Science Wednesdays
Join us every Wednesday for short, interesting and informative stories about a wide variety of subjects! These are meant to be educational and engaging for the general public and aimed at furthering everyone’s understanding and enjoyment of science and its methods.
Alphabet Soup – February 24, 2021
Back in January, I wrote about A-68a – the world’s largest iceberg – that was on a collision course with South Georgia Island, an island about 950 miles from the Antarctic Peninsula. The iceberg initially measured more than 2300 square miles (6000 square kilometers)!...
Frozen Texas – February 17, 2021
In this last week, parts of the US were hit with incredibly cold and deadly winter weather. Places where you typically see palm trees and cacti were covered in snow and ice instead. The state of Texas saw some of its coldest temperatures in more than 30 years, with...
Saharan Dust – February 10, 2021
It’s Science Wednesday! Back in June/July 2020, parts of the US and the Caribbean saw darker hazier skies due to large clouds of dust coming from the Sahara Desert in Africa. While the dust storm was a part of a regular meteorological phenomenon, the 2020 cloud of...
Dirty Snow – February 3, 2021
It’s Science Wednesday! Yesterday, Ricardo and I went up Colorado’s 5th highest mountain: La Plata Peak (14,336 ft./4370 m). The trail conditions were very challenging below treeline, as we had to break trail through very loose and unconsolidated dry snow with our...
Starlink Satellites – January 27, 2021
Lately there’s been a lot of activity in the realm of space. SpaceX has been launching Starlink satellites in an effort to develop low-latency high-speed broadband internet connection for the entire globe in the next few years. This effort began back in May 2019,...
The Science of Conspiracy – January 20, 2021
It's Science Wednesday. Today marks the start of a new administration in the US government. It also marks a much-needed shift to trusting in science again. Science is the best tool we have to combat the crises currently plaguing the US as well as the world: the...
Iceberg A68a – January 13, 2021
Though most of my work is currently focused in the Arctic – with emphasis on Alaska – this time last year I was preparing to go to Antarctica with Aurora Expeditions. I have been thinking back to wonderful memories of an amazing land and oceanscape full of vibrant...
Vitamin D – January 6, 2021
In 2020, our lives changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to science, multiple vaccines are out and showing good results (e.g., https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2034577). As it may be a while before the general population gets access, what can we do...
Geodes – December 30, 2020
It’s the last Science Wednesday of 2020 - wishing all our readers a very Happy New Year! Last week, my nieces received some geodes for Christmas and they are the inspiration for this week’s post! It’s been fun breaking the rocks open (safely!) together and seeing what...
Santa’s Reindeer – December 23, 2020
Did you know that reindeer and caribou are the only deer where both the male and female have antlers? Antlers grow each year from bony stubs on deer heads and are made of bone but covered by a furry skin called “velvet.” This skin is heavily concentrated in blood...
The Unicorn of the Sea – December 16, 2020
The Unicorn of the Sea - December 16, 2020 As the holidays approach, we’re focusing on the cold places of the planet – while harsh, these places are home to many incredible and resilient species. One that stands out for its uniqueness is the “unicorn of the...
Reaching a New Height – December 9, 2020
Reaching a New Height - December 9, 2020 Mt. Everest captures imaginations. Mountaineers come to scale the peak while trekkers come to marvel at the mountain from base camp (note: you can’t actually see much of Everest from the base camp but if you hike up...
An Ancient World – December 2, 2020
An Ancient World - December 2, 2020 A few weeks ago, we climbed Texas’ highpoint: Guadalupe Peak (8750 ft./2667 m). This is a very interesting state highpoint in that it is made up of the remains of creatures that inhabited an inland sea and built a reef in the...
The Carlsbad Caverns – November 24, 2020
The Carlsbad Caverns - November 24, 2020 A majority of the world’s limestone caves are created through carbonic acid in surface water flowing down through cracks in limestone rock, eroding and enlarging passageways. Carbonic acid is formed by rain and snowmelt...
Trinitite – November 18, 2020
Trinitite - November 18, 2020 Sharing a photo of a rather unusual “rock” seen at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History in Albuquerque, New Mexico. On July 16, 1945, the world’s first atomic device (“Gadget”) was tested at the Trinity Site, about...
Permian Reef – November 11, 2020
Permian Reef - November 11, 2020 Tomorrow we are headed to climb Texas’ high point: Guadalupe Peak at 8,751 feet/2,667 meters, located near the New Mexico border. This is a really unique area, as the top of Texas actually used to be underwater hundreds of...
