Seymour Simon's Blog, page 72
August 11, 2010
"Fingerprinting" Great White Sharks
There's a fascinating story in today's Science News. An international team of scientists and a British University are building a new computer program that they believe will enable them to identify every great white shark on the planet. The University of Bristol is developing software that will automatically recognize and record individual dorsal fins of the most powerful predators that cruise the world's oceans - the individual fins of great white sharks are as identifiable as our human fing...
August 10, 2010
Rare Night for Sky Watching
This is an incredible week for sky watching - and you don't need a telescope! The annual Perseid Meteor shower is already beginning. Last night sky watchers were reporting seeing up to 10 meteors per hour. We found this photo on SpaceWeather.com, shot by Pete Glastonbury of Devizes, Wiltshire, UK, last night. This photograph shows a meteor whizzing past planet Jupiter. The big show, however, is happening on Thursday night, and it is going to be a beauty. The spectacular sights begin at sun...
August 9, 2010
Birthday Treats for All!
Today is Seymour Simon's birthday, and he is featured on the Happy Birthday Author blog. You must check it out for two reasons.#1 - They are doing a giveaway. Enter to win a personally autographed, advance copy of Seymour's upcoming Collins/Smithsonian book, Tropical Rainforests. Contest closes 8/15, and if you tweet the contest, you get three additional entries!#2 - There is an absolutely adorable photograph of Seymour on his fifth birthday.Happy Birthday, Seymour!!!
August 7, 2010
Dramatic Spacewalk in Progress
Image of Expedition 24 Flight Engineers Doug Wheelock (foreground) and Tracy Caldwell Dyson working on the International Space Station's S1 Truss during the first of two spacewalks to replace a failed ammonia pump module. Credit: NASA TV A pair of space station astronauts ventured out on an urgent spacewalk this morning to restore a crucial cooling system - one of the most challenging repairs ever attempted at the orbiting lab. According to NASA, Expedition 24 Flight Engineers Doug Wheelock...
August 5, 2010
Alana G. on Global Warming
Alana G. is ten years old, a great friend of Earth, and is working with us this summer to report on her activities as an environmentalist in her own community. Here is her most recent report.- Seymour Hello fellow Shipmates, I can't believe how fast this summer is flying by. I wish I could stop the clock or at least add more hours to my day because I have so much more crusading that I would like to do before the summer ends. But that's okay, I will just continue to parade up and down the s...
August 4, 2010
Hurricane Season Update
Take a look at this great satellite photo of the beginning of a hurricane. Tropical Storm Colin became the third named storm of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season yesterday morning as it strengthened from a tropical depression to a tropical storm. You can see that although the cloud formation hints at the spiral shape characteristic of hurricanes, it doesn't (yet) have a distinct eye. The photo comes from the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) at NASA's Earth Observatory. Photography buffs ...
