It has been an exciting summer in science, both locally and in the nearby solar system.

Last month, the Walnut Creek Prairie Learning Center officially opened to the public with a special visitation by Vice President Al Gore. Gore had a few important things to say about protecting the earth, but I was there to see the elusive “tatonka,” a small herd of bison being used in the grand prairie restoration and maintenance project underway there.

My friends and I drove back and forth along the tourist road through their domain several times, but the seemingly huge and ferocious beasts were quite shy. Nonetheless, we were able to observe several native birds and wildflowers at the wildlife preserve, such as the colorful millipede and aptly-named Jack-in-the-Pulpit, a showy wildflower, shown in the picture.

In earth orbit the soap opera unfolds. Probably no more than a decade ago, a collision between a spacecraft and a space station, in which the participants actually survive, would have been mere science fiction.

Now the fiction is reality and we are following, with baited breath, the saga of the Mir commander who has fallen victim to cardiovascular ailments. If they would just throw in a few space babes, it would be better than “Bay Watch.”

Finally, just a year after “Independence Day,” the film about alien invaders of earth, we land our own probe on the surface of the neighboring red planet in search of its illustrious, if microscopic, leader. And they used to say “puny earthlings.!” I hope they don’t get martian on our ass.

“It’s a cook book!”

And speaking of books, Carl Sagan’s last book, “Billions and Billions,” was published post-humously this year. In it, he claims never to have spoken those famous and now household words.

The book sums up the thoughts and scientific discoveries of Sagan’s illustrious career and leaves us with an important warning about environmental conservation, racism and the future of science into the 21st Century.

Science rocks!

Joe Leonard is a graduate student in journalism and mass communication Akron, Ohio.