ENVIRONMENT Heavy storms in the fall spurred an explosion of growth in winter. (Nat Geo News) How can the desert bloom? Scroll through our encyclopedic entry to find out. Teachers, scroll down for a quick list of key resources in our Teachers’ Toolkit, including today’s photo gallery and a link to the perfectly timed March 12 Death Valley BioBlitz! Click through our photo gallery for … Continue reading Death Valley is Full of Life
SCIENCE Some scientists use GPS locations to keep track of wide-ranging sharks. Others attach GPS tags to observe the movements of reclusive snow leopards. And then there are the guys who use the technology to study the movements of rocks. Well, OK. (National Geographic Newswatch) Use our resources to see how these stones sail! Discussion Ideas Read through the National Geographic Newswatch article. How do 272-kilogram … Continue reading Rock On!
When I was little, one on my favorite pool games was playing ‘tea party’ under water. My friends and I would blow out all our air and sink to the bottom of the pool for a brief moment, bobbing cross-legged and pretending to sip tea at an imaginary table as our cheeks puffed out like blowfish.
I really wish I had a picture of me as a little kid playing underwater to better depict our tea parties. But since I don’t, here’s one of my friend Tom, taken when we went snorkeling in Malta, spring 2008. Not exactly sipping tea, but close enough.
Apparently, I’m not the only one who has a love of underwater assemblies. The Maldives government recently held a cabinet meeting underwater (no really, snorkels and all!) to promote awareness of climate change, in anticipation of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Sweden next month. This island nation off the coast of India is pretty tiny (it’s less than twice the size of Washington, DC), but it has been making news in recent years due to its geographic significance: It’s the flattest country in the world! This bit of trivia may not seem important, but folks are worried that rising sea levels could soon wipe the low-lying Maldives off the map for good. President Mohammed Nasheed wants the world to take notice, so he and his cabinet members donned SCUBA suits, set up tables, grabbed a camera crew, and submerged 20 feet–all in the name of mitigating global climate change. Crazy? Perhaps. Blog-inspiring? Definitely!
