From EARTH Magazine, 10/28/2015  --  In a Utah cave, paleontologists are exploring the fossil record preserved in owl pellets since the Pleistocene glaciation. The fossils in the pellets are giving the scientists a glimpse of how the ecosystems have changed over time both from natural variation and more recent changes brought on by human settlement. 

10/26/2015  --  IRIS does an excellent job collecting and preparing resources we can use in our classrooms on recent, significant earthquakes. Check out their PowerPoint, visualizations and animations on the magnitude 7.5 earthquake that occurred in the Hindu Kush mountains, in the sparsely populated province of Badakhshan, Afghanistan which borders Pakistan, Tajikistan and China. 

IRIS page: http://www.iris.edu/hq/retm/3779

From EARTH Magazine, 10/21/2015  --  What's the origin of the smartphone you're holding or the tablet from which you are reading this? They're made from minerals such as tin, tantalum and tungsten - minerals that aren't found in many places in the world. One place they are found in relative abundance is the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where these minerals have been fueling militias in an ongoing war for the last 25 years.

10/20/2015  --  IRIS does an excellent job collecting and preparing resources we can use in our classrooms on recent, significant earthquakes. Check out their PowerPoint, visualizations and animations on the major earthquake that struck near Vanuatu in the southwest Pacific Ocean early Friday morning (8:52 AM) local time 337 km (209 miles) west of Port-Vila, Efate, Vanuatu. 

IRIS page: http://www.iris.edu/hq/retm/3768

From Science Nation, 10/19/2015  --  Multidisciplinary collaboration key to developing new materials that can mimic the movement of living things

From EARTH Magazine, 10/13/2015  --  Typically, mountains get steeper with increasing altitude. However, during the Pleistocene, a geologic epoch with extensive glaciation, the tops of some mountains, like the Alps, were scoured away. This left mountains that were steeper at a lower elevation than they were at a higher elevation.

From Science Nation, 10/05/2015  --  Teens put science and math to work to become hydroponic farmers and successful green entrepreneurs

From EARTH Magazine, 09/30/2015  --  Water demand in communities nationwide is decreasing due to better efficiency and more effective conservation programs, but also due to demographic shifts that may require a rethink in the way that water usage is modeled. 

New software is providing data for emissions reduction in very specific areas, like your neighborhood. Listen to understand emissions at the local level and discuss how students can calculate their carbon footprint.

Access the audio file and lesson plans at the Listen Current website (you can register for a free account to access all teaching materials): https://listenwise.com/lessons/225-calculating-a-local-carbon-footprint

September 22, 2015  --  A new species that tells us something about humans origins was recently discovered deep inside a cave in South Africa. This discovery is a mystery in many ways. How did the bones get there? How old are the fossils? What is the significance of discovering them? The bones are so deep inside the cave they were almost inaccessible. The scientist who discovered them hired thin, non-claustrophobic scientists to descend a steep cliff and then climb through a 7-inch wide crack in a cave to collect over 1,000 bones.