Circumhorizon Arcs Have you ever seen a cloud that looked like a rainbow? You might have seen a circumhorizon arc! Some people call circumhorizon arcs “Fire Clouds” but that name is very misleading because they have nothing to do with fire. The conditions have to be just right for circumhorizon arcs to appear. This optical …
The discovery This Sunday, the element Helium celebrates its 151st birthday! Well, sort of. On August 18th, 1868, French astronomer Pierre Jules César Janssen discovered the existence of Helium. He just didn’t know that’s what it was. Janssen was in Guntur, India to observe a total solar eclipse. During the eclipse, he noticed a bright …
Happy Book Lovers Day! To celebrate, we’re featuring some of our favorite science books for kids! Let us know in the comments what your favorite books are. Diary of a Time Traveler Written by David Long & Illustrated by Nicholas Stevenson In Diary of a Time Traveler, Augustus is given a magic diary that allows him to …
It is widely understood that crocodiles are not to be messed with! One glance at their sharp teeth is enough to send their prey running. However, they weren’t always so vicious. In fact, scientists recently discovered that some ancient crocodiles were herbivores! This means that they mainly ate plants. While these ancient crocs were still robust …
Starting this Sunday, July 28th, Discovery Channel will be hosting its annual Shark Week extravaganza. This yearly event was initially started to promote conservation efforts and to shed light on common misconceptions about sharks! Sink your teeth into some of our favorite shark facts! Basic Facts Shark babies are called pups. Great White Shark pups are …
Fall is upon us and so the seasons change. But can you explain why the seasons change? It is surprising how many people cannot accurately explain the reasons why our seasons change every year. In a famous short video Harvard graduates demonstrated how even very educated people often don’t understand basic science. When dozens of …
Did June 30th seem just a little longer than usual? Well, it actually was. It was exactly one second longer than a normal 24 hour day. If you were looking at the website for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) where the official time for the United States is kept on June 30 at around …
I think our Beautiful blue planet may have been mis-named. With over 70% of the Earth’s surface covered by water maybe we should have called it the planet “Ocean” (or Oceanus)? Either way it would probably have been more accurate. And as flat as the horizon may look in this picture of the Atlantic, these …
Did you know that there are over 1500 active volcanoes around the Earth? Many are located in the “Ring of Fire” surrounding the Pacific’s Rim. There are amazing pictures and videos of active volcanoes that you can see at VolcanoLive.com. The Villarica Volcano (Pucon, Chile) 3/2015 You can also see the connection between Earthquakes and Volcanoes …
On Friday, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake occurred in Nevada shaking buildings and roadways throughout Las Vegas. With another significant earthquake in the news this weekend, I thought I would add a further post about our shaking earth. It’s interesting to see where earthquakes strike each day. A great website that plots all the latest earthquakes …
