August Science Picks - School is Back in Session - Curriculum, Data, Maps and More!

[Jessica K Robertson <jrobertson@xxxxxxxx>]

USGS Office of Communications
Science Picks —Leads,
Feeds, and Story Seeds 
August 2006 Edition

For Release:  UPON
RECEIPT

It’s August and school is in session
 —  get the 411 — curriculum, data, maps and more…need
a story, tool or image to tantalize the most avid student or stimulate
the science buff. Science Picks provide the most current USGS science
news and information for both, the young and old alike. Science Picks
help you cover ongoing earth and natural science research, investigations
and technology. Photos and Web links are also provided to enhance your
story. If you would like to receive Science Picks via email, would
like to change the recipient or no longer want to receive it, please email
dmakle@xxxxxxxx.

August Highlights: 

·     Back-to-School:
 Gulf sturgeon Heading Out to Sea
·    After
Summer, Where Do The Loons Go?
·    Learning
about the Hazards in Your Back Yard?
·    September
Event Brings Lewis and Clark Activities to a Close
·    Find
Gee Whiz, Gee-ology in Your Backyard
·    An
 Earth-Shaking Experience
·    Homework
Happens — Find Answers Fast
·    En-Gaging
Your Water Resources
·    Have
it Your Way — Customize Mineral Data for Any Region
·    A
Whooping Success —  Major Milestone in Crane Recovery


and more …

LEADS:

Back-to-School: Gulf
sturgeon Heading Out to Sea: Like clock-work, each fall Gulf sturgeon
return to the Gulf of Mexico after a summer of spawning in the Suwannee
River some traveling from as far north as the southern Georgia headwaters
of the river. This summer, USGS and numerous volunteers are sampling the
river for this federally listed species to determine the health and status
of the Suwannee population. The population estimate work was first conducted
from 1995-1999. Sturgeon caught this summer are tagged, weighed, measured
and released. Each year some sturgeon are recaptured, and their information
is added to growing sturgeon life history database. For Gulf sturgeon FAQs
see http://cars.er.usgs.gov/Marine_Studies/Sturgeon_FAQs/sturgeon_faqs.html
Learn more about collecting on
the river through this fish tale at  
http://cars.er.usgs.gov/coastaleco/Suwannee_River/Fish_Tale/fish_tale.html
Find out more about Coastal Ecology
and Conservation Research at: http://cars.er.usgs.gov/coastaleco/index.html.
 

After Summer, Where Do The
Loons Go?  USGS scientists have been tracking common loons
( Gavia immer ) of the Midwest and northeast for the past eight
years to determine where and how these great birds migrate from their summer
haunts to wintering grounds. By using satellite telemetry to study their
movements on breeding lakes in Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire
and Maine, with just a click of a mouse, the curious can find movement
information about individual birds on their way south. To track birds and
learn answers to frequently asked questions about loons, go to http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/terrestrial/migratory_birds/loons/main.html
.
Also, check out the educational
tool,   "Science on the Fly!" 
(
http://www.scienceonthefly.org/
). The site has middle-school curriculum developed by the Adirondack Cooperative
Loon Program for the young and the young-at-heart. Learn about the scientific
process and aquatic ecosystems through common loons. For more information,
contact Kevin Kenow at (608)781-6278 or kkenow@xxxxxxxxx

Learning about the Hazards
in Your Back Yard? Every year, natural hazards that occur in the
United States result in hundreds of lives lost and billions of dollars
in disaster aid, disrupted commerce and destroyed public and private properties.
To educate the public, the USGS has launched a new Web site and seven easy-to-understand
fact sheets on earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanoes
and wildfires. The hazards Web site highlights resources and information
available from the USGS and provides links to individual hazards Web pages
for more detailed information. The Web site and fact sheets can be accessed
at http://www.usgs.gov/hazards .

September Event Brings Lewis
and Clark Activities to a Close — Who thought, more than 200 years
ago, a small expedition into unknown territory would greatly influence
the Nation's economy, navigation and commerce? President Thomas Jefferson.
Today USGS scientists carry on the pioneering natural science investigations
started during the Lewis and Clark expedition. In cooperation with more
than 20 other federal agencies, the USGS has participated in the Lewis
and Clark Corps of Discovery Bicentennial, a three-year commemorative event
that will culminate in St. Louis, during the last signature event of the
bicentennial, “Currents of Change,” Sept. 20-24,
(visit http://www.currentsofchange.org/).
The USGS will sponsor an exhibit booth, provide speakers for the "Tent
of Many Voices" traveling stage, and be represented as a participating
Federal agency in the formal closing ceremony. Among several special products
for the bicentennial, USGS has developed a web-based exhibit featuring
satellite images of key places along the Lewis and Clark route at http://edc.usgs.gov/LewisandClark/
. For more connections between Lewis and Clark and the USGS, see http://www.usgs.gov/features/lewisandclark.html
 or contact Jon Campbell at (703) 648-4180, joncampbell@xxxxxxxxx

FEEDS:  

Find Gee Whiz, Gee-ology in
Your Backyard:  Run out of ideas? Wish you could take more field
trips? You can! Your own schoolyard is filled with great geologic features!
Schoolyard Geology is a new educational Web site that   provides
lessons and activities for teachers and ambitious science students to conduct
a geologic field trip right in their own backyards. Lessons and activities
on the site include mapping your schoolyard using the USGS' The National
Map, locating and identifying rocks, and learning geologic features
such as glaciers, layers and sinkholes, all within your neighborhood schoolyard.
Find activities and examples of how to turn your schoolyard into a rich
geologic experience. To access the Web site, visit http://education.usgs.gov/schoolyard/
. For more information, contact
Matthew d'Alessio at 650-329-4829 or dalessio@xxxxxxxxx
Check out the website is filled
with activities and examples of what to look for to turn your schoolyard
into a rich geologic experience.

