With a three-day summer weekend ahead, what better time to enjoy Rhode Island's beaches! There is enough diversity to satisfy just about anyone -- families, teenagers, or those in search of quiet and solitude. Click here for a listing of state beaches, with details about facilities, fees, parking, and more.

If you want to escape the crowds and traffic, try exploring our state's public access points. Click here for info, but keep in mind, you are on your own at these sites -- no lifeguards or facilities -- and not all of them are safe for swimming.

Another good strategy for avoiding the crowds is to wait until late in the day. After 4 o'clock or so crowds start to thin out, the water is still warm, and the day lingers on. You can even hang around and catch the sunset. Be aware though, that lifeguards go home and facilities are locked up when the beach closes, usually at 6.

Note that RI beaches are now smoke-free! This change aims not only to provide cleaner air, but to cut down on beach litter. Click here for more info.

Lots more to do, from our NNN Community Calendar ...  Tonight, Sea Princess sails out of Wickford for a lighthouse tour on the Bay, hosted by the Audubon Society of RI. Lots of the local farmers markets have special events planned for the holiday weekend. Don't forget about the Zoo, with its new butterfly exhibit, and Saturday beach walks at Goosewing Beach. Find programs for kids at Audubon's refuges. 

On Sunday at 9 a.m., the annual Pawtuxet Cove Kayak Regatta leaves from the Aspray Boat House. Paddlers race north to the Rhode Island Yacht Club, south to Gaspee Point and back to the Boat House. Registration Sun 9 am; starting gun at 10 am. $20 entrance fee. All these activities too much for you? Maybe you need to just kick back, spend some time with friends and family, and enjoy the summer.

Summer in Rhode Island can be idyllic... the beaches, the rivers, the salt ponds, fishing, hiking, kayaking.... but summer on Prudence Island is idyllic plus. "As soon as people get off the ferry, you can see the stress just melting away," says Kristin Van Wagner, education coordinator for the Narragansett Bay Research Reserve, based on the island.

Kristin and the rest of the NBRR staff welcome visitors to Prudence, and are happy to show off its many assets. Generally, they are on the island Monday to Friday, and that is actually the best time to visit -- their visitor center offers the only public rest rooms on the island, and it is closed on weekends! They also have an education shack on the waterfront, with aquarium creatures that kids can see up close. 

Deer ticks are still a concern on the island, though Kristin notes that most visitors now are familiar with the needed precautions -- long pants, no open shoes, bug repellent. Wide concrete roads through the woods -- a relic of the old Navy days -- offer a chance to explore without hiking through the long grasses that harbor ticks. Beach walkers and bicyclers can avoid most tick habitat.

To reach the island, take the ferry from Bristol or head there in your own boat -- there is no public dock to tie up at, but boats can anchor offshore. Details for travelers can be found at the NBRR site.

Click on "More..." for lots more photos from NNN's recent island visit, plus info about an upcoming event that you're invited to, and a photo contest you can take part in! 

Brown University researchers have discovered a nanomaterial that can absorb the mercury emitted from a broken compact fluorescent lamp (CFL). The researchers, led by Robert Hurt, professor of engineering, and engineering student Natalie Johnson, have created a mercury-absorbent container lining that can be used commercially. The packaging invention, for which Brown has applied for federal patents, would relieve a major concern with CFL use and comes as CFL sales are projected to skyrocket. 

Brown University engineering students Love Sarin (left) and Brian Lee display a nanoselenium-enriched cloth that can capture mercury vapor from broken compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). Brown has applied for federal patents covering the invention and plans soon to begin commercial negotiations.

Click on "More..." for the full text of Brown's news release.