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.
The Great World Wide Star Count is an international Citizen Science campaign. The purpose of this event is to encourage everyone to go outside, look skywards after dark, count the stars they see in certain constellations, and report what they see online. This Windows to the Universe Citizen Science Event is designed to encourage learning in astronomy! Have fun everyone!

Citizen Science

Citizen science projects involve the public in scientific research and data collection. Typically, people around the world observe phenomena from their own locale, send in data via the Internet, and then view the combined data from thousands of other "citizen scientists" making similar observations around the globe. Together, we can all learn more about our planet, and hopefully solve problems, too!

Our current citizen science campaign is the Great World Wide Star Count. In this campaign, which runs from October 5 through October 19, 2012, you will make observations of the magnitude of either the constellation Cygnus (for the northern hemisphere) or Sagittarius (for the southern hemisphere) using magnitude charts and report your observations online. We can then assemble all our observations and see the effect of light pollution on our ability to view the night sky.

Past Windows to the Universe Citizen Science Campaigns (no longer active): Measure Your World!

Last modified September 12, 2007 by Randy Russell.

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Citizen Science

Citizen science projects involve the public in scientific research and data collection. Typically, people around the world observe phenomena from their own locale, send in data via the Internet, and then...more

Shop Windows to the Universe

Hands On Mineral Identification helps you to identify over 14,500 minerals! By M. Darby Dyar, Ph.D. See our DVD collection.

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