Activities

Learn about nurdles, tiny plastic pellets that frequently turn up along the Texas coast and endanger wildlife, from whales to sea turtles. Jace Tunnell, Director of the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve, will also tell you how you can help by doing a nurdle survey and reporting your findings.

EarthDate is a public service radio program and accompanying website with a mission to engage listeners in Earth science and connect them to the wonders of their world. Each EarthDate radio episode tells a captivating two-minute story that reminds listeners how science can enlighten, educate, and entertain. Every topic is accompanied by an article, educational PDFs for classroom or home use, and links to further reading on the EarthDate website. EarthDate was conceived of and is hosted by Dr. Scott W. Tinker, Director of the Bureau of Economic Geology at The University of Texas at Austin. Each episode is written and directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker Harry Lynch and researched by Juli Hennings, a career geoscientist.

This virtual nature tour of the UT campus and around Austin utilizes the format of a choose-your-own-adventure game. Players can choose where to go, what to see, and with which systems they want to interact. Along the way, adventurers can discover the variety of ecosystems that exist and the organisms that inhabit them.

This video tour, an Urban Safari of the UT Austin campus, explores the natural world of our urban spaces and includes common – and not so common – organisms that can be found on campus.  It highlights challenges facing urban nature and spotlights areas where there has been success in encouraging plants, animals and microbes to flourish.