Black Mesa – November 4, 2020
Black Mesa - November 4, 2020 It's Science Wednesday! Yesterday we did a sunset trail run on Black Mesa, Oklahoma's highest point at 4,973 ft. Black Mesa is actually a 3-5 million year old basaltic lava flow, originating from a vent that erupted in a volcanic...
Water on the Moon – October 28, 2020
Water on the Moon - October 28, 2020 In some more exciting space news, a team of scientists found evidence for widespread presence of water molecules on the Moon! This is exciting as lunar exploration continues – and lunar bases may soon become a reality. Water...
Asteroid Bennu – October 21, 2020
Asteroid Bennu - October 21, 2020 It’s an exciting time in the realm of space exploration! Yesterday, NASA made history as its spacecraft, the OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) performed a...
Kilimanjaro – October 14, 2020
Kilimanjaro - October 14, 2020 On Sunday afternoon, a fire suddenly erupted on the slopes of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa, with high winds contributing to its rapid growth and spread. Investigators recently discovered that it was started accidentally by...
Historic Hurricane Delta – October 7, 2020
Historic Hurricane Delta - October 7, 2020 The 2020 hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean has been a very active one, seeing 25 named storms (the average for a season is 12). And it’s still not over, as the season doesn’t officially end until November 30th....
Fire: The Climate Connection – September 30, 2020
Fire: The Climate Connection - September 30, 2020 As we’ve gathered more data and evidence these last few years on the global impacts of climate change, a new field has emerged: extreme-event attribution, which investigates if and to what extent climate change...
Conglomerates! – September 23, 2020
Conglomerates! - September 23, 2020 Yesterday Ricardo and I climbed Challenger Point (14,081 ft.), a 12.5 mile round-trip hike with 5400 vertical feet of gain. As a geologist, I always love to look at the rocks that we’re climbing and this peak was no...
Carbon Sequestration – September 16, 2020
Carbon Sequestration - September 16, 2020 Today we talk about carbon sequestration, the long-term natural or artificial storage of carbon dioxide or other forms of carbon from the atmosphere. There is a series of checks and balances that happen on the planet:...
Wild Weather – September 9, 2020
Wild Weather - September 9, 2020 It’s Science Wednesday! Here in Colorado, we went from record-setting heat near 100 degrees Fahrenheit with raging wildfires over the Labor Day weekend to freezing temperatures and snow showers Tuesday/Wednesday. What gives? Is...
Fall Colors – September 2, 2020
Fall Colors - September 2, 2020 It’s September and, in 3 weeks (on the 22nd), it officially will be fall here in the Northern Hemisphere. As the days shorten and temperatures get cooler, trees will begin preparing for the winter ahead, preserving their...
Hurricanes – August 26, 2020
Hurricanes - August 26, 2020 This time of year is normally known as peak hurricane season due to wind shear slowing down (this is when winds blow in different directions at different levels of the atmosphere), and less dust coming off of Africa. But scientists...
Vaccines – August 19, 2020
Vaccines - August 19, 2020 Given the ongoing pandemic and talk of effective vaccines coming in the next few months/early next year, we wanted to cover this important topic today for Science Wednesday. To start, what exactly is a vaccine? You can think of it as...
Sharks! – August 12, 2020
Sharks! - August 12, 2020 In honor of Shark Week, today’s Science Wednesday covers one of the largest living species of shark: Somniosus microcephalus, otherwise known as the Greenland shark. This shark is comparable in size to Great Whites: growing over 6...
Starting Kids Early – August 5, 2020
Starting Kids Early - August 5, 2020 Science is based on curiosity. Kids naturally explore and discover while playing: often they are inquisitive about everything, love to experiment, and in the process, learn more about the world around them. Research suggests...
Comet NEOWISE – July 22, 2020
Comet NEOWISE - July 22, 2020 If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere (and especially in the northern US) and haven’t had a chance yet to look up at the night sky, here’s your chance to see something really cool: a comet! Comet C/2020 F3 (otherwise known as...
Yellowstone Supervolcano – July 15, 2020
Yellowstone Supervolcano - July 15, 2020 While we were in Wyoming last week, we had a chance to spend some time at Yellowstone National Park. As a geologist, I am fascinated by the alien-looking terrain of active volcanic landscapes. Yellowstone is particularly...
Gannett Peak – July 8, 2020
Gannett Peak - July 8, 2020 It’s Science Wednesday! We’ve been busy the last few days on this end, getting packed and prepared to attempt a new peak for the Summits, Songs and Science project. Over the next week, we’ll be in the Wind River Range, climbing...
