Current Science Postings: October - December 2007Join us as we dig beyond the headlines to explore the human side of natural science, and how it relates to your life. Current Science articles 2008 >> August-September 2007
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 | Dangerous underground? Coal Mining in Utah You may have seen the news headlines this summer: six coal miners and three rescue workers were killed when part of the Crandall Canyon Mine, in central Utah, collapsed. Across the US, around 30 of the more than 79,000 coal miners are killed in accidents at work each year. Posted Thursday, December 6, 2007 |
|  | Saving Sego Lilies It takes seven years for a sego lily to grow from a seed to a flower, but if something happens to its home, it can be gone in an instant. That’s why a team of staff has made it their job to save the lilies living at the site where the new Utah Museum of Natural History will be built. Posted Tuesday, November 27, 2007 |
|  | Still Life: BYU's Rhino and Museum Specimen Controversy What belongs in a museum? And how far should museums go to get those things? These are questions that Utahans have been asking themselves this week, as controversy rages over a rhinoceros on display at the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum at Brigham Young University in Provo. Posted Wednesday, November 21, 2007 |
|  | Uncovering Utah's Deep Sea Mysteries 500 million years ago, there were jellyfish living in western Utah. Hard to believe, isn't it? To start with, western Utah is terrible jellyfish habitat - there are no oceans for hundreds of miles! If you went there today, you'd have a hard time finding anything that swims at all, much less a deep-water, ocean-loving creature like a jellyfish. On top of that, 500 million years is a very long time - how do we know what was there? Posted Tuesday, November 13, 2007 |
|  | The Earth moves fast in Yellowstone Quick, look down! The ground is moving!
Can't feel anything? That's because the movement of the Earth's surface is usually pretty slow by human standards. North America, for example, is floating around the planet at about 2 centimeters per year, as fast as your fingernails grow. Posted November 9, 2007 |
|  | Fun Plant Tricks with Smell Have you ever been drawn in by a smell? The aroma of cookies fresh out of the oven, the fragrance of perfume, or the tantalizing scent of a flower? Smell can be a powerful motivator for all kinds of animals, from humans to lizards to insects. Posted October 31, 2007 |
|  | The Great Tarantula Rescue There's some creepy crawly stuff going on at the Museum these days! UMNH insect scientist (or entomologist) Christy Bills delivers this report from the field:
"Knowing there are tarantulas on the site where the new Utah Museum of Natural History facility will be built [starting next year], I thought it would be exciting and important to try to locate and rescue those tarantulas that would otherwise be displaced.
Posted October 26, 2007 |
|  | The West on Fire Have you heard about the wildfires blazing in southern California? A record 500,000 people have evacuated their homes in the San Diego area, and President Bush has declared the situation a major disaster.
Posted October 24, 2007 |
|  | Figuring out Fall Foliage If you happen to go outside this month, you might notice that the trees around town are doing something predictable, yet strange: they're changing colors! Leaves fade from brilliant green to red, orange, and yellow, then droop to brown as they litter the ground. This happens ever year, but why? Where do the colors come from?
Posted October 19, 2007 |
|  | "Knocking-out" Mice Genes: The Nobel Prize comes to Utah Have you heard of the Nobel Prize? It's one of the greatest honors a scientist can receive - an international prize awarded each year in five subjects, recognizing world-class achievements. This week, the selection committees are announcing the prizes for 2007, and a scientist from Utah has won!
Posted October 10, 2007 |
|  | Meeting the "Duck" of the Grand Staircase Eric Lund is the Paleontology Lab Manager here at the Utah Museum of Natural History. Today, there's hot news about a dinosaur he helped uncover. Here's what he remembers about the process:
"The hadrosaur skull was discovered in 2004, in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, by a group from the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology in California. Posted October 3, 2007 | | | |  | Solving The Mystery of Gryposaurus Terry Gates - better known as Bucky - is a paleontologist here at the Utah Museum of Natural History. Today, there's hot news about a dinosaur he named. Posted October 3, 2007 | | |
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