EMS People do Cool Stuff!
Like staring into the mouth of a volcano: Amy Barnes melts glass in 1200 Celsius heat
Catching the Melting Bug
I’m dressed for the deep freeze of January in central Pennsylvania when I enter the glass-making lab. But Amy Barnes, a graduate student in the materials science department, has already fired up the "Rapid Temp Furnace" and it’s just a couple of ticks shy of 1200 degrees Celsius, our melting temperature for the day. Heat radiates from the furnace. I shed my winter layers quickly.
1200 degrees Celsius is as hot as lava—the kind that emerges deep from the Earth in places like Hawaii and Iceland to form glassy obsidian, porous scoria, and dense black basalt. Making glass is sort of like making volcanic rock:[MORE]
Helping to save the Bay: Sara Hillegas surveys for an on-farm waste management system
Saving the World, or at least her part of it
When Sara was in her first year as a student at Penn State's Altoona campus, she took a course that really made her stop and think. And she came to the conclusion that she didn't want to stay in her major any longer. Funny how things that sound good in theory don't work out very well in practice. [MORE]
Why do people live next to flooding rivers? Andrew Jones asks them, and lets us eavesdrop on the discussion.
Pennsylvania Floods and the People who get Flooded
Andrew Jones comments:
When I decided to investigate the reasons why people choose to locate their homes in flood hazard areas, I was not prepared for the multitude and complexity of the issues involved in this pressing dilemma. Cultural ties, societal customs, political aims, geographic location, and basic human emotions are all factors that have added fuel to the fire of this seemingly unending conflict between man and nature over the years.[MORE]
Five AM in the studio: Tom Foster puts together the Weather World forecast.
Morning Man
Tom Foster thinks he is a shy young man, but when you see him charging around on the raquetball court and the hockey rink, you begin to think you know better. And when you find out he taught scores of underclassmen every week as a teaching assistant for an introductory meteorology course, you know you know better. Tom came to Penn State to be a TV weather forecaster, and got to be one of a select few on-air student forecasters for Penn State Public Broadcasting's Weather World.
But with graduation just around the corner, he isn't planning on pursuing a career in broadcasting. [MORE]