In light of Valentine’s day, we here at UNdertheC blog decided to put a science-y spin on the holiday and compile the Top 10 corniest science puns. We called on you the readers, our friends, neighbors, and colleagues, and, of course, Chemistry Cat for divine inspiration and came up with a pretty eye-roll inducing list. … Continue reading
It’s almost that time of year again: Valentine’s Day. And in honor of the somewhat controversial holiday (I mean, it really is just an excuse to buy lots of chocolates and flowers – not that I’m complaining, mind you), we’ve decided to try something a little different here at UNder the C blog. We’re asking … Continue reading
In answer to the question posed in this blog post’s title: Short answer – No. Long answer – A big, unequivocal, starchy, no. Take a quick romp around the internet, however, and you may be surprised to find that there are a myriad of sources that may say (either directly or indirectly) that our planet … Continue reading
As I assume many of you are aware, last week was a big week for those in the environmental sciences. And by that, I mean, something in our ‘field’ was front page news. I’m sure you all have heard it by now: “2014 is the hottest year on record“. Which is big news, but there … Continue reading
Maybe you’ve been on an airplane before, and the pilot comes on the intercom and says something to the effect of “Put on your seatbelts, I’ve lost complete control of this airplane. For the next few minutes it might feel like we’re literally just falling through the sky waiting to crash into the wheat fields … Continue reading
Earlier this week a colleague and I visited a Raleigh area middle school to present on marine science and science careers to a group of about 40 6-8 grade kids in an after school “science explorers” group. We brought a new hands-on activity with us that we had just written over the holiday break, which … Continue reading
On Thursday November 13th, 2014 the first annual SciREN Triangle workshop took place. This event was hosted by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh. SciREN (The Scientific Research and Education Network) is an outreach organization run entirely by graduate students. It has its roots in marine sciences and graduate students from Duke … Continue reading
If you don’t use phrases like heteroscedasticity, dynamic convection, or quantitative polymerase chain reaction in your everyday life, join the club. I don’t either. But words like these can make scientific articles seem abstract and inaccessible. Have no fear, dear readers, I am here to tell you that you too can enjoy the pleasure derived … Continue reading
Yesterday The European Space Agency (ESA) did something really awesome. They landed a probe on a moving comet. Let’s just think about that for a minute. ESA has been running the Rosetta mission for 13 years and it has traveled over 6 billion Km to reach its destination (Comet 67P). This is obviously much more … Continue reading
With the generation of energy at the top of everyone’s minds, it might be easy to forget how and where all that energy is stored and transported to the populations that need it. Even in a world bereft of renewable energy sources (I am not advocating this in any shape or form), energy storage can … Continue reading
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