Classroom Ideas, Current Event Connection, Main

11 Things We Learned This Week

What did you learn this week? Let us know in the comments or at education@ngs.org.

This week, we learned …

… a new strain of “super grass” could cut methane emissions from cattle.

Bovine belches account for about 14.5% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions—about 7.1 gigatonnes every year, according to the FAO. Photograph by Howell Walker, National Geographic
Bovine belches account for about 14.5% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions—about 7.1 gigatonnes every year, according to the FAO.
Photograph by Howell Walker, National Geographic

 

… the moon is a more violent place than we thought.

Earhart, a new crater of the moon, is just north of Serenitatis, the dark lunar mare (sea) at center left in this typically gorgeous NASA mosaic culled from Galileo images in 1992. Photograph by NASA/JPL/USGS
More than 200 lunar craters have formed in the past seven years.
Photograph by NASA/JPL/USGSPhotograph by NASA/JPL/USGS

 

… The Walking Dead can send students sprinting to class. (Warning: The video contains some violent images.)

 

… the two questions one of the world’s best musicians asks about everything. (Editor’s pick of the week!)

  • Try using Yo Yo Ma’s geographic perspective when you encounter something new: Who did this, and why?

 

… an Australian farm grows vegetables in the desert using only sunlight and seawater.

 

… what 50 years of volcanic eruptions looks like, and why the risk of the ‘big one’ in the Pacific Northwest increases every 14 months.

This is an amazing data display from the good folks at the Smithsonian’s endlessly resourceful Global Volcanism Program. Interactive map by Smithsonian Museum of Natural History—Global Volcanism Program
This is an amazing data display from the good folks at the Smithsonian’s endlessly resourceful Global Volcanism Program.
Interactive map by Smithsonian Museum of Natural History—Global Volcanism Program

 

… there is a self-repairing road in India.

 

… red-and-blue election maps can be misleading, and we have a better solution.

We, the purple: This terrific cartogram displays the popular vote in the 2008 presidential election, with each county rescaled in proportion to its population. Deeper blue represents a Democratic majority, brighter red represents a Republican majority. Barack Obama (blue) won the popular vote over John McCain (red). Map by M.E.J. Newman, courtesy Wikimedia. CC-BY-2.0
We, the purple: This terrific cartogram displays the popular vote in the 2008 presidential election, with each county rescaled in proportion to its population. Deeper blue represents a Democratic majority, brighter red represents a Republican majority. Barack Obama (blue) won the popular vote over John McCain (red).
Map by M.E.J. Newman, courtesy Wikimedia. CC-BY-2.0

 

… deadly pathogens were repeatedly dispatched by U.S. labs to unsecure sites.

The map depicts sites that received anthrax samples from the Defense Department’s Dugway Proving Ground in Utah that officials there incorrectly thought had been inactivated. Map by the Government Accountability Office
The map depicts sites that received anthrax samples from the Defense Department’s Dugway Proving Ground in Utah that officials there incorrectly thought had been inactivated.
Map by the Government Accountability Office

 

… what ghost stories reveal about America’s past.

 

… a cartographer admits the way geography is taught “bores even me.” He clearly has not watched this video!!!

2 thoughts on “11 Things We Learned This Week”

  1. Agriculture based on sunlight and sea water!! Really sounds good at least it will be a good use of sea water… And it’s a very good technic for those countries which suffer from drought.. Through this technology we can save fresh water, electricity, soil and it’s not even harmful to enviournment.. Good luck to those reachers who are working for it..

    Reply

  2. We can’t control human activities which are responsible for the harm to environment therefore we are trying on caws by creating a new easily disegtionable grass.. Let’s see to how much extant this is gonna be work…

    Reply

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