Question Answered by Tyler Smith, Parks and Recreation Foreman, City of Idaho Falls Generally, cracking of roads happens over time from settling or shifting of grade, sub grade or sub soil material. Settling can be expedited if the materials beneath the road are not compacted enough or there is a subsurface water issue, such as…
Question Answered by Dr. Brian Tonks, Astronomy Professor, BYU-Idaho Check out Part 1 of this question at http://www.idahoaskascientist.com. Part 2: Now let’s add the Moon to the figure at the right . We have to be careful when we look at figures like these because they are never drawn to the correct scale. If the…
Answered by Dr. Brian Tonks, Astronomy Professor, BYU-Idaho You can see the Moon during the day because it slowly orbits the Earth. As a result, the Moon lies opposite the Sun during part of its orbit and we see it all night long. During part of its orbit, it lies near the Sun and we…
Answered by Doug Owen, Park Geologist, Craters of the Moon National Monument. Originally answered March 2012. Craters of the Moon is a dormant rather than an extinct volcanic area. The volcanoes here are not dead, only sleeping. Indications of impending eruptions — earthquakes, the opening of steam vents, and ground swelling — have not occurred…
Answered by Gregg Losinski, Conservation Educator First things first. In Idaho, when we are talking about kokanee, we are actually talking about the same fish that we also call a sockeye salmon. These are the fish that are famous for turning bright red when the time comes for them to spawn. (Spawning is the way…
Answered by Diana Lowrey, Archaeologist and Bat Expert, Idaho National Laboratory (This post was originally published on April 15, 2008.) Bats have evolved to have an exceptional navigation system called echolocation, which helps them to find their prey in the dark. Bats make sounds just like we humans make sounds, by expelling air from the…
Answered by Doug Halford, Wildlife Biologist, INL ESER Program Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by humans, and is driven primarily by availability of food. It…
Answered by Alan Jensen, Registered Pharmacist That is a very interesting question. Sound travels at different speeds in different mediums. In a gaseous medium sound travels faster in lighter gases, and the faster the sound travels, the greater the frequency or higher the pitch of the sound. Since helium is about seven times lighter than…
Question Answered by Alana Jensen, Environmental Educator, INL ESER Program http://www.idahoeser.com You may say the answer is because gravity is pulling the air to the Earth and that is true. Gravity is the reason for the existence of an atmosphere on Earth. Another reason, however, is that the vacuum of space does not exert any…
Question answered by Bryan Bybee, Biologist, INL ESER Program The simple answer is that badgers do not hibernate. Hibernation is a seasonal behavior pattern characterized by long periods of reduced body temperature, inactivity, lowered heart and breathing rates, and suppressed metabolism. Body temperatures may be reduced to nearly that of the surroundings. By this definition,…
