Globe Trotting
A National Park Service photo shows rocks that have moved across a dry lake bed in Death Valley National Park in California’s Mojave Desert. For years scientists have theorized about how the large rocks — some weighing hundreds of pounds — zigzag across Racetrack Playa, leaving long trails etched in the earth. Now two researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography have photographed these “sailing rocks” being blown by light winds across the former lake bed. Cousins Richard and James Norris say the movement is made possible when ice sheets that form after rare overnight rains melt in the rising sun, making the hard ground muddy and slick.
National Aquarium plans hands-on seashore exhibit
BALTIMORE » The National Aquarium says it’s adding an interactive exhibit where guests can explore the seashore without leaving the building in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.
When it opens next spring, the "Living Seashore" exhibit will include crashing waves, sandy beaches and encounters with more than 150 animals, including clearnose skates, horseshoe crabs and moon jellies.
CEO John Racanelli says the $5.5 million exhibit is part of a $10.5 million upgrade to the museum campus.
More folks in N.D. heading to new museum galleries
BISMARCK, N.D. » Two new galleries have opened in a $52 million expansion of North Dakota’s state museum, and officials say they could double visitor numbers as a result.
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A third gallery at the Heritage Center on the Capitol grounds in Bismarck is slated to open on Nov. 2, which is the 125th anniversary of North Dakota’s statehood.
The museum was closed in the fall of 2012 for the 97,000-square-foot expansion. The first two new galleries opened in late May, and visitation since then has surpassed 85,000 people. Before the expansion, the museum drew between 100,000 and 125,000 annually.
"We’re hoping to double it," State Historical Society Director Merle Paaverud told the Bismarck Tribune.
The first new gallery focuses on prehistoric North Dakota, with dinosaur casts highlighting the displays. The other open gallery takes visitors from a point 13,000 years ago up until modern settlement of the state. It includes myriad Native American artifacts.
The gallery still under construction will include exhibits on agricultural and technological advances.
"It will tell the story of North Dakota history from 1861 to present," he said.
