Get Outside and Play!

Get Outside and Play

Turn off the TV. Stop the video games. Forget the twittering bells and whistles, and get outside and play!

Have you heard that recently? It’s not a bad idea. Deep Run High School teacher Tee Clarkson knows why. He grew up learning to fish with his Dad and in the process gained a lifetime “love of the environment” -- a love that will outlast any indoor digital goody you can think of.

Nature: Superfish

Nature Superfish

They slice through the water’s surface with explosive power — sail, spear and half a ton of muscle flashing in the sun. Their journeys through the open ocean are epic, their life cycle, bizarre. They are the billfish — marlin, sailfish, spearfish and swordfish — largest and most highly prized of all gamefish.

What do “Science Pubs” do?

Science Pub RVA

Well, first “a scientist walks into a bar...,” but it's no joke because that scientist will inspire people just like you at Science Pub RVA events - discussions, maybe over a few brews - certainly among curious people, folks who'd like to know about “real” science–the kind that’s all around us all the time–stuff that will amaze you and where there’s no such thing as a dumb question.

Take a Ride on the Engineering Side

human-powered moonbuggy

Mountain bikes are great, but would one work on the face of the Moon? NASA engineers and VCU’s School of Engineering students know better. The Moon’s rock-and-roll face is not a mountain trail. Special engineering skills are needed to design and build a vehicle humans can ride across the moon’s alien environment. 

Salmon: Running the Gauntlet

salmon

Investigate the parallel stories of collapsing Pacific salmon populations and how biologists and engineers have become instruments in audacious experiments to replicate every stage of the fish’s life cycle in Nature “Salmon: Running the Gauntlet.”

NASA Langley Team to Track Rocket Launch from North Atlantic

Gyroscopic Tracking System

A team from NASA’s Langley Research Center will have its eyes, cameras and telescopes trained on the skies for the launch of the first commercial spaceflight carrying cargo to the International Space Station.

Bones of Turkana

The Leakey paleontological team uncovers a fossil in the Turkana Basin.

Bones of Turkana, the stunning new National Geographic Special, follows Richard Leake’s astonishing life and investigates four decades of exploration and discovery in Africa, alongside Meave and Louise, both paleontologists and National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence.

Robots Spark Dreams and Future Careers, Part II

Team Sparky 384

Congratulations to Team Sparky 384 from Henrico County, who joined teams from Martinsville, Va. and Raleigh, N.C. to become top winners in the 2012 FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Virginia Regional, a “varsity sport for the mind.”

With the purpose of inspiring future engineers and scientists, this year’s contest brought together 59 teams from Virginia, The Carolinas, Connecticut and Washington, DC to face off at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Stuart C. Siegel Center to compete in a two-day robotic basketball tournament. The top performers qualified to compete at the FIRST World Championship in St. Louis on April 25-28.

Join Richmond City School Students in Saving the Wood Thrush

Lucille M. Brown Middle School

What do you know about the Wood Thrush? Do you know this small bird has one of the most beautiful songs of any North American bird? Do you know how to imitate the Wood Thrush’s flute-like two note trill that sounds like a yodel? Do you know why the Wood Thrush is rapidly declining in numbers? Some very engaging students at Lucille M. Brown Middle School in the City of Richmond certainly do and they intend to involve us all in Saving the Wood Thrush.

Follow The 3 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

R3 Mascot

R3 reminds you to follow the 3 R’s--Reduce, Reuse and Recycle! R3 is Central Virginia Waste Management Authority’s (CVWMA) recycling mascot and CVWMA is Central Virginia’s Recycling Authority. Many communities throughout Virginia and the U.S. have recycling programs in place. But, recycling is just one part of the equation. Reducing, reusing and recycling go hand in hand to help us all improve our environment.