Paesta Podcasts

You Asked, We Answered! Listen to Dr. Chris Palma and student Kevin Toney from The Pennsylvania State University speak about the science behind Leap Day! Questions addressed in the podcast include: Why are we adding this extra day? We add this one day every four years - that should solve everything , right? There's a little error -  how do we solve it? How accurate is our current system? If you have any follow-up questions about this podcast, please contact the podcast author Chris Palma (cxp137@psu.edu (link sends e-mail)) https://www.paesta.org/podcast/paesta-podcast-series-episode-5-why-do-we-add-leap-day-every-four-years

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript for the podcast We all live in a watershed – think of it as your ecological address, and no matter where you are on land, any water that falls in that same location has a drainage destination determined by elevation and landforms. A watershed is an area of land where the surface water (including lakes, streams, reservoirs, and wetlands) and the underlying groundwater flows from a higher to lower elevation. Streams and rainfall within a watershed will typically drain to a common outlet, such as the outflow of a reservoir, mouth of a bay, or any point along a stream channel. The word watershed is sometimes used interchangeably with drainage basin or catchment. Watersheds come in all shapes and sizes, and larger watersheds contain many smaller watersheds. For example, the city of Philadelphia is part of the Delaware River Watershed. Its seven main subwatersheds are the Delaware Direct, Schuylkill, Pennypack, Tookany/Tacony-Frankford, Darby-Cobbs, Poquessing and Wissahickon.

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript for the podcast Many schools will have a rain gauge installed, where students can measure and record the amount of rain that falls each day. But scientists do not measure precipitation on the ground – they measure precipitation from space, using a combination of active and passive remote-sensing techniques, improving the spatial and temporal coverage of precipitation observations on a global scale.  You see, reliable ground-based precipitation measurements are difficult to obtain because most of the world is covered by water, and many countries do not have precise rain measuring equipment (such as rain gauges and radar). Precipitation is also difficult to measure because precipitation systems can be somewhat random and can evolve very rapidly. During a storm, precipitation amounts can vary greatly over a very small area and over a short time span. There are two important satellites to be familiar with when it comes to measuring precipitation from space. The first one was

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript for the podcast These career fields are front and center in pop culture, thanks to Hollywood blockbuster films, such as the Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones series. Unfortunately, popular culture can sometimes blur the boundaries and misrepresent these disciplines. This podcast explores the differences between the three fields of paleontology, anthropology, and archaeology. Paleontology is the field of science that uses fossils to study life throughout geologic time. Note that a fossil is defined as the remains of an organism, whether it be pieces of the actual body or traces of a once-living organism’s activity, that dates back to at least 10,000 years ago. Both animal and plant fossils are collected, observed, described, and classified. Paleontologists use fossils to learn more about what the Earth was like in the past and how environments changed over time. Fossils also help us learn about evolving diversity—when did a new species come about, and when did that other spe

You Asked, We Answered! Transcript for the podcast We know that atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide have been increasing because we have the data! The story of collecting CO2 data begins in 1958, when a geochemist from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Dr. Charles Keeling, started collecting measurements of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at an observatory located over 11,000 feet in elevation on the Mauna Loa volcano on the big island of Hawaii. These systematic measurements Dr. Keeling started have become the most widely recognized record of human impact on Earth, linking rising levels of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels to the warming of the planet. In fact, this carbon dioxide data set is so significant, the Mauna Loa Observatory was named a National Chemical Historic Landmark in 2015! Although the measurements started in Hawaii, the Mauna Loa Observatory is currently one of several global locations, from Alaska to the South Pole, that collects and analyzes CO2 levels in air sam

PAESTA President, Laura Guertin brings us her final installment in her PAESTA President's Podcasting Series.   Be sure to listen to her farewell message! https://www.paesta.org/podcast/paesta-president-podcast-june-2015

PAESTA President, Laura Guertin brings us her next installment in her PAESTA President's Podcasting Series.   Be sure to listen to hear Laura talk about National Teacher Day and Teacher Appreciation Week! https://www.paesta.org/podcast/paesta-president-podcast-may-2015

PAESTA President, Laura Guertin brings us her next installment in her PAESTA President's Podcasting Series.   Be sure to listen to hear Laura talk about Earth Day! https://www.paesta.org/podcast/paesta-president-podcast-april-2015

PAESTA President, Laura Guertin brings us her next installment in her PAESTA President's Podcasting Series.   Be sure to listen to hear Laura take us through some of the organizations that highlight women in STEM, in honor of Women's History Month. https://www.paesta.org/podcast/paesta-president-podcast-march-2015

PAESTA President, Laura Guertin brings us her next installment in her PAESTA President's Podcasting Series.   Be sure to listen to hear Laura take us through some of the resources linked on the PAESTA website that help us bring the current scientific news stories and discoveries to our students. https://www.paesta.org/podcast/paesta-president-podcast-february-2015

PAESTA President, Laura Guertin brings us her next installment in her PAESTA President's Podcasting Series.   Be sure to listen to hear Laura's ideas on New Year's Resolutions for teachers!  And please share yours below! https://www.paesta.org/podcast/paesta-president-podcast-january-2015

PAESTA President, Laura Guertin brings us her next installment in her PAESTA President's Podcasting Series.   Be sure to listen to hear Laura's excitement about the PAESTA Award for Teaching Excellence and the 30th PAESTAR! https://www.paesta.org/podcast/paesta-president-podcast-december-2014

PAESTA President, Laura Guertin brings us her next installment in her PAESTA President's Podcasting Series.   Be sure to listen to hear Laura's excitement about the PAESTA Award for Teaching Excellence and the 30th PAESTAR! https://www.paesta.org/podcast/paesta-president-podcast-november-2014

PAESTA President, Laura Guertin brings us her next installment in her PAESTA President's Podcasting Series.   Be sure to listen to hear Laura's excitement about the PAESTA Conference and Earth Science Week!   https://www.paesta.org/podcast/paesta-president-podcast-october-2014

PAESTA President, Laura Guertin brings us her next installment in her PAESTA President's Podcasting Series.   Be sure to listen to hear Laura's excitement about the PAESTA Conference - but first, she's out to sea for a hydrographic survey! See the Science Friday Classroom Strategy: Image of the Day: http://www.sciencefriday.com/educational-resources/classroom-strategy-image-of-the-day/ Check out Laura's NOAA Teacher at Sea blog: https://teacheratsea.wordpress.com/category/laura-guertin/) https://www.paesta.org/podcast/paesta-president-podcast-september-2014

PAESTA President, Laura Guertin brings us her second installment in her PAESTA President's Podcasting Series.   Be sure to listen to hear Laura challenge us to think summer, think fall, and think PAESTA Conference! https://www.paesta.org/podcast/paesta-president-podcast-august-2014

Our newest PAESTA President, Laura Guertin, has recorded a welcome podcast!  Be sure to listen to learn more about Laura and to hear some PAESTA news and announcements. https://www.paesta.org/podcast/welcome-podcast-new-paesta-president