by admin | Feb 10, 2021 | News
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...
by admin | Feb 3, 2021 | News
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...
by admin | Jan 27, 2021 | News
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,...
by admin | Jan 20, 2021 | News
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...
by admin | Jan 19, 2021 | News
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...
by admin | Jan 19, 2021 | News
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...
by admin | Jan 19, 2021 | News
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...
by admin | Jan 19, 2021 | News
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...
by admin | Dec 16, 2020 | News
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...
by admin | Dec 9, 2020 | News
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...
by admin | Dec 2, 2020 | News
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...
by admin | Nov 25, 2020 | News
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...
by admin | Nov 19, 2020 | News
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,...
by admin | Nov 19, 2020 | News
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...
by admin | Nov 19, 2020 | News
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...
by admin | Oct 28, 2020 | News
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....
by admin | Oct 21, 2020 | News
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...
by admin | Oct 14, 2020 | News
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 admin | Oct 14, 2020 | News
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...
by admin | Oct 4, 2020 | News
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...
