Current Events

  • Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education
    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of ...Read more

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    Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education

    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of sustainability. Here is a link to the one-page bill: http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2013_14/measures/documents/hb2366_00_0000.pdf. See report on Bloomberg News.
  • Earth's Center Is 1,000 Degrees Hotter Than Previously Thought, Synchrotron X-Ray Experiment Shows
    Scientists have determined the temperature near the Earth’s center to be 6000 degrees Celsius, 1000 ...Read more

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    Earth's Center Is 1,000 Degrees Hotter Than Previously Thought, Synchrotron X-Ray Experiment Shows

    Scientists have determined the temperature near the Earth’s center to be 6000 degrees Celsius, 1000 degrees hotter than in a previous experiment run 20 years ago. These measurements confirm geophysical models that the temperature difference between the solid core and the mantle above, must be at least 1500 degrees to explain why the Earth has a magnetic field. For more information about this study, see the press release from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility.
  • Ocean Volcanic Rocks Contain Samples of Recycled Crust
    Scientists have long believed that lava erupted from certain oceanic volcanoes contains materials fr...Read more

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    Ocean Volcanic Rocks Contain Samples of Recycled Crust

    Scientists have long believed that lava erupted from certain oceanic volcanoes contains materials from the early Earth’s crust. But decisive evidence for this phenomenon has proven elusive. New research from a team including Carnegie’s Erik Hauri demonstrates that oceanic volcanic rocks contain samples of recycled crust dating back to the Archean era 2.5 billion years ago. Their work is published in Nature. Oceanic crust sinks into the Earth’s mantle at so-called subduction zones, where two plates come together. Much of what happens to the crust during this journey is unknown. Model-dependent studies for how long subducted material can exist in the mantle are uncertain and evidence of very old crust returning to Earth’s surface via upwellings of magma has not been found until now. For more information about these results, see the press release from the Carnegie Institution.

Hank Thoenes

Hank Thoenes is a science teacher at Boulan Park Middle School in Troy, Michigan. Over the past ten years, Hank has taught science in grades six through eight. In addition to his teaching, Hank has been involved with science teacher organizations at the local, state and national level. As a member of the National Science Teachers Association, Hank has served on the Advisory Board for the middle level publication Science Scope and is currently a member of NSTA's Middle Level Committee. Locally Hank has served in various positions on the Executive Board of the Metropolitan Detroit Science Teachers Association including a term as the President. At the state level, Hank has served on the Science Assessment Coordinating Committee, Proficiencey Test Item Writing Team, Eisenhower Grant Review Board and the Michigan Statewide Systemic Initiative--Teacher Education Reform Group.

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Emily Lenhart

Emily Lenhart currently holds two half-time positions at the University of Michigan; one as the Acting Executive Director for the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ELISE), and...more

Hank Thoenes

Hank Thoenes is a science teacher at Boulan Park Middle School in Troy, Michigan. Over the past ten years, Hank has taught science in grades six through eight. In addition to his teaching, Hank has been...more

Janet Kozyra

Janet Kozyra has been active in space plasma physics and aeronomy concentrating on processes that couple the atmosphere and ionosphe with near-Earth space. She has extensive experience in data analysis...more

John Bravender

John Bravender (bravende@engin.umich.edu) is a student in the Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences department at the University of Michigan. His emphasis in the department is meteorology. More specifically,...more

Jon Linker

Dr. Jon A. Linker is a research scientist in the Applied Physics Operation of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in San Diego. He is an expert in the development and application of large-scale...more

Michael Burek

Hello! I am an Engineer that specializes in designing and building measurement systems for scientific research. On the Windows to the Universe Project I am responsible for the technical portions of the...more

Michelle McDonough

Michelle has recently joined the Windows to the Universe team as a Senior at the University of Michigan School of Art & Design. She spent last semester studying fine arts at the Lorenzo di'Medici Institute...more

Paul Orselli

Mr. Paul Orselli is the President of POW! - a museum and educational consulting company he founded. He received his B.S. in Anthropology and Zoology at the University of Michigan in 1982 and his M.A.T....more

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Young Voices for the Planet DVD in our online store includes 8 films where students speak out and take action on climate change.

Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part by the National Science Foundation and NASA, our Founding Partners (the American Geophysical Union and American Geosciences Institute) as well as through Institutional, Contributing, and Affiliate Partners, individual memberships and generous donors. Thank you for your support! NASA AGU AGI NSF