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.

Do the planets in the solar system crash? Is it true that Pluto and Neptune have intersecting orbits and that at one point Neptune is the farthest planet from the sun?

All the planets in the solar system have individual orbits. The orbits don't intersect so none of the planets can crash. Pluto and Neptune are in a unique situation. They look like they might crash, but they really won't.

Right now, Pluto is the eighth planet from the Sun although it is usually the ninth. It moved closer to the Sun than Neptune in 1979 and will stay there until 1999. It looks like Pluto crossed Neptune's orbit, but it didn't.

Pluto's orbit around the sun is very elliptical, or egg-shaped. Neptune's orbit is more circular. Also, Pluto's orbit is tilted 17 degrees above Neptune's orbit. Because of the tilt, the narrow part of Pluto's orbit dips closer to the sun than Neptune.


Submitted by Ken (age 8, Ontario, Canada)
Submitted by Ryan (age 15, Nova Scotia, Canada)
(September 22, 1997)


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