Environment & Science

Brad Klein reviews the week’s astronomical highlights with Bethlehem’s ‘Backyard Astronomy Guy,’ Marty McGuire. This week should be a good one for viewing the planet Saturn.

Easton's Nurture Nature Center has been recommended for conditional approval for its proposed planetarium, or "immersive dome," intended to expand programming capabilities.

Among the winners are projects to repaint the basketball court at Building 21; build several community gardens; and plant trees.

The PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center on Wednesday held a news conference at the city’s Sculpture Garden announcing the nonprofit’s new report, “Lead in School Drinking Water.” Bethlehem Area School District was found lacking.

Will it be Woody, Tupaca, or Zurg? Lehigh Valley Zoo is enlisting the help of the public to help name its baby alpaca.

State officials announced a $1 million pool for the 2025 Environmental Education Grants Program, as well as the Nov. 15 deadline to apply. Two Lehigh Valley projects were funded in the last round.

This week, news from the International Space Station, where the seven crew members have been hosting two unexpected guests for months.

Staff and volunteers at the sanctuary have monitored the autumnal migration since 1934 as part of conservation research efforts. It’s the longest-running raptor migration count in the world.

A pack of wolves will appear at the Allentown Fair as part of the free entertainment. One of the wolves will meet attendees. A tour of their den is also scheduled.

Nine projects across Pennsylvania are included in the round of funding, awarded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. The projects focus on research, marketing, apprenticeships and sustainability for mushrooms, apples, potatoes and other crops.

Flooding from Hurricane Ida put the Saucon Creek retaining wall and nearby park pavilions out of commission in 2021. This year marks the first since then that the shelters will be up for rent again.

Crayola officials, along with PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center and local legislators, held an informational session Thursday on the company’s 3.53 megawatt solar farm.

The Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor this month launched the Quest for the Golden Grabber. In its second year, it's an effort to engage community members in a friendly competition while cleaning litter from the trail.

There were 15 Diamond Clover awardees this year, including two from Lehigh County. The award is the highest in Pennsylvania's 4-H program.

Northampton County will use a mix of local money and a federal grant to buy 43 acres of undeveloped land in Stockertown, officials announced. Officials did not identify the parcel they intend to buy.

The African penguin colony, off exhibit since early January because of bird flu, is back at the Lehigh Valley Zoo.

This week, a preview of confirmation hearings scheduled for Wednesday to confirm a new head for NASA. The nominee is well known to the Lehigh Valley.

City officials were ready in February to award a contract for a tree inventory in Allentown, but uncertainties caused by an order from President Donald Trump's administration forced them to pause that plan.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection last week launched the Child Care Lead Testing and Reduction grant program. Aimed at schools and childcare facilities, the program is focused on testing for, and remediating, lead in drinking water.

For the sixth year, Nurture Nature Center will hold the Youth Climate Summit of the Lehigh Valley. The free event aims to engage middle and high school students in climate change issues, as well as seek solutions.

If Mother Nature has anything to say about it, this could be an abbreviated peak bloom for the cherry blossoms in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas.

Cloud cover is likely to limit thunderstorm development Monday by acting as a cap, preventing the upward movement of warm, moist air needed to fuel thunderstorms.