Thursday, March 20, 2008

Budding Scientists

To monitor global warming, scientists often need advanced university degrees and plenty of math.

Second-graders Francisco Lopez and Ruby Nostrant just watch what climate change is doing to five plants in Tucson, Arizona.

They are volunteers with the National Phenology Network, which tracks early spring blooms believed to be caused by global warming. When Project BudBurst began last year, people in 26 states took part.

"All people can contribute to it by tracking the timing of flowering events or leaf-out events for plants in their backyard," said network director Jake Weltzin. He calls the volunteers "citizen-scientists." To become one, go to http://www.windows.ucar.edu/citizen_science and click on "budburst."

Japan has a new ambassador: Doraemon, a cartoon robot cat.

Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura made the time-traveling cat an "anime ambassador" to promote Japanese culture abroad.

Doraemon, who has fans throughout the world, said that "through my cartoons I hope to convey to people abroad what ordinary Japanese people think, our lifestyles and what kind of future we want to build."