Saturn's moon Titan might be in for some wild weather as it heads into its spring and summer, if two new models are correct.

Scientists think that as the seasons change in Titan's northern hemisphere, waves could ripple across the moon's hydrocarbon seas, and hurricanes could begin to swirl over these areas, too. The model predicting waves tries to explain data from the moon obtained so far by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Both models help mission team members plan when and where to look for unusual atmospheric disturbances as Titan summer approaches.

I recently read an article about an individual that had been struck by lightning, while it was interesting to read about the experience it was disturbing to read some of the comments that followed and their gross misunderstanding of lightning.

In particular the following comment illustrates the problem.

Lightning happens when a really huge negative charge builds up in the ground, corresponding to a positive charge overhead, and the differential becomes sufficient to jump the gap. (and, as others are pointing out repeatedly, air is an excellent insulator, so it takes a whacking huge voltage differential to make the arc.)

The human intestinal tract is the home of a diverse array of bacterial colonies, settling in as soon as their host begins life. While these colonies were considered to merely coexist with the host for their own survival, decades of study have shown the interaction between bacteria and host is mutually beneficial.  The bacterial colonies benefit by finding their home in the host, while the host benefits from the bacteria’s ability to keep the intestinal tract healthy, specifically by aiding in the absorption of nutrients, and by preventing disease-causing bacteria from taking root.

Arctic Ice 2013

Ernie Pyle, the iconic embedded World War II embedded journalist killed by Japanese machine gun fire in 1945, made famous the adage, "There are no atheists in foxholes." 

He was making a point that it's better to be safe than sorry when your life is on the line - not letting the Devil get you cornered, he wrote, was the justification for a soldier who dug round foxholes. Atheists are a tiny minority anyway and there are even fewer in a war zone, Pyle felt. And he knew more soldiers than perhaps any journalist ever will.

The Importance Of The Literature

The public at large, and unfortunately too many writers, do not know how vital a properly conducted survey of the scientific literature can be.  We must remember the motto of the Royal Society - nullius in verba - do not rely on anybody's word.  If the mythical "everybody" is stating the same "fact" or citing exactly the same source: question it.  Reappraise it.  Investigate.

This article was inspired by Hontas Farmer's newest blog.  It occurred to me that I spend many a happy hour doing literature research but I do not write about it as such.

"Oh Wind, if Winter comes, can Spring be far behind ?"

Good old Shelley inspired me to start today's article with the above verse, taken from his magnificent "Ode to the West Wind". With the weather we are experiencing these days in Geneva and northern Italy, I found it a relieving thought...

So, winter conferences are over, and summer ones are still far away. This is therefore a nice moment to try an assessment on the quality of the results that the two competing CERN experiments have produced on the study of the Higgs boson. Why ? Because we are not going to have to change our conclusions in a short time scale caused by a result about to be published.

How to compare the results

Did you ever have breast milk or spinach? You might as well start shooting up heroin.

If dihydrogen monoxide doesn't scare you enough, food activists have been rehashing an old term - opiates. 

Before continuing, please bear in mind that :

“The opinions or assertions contained herein are the private views of the authors and are not to be construed as official or as reflecting the views of the US Department of the Army, the US Department of Defense, the Department of the Navy or naval services at large.”

As has been mentioned in other articles, evolution is one of the more misunderstood theories ‌in biology.  This isn't because it is complicated.  Its beauty derives from its simplicity, but often the nuances that are overlooked.  

We hear about "survival of the fittest" and many immediately think of strength.  We hear about natural selection and many immediately focus on speciation.  Yet, the first claim is simply wrong, while the second isn't the most important element of the theory.

So, if it's not about strength or how species originated, then what is important.