An Earth-Shaking Experience:
 Earthquakes pose a significant risk to 75 million Americans in 39
states. Need help explaining the science behind earthquake studies?  Two
educational tools developed in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of
the Earthquake of 1906, "Earthquake Science Explained,” http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/2006/21/
, highlights how scientists study earthquakes, what evidence they collect,
and what they have learned since the 1906 Earthquake. Another resource,
“The Teaching Box,” http://www.teachingboxes.com/ , contains earthquake
instructional materials complete with fully developed curriculum, teaching
points and easy-to-reproduce handouts. For more information, contact Matthew
d'Alessio at (650) 329-4829 or dalessio@xxxxxxxx
.

Homework Happens — Find Answers
Fast: Are you a reporter covering science education in need of a new
angle or a student looking for homework help or that next science fair
project?  Never fear, the USGS has thousands of Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQs) to help you out.  More than 2,000 FAQs are accessed each day,
and in less than three years, this service has provided more than 2 million
answers to an inquiring public. To stay up-to-date on the FAQs, sign up
for a RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed:  it's fast and automatic.
Browse, search for terms or just peruse what sounds interesting.  Find
the FAQs at http://www.usgs.gov/search/faq.html
or contact Steve Shivers at
(703-648-5422 or spshivers@xxxxxxxx
for more information.

En-Gaging Your Water Resources:
 Did you know the USGS water Web database,  http://water.usgs.gov/
, which contains historical and real-time data for streamflow is available
online, 24 hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week? USGS has a number of resources
to keep the public informed about water issues. For example, visitors can
view daily streamflow conditions at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/rt or
see “Water Science for Schools,” http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/ , the
site has easy-to-read and–understand information and includes water basics,
water-use, a picture gallery and an activity center. For more information,
contact Denver Makle at (703) 648-4732 or dmakle@xxxxxxxx
. 

Have it Your Way — Customize
Mineral Data for Any Region: The USGS Web site http://mrdata.usgs.gov
, a distribution point for many earth-science and mineral data sets, now
provides data in the KML format, like that used by the popular Google Earth,
a visualization tool which makes the data sets interactive with such features
as roads, hospitals, grocery stores, as well as point-to-point driving
directions. The USGS site allows users to combine mineral data with their
own chosen overlays to map any region of interest.  For more information
contact Peter Schweitzer at (703) 648-6533 or pschweitzer@xxxxxxxx.

The Life Cycle of a Mineral
Deposit:  “A Teacher’s Guide for Hands-On Mineral Education
Activities” is an instructor’s guide with 10 activity-based learning
exercises to educate students K-12 on basic geologic concepts. It meets
the National Science Content Standards and defines a mineral deposit and
the process of finding, identifying and extracting its resources. Students
will learn the use of mineral resources in every day lives. To download
a free teacher’s guide, visit http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/2005/17/
.  To purchase the CD-ROM,
please call  888-ASK-USGS.  For more information, contact Dave
Frank at (509) 368-3107 or dfrank@xxxxxxxx.

STORY SEEDS:

Remember the Manatee Mania
when Chessie was Rescued from the Chesapeake Bay in 1990s?  If
not, a West Indian manatee, which was sighted in various waters of the
northeastern United States in the last 5-6 weeks, may peak your interest.
Scientists have confirmed it’s not Chessie, but they are making note of
its journey; This is the northern-most manatee sighting ever recorded.
It’s traveled along the Hudson River, Cape Cod, Mass., and was last seen
in the waters around Warwick, Rhode Island. Learn more about the traveling
manatee — see the USGS press release at http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1542
 or contact Hannah
Hamilton at (352) 264-3509
or hhamilton@xxxxxxxxx

Who wants to be a hydrologist?
 Since 1889, the USGS has operated a nationwide streamgaging network
to collect data on the Nation's water resources. Behind the data are dedicated
USGS hydrologists — learn more about a day in the life of a water scientist.
This feature story provides photos and in-depth details describing storm
sample collection and real-time data collection from a streamgage. See:
 (
http://www.usgs.gov/homepage/science_features/water_scientist.asp
). For more information contact Denver Makle at (703) 648-4732 or dmakle@xxxxxxxxx


A Whooping Success— Major Milestone
in Crane Recovery: Remember that chick that was the mainstay of kindergarten
— the egg in the incubator. Well, the USGS has been working with its own
hatchlings. In 1937, there were fewer than 20 whooping cranes left in the
world. In 1967 USGS scientists began a breeding colony at Patuxent Wildlife
Research Center. The Whooping Crane reintroduction project hit a major
milestone when the first chicks from this colony of birds bred in captivity
(there are two) were hatched in the wild. Find out how scientists did it.
They hatched and reared the parents who now have off-spring of their own.
For more information, contact John French at (301) 497-5702 or jbfrench@xxxxxxxxx

Right-on-Time, a Resource for
Education:  You may not know the USGS provides scientific information
intended to educate the public, including the students, about natural resources,
natural hazards, geospatial data, and issues that affect quality of life.
In case you’ve missed it, discover selected online resources, including
lessons, data, maps and more that support teaching, learning, education
(K-12) and university-level inquiry and research. See http://education.usgs.gov/
. For more information on USGS educational tools and resources, contact
Bob Ridky at (703) 648-4713 or rridky@xxxxxxxx,
or Joseph Kerski at (303) 202-4315 or jjkerski@xxxxxxxxx