February 2012 Archives

Hy.dro.ther.mal adj. \ˌhī-drə-ˈthər-məl\ : of or relating to hot water --used especially of the formation of minerals by hot solutions rising from a cooling magma1.

Hydrothermal vents are peculiar geologic features found in many parts of the world: at the bottom of the ocean, near volcanic regions, even on celestial bodies in space. What they have in common is that they're all found in areas that are volcanically active, that is, in zones where there is magma close to the surface of the crust. Molten rock seeps up through fissures in the crust until it reaches near the surface layers. It heats up groundwater or cold oceanic water immediately contacting it, either turning the water into steam or superheating it (above 700 degrees Fahrenheit!) while infusing the water with minerals found in the magma.

The geysers at Yellowstone National Park, located in the U.S. states of Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, are a famous example of a hydrothermal vent system. In the ocean, regions around rift zones, such as the Mid-Atlantic ridge, faults, and subduction zones (where oceanic crust is pushed under another plate), are the most common places where hydrothermal vents are found.

Introducing the Speak Up For Geography (SUFG) Campus Challenge...

What is it?
SUFG is an easy and empowering way for GTU (Gamma Theta Upsilon) clubs and other college and university groups across the U.S. to voice their support for geographic education. Compete with other schools in a fun, low-[no] stakes challenge to see who can send the most letters to Congress!


You've heard us talk about the importance of advancing geography education before, and to that end, the need to ask Congress to support geo-ed with appropriate funding via the Teaching Geography is Fundamental Act (TGIF). For the last several years, K-12 and university educators, geography professionals, and many other generous friends have done their part to write letters to Congress. Now, we're challenging college students to carry the banner for this worthy cause.

National Geographic Education is joining with other like-minded organizations and youthful geo-enthusiasts to launch the Speak Up For Geography Campus Challenge at the Association of American Geographers (AAG) meeting in New York City...starting today (Friday 2/24/12)!

How can I SUFG?
If you're at the AAG conference this weekend, look for the folks in "SUFG" sweatshirts and stop by our booth to pick your very own campus organizing toolkit. You can also score some sweet swag (bumper stickers, postcards, etc.) for yourself and your friends back at school  

After AAG, and for those not able to attend the conference this weekend, take these simple steps to get involved (you guessed it, five). 

1. Like the Campus Challenge on facebook and google+.



A high school class full of creative minds. The picturesque Sonoran desert. Pop tunes. Drama. Action. Suspense. Snakes. Saguaros. You get all this and more in a video produced by the AmeriSchools College Prep Academy in Tucson, Arizona.

The video highlights the National Geographic BioBlitz held in Saguaro National Park last October 2011. The event, co-hosted by National Geographic and the National Park Service, brought more than 5,000 participants into the field--including students and scientists--for a 24-hour inventory of species in the park.

The count added more than 400 species to park lists, including 190 species of invertebrates and 205 species of fungi previously unknown to exist in Saguaro. The BioBlitz is all about recording and celebrating biodiversity, and the students do a great job capturing this spirit in their video.

Most commonly used to describe a vertical depth zone in the ocean that is found starting 3,962 meters (13,000 feet) below sea level. The abyssal zone lies underneath the bathypelagic zone (the "midnight" zone), which in turn is below the mesopelagic zone (the "twilight" zone).  The suffix pelagic describes a region that is not near the bottom nor near the shore or continental shelf, but rather in the open ocean.

The abyssal zone is completely devoid of light, so organisms cannot photosynthesize to sustain themselves. In the abyssal zone the mentality is eat or be eaten, and creatures there have developed special adaptations that enable them to navigate and find food in the inky depths such as bioluminescence and gaping mouths to capture prey. Since the temperature in the abyss hovers around 4 degrees Celsius, animals must be very cold tolerant as well as pressure tolerant to withstand the tremendous force of the water column pushing down around them. At a depth of 3000 meters, the pressure is 300 times greater than the atmosphere at sea level.

Deep sea submersibles: If you're going to explore the freezing, bone crushing depths of the sea, you might as well do it in style.
























The abyssopelagic zone is dark and pretty far down in the water column. 

Today I noticed a humorous map of the U.S. that highlighted the following of college football in every state, according to the institutions that had the greatest number of fans. I thought it was very clever and probably took a good amount of knowledge to draw up. For instance, in my home state of Virginia, the map shows a greater proportion of maroon (representing Virginia Tech) than blue (for the University of Virginia, VT's collegiate rival) which is very true. Then I got to thinking about what it was that controlled how this informal cartographer decided to assign the appropriate amounts of school colors all over the 49 states--the absence of Alaska is conspicuous. Whoever made this interesting patchwork quilt of alma maters and their loyal geographic fan bases must've had a fair amount of familiarity with college sports, and enough gusto to dare to omit many schools from the mix.

1) Here is the collegiate football "mini nations" map:

Beyond the world of NCAA sports, I remember seeing many maps created simply from a specific perception of the outside world, whether it was truthful (not usually), humorous, or meant as a way to spread awareness of an issue. Here are a few examples of other "mental maps" that I came across:

No, not literally surfing on a couch, but rather an alternative approach to lodging versus the traditional money-pit hotels that plague travelers on a budget. Couchsurfing entails contacting a host in a chosen destination and asking them to let you crash on their couch, futon, or bed for a short amount of time. There is no monetary exchange; all that is required is a willingness to be a good guest and a desire to meet new people. In return, you'll likely make some great friends and pick up unforgettable stories along the way. You can also host travelers on your own couch as a way to participate in the global network of couchsurfing hosts and travelers, all of whom connect through a central website akin to many popular social media sites.

