Science
Yes, we have bananas!!!! And an amazing banana bread recipe
The scientific name for the genus of the bananas and plantains is Musa, which in many Romantic Languages such as Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian means “muse”. Isn’t it poetic? While there’s no evidence for a historical connection between the scientific nomenclature for bananas and these fruits’ inspirational nature, I would like to use the coincidence [...]
Deepwater Horizon: Choosing Our Risks
This is Part 3 of a 3 part series on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill by Joana Tavares-Reager, oceanographer and marine policy expert. As with all things we classify as disasters, it is sometimes hard to find the silver lining. The aim of the series is to discuss the broader impacts of the spill and [...]
Deepwater Horizon: A Dispersant Discussion
Part 2 of a 3 part series on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (part 1 here) by Joana Tavares-Reager, oceanographer and marine policy expert. As with all things we classify as disasters, it is sometimes hard to find the silver lining. The aim of the series is to discuss the broader impacts of the spill [...]
Trippy population predictors
A new series of Atlases created by scientists at the University of Sheffield rescale the world’s land masses according to population growth. The series of nearly 200 psychedelic maps make for some interesting reading. I wonder what those geographers are smokin’? Whatever it is, I think I want some. … The calculation involves some re-spacing [...]
Deepwater Horizon: The Worst Oil Spill in History
Part 1 of a 3 part series on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill by Joana Tavares-Reager, oceanographer and marine policy expert. As with all things we classify as disasters, it is sometimes hard to find the silver lining. The aim of the series is to discuss the broader impacts of the spill and make an [...]
Sherwood Rowland – a ‘Nobel’ man
It’s a hazy Thursday afternoon. I’m sitting in my car at the Physical Sciences parking lot, impatiently waiting for my husband. The campus is empty and quiet. At the bus stop, an undergrad listens to his iPod. From my window, I see another soul approaching but it is not my husband. This one, I can [...]
The real global water cycle
A new animated film from the Surfrider Foundation highlights the real version of the global water cycle — a little different from the one we all learned in middle school. The film is accessible and very well done, and would make a great teaching aid. It’s about 20 minutes and covers many hydrology basics. Topics include: [...]
Richard Alley: Earth’s Biggest Climate Control Knob
Maybe that title is a little misleading… This post is about a speech given by climate scientist Richard Alley. There is no evidence that Richard Alley himself has any influence on climate, nor would I ever refer to him as a “knob” of any sort. Penn State Cryosphere expert and Two-Mile Time Machine author Richard Alley gave the [...]
White roofs to fight global warming?
As part of our new “Journal Club” feature series, we’ll be highlighting a scientific journal article and explaining a major concept in Earth science. This week we start with a recent publication on white roofs by Oleson, et al., from Geophysical Research Letters:
Richard Feynman, NASA, and the genius of humor
The Obama administration recently announced that funding will be cut for NASA manned-space exploration projects, including a return trip to the moon in 2020. Instead, more funding will be directed towards NASA Earth-observation and monitoring missions, in hopes of better understanding our planet and its changing climate. Thinking back over the history of manned space [...]
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