College students clueless about carbon

Andy Henion-Michigan State — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:57:04 +0000

MICHIGAN STATE (US) — Many college students lack basic knowledge about the carbon cycle and other fundamental processes in the natural world, new research shows.

Researchers assessed the fundamental science knowledge of more than 500 students at 13 U.S. colleges in courses ranging from introductory biology to advanced ecology. Their report, published in the January issue of BioScience, calls for new ways of teaching—and learning—scientific principles such as the conservation of matter.

Sizing up Earth’s super-strong core

Robert Sanders-UC Berkeley — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 18:04:18 +0000

UC BERKELEY (US) — The magnetic field inside Earth’s core, 1,800 miles underground, is 50 times stronger than the magnetic field at the surface that makes compass needles align north-south.

While the number, 25 Gauss, is in the middle of the range geophysicists predict, it puts constraints on the identity of the heat sources in the core that keep the internal dynamo running to maintain this magnetic field.

Futurity.org » earth science

College students clueless about carbon

Sizing up Earth’s super-strong core