Paesta Podcasts

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript of the podcast Hello listeners, my name is Madison Stewart and I am an undergraduate student at Penn State Brandywine. Today I am here to answer the question “What causes drought?” This is a question that certainly has more than one answer. Typically, it is believed that drought is caused by lack of rainfall, which is partly true. However, there are actually different types of drought and each have different causes. [1,2] A meteorological drought is caused by lack of precipitation and moisture. This type of drought occurs when a specific region receives less rainfall than it normally does. For example, 20 inches of rainfall may be normal in some parts of Texas, but not in Washington State. Another way to think of a meteorological drought is in terms of degree and duration of dryness particular to a certain region. Winds and high temperatures are also influencers. Another type of drought is hydrological. A hydrological drought is when water levels are lower th

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript of the podcast Hi. My name is Amber Smith. I am 20 years old, and a junior at Penn State Brandywine.  Throughout this podcast, I will be explaining to you today about snowflakes and how they form into unique designs every winter. Sometimes we don’t take the time to stop and think about these things. Usually when we hear the word “snow” we think of numerous things. One being “will we have school?” or “Are the roads bad?” What if once in a while we stopped to think and ponder?  Imagine this. You are sitting in a coffee shop looking out of the window in late December. It is one of the coldest days of the year. As you are sipping that hot, refreshing cup of coffee you look outside at the window sill thinking deeply about how beautifully covered it is in white crystal snow. Today's podcast will reflect on something we don’t often think about. Do you ever think about how these snowflakes form? How they stick to these objects that make outside so beautiful when it s

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript of the podcast Lake effect snow, in some areas, can be the cause to why we get so much snow. These storms mainly take place during the months of November to February. [1] When lake effect snow happens, such as the areas closer to the Great Lakes such as Lake Erie, if the conditions are right, snow will form.  For lake effect snow to occur, colder air has to pass over the hot waters of the lake and when this happens, it causes evaporation to occur which brings up the now warmer wetter air which over time gets colder as it travels away from the lakes and becomes moisture. Depending on how cold the moisture gets, it can form into snow and cause a snowstorm at nearby areas such as happened in Buffalo, New York because of the neighboring Lake Erie. These storms can cause damages to power lines and close off streets. [1] Lake effect snow is most common with the Great Lakes here in the United States. At some point lake effect snow does not work because the water is

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript of the podcast Hello, and welcome to Episode 22, Is the Mississippi River Delta really sinking? My name is Joseph Opdenaker. In this podcast I would like to tell you about the Mississippi river delta, what troubles the delta and we as the people are facing, and finally we will find out if the delta is really sinking, and why if it really is sinking. First and foremost, [1] the Mississippi River Delta covers about 40% of the coastal wetlands in about 48 states, which most is in the state of the Louisiana. [1] Many people, and animals truly depend on this delta. Without this delta, the animals would start to die off, and they would end up becoming extinct. For the people, especially the ones that live in the city of New Orleans, they really depend on this for many reasons. The first reason is that there are animals there, that the people in the city of New Orleans hunt and fish. This is important for restaurants, and also for people who need to consume food. T

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript of the podcast Hello everyone, my name is Jenna Federle and today I will be answering the question, why is Earth called the water planet?  Now the Earth is a very watery place but the actual amount of water on, in and even above our planet is hard to come by.  Water covers about 75 percent of the Earths surface, in both liquid and frozen form.  From inside the planets crust to inside the cells of the human body.  Water exists in the air as water vapor and the ground to moisture the soil.  Water is everywhere.  [1] Ninety-six-point-five percent of Earth’s water is the ocean as salt water.  Three-point-five-percent of Earth’s water is fresh water.  The Earth’s freshwater are the lakes and frozen water that is held in glaciers and polar ice caps.  A majority of our freshwater comes from rain falling from the sky and moves into the oceans lakes and rivers.  Oceans are what produce about 70 percent of our oxygen.  It can absorb heat and send it other places around

