Think bats are cool? Do they amaze you with their flying skills or remind you of the latest vampire movie?
Either way, you are in luck! On September 18, 2012, the U.S. Forest Service is co-sponsoring a live webcast from Bracken Cave near San Antonio, Texas, home of the world’s largest bat colony. The 20 million inhabitants of Bracken Cave consume some 250,000 pounds of insects each night.
As part of BatsLIVE! a free education program that provides bat information and research, children will get a chance to understand bats better. A teacher webinar on caves and karst is set for Oct. 11, 2012. The programs are free and teachers can register at www.batslive.pwnet.org.
The BatsLive! webinar will help students see millions of the Mexican free-tailed bats take flight from the cave. The webcast also will offer information on these and other bat species, predators that wait for the nightly emergence of the bats, and other threats to bats, including the deadly white-nose syndrome.
Dennis Krusac, a biologist with the Forest Service’s Threatened and Endangered Species program explains, “Bats are primary predators of night-flying insects, consuming enormous quantities of agricultural and forest pests and reducing the need for chemical pesticides.”
Curiosity has landed on Mars and we are getting images back from the landing site.
Looks like the tires have plenty of tread so now the interplanetary field trip can begin. What do you want to do first? Take more pictures? Buy postcards? I spotted these Mars as Art images taken by other vehicles (and from space) and thought you might like them too. 
This infrared image taken from the NASA Mars Odessey orbiter shows a large deposit of the mineral olivine/peridot (Magnesium iron silicate) in colored in magenta. One of olivine's properties is its ability to withstand high temperatures. Sounds perfect for Mars!
Ever wonder if you have the right stuff to become a scientist? You may be able to find out with these cool citizen science projects. For space lovers, SETI@home harnesses the computing power of millions participants to search for extraterrestrial life. Galaxy Zoo: Hubble enlists volunteer astronomers as classifiers of heavenly objects.
For budding naturalists, The Great Sunflower Project is for you. Citizen scientists take 15-minute counts of the number and types of bees visiting sunflowers and other plants in yards, gardens, schoolyards, and parks. The information submitted helps shed light on the health and numbers of ailing honey bee populations.
Are you a puzzle solver? Try Foldit. You may end up helping research teams at the University of Washington and Harvard University in developing pathogen capture proteins to seek out and remove circulating invaders such as Salmonella and Staphylococcus.
For even more space, climate, nature, and humanities citizen science projects check out Zooniverse. I'm headed there now!
Have you seen the Symphony of Science website? It is awesome! Science and music combine to offer scientific knowledge in a novel way via music clips and re-mixed scientists.
My favorite so far is We Are Star Dust. The tune is catchy. I'm humming it now. It's also a great tool for teachers to jazz up chemistry, biology and physics lessons.
In addition, the Symphony of Science project offers presentations on dinosaurs, Mars, space, reality, ancient/native peoples, and the environment among others.
