The students are definitely getting up to speed on these short writing assignments. Its amazing how their writing improves over such a short period of time if they know they’re going to be graded on it 
The stories chosen:
- ESA satellite finds more evidence of paleo-oceans on Mars
- data from the GRACE satellite indicates ice levels in the Arctic decreased between 2003 & 2010 on an average of 1.48 mm/yr (I like that they made it easy to visualize by saying that would cover the US in 18 inches of water)
- the satellite IBEX reveals a higher oxygen ratio inside our solar system then outside of it (article calls the satellite IBMX & IBEX seemingly interchangeably unfortunately–a quick Google search indicated IBEX is the correct one)
- ESA successfully launched the first Vega satellite (commercially produced) and carried nine satellites into space
- more detailed infrared images of the Carina Nebula have been taken by ESO’s Very Large Telescope
- cool experimental results: magnesium silicate melts undergo phase changes when subjected to increased pressure — implications for early Earth & other planetary evolution models involving differentiation
- the New Horizons satellite is 2/3 of the way to Pluto — considering it launched in 2006 & won’t arrive till 2015, I really hope those mission scientists have something else to do in the meantime!
Elli Goeke