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript of the podcast For many years, we have been fascinated by the possibility of life on other planets. So it was shocking when it came out that scientists have found planets similar to Earth. However, that's not as jaw dropping as when the announcement made by NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, that they may be water on Mars. A University of Arizona student, Lujendra Ojha, rather surprisingly made the discovery by noticing dark lines on photos of Mars, taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRise). After bringing them to her professor’s attention, they soon realized that the lines were caused by running water. [1] The HiRise experiment involved using a high resolution imaging camera to take pictures of 1% of the Martian surface on Mars for a two year period. [3] Alfred McEwen, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona, suggested that the lines are made by salt water because it is cable of staying in a liquid form

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript of the podcast Hello! I am Shane Freeman, I am a sophomore at Penn State Brandywine and I am here to answer the longing question, “is there such a thing as a river shark?” A lot of people do not know much about sharks, except that they are dangerous to humans and most people are afraid of them. Many people believe that sharks are only found in salt water, however, this is not always the case. There is one type of shark that lives not only in salt water, but can also live in fresh water. This type of shark is called the bull shark. The bull shark is related to the tiger and great white shark. Bull sharks are known to be very aggressive animals and are considered to be the most dangerous sharks in the world.  Bull sharks have thick bodies and are medium sized. These sharks are fast and capable of watching their prey quickly. They prey on almost anything that moves in the ocean or river. [4] So next time you’re in the water keep on the look out for bull sharks!

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript of the podcast Hello everyone, this is Jeff Steinmann. I am a sophomore at Penn State Brandywine. Today I am going to tell everyone about how the Chesapeake Bay was formed. The Chesapeake Bay was formed billions of years ago in Maryland. There are three different events that went into the forming of the Chesapeake Bay, which include: an asteroid hitting the earth, massive glacier forming, and the warming of Earth. Scientist are not sure if what hit the earth was a comet or an asteroid. Scientist are certain that the comet or asteroid, hit the earth about thirty five million years ago. [1] Scientist say that the asteroid or comet impact zone was off the Delmarva Peninsula. This peninsula connects Delaware, portions of Maryland, and portions of Virginia together. The comet or asteroid that formed the Chesapeake Bay formed a crater that is fifty five miles wide. [1] The crater formed the shape of the land for the Chesapeake Bay. There are two more events left t

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript of the podcast Hello, my name is Victoria Parsons, and I am here to tell you about the origin of water on Earth. There are many different theories as to where all of the water on Earth came from, and while there is still not a definite answer, researchers are getting closer to the truth every day. The theories as to where water on Earth came from [1] include planetary cooling, extra planetary sources, hydrate minerals, volcanic activity, water within the development of Earth, and the role organisms may have played. Understanding where Earth's water came from is important when trying to understand the formation of Earth millions of years ago. [2] The original theory surrounding the origin of Earth's water explains that the Earth was once considered to be a dry planet, meaning that water did not appear until millions of years later. However, after scientists began studying this more in depth, they changed the idea, saying that Earth was formed as a wet planet,

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript of the podcast You asked, we answered. What is the mpemba effect? Let’s first start out with who and how this discovery was made. Erasto Mpemba is the one who discovered the mpemba effect. Erasto is a Tanzanian high school student, that is famous for the Mpemba effect [3]. Mpemba’s observations confirmed some of history’s most revered thinkers, such as Aristotle, Rene Descartes and Francis Bacon, they all believed that hot water froze faster than cold water [2]. This was all observed through Erasto’s experiment that he discovered the Mpemba effect. Here is how Mpemba discovered this effect. It all started out with an experiment in his classroom. Most of the students in the room would create a mixture of ice cream. And one day a student arrived late to class and saw other students mixtures were already boiling. The students allowed their mixture to cool after it was boiling hot. After it had cooled down, they would all rush to the refrigerator for a space i

