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.

Pick a Postcard - The Moon


This is an image of the moon taken by Star Tracker Camera B on Clementine orbit #110. It was taken on March 14, 1994. The moon is illuminated entirely by the Earth's shine.
Courtesy of NASA

This is a three-filter color image of the moon on December 9, 1990.
Courtesy of NASA

This is an image of Astronaut Edwin Aldrin.
Aris Multimedia Entertainment, Inc. 1994

This is an image of the Earthrise from the Moon.
Aris Multimedia Entertainment, Inc. 1994

In this photograph astronaut Jim Irwin prepares the lunar rover for use on the surface of the Moon. The Apollo 15 mission carried the rover to the Moon in July of 1971.
Aris Multimedia Entertainment, Inc. 1994

This is an image of astronaut Edwin Aldrin and the U.S. flag on the Apollo 11 mission .
Aris Multimedia Entertainment, Inc. 1994

This is an artist's concept of Apollo 11 Astronaut Neil Armstrong taking his first steps on the moon. The Earth is in the background .
Courtesy of NASA

In this photograph, an Apollo astronaut stands on the edge of the Plum Crater. Impact craters last a long time on the Moon. The lack of wind and water means that the Moon's surface does not change as quickly as the surface of the Earth.
Courtesy of NASA

This is an image of the far side of the moon.
Courtesy of NASA

This is a false-color mosaic of the Moon's northern hemisphere taken December 7, 1992 .
Courtesy of NASA

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