By: Jim Virkler; ©2010 There are few areas of human understanding where we can confidently say that our knowledge is complete. Determining historical timelines is one of those areas. We…
By: Jim Virkler; ©2010 The Midwest meteor, dubbed the Livingston (Wisconsin) meteor, which spectacularly illuminated the skies over a large portion of several states on April 14, 2010, is an…
By: Jim Virkler; ©2010 Last week my wife and I witnessed the spectacular demise of a space traveler. A large chunk of space rock weighing perhaps a half-ton, arrived at…
By: Jim Virkler; ©2010 Most people are curious and fascinated about their birth and details of their early life. We want to know how we came to be, the circumstances…
By: Jim Virkler; ©2009 How do we react to a flood? Of course, it would depend on which type of flood we are talking about. I refer again to the…
By: Jim Virkler; ©2009 “Grandpa, are those stars?” queried my 3 ½ year old granddaughter one late fall evening when I carried her out under the dark night sky of…
By: Jim Virkler; ©2009 Where were you at the moment humans first walked on the moon? The 40th anniversary of this event has given us an opportunity for recall. I…
By: Jim Virkler; ©2008 When I observe bright planet Jupiter beaming its beauty in Earth’s night skies, I’m reminded of the story told to my earth science students each October…
By: Jim Virkler; ©2008 A recent internet home page feature article gave detailed instructions on seeing the tiny planet Mercury during the coming days. Mercury makes very few good appearances…
By: Jim Virkler; ©2008 Science writers are fond of describing our planet with phrases like “Our Dynamic Earth.” Dynamic is a word used to convey force, power, and energy. Even…