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript of the podcast Hey everyone, my name is Lathie Nichol, I’m a sophomore at Penn State Brandywine, and the purpose of this podcast is to talk to you today about hard water. As a human being you interact with water every day. If you don’t, well, you wouldn’t be alive to tell the tale. So needless to say, it’s pretty important to know almost all of the details about the water you drink every day. Have you ever washed your hands somewhere and felt like no matter how long you wash your hands it feels like you still have a layer of soap still on your hands? Or, have you ever done a load of dishes in your dishwasher and taken the dishes out when it’s done and noticed that there is this weird looking film or these white spots on them? This is all due to having hard water. Don’t be scared about it though, in almost every case, this won’t hurt anyone. So, what exactly is hard water? Hard water simply put, is having a lot of certain minerals in your water. Hard water tr

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript of the podcast Hello, my name is Matt Gallo and today I am going to talk to you about water pollution and how we can stop it. Over the years we have discovered many different impacts to the environment. We have seen things that have impacted the air, wildlife, and our topic today, water. Within the last year we have heard about polluted Water Michigan. CNN Eliot McLaughlin wrote about 5 main things that people may not know about the crises [1]. 1 was that they declared a state of emergency 2 was the issue know that it is in presidential debates. 3 was celebrates stepping in to help. 4 was the worry of the long term impacts And 5 was the blame game. The issue grew the first couple of weeks but has died down for a little bit. It is a tough situation for anyone involved. This issue brings up more than just the issue in Flint. This issue should open the eyes of everyone and help them realize how serious water pollution is. An article written on Washingt

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript of the podcast Hello!  It’s Payton Filippone here.  I am a student at Penn State Brandywine and today I will be talking about flooding.  I will be answering the question: “what causes floods?”  Flooding is an important topic to understand because it affects many communities around the world every year.  Let’s begin by learning what a flood really is.  The National Severe Storms Laboratory, or NSSL, says that a flood is “an overflowing of water onto land that is normally dry”. [1] National Geographic adds that flooding happens when normally dry land is “soaked” by an abundance of water. [2] Australian Government.com, which comes from Australia which is a country that has to deal with flooding just as much as the United States, says that flooding can be defined as “the covering of normally dry land by water that has escaped or been released from the natural confines of any lake, or any river, creek or other natural watercourse.” [3] Putting all of these defini

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript of the podcast Hello there, my name is Lori Ezzedine and I would like to talk to you about the California drought, but more specifically, why California battles drought conditions so often. In order to answer this question, there are a few areas and terms that need to be covered. First, what are droughts, groundwater and aquifers? Second, what is the significance of the drought in California and why should we care? And third, what is the history of California droughts? So, what is a drought? A drought is a long period of time that passes with abnormally low levels of rainfall or snowpack, which in turn causes a shortage of water. The current drought in California began in 2012. [1] One study found that the current California drought is the worst one in 1,200 years. [2] Another article stated that in 2014, California had an all time low at 5% of the historical average of snow pack accumulations. [2] A study from the same article found that there is a greater

You Asked, We Answered! Trascript of the podcast Have you ever wondered how your drinking water is purified? Some people believe that their drinking water comes straight from a pipe. To the contrary, majority of the population are misinformed about how their drinking water is purified and safe for everyday consumption. Across the globe, 2 out of 10 people do not have access to safe drinking water, and in the U.S., many states face water shortages and droughts [2]. The biggest realization to make in regards to our drinking water is that our drinking water is recycled. The U.S. spends billions of dollars treating waste water to drinking water because of it being recycled through systems to preserve our fresh water resource [2]. There has been a widespread concern that dangerous chemicals have contaminated more and more of the nation’s drinking water supply [3]. The purpose of this podcast is to inform people seeking knowledge as to how their drinking water is purified. Drinking water is purifie