Dust Plumes – July 1, 2020
Dust Plumes - July 1, 2020 In the last week, the skies have been noticeably hazier across the Caribbean and the Gulf and East Coasts of the US. It’s not due to wildfires or increasing pollution from traffic. In fact, it is due to dust coming from 5,000 miles...
Very “Gneiss” Rock – June 24, 2020
Very "Gneiss" Rock - June 24, 2020 Last weekend, Ricardo and I ventured to the south of Colorado to climb Culebra Peak (14,047 ft.) and Red Mountain (13,908 ft.) for the Summits, Songs and Science project. Culebra is the southernmost 14er (peaks above 14,000...
Dexamethasone – June 17, 2020
Dexamethasone - June 17, 2020 In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, some good news is emerging. The steroid – dexamethasone – is part of the world’s biggest trial testing of existing treatments to see if they can work on the coronavirus. Thus far,...
Viral Persistence – June 10, 2020
Viral Persistence - June 10, 2020 We’ve all heard of the term persistence. But what does it mean in the context of a virus? With acute viral infections (think norovirus), people develop symptoms quickly and then fully recover within days. Other viruses (like...
One Species – June 3, 2020
One Species - June 3, 2020 We live in trying and challenging times. Over the last decade, there had been glimmers of hope that the US had become a post-racial society, free of prejudice and discrimination. However, recent tragic events reveal that race remains...
Return to Flight – May 27, 2020
Return to Flight - May 27, 2020 It’s Science Wednesday – and today is a historic day in spaceflight! For the first time in nearly a decade, US astronauts are launching from US soil again. Not only that, this is the first-ever manned launch for SpaceX in its...
Antidote to Conspiracy Theories? Critical Thinking – May 20, 2020
Critical Thinking - May 20, 2020 In many instances throughout history, conspiracy theories have cropped up and taken root. This time – the time of the COVID-19 pandemic – is no exception. In matters of life and death, as with this pandemic, people need facts...
Irrationality and Science – May 13, 2020
Irrationality and Science - May 13, 2020 “In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken," and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They...
Following the Science – May 6, 2020
Following the Science - May 6, 2020 For this Science Wednesday, we’re sharing 10 key facts on SARS-CoV2, the virus, and COVID-19, the disease it causes, as written by Dr. Alan Townsend*, PhD in biological sciences (Stanford University), provost of Colorado...
Corona and Climate – April 29, 2020
Corona and Climate - April 29, 2020 The COVID-19 pandemic has led to economies worldwide shutting down these last few months and stay-at-home orders going into place, clearing our cities and streets. Pollution levels in the air have dropped drastically, as...
Happy Earth Day! – April 22, 2020
Happy Earth Day! - April 22, 2020 Happy Earth Day! In honor of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, we are celebrating our planet this week! The COVID-19 pandemic is showing us just how fragile and beautiful life is and that we cannot take our health or the...
World Health Organization – April 15, 2020
World Health Organization - April 15, 2020 For today's Science Wednesday, we want to address the importance of the World Health Organization. The W.H.O. is a specialized agency of the United Nations, responsible for international public health. Its headquarters...
Air Pollution – April 8, 2020
Air Pollution - April 8, 2020 In today’s Science Wednesday, we’d like to discuss air pollution and COVID-19. A new study put out by researchers at Harvard called, “Exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 mortality in the United States”, investigates whether...
Kings of the (Polar) World – April 1, 2020
Kings of the (Polar) World - April 1, 2020 To brighten up your day, we’re going to talk about kings of the (polar) world - also known as penguins! Pictured are two species found in Antarctica: the emperor (largest) and king (second largest). While they look...
COVID-19 – March 25, 2020
COVID-19 - March 25, 2020 For this week's Science Wednesday, we'd like to direct your attention to the Center for Inquiry for information on the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. The link provided below contains a collection of the most relevant and useful...
Immune System Boost – March 18, 2020
Immune System Boost - March 18, 2020 It’s Science Wednesday! With all the talk about the coronavirus, this post is about boosting your immune system – namely in the form of exercise. If you still have the option to get outside and go for a walk, hike or bike...
Krill – March 11, 2020
Krill - March 11, 2020 It’s Science Wednesday! Today’s topic is pretty small – centimeters long in fact. We’re talking about krill, small crustaceans that form a crucial part of the food web in Antarctic waters. But the problem we’re talking about is big: krill...