A new early warning system for harmful algae passed its first test this month as Texas A&M University researchers were alerted of an impending bloom of toxic algae on the Texas coast. Professor Lisa Campbell of the Department of Oceanography, working with developers of the Imaging FlowCytobot, Dr. Rob Olson and Dr. Heidi Sosik of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, deployed the system at the UT-Marine Sciences Institute Pier in Port Aransas, TX.

As thousands of college students converge on Texas’ beaches this month, the Texas Sea Grant College Program wants everyone to know about the dangers of deadly rip currents that can sweep even the strongest swimmer out to sea.

Forget those drenching rains of last spring and summer: Texas is in the middle of a drought that has reached the severe stage in several parts of the state, says John Nielsen-Gammon, professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University who also serves as Texas State Climatologist.

Some might say that Dr. Gunnar Schade, assistant professor of Atmospheric Sciences in the College of Geosciences, is getting a free ride from Yellow Cab in Houston. The company is making a unique contribution to air quality control research by allowing Schade to use its 300-foot tall communications tower at no charge. Schade has installed sensitive instruments that measure surface winds and concentrations of air pollutants on the tower. This research will be applied to air quality questions important to Houston and the State of Texas.

You’re writing a research paper or you’re teaching a high school science class and you’re stumped – you need an answer, and pronto. What to do? You ask Dr. Bob.

Geography Assistant Professor Brendan Roark, who just recently joined the faculty in the College of Geosciences, presented research at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in Boston last week. He and his colleagues presented their new research showing that deep-sea corals growing off Hawaii are much older than previously thought—some as old as 4,000 years.