"How do we know? Physics, Forcings, and Fingerprints," the first episode of the National Science Foundation's "To What Degree? What Science is Telling Us About Climate Change" television series will premiere February 19 on the Research Channel with two Penn State climate researchers featured. Richard B. Alley, Evan Pugh professor of geosciences and Michael E. Mann, associate professor of meteorology and director of the Earth System Science Center were both interviewed for the show.

The Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets are melting, but the amounts that will melt and the time it will take are still unknown, according to Richard Alley, Evan Pugh professor of geosciences, Penn State. In the past, the Greenland ice sheet has grown when its surroundings cooled, shrunk when its surroundings warmed and even disappeared completely when the temperatures became warm enough. If the ice sheet on Greenland melts, sea level will rise about 23 feet, which will inundate portions of nearly all continental shores. However, Antarctica, containing much more water, could add up to another 190 feet to sea level.

The music may come out of the 1960s, but an open courseware class available at Penn State that includes a guitar playing and singing professor is definitely designed for the Millennial Generation. Highlighted with video clips, animations and song parodies, Professor Richard Alley's online course "Geology of the National Parks" (GEOSC 10) not only instructs, it also entertains and fulfills general education requirements for undergraduates not majoring in geoscience.

When volcanoes erupt, pinpointing the regions at high risk for lethal hazards and deciding whether or not to evacuate a resistant population comprise the most difficult problems faced by hazards managers. Now a team of volcanologists has a program that maps potential problem areas quickly, taking much of the guesswork out of decision making and evacuations.

Deep inside the Frasassi cave system in Italy and more than 1,600 feet below the Earth's surface, divers found filamentous ropes of microbes growing in the cold water, according to a team of Penn State researchers. "Sulfur caves are a microbiology paradise. Many different types of organisms live in the caves and use the sulfur," says Jennifer L. Macalady, assistant professor of geosciences. "We are trying to map which organisms live where in the caves and how they correspond to the geochemical environment."

In this last of three dispatches from Northeast Brazil, Todd LaJuenesse and colleagues dive for coral in in Joao Pessoa. Researchers at Penn State, the University of Georgia and Universidade Federal de Campina Grande are embarking on a quest to document the uniqueness of Brazil's coral species by studying the symbiotic algae that they require to survive. In addition, they will investigate the evolutionary biology of the coral-algal symbiosis to see if they can uncover secrets about the organisms' ancient histories and their potential to withstand the ravages of climate change.

Penn State will honor J. Stuart Hunter, a world-renowned innovator and one of the most influential industrial statisticians of the last 50 years, at one of three University Park fall commencement ceremonies to be held Saturday, Dec. 20. An estimated 14 associate degrees and 2,261 baccalaureate degrees will be conferred at two ceremonies at University Park, over which Penn State President Graham B. Spanier will preside. He also will lead the Graduate School ceremony for an expected 699 graduate students.