You Asked, We Answered! Trascript of the podcast Hello my name is Amy Ryan and welcome to today’s PAESTA podcast in which we will be discussing what are shade balls and why did Los Angeles drop 96 million of them into their reservoir? Of course, we are all aware of the droughts California has been facing throughout its existence but in particular, throughout the past several years. These droughts of course are affecting California’s freshwater sources, putting the residents in danger with extremely low amounts of drinking water. This is why the government proposed the idea of shade balls. Shade balls by definition are small plastic spheres that float on top of a reservoir for environmental protection and to slow evaporation. On August 12, 2015, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power dropped 96 million shade balls into the Los Angeles Reservoir in order to prevent algae growth and reduce evaporation. [1,2] You may be wondering why the department waited until August of 2015 to dump these

You Asked, We Answered! Trascript of the podcast Imagine you are a child playing in the recess yard or an adult going to work. The weather is fine and everything seems normal. Then the next day temperatures drop and a blizzard hits your town and takes over 400 lives. This is what happened to the civilians living in March of 1888. The Great Blizzard of 1888 started on March 11 and ended on March 14. [1] To this day it’s one of the deadliest and snowiest storms recorded in the United States. Becky Oskin from Livescience.com ranks the Great Blizzard of 1888 amongst the worst blizzards in U.S. history. [2] Ranking at number ten, Oskin reports more than 400 deaths and 200 ships sank because of fierce winds. The Blizzard of 1888 was unusual because the temperatures ranged from mid 50s to 70s that week. This storm was unpredictable because there was not an outbreak of cold air across eastern United States and the center of the storm made a counterclockwise loop off the coast of southern New England. The low-pressu

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript for the podcast Hi, I’m Sadie and today we’re going to explore what caused the collapse of the Mayan Empire. The Mayans were a complex and fascinating civilization living around the Yucatan peninsula in Central America between the years 250 and 1100 CE. That particular region of Central America, parts of Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, experienced what are referred to as seasonal droughts. Seasonal droughts are periods throughout the year that experience little or no rainfall.  In months that did experience the rainfall, up to 90 percent of the year’s precipitation overall would occur in that time frame. [1] The Mayan empire developed methods of collecting and preserving the rain in giant reservoirs across the region that could store their fresh water. These reservoirs replenished naturally during the rainy season and sustained the Mayans through the seasonal drought. [1] One of the most fascinating aspects of the history of the Maya is their mysterious collapse just at thei

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript for the podcast Hello my name is James Clark and I am an undergraduate student at Penn State Brandywine. In this podcast, I will be answering the following questions that pertain to the Flint water crisis. Who is to blame? What caused the Flint water crisis? Was the Flint water crisis preventable? What are the lasting consequences? What are the political ramifications? Along with these questions, I will also answer some common questions that people are asking about the Flint water crisis. First, it is important to know about the history of Flint, Michigan. In 1819, Flint was a trading post that was opened by Jacob Smith. The Native Americans called the area “Pawanunking”, which means “River of Flint.” In the late 1800’s Flint became a prosperous fur-trading, lumber and agricultural settlement. In the 1900’s Flint moved from producing horse-drawn carriages to automobiles. Flint evolved into a prosperous automotive city. In the 1950’s, Flint had the largest General Motors m

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript for the podcast Hello and welcome to another Earth Science podcast on water. This is your host, Garrett Burris, and today I will be answering the common question, what is flash flooding? We all have either seen it on the news or witnessed it in person, streets turn to rivers, basements turn to swimming pools, and houses along with other personal belongings are underwater and destroyed. Floods are one of the most dangerous natural disasters known to man. About 150 people die in flood related causes each year. [1] Most of these floods are caused by flash floods which are defined as torrential down poor’s that accumulate over land that cannot absorb water quick enough leading to fast moving flood waters. Flash floods form within 6 hours of the start of an event and commonly have waters that can move at a steady rate of 9 feet per second. At this rate the water can easily sweep away a rock weighing over one hundred pounds. [2] City and suburban areas with more infrastructure a