- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
As firefighters begin to get the upper hand on the Southern California wildfires, the co-director of the UC Berkeley fire center had the opportunity to give Los Angeles Times readers a glimpse of research underway on this perennial threat.
Max Moritz and his colleague Alex Hall of UCLA are mapping Santa Ana wind corridors in Southern California. The Santa Anas blow when desert winds push down canyons over passes and low mountains, warming and gaining speed along the way, according to the Times article. Fires tend to rage along specific corridors. A corridor along the Santa Susanna Pass, for example,...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
United States Congressman Dennis Cardoza (D-Merced) will see 4-H's National Science Experiment first hand when he visits "Lights On Afterschool," a community event slated for Thursday evening in downtown Merced, according to UC Cooperative Extension 4-H advisor Richard Mahacek.
Lights On Afterschool (LOA) is a national public awareness effort to promote high quality out-of-school learning opportunities to children and youth. 4-H is a national partner.
In Merced, two blocks of Main Street will be closed from 6 to 8 p.m. for LOA displays and activities. The 4-H display includes its portable 4-H Science Center and the materials for the "National Science Experiment," which was conducted by children all...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Unfortunately, Santa Ana winds are as reliable a part of Southern California's autumn as colorful fall foliage is for New England. Santa Anas are strong, extremely dry offshore winds often associated with the warmest weather and fiercest fires in the southern part of the state; 2008 is no exception.
According to the Associated Press, powerful winds stoked three major wildfires this morning after destroying dozens of homes, forcing thousands to flee and killing two people.
An article in the
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Much has been made recently of the X Prize, a multi-million dollar award for specific inventions that benefit humanity. Currently, scientists are competing to build a commercially viable 100-mpg car and to land a moon rover that will send high-resolution photos back to earth.
Two hundred years ago, during the French Revolution, scientists were challenged in a similar way to invent a cheap and effective method of preserving large amounts of food. Canning was born. Preserving food by processing and sealing in an airtight container is a time-tested invention that has made safe, healthful food available to humanity year round - in commercially canned products and in the tradition of home canning.
The latter...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A light-hearted New York Times story related to the weighty subject of drought got its scientific spin from UC Davis groundwater hydrologist Thomas Harter. Reporter Jessie McKinley wrote a feature about California dowser Phil Stine. Dowsing, also known as water witching, is the ancient, mystical art of finding underground water using a Y-shaped stick.
Dowsers have been in demand recently as California struggles through its second year of drought, the story said. Harter told the reporter that there isn't scientific evidence that dowsers have any special talent...
