NEWS AND NOTES (CONTINUED)

PLANETARIUM VISIT. On Feb. 19 about 25 members of the Natural History Society gathered at the new Planetarium at the University of P.E.I. to attend a showing of 'The Jupiter Effect'. This well documented presentation very thoroughly and systematically refuted the claims made in a

book of the same name. In the

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destructive earthquake activity will occur around the world, particularly in California. Their argument goes as follows: a conjunction (lining up) of all planets will occur on that date creating unusually high tides on the surface of the sun which will result in an increase in sun spot and sun flare activity.

These in turn will produce severe solar winds around the earth's upper atmosphere, causing a jarring effect on the earth's rotation. This will put stress on the earth's crust and result in earthquakes.

The entire theory is filled with flaws as pointed out in the planetarium show. First of all there will not be a conjunction of the planets on March 10, l9g2; on that date the planets will be scattered across the solar system in a 95 arc. Second, if a planetary conjunction does at some time occur, the com- bined gravitational pull of all planets could only raise a tide of about 1 mm on the sun's surface, an insignificant amount for a body as massive as the sun. Third, past evidence shows there is no correlation whatever between an increase in sunspot activity and the incidence of earthquakes. So we may rest assured that if an earthquake does happen to occur around the predicted time, it will not be due to the Jupiter Effect! I

SCIENCE FAIR. The annual provincial high school science W fair is being held in the Robertson Library at U.P.E.I.

on April 1 and 2. Once again the Natural History Society

is offering prizes at the junior and senior levels for

the best projects on environmental or natural history

topics. We urge our members to show their support by attending the fair and seeing some of the fine projects designed and constructed by high school students from across the Island. Watch your local-newspaper for

further details and the hours the fair will be open to the public.

SASKATCHEWAN NATURALIST WINS AWARD. A Saskatchewan naturalist, R. Lorne Scott,

is the winner of one of the three Governor GeneralJS conservation awards sponsored by the Travel Industry Association of Canada. He received the award in recog~ nition of his long time efforts in erecting thousands of bluebird nest boxes throughout rural Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

SIGNS OF SPRING. Although the early March weather this year may not appear very springlike, there are indications the season is on the way. On March 1, Brian Nettleton saw a raven in Brooklyn breaking dead branches from an apple tree and flying back and forth to the woods with them. That same night in Milltown Cross two Great Horned Owls were heard calling back and forth to each other (Lenore Andrew and Winnie Cairns). In Charlottetown on March 5 Geoff Hogan first heard Black—capped Chickadees using their whistle—like call of courtship.

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