The conference gave the same opportunity to younger scientists, through the AGU’s Bright STaRS program. “The program began in 2003 to get schools kids to the AGU meeting,” according to Pranoti Asher, manager of education for the AGU. She also reports that the number of middle and high school students attending has grown from 31 in 2003 to 128 this year.

Two teams from the Academy’s Careers in Science (CiS) intern program were among the Bright STaRS participants. The CiS program serves youth from communities traditionally underrepresented in the sciences with opportunities to immerse themselves in the natural world, develop life and job skills, receive college and career mentorship, and learn science and sustainability concepts in an authentic, paid work environment.

In a poster session that included 2,500 posters from professional and young scientists, CiS interns presented two very diverse posters—one on volcanism on the Moon and the other on sand crabs that live on Ocean Beach.

The first team worked with a scientist at NASA/JPL, using data and images gathered by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). The high schoolers decided to look at a volcanic structure on the far side of the Moon called the Compton-Belkovich Feature (CBF). Their question: How similar or different is CBF to volcanoes on the near side of the lunar surface?

The young researchers looked at albedo, elevation, radioactive thorium concentration and the surrounding geology. The youth found that Compton Belkovich is very different from other lunar volcanoes. Next, the team will attempt to identify potential sites that will yield the safest landing location and most scientific benefit.

A little closer to home, the second team looked at the influence of wastewater effluence on the population of sand crabs on San Francisco’s Ocean Beach. The Oceanside Treatment Plant lies just south of the beach and deposits copper, zinc and ammonia into the ocean.

The interns wondered what effect these chemicals have on the native Pacific mole crabs (Emerita analoga), which are a big part of the local ecosystem. Looking at previous studies on marine invertebrates, the team hypothesized that all three chemicals would negatively affect the abundance of these sand crabs.

The CiS interns have been studying the Pacific mole crabs on Ocean Beach for the past ten years. Using the data they collected between 2007 and 2010 and studying EPA data for the same four years, these young scientists found that while copper and zinc were bad for the populations, ammonia actually increased the abundance of these crustaceans.

Both teams enjoyed presenting to other researchers and their own Bright STaRS peers. Professional scientists seemed to thoroughly enjoy the presentations and gave the youth advice on where to take their research next.

And the high schoolers?

“My favorite part of AGU was presenting our research,” says senior Mollie. “Just like when teaching a lesson on the public floor of the museum, Angel and I had to gauge our visitor’s level of interest, and previous scientific knowledge. By tailoring our presentations and focusing on clearly and succinctly communicating our research, I felt I became more familiar with our project and its subtleties. Additionally, visitor’s suggestions and critiques of our project invigorated my interest in taking our Pacific mole crab research further in future years.”

“It was my first time at AGU and I had a wonderful time meeting scientists and presenting the research on lunar volcanoes to all,” says senior Rabiya. “It was definitely an amazing experience to be in a place where everyone is excited and curious about the same thing—the sciences!”

Image: Careers in Science Interns (from left to right) Mollie, Angel, Joseph, Reina, and Rabiya

Some see it as a response to the Republican turnabout in Congress. In fact, according to the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, 50% of the 100 newly-elected Republican Congress members are climate change skeptics (from the LA Times). Many have promised to put a moratorium on the EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.

New Scientist reported yesterday that:

When the U.S. Republican party took control of the House of Representatives last week, President Barack Obama conceded that his plans to establish a market to curb carbon emissions had no chance of being passed.

But John Abraham, of St. Thomas University in Minnesota, who is organizing one of the new tactics to battle climate change deniers, told ScienceInsider that the Republicans have nothing to do with it.

We have assembled a group of world-class climate scientists who are able to field questions on virtually any topic of climate change. Our goal is not to be a partisan group, our goal is to focus on communicating the science.

His “climate rapid response team” will confront skeptics in their own environments, such as conservative radio and TV talk shows, according to the LA Times.

The still-evolving efforts reveal a shift among climate scientists, many of whom have traditionally stayed out of politics and avoided the news media.

The American Geophysical Union also launched their own climate change battle yesterday, announcing the involvement of 700 researchers to “provide accurate scientific answers to questions from journalists about climate science” on their new site, Climate Q&A Service.

Finally, the New York Times reported on the annual meeting for the Montreal Protocol in Bangkok yesterday. The agreement, signed by every nation in 1987, has met with incredible success.

The Montreal Protocol has phased out nearly 97 percent of 100 ozone-depleting chemicals, some of which are also potent climate-altering gases. The net effect has been the elimination of the equivalent of more than 200 billion metric tons of global-warming gases, five years’ worth of total global emissions, far more than has been accomplished by the Kyoto process.

Negotiators are considering an expansion to the agreement to include greenhouse gases. And this may steer clear of the current powers-that-be in Congress.

All the signatories to the Montreal Protocol would have to agree to the expansion, but no further approval from Congress would be needed.

The battle wages on!