Crossing Boundaries

"First World Problems read by Third World People" is by the non-profit "Water is Life" to ironically focus on the REALLY-CRITICAL issue of clean water. They enlisted Haitian children and adults to read the everyday gripes and minor irritations that first world citizens post on Twitter."

Relates the flamingo populations that Marita Davison worked with in Bolivia to mining of lithium for batteries.

This animated special report by NSF profiles how scientists are using technology to track wildlife ranging from zebras to dragonflies.

A quiz of weird animal sounds assembled by Wired Magazine using recordings from Cornell's Macaulay Library

The Club-winged Manakin is a bird that makes an odd foghorn call using its wings rather than vocal chords. Through 13 short videos, this site explores how these wings "work," how they evolved, and how this was discovered by Cornell scientist Kim Bostwick.

"The birds-of-paradise are among the most beautiful creatures on earth-and an extraordinary example of evolutionary adaptation. On this site you can find what few have witnessed in the wild: the displays of color, sound, and motion that make these birds so remarkable. Then you can delve deeper, examining the principles that guided their evolution and the epic adventure it took to bring you all 39 species."

When the sun goes down, dung beetles rely on a galactic source--light from the Milky Way--to navigate, according to a recent report in Current Biology. Study co-author Eric Warrant, of Lund University in Sweden, explains how dung beetles see the starry night sky.

Includes a map showing that nearly half of all US shale gas and oil wells are being developed in regions with high to extremely high water stress.

"How can we, as educators, give our students the opportunity to publish their work to a worldwide audience while staying within the limits of copyright law?"

2 animated images showing one year of seasonal transformations on Earth, created by stitching together 12 cloud-free satellite imagery mosaics of Earth (NASA's "Blue Marble Next Generation") for each month.

"Empower your students to collaborate and learn from each other within MixedInk's fun, social, environment. Write, edit & remix: Assign students a text to write together. Then they'll create their own versions,edit their peers' work, and weave different versions together into new ones. Comment & evaluate: Students comment on their classmates' submissions and rate different versions to identify the best written, most popular language and ideas. Discuss the top version as a class: Explore the strengths and weaknesses of the class's favorite texts together."

Enter your zipcode and download a "Pollinator Guide" with information about native plants specific to your ecoregion.

"Andrew Farnsworth, the project leader of BirdCast, discusses new methods to aggregate data from birders with the help of modern technology."

"The soils in tundra, grasslands, tropical forests are very different, but they have one thing in common; they all host an astounding diversity of life. Inhabiting these underground worlds are millions of species, which play vital roles in maintaining soil health and preserving the balance of their ecosystems. A new study shows that biodiversity underground is much greater than previously thought, with a direct relationship to life on the surface. "

NY Times article about modeling bird migration using eBird citizen science data along with habitat variables

"Let kids discover things on their own. Let them solve problems. One way to do this is ask questions about maps. But not just regular, turn to page 47 in your geography textbook kind of maps. But, you know, cool maps. So here ya go. A world map using only the locations of the world's runways, helicopter pads and airports." What questions can you ask? How about: Where are the developing countries? How do you know? Does location make a difference in who has access to knowledge? Does this matter? How does access to electricity impact how people live?

"Streamer is an online map service that lets anyone trace downstream along America's major rivers and streams simply by picking a point on a stream. Streamer will map the route the stream follows. You can also trace upstream using Streamer. Imagine that you're standing along the Mississippi River in New Orleans. You're wondering not only where the river began but also which other streams drained into the Mississippi River before it made its way to your location. With Streamer you can also: locate your area of interest by specifying stream or place names; by entering latitude and longitude coordinates, enter the identification number for a U.S. Geological Survey streamflow gaging station, find out the names of streams and waterbodies by clicking on them, print maps of your downstream and upstream traces, create concise or detailed reports for your upstream and downstream traces, learn about current or historic streamflow at thousands of locations along America's streams, and find out about the places your stream trace passes through with just a few mouse clicks. "

Streamer is a new way to visualize and understand water flow across America. With Streamer you can explore our Nation's major streams by tracing upstream to their source or downstream to where they empty. In addition to making maps, Streamer creates reports about your stream traces and the places they pass through.

" Richard Turere, a 13 year-old from Kenya, has been making waves at the TED conference with his innovative invention - a LED system that prevents lions from killing livestock (and also humans). Richard, whose family lives within the Nairobi National Park boundaries and raises livestock, had always seen lions as a threat to their livelihood."

"Tour Builder is a cool web tool that allows users to create narrative stories using text, graphics, pictures, videos and Google Maps.Tour Builder lets you pick the locations right on the map, add in photos, text, and video, and then share your creation. "