Will it be a “long and lustrous winter,” as Phil Connors, the main character in the 1993 movie Groundhog Day said? Or will spring make an early appearance? This morning in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania, the nation’s favorite groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, attempted to answer that question. Phil saw his shadow — meaning six more weeks of winter, according […]
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Materials scientists can now use insight from a very common mineral and well-established earthquake and avalanche statistics to quantify how hostile environmental interactions may impact the degradation and failure of materials used for advanced solar panels, geological carbon sequestration and infrastructure such as buildings, roads and bridges. The new study, led by […]
A meteorologist from the National Weather Service’s local office recently told a newspaper reporter that heavy, wet snow would materialize in a few days. He said it would resemble “cement falling from the sky.” Three days later, I grunted to lift a shovel blade full of heavy slush. How did that weatherman call this from […]