Power Company Loses Some of Its Appetite for Coal

This article was interesting, because it involved environmental restrictions stepping in to shut down coal burning boilers in one of the biggest coal burning plants in the United States. American Electric Power announced recently that they will have to switch to a different method and instead burn a safer and more environmental friendly gas.  The plant would have been forced to shut down if the they decided not to change. On Wednesday the power plant said that it would close both of the coal burning furnaces at Big Sandy by 2015, but left open the possibility that one of the units would be remade to use natural gas. This power plant currently burns over 2.5 tons of coal each year. So far about 55 different power plants have announced they will be closing or changing over from coal. 


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/business/energy-environment/aep-has-plan-to-close-kentuckys-big-sandy-power-plant.html?ref=science&_r=0

‘Famous’ Wolf Is Killed Outside Yellowstone

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/science/earth/famous-wolf-is-killed-outside-yellowstone.html?ref=earth&_r=0

I found this article on an alpha wolf pretty interesting, especially since we just watched a clip about wolves. Researcher called the wolf 832F. The wolf had a collar that had a GPS installed on it, and it tracked its every move. People referred to the wolf as "the rock star". For the past 6 years tourists have fell  in love with the wolf. Scientists said that the wolf was shot and killed outside of the parks boundaries last Thursday. This wolf was known as the alpha female and was being tracked by researchers to see how she lives her life.

Earliest known dinosaur discovered

http://news.yahoo.com/earliest-known-dinosaur-discovered-000536001.html

I found this article interesting because it is about a dinosaur fossil that is over 245 million years old. The fossil has been kept in a museum in London. The specimen has recently been related and indentified as the Nyasasaurus parringtoni, the earliest dinosaur to roam the earth. The Nyasasaurus parringtoni was about the size of a medium sized dog. The fossil was found in a lake called Lake Malawi (the article says it was Lake Nyasa at the time it was found) in Africa during the 1930's. Scientists have said the Nyasasaurus probably stood upright, was a meter tall at the hip, 2-3 meters long from head to tail, and weighed 20-60 kg. I find it interesting that about 80 years after the fossil was found that it is finally revealed as what the type of dinosaur it was.