If Wendell Middle School students absorbed 10 percent of the facts reeled off by former NASA scientist David Hamilton, they would have come away much more educated about things lofty.
Hamilton, a former aeronautics researcher for NASA, used additional skills as a former television weatherman (NBC 17) to engage and entertain while he enlightened.
Did you know that the equations of higher math are used in predicting weather, tracking pollution, and even terrorists?
How about that solar flares, the intense "sun burps" that knock out satellites, are the part of the reason we have the Northern Lights?
Volcanos on Venus are similar to those on earth. That the gases spewed out by volcanos here at home help provide the earth's oxygen, and green trees and grass.
Scientists have fine-tuned Doplar radio so that it can detect wind sheers and turbulence, two major causes of air accidents.
That one of the major obstacles to putting a human on Mars is that the Martian environment results in cartilage collapse which causes you to shrink.
And the list goes on.
Afterwards I talked to Hamilton. He said what NASA needs most right now is young scientists. He talked about the lack of interest in science, and the expediency in American culture that contributes to it.
But I bet you one thing. If more scientists like Hamilton visit more classrooms, science will have some young takers.
Denise Sherman enjoys combing eastern Wake County for features and news. She writes about Knightdale, Zebulon and Wake county schools. She can be reached at