Enjoy the final edition of the Best of 2014 Blog Series. Help us pick this year’s Blog of the Year Winner! Vote for your favorite blog from 2014.

True or False? Any water occurring beneath the ground is groundwater. Photo Courtesy of Romain Pondita.

Water Under Your Feet
Alejandro Baladron Julian, M.S.

There is a tremendous amount of mythology and confusion surrounding the sources of groundwater. This may explain why techniques like dowsing, using supernatural abilities to find water below the ground, are still used today instead of the most basic principles of groundwater science.

Researchers are tapping into trees to reveal chronological records of contamination events.

Trees Provide Evidence for Forensic Scientists
Ioana Petrisor, Ph.D.

Forensic Environmental Scientists are using tree rings to trace and age-date contamination events in order to design remediation strategies.

Decrepit vestiges of a once booming economy litter the Salton Sea shoreline.

The Dying Salton Sea: A Lake with a Rich Past and an Uncertain Future
George Patten

California’s largest lake, once a booming economy and a flourishing ecosystem, now abandoned and littered with skeletons. Why we must act now to prevent further devastation.