Current Events

  • Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm
    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm rep...Read more

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    Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm

    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm repeatedly. Daily levels of CO2 can vary due to weather, and there are seasonal trends as well. The level of atmospheric greenhouse gases continues to increase, now over 120 ppm since the Industrial Revolution began. For more on the Keeling Curve, see http://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/. Find out more about greenhouse gases and warming.
  • Massive Tornado Outbreak on Tornado Alley
    The week of May 19 brings dozens of tornadoes to Tornado Alley in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Io...Read more

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    Massive Tornado Outbreak on Tornado Alley

    The week of May 19 brings dozens of tornadoes to Tornado Alley in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. On May 20th, a massive tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, devastating communities - destroying over 100 homes and hitting two elementary schools and a hospital - with many casualties and deaths. Our thoughts are with our friends and colleagues suffering from these storms. For more on the May 20th storms, see the NOAA Storm Prediction Center Storm Report.
  • 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.

Myths about Mercury

Here are two stories about Mercury, one of the gods in the Roman pantheon. Mercury was identified with the Greek god Hermes.
<a href="/mythology/Definitions_gods/Mercury_def.html&edu=high">Mercury</a> was the messenger-god of <a href="/mythology/Definitions_gods/Jupiter_def.html&edu=high">Jupiter</a>, and was the god of games, of business, and of story telling. Painting by Diego Velazquez (1570) entitled "Mercury and Argos."<p><small><em>Courtesy of the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain.</em></small></p>

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Explore Myths about Mercury

Roman: Mercury

Mercury was the god of eloquence, games of chance, commerce, and story telling, and was the ...Read more

Roman: Mercury and the Birth of Bacchus

Mercury was the prankster of the gods. And yet, in spite of his pranks, he won the affection ...Read more

Explore Myths about other nearby planets

Norse: Sif

Scandinavian story-tellers spoke little about goddesses, who were rarely the chief characters ...Read more

Roman: Venus

Venus was the goddess of love and beauty. To the perfection of her figure and the purity of ...Read more

Maya: Kukulcan

Maya astronomers had a remarkably accurate knowledge of the apparent motion of Venus. They ...Read more

Roman: Mars

Ares was the Greek god of war. He was identified with the Roman god, Mars. Ares was driven ...Read more

Hindu: Mangala

In Hindu mythology, the planet Mars is known as Mangala. Hindus believed in the existence ...Read more

Maya: Mars

Mayans were sophisticated observers of the sky. Mayans used their astronomical knowledge to ...Read more

Historical Events

5/30 7.5 magnitude quake hits Quetta, Pakistan in 1935
5/31 7.9 magnitude earthquake hits Peru in 1970
6/8 Giovanni Cassini, an Italian-French astronomer, was born on this date in 1625 Details

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Did you know that greenhouse gases are increasing rapidly in the Earth's atmosphere?

 

Earth and Space Science Concept of the Day

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Refraction
xRefraction : Refraction is the deflection, or bending, of the ray path of a seismic wave caused by its passage from one material to another having different elastic properties; or the bending of a tsunami wave front owing to variations in the water depth along a

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Research Highlights

Unprecedented Warming in East Africa's Lake Tanganyika

Lake Tanganyika, the second-oldest and second-deepest lake in the world, could be in for some rough waters. Geologists have determined that the East African rift lake has experienced unprecedented warming...Read more

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