopping for books online. Take a stroll down the aisle today. Visit ScienceIQ.com's Science Bookstore --> http://www.scienceiq.com/bookstore/Index.cfm

Hubble's Eye on Mars

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope made observations of the planet Mars on August 26 and 27, when Earth and Mars were closer together than they have been in the last 60,000 years. As Hubble's high-resolution images of the Red Planet are received at the Space Telescope Science Institute and are digitally processed by the Mars observing team, they will be released to the public and news media via the Internet. [More]
Image and text courtesy NASA

"X-ray Champagne Flow" in Horseshoe Nebula
This new image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory reveals hot gas flowing away from massive young stars in the center of the Horseshoe Nebula (a.k.a. M17 or the Omega Nebula). Observations from infrared telescopes of the Horseshoe Nebula show a cloud of much cooler gas and dust shaped like a horseshoe that gives the nebula its name. The hot gas shown by the Chandra image fits inside the cool gas cloud, and appears to have formed the horseshoe shape by carving a cavity in the cool gas. [Full Story]
Image and text courtesy NASA

Good Reef that's a Lot of Larvae
USGS scientists have been studying the effects that sediment and ocean currents have on Hawaiian coral reefs and are now tracking the movement of "rice coral" larvae, one of the primary Hawaiian reef-building corals off the Maui coast. Scientists can predict when the coral will spawn, but do not know how and where the floating larvae are dispersed prior to their settling on hard sections of the seafloor. Results of the study will provide resource managers with information on how to best protect this unique and economically valuable Hawaiian coastal environment. [Full Story]
Image and text courtesy USGS

Science Challenge Questions and Answers
Want to brush up on your earth and planetary science for the new school year? May we suggest you visit this USGS web page, a collection of 196 questions and answers on such things as volcanoes, earthquakes, hydrology, biology, minerals and cartography. [Jump]

Healthy Forest Initiative
Our nation's forests and rangelands are at risk. An estimated 190 million acres of federal forests and rangelands in the United States, an area twice the size of California, face high risk of catastrophic fire. Decades of an accumulation of dense undergrowth and brush, along with drought conditions, insect infestation and disease and invasion by exotic species make forests and rangelands in many areas throughout the country vulnerable to environmentally destructive wildfires. This website, brought to you by the USDA Forest Service, provides in-depth information on the effort to save one of our national treasures - our forests. [HFI Home Page]
Image and text courtesy USDA

Teacher At Sea
The NOAA has a unique program for teachers called Teacher at Sea. "Now in its 12th year, the program has enabled more than 360 teachers to gain first-hand experience of science at sea. Teachers can enrich their classroom curricula with a depth of understanding made possible by living and working side-by-side, day and night, with those who contribute to the world's body of scientific knowledge." To learn more about this exciting program visit Teacher At Sea

Quote of The Month
"Cosmology has the ability to grab hold of us at a deep, visceral level because an understanding how things began feels - at least to some - like the closest we may ever come to understanding why they began." Brian Greene, Physicist, pg. 364 'The Elegant Universe'

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