In the 19th century, the height of a learned experience might be taking part in a salon in the grand quarters of a beautiful manse. In our own time, it's much easier to take part in such erudite explorations. This online Phenomena salon is "a gathering of spirited science writers who take delight in the new, the strange, the beautiful and awe-inspiring details of our world." Hosted by National...

Many waterways are considered polluted due, at least in part, to excessive amounts of phosphorus. This topic-in-depth delves into the issues surrounding phosphorus in the environment. First, Larry G. Bundy at the University of Wisconsin - Madison provides a slide show about phosphorus's presence in soils (1). Students can discover the agronomic need for phosphorus, its effects on water quality and...

Housed at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Plant Conservation Alliance (PCA) is a consortium of ten federal government agencies and 150 non-federal cooperators (including nonprofit organizations, resources management consultants, soil scientists, biologists, botanists, concerned citizens, gardeners, etc.). Together, Plant Conservation Alliance cooperators work "to solve the problems of...

From the Canadian Cryospheric Information Network, in collaboration with numerous other research institutions, comes the Polar Data Catalogue, a collection of data and metadata related to polar research. These data collections may be of interest to scholars and students researching topics including geology, atmospheric science, and climate change. Visitors are invited to search this data...

Increase Lapham came west to Wisconsin via New York and Kentucky in 1836, and he soon established himself as one of the state's premier experts on the natural history of the Badger State. In fact, he was the state's first scientist, and by the time he died in 1875, he had created the first accurate maps of the state, made investigations into local effigy mounds, and provided his services in a host...

Sandy, Katrina, and Ida are common first names in the United States. However, due to recent events, readers may associate these names with something else: hurricanes. These dangerous weather phenomena hold the potential to destroy communities and livelihoods, and understanding hurricanes and how they form is vital to predicting and tracking these storms to ensure public safety. This teaching...

This website, provided by the University of Alaska and Geophysical Institute, explains the Puff-A Volcanic Ash Tracking Model project, which uses representative ash particles from volcanoes to study the advection and diffusion of ash within the atmosphere. After learning about the history of the project, visitors can find animations and images of the model's predictions for various volcanoes as...

The American Museum of Natural History, along with French and Canadian museums, have produced an exhibit about the two separate 1800 mile journeys of Norwegian Roald Amundsen and Brit Robert Falcon Scott to the South Pole. The web exhibit has many different multimedia features, including an "Interactive Map", along with "Other Interactives" that includes a picture of Captain Robert Scott's rather...

The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences presents its work in three main topics: environmental geochemistry and hydrology, geochemistry of the Earth's interior, and solid-earth geophysics. For each topic, the website offers summaries of the faculty's successes and current projects as well as links to the latest research news stories. Visitors can...

The Geological Society of America (GSA) offers lessons plans and additional resources covering virtually all topics in geology for K-12 students. The materials are divided into 12 topics, such as Environmental Science, Weather and Climate, and Plate Tectonics. Each of the topics has elementary, intermediate, and secondary lesson plans that offer details on the content, time required, materials...