    
For those who haven't had the pleasure of visiting National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C. for whatever reason, hopefully you will be convinced to come see the exciting presentations, films, dances, and even wine tastings that the "Live!" program coordinates. National Geographic Live! offers visitors, tourists, and employees with ways to interact with everyone who represents National Geographic in a global and educational context: from Explorers returning from the field, to exciting adventure film festivals, to photographers presenting their portfolios, to stories of sensational outdoor experiences. The events are varied and can easily make for a great class lesson opportunity or even an intellectually-stimulating night out with friends and family.
   
Last week I had the chance to volunteer to usher for the Banff Film Festival, here all the way from Alberta, Canada, where I got to watch some very innovative and exciting movies that focused on outdoor adventure and global issues awareness. For the general public, $20 offered you the chance to see 6 films in one night that only a few cities have had the chance to see so far. It was a truly inspiring event that was much an appeal to the visual and auditory senses as it moved the emotions.
   

For me it doesn't occur all that often, but I know of friends and family members who find themselves in unfamiliar parts of town more than once in a while and the feeling can be either mildly amusing, or very unsettling. An interesting presentation (1) at the TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) conference in California sheds light on the neurological explanation of what is known as spatial cognition, or an organized knowledge of objects including oneself in a given space (2). I'll save the biological jargon for the speaker in the video (Neil Burgess), but I found it interesting how he and other scientists were able to connect brain activity and the firing of neurons to specific spatial locations. If you're like me, however, you want to know what exactly that means as a practical application of geography, which is full of concepts like "positioning" and "spatial awareness."

When we're young, as early as infancy, we develop our own sense of spatial awareness. The act of crawling toward our caregivers includes observing the direction, distance, and location of them and how those factors change as we move. Of course, babies can't quantify the  distance covered or in which cardinal direction they might be crawling toward, but they do acquire basic environmental perception skills. These skills are not innate, but learned gradually throughout childhood as youth learn that certain stimuli require certain movements--such as catching a ball by surprise.

Teaching kids to become more responsive to their environment, as well as helping them learn to have a keen eye for their location in specific places, can be very beneficial during early development and throughout life. A delivery driver with a poor sense of spatial awareness would have trouble effectively navigating city routes with ease, for example, and would perhaps want to consider a career change. So how do we promote an increased sense of spatial awareness in children?

The easiest way to promote spatial awareness is to allow kids to explore their environment on their own (2), with appropriate supervision. Activities such as crawling and walking around obstacles and playgrounds will come naturally, but there are a few additional ways to encourage good spatial awareness in children (and others, for that matter):

Have you heard of the expression "Six Degrees of Separation?" It's a theory that echoes what you already know as a reader of National Geographic: we're all interconnected. It says that you and I are connected to every other person on earth through at most six other people.

This February, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is putting this theory to the test to change the world through its inaugural World Freerice Week, February 6-12.  Freerice is an online trivia game that turns your right answers into real grains of rice for the hungry. As the world's largest organization fighting hunger, WFP feeds over 90 million people worldwide every year. It's a pretty big task. Playing Freerice is one of the most powerful ways WFP's global community empowers them to rise to the challenge.

We all know about flashy new actors in film debuts, and about the sick beats released in your new favorite artist's debut album, but does being the new guy on the "blog" warrant any sort of fanfare? Blogging may not be quite as new as it once was, but there is always space for innovation and the educational opportunities of internet communities is growing every day. So do you think one can make a good virtual first impression? I'll let you be the judge.
  
Greetings My Wonderful World readers and all geography-savvy people across the globe! My name is Mickey Radoiu and I'm the new public outreach intern (aka the social media person) at National Geographic for the spring semester of 2012. This past week since I arrived in the city has been a whirlwind of orientations and building tours intermixed with calm moments in front of the computer and times when it seemed like morning commutes were going to be the least of my worries here. You see, I like to call myself a "hybrid country-urban guy" by virtue of having grown up in scenic Staunton, Virginia, but born to parents who hailed from San Diego and Detroit and enjoyed taking me and my siblings on frequent day trips to DC. I enjoyed growing up in the Shenandoah Valley of western Virginia just as much as I enjoyed fast-paced trips to cities like San Francisco and the District. I soon learned that actually living in the city is a whole different experience, without the comfort and convenience of rural life at home or readily-available dining hall food at school.

February is the month when we celebrate the rich history of the Black Diaspora and honor the brave men and women who have fought for the civil rights of African Americans.

National Geographic Education has just released a collection of resources to help educators teach this important topic to students of all backgrounds. Here are highlights from the collection comprising five ideas for classroom instruction.

Read inspiring profiles of prominent African Americans, from inventors of the 18th, 19th, and 20th Centuries to Mary Seacole, the black nurse/businesswoman/author/war heroine your students have probably never heard of.





Relive the drama of the Selma-to-Montgomery marches through an article and photo gallery documenting the 54-mile walk that led to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.