New York Times article: Cambrian Creatures...

Creatures of Cambrian May Have Lived On

Read this article (see link is below) and look closely at the diagrams and photos included.

Due date: May 31


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/science/18fossil.html?ref=science

New York Times Article: Sand due 2/12/10

Read the article linked to below. Also be sure to view 2 additional items on this page (they are both shown on the left side of the page):

(1) Interactive map: The World, Grain by Grain

(2) Audio slide show: Shifting Sand

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/science/06prof.html?scp=1&sq=argus%20sand&st=cse

Due 2/12/10

Podcast assignment: Energy Resources - Due Feb 1st

The following assignment is due Monday Feb 1st.


As an introduction to energy resources, listen to this podcast that is downloadable for free from iTunes. Download directions:

go to iTunes, then to iTunes Store

You're looking for this podcast: "Earth and Environmental Science" by Christian Shorey, Colorado School of Mines

Search "Christian Shorey" or "Earth and Environmental Science"

you want to download "Lecture 38 - Energy Resources"

If you are unable to get a copy of this lecture on your own, see me before January 22 for a copy on CD.

There will be a quiz on this podcast. Here are some tips:

Your goal should be for a solid understanding of the general ideas and concepts presented in this lecture. I do not expect you to memorize specific details/facts/numbers!

I am most interested in students knowing the pros and cons of each energy resource and the overall point of the lecture.

Personal suggestions: I recommend finding the right situation for podcast listening. Any podcast can be hard to focus upon if there is too much stimuli in the background (TV, computer, texting etc). For me, my attention to lectures such as this is best when I'm actively doing something that involves little thinking, such as cleaning or doing the dishes or folding clothes. You have to find what works best for you. note: I commonly have to rewind a podcast when I realize that my mind has wondered or I have been distracted. You may need to do this as well.

Rock Practical is coming! N0 ESRT!

There are 3 new videos on Youtube to help you study. Go to Youtube channel: MisterGazda
There are 3 egg carton videos that walk you through a brief(ish) review of the rocks. The other intro videos may be helpful as well.

Also feel free to come to room 410 before homeroom or after school to utilize the egg cartons and other rocks to review.

Good luck.

video: Metamorphic Rocks Introduction

View both videos on metamorphic rocks.

Part 1:




Part 2:

video: Sedimentray rocks introduction

I recommend you follow this link to my actual youtube page (http://www.youtube.com/user/MisterGazda) and then watch full screen and in HD. Enjoy.

Video: Igneous Rocks intro

Video: TED conference - deep ocean organisms

HONORS HW: Alaska Glacial Rebound reading

Morgan DeBoer opened a nine-hole golf course, above, at the mouth of Glacier Bay in 1998 on land that did not exist when his family settled in the area 50 years ago.

Glaciers around Juneau are receding 30 feet or more each year.

Read the article below for Tuesday 5/26. It discusses an interesting - and perhaps surprising - consequence of global warming.



http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/science/earth/18juneau.html?_r=1&em

HONORS HW: watch this talk for Wed 4/8

The link below is to a talk given by physicist David Deutsch. It is titled What is our place in the cosmos? We aren't on this chapter yet, but we'll be getting to it soon.

Assignment: Watch the first 7 minutes of this talk. The way he presents the utterly HUGE scale of the universe is very cool.

Enjoy.


http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/david_deutsch_on_our_place_in_the_cosmos.html

reading: Montauk Lighthouse due Wed 3/4

For Wed 3/4 you need to read 2 articles: this one on the lighthouse in Montauk, NY and the article in the post below this one about the Grand Canyon.

Montauk Point Lighthouse on the tip of Long Island, NY - built 1796

map of the area - notice where it is located on Long Island

Montauk Lighthouse as viewed from the Atlantic

Montauk Lighthouse erosion:
New York Times
print date: Nov 21, 2006

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/21/science/earth/21comm.html?scp=3&sq=montaul%20lighthouse&st=cse

Grand Canyon controlled flood: due Wed 3/4

Read this article about controlled flooding of the Grand canyon by Wed 3/4. The link is below.

Glen Canyon Dam, Arizona

Glen Canyon Dam, Arizona

At the Glen Canyon Dam in Page, Ariz., water jetted into the Colorado River on Wednesday to benefit fish in the Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon controlled flood article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/us/06canyon.html?scp=2&sq=grand+canyon&st=nyt

Reading: Beach erosion Due Fri 2/27

From the New York Times: Wealthy Stake $25 Million in a War With the Sea

Read the article on beach erosion by Friday 2/27: Link to article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/us/08island.html?scp=7&sq=beach%20erosion&st=cse

Location of Nantucket. Notice the eastern tip of Long Island NY in the lower left portion of the map.

Lighthouse on Nantucket. Notice the steep bluff.

Erosion of the bluff on Nantucket.

Structures near the beach in Siasconset, Mass., are threatened by erosion, including this home in the process of being moved from the bluff’s edge.

HW: Ocean Floor article

GIANT KELP Macrocystis pyrifera, which is found along the Pacific Coast of North America.

HW: read the article at the link below and view the slide show "Underwater Discoveries" in the multimedia section (it's on the left margin of the article). I recommend viewing the slide show first - there are some pretty cool pictures there!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/science/earth/13ocea.html

Due: HONORS Wed 1/21

Blue and Green classes: Wed 1/21

Mr. Gazda's blog

Posting messages/assignments on both the red class and purple class blogs creates twice the work for me, so here's my "main" blog. I will link to the purple and red class blogs from here.

Caves: Giant gypsum crystals

Here are some of the mind-blowing photos of the huge gypsum (non-metallic, hardness of 2, cleavage) crystals. These are in a cave in Mexico. There was an article on this cave a few months ago in National Geographic and a TV documentary on is as well (called "Giant Crystal Cave" I think.