This podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) looks at how tracking insects can help scientists forecast summer storms and floods, and the role one of Europe's key satellite missions played in the recent floods in Queensland, Australia.

The huge...

Comets are considered to be time capsules containing information about the conditions of the early Solar System. In order to understand what comets are, where they come from, and their influence on the evolution of Earth, it is necessary to find out what material they contain. This teacher demonstration and student...

A Catalyst article about ice cores from Antarctica which contain air bubbles which record the changing atmosphere. The Antarctic ice sheet is over 3 kilometres thick; ice cores enable scientists to sample each year of snow fall in sequence. This evidence is vital in understanding how the climate is changing. The...

In this lesson students explore data showing how much carbon dioxide different species of tree absorb from the atmosphere.

Students interpret data, statistics, graphs and infographics and make predictions and draw conclusions...

This resource, provided by Anne Watson, Els De Geest and Stephanie Prestage, describes how a group of ten teachers taught low attaining groups in secondary school, and what features were seen to be important. The teachers had a shared commitment to improving the attainment of their lowest attaining students by...

Produced by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), this colour wall chart describes ExoMars, the second European Space Agency (ESA) mission to visit Mars. ExoMars is part of a joint two-part mission funded by ESA and NASA. In 2016 the ESA-led mission will launch an orbiter and short-lived lander. The...

This video demonstrates how the pressure exerted by the atmosphere (10,000kg on an average person) can implode a large drum when the air inside the drum is removed (Heat water to vaporise and remove all air. Condense the vapour by cooling the drum). 

Notes

The scientists states that...

This set of activities for students builds toward them being able to answer the question 'Assess whether the UK is becoming more extreme in the 21st century.'  Initially students are asked to define the terms 'rare' and 'extreme' and then order the layers of the Earth's atmosphere. This is followed by tasks to:...

Looks at the impact of global warming and to what extent humanity has contributed to this.  The animated video explains the greenhouse effect, and how greenhouse gases can absorb infrared radiation and then re-emit it.   It also looks at how the oceans become more acidic when carbon dioxide is absorbed from the...

A Catalyst article explaining how weather forecasts can help keep the public safe in extreme situations by providing advance warnings: for example, airline pilots rely on accurate information about the development of thunderstorms to help them decide which routes might be at risk from lightning or violent...