It's common for powerful public figures to use their status to lecture the rest of us about how we should live. But it's also no secret that the politicians, business leaders and entertainers who make up this elite group of decision makers in our society don't practice what they preach. And coming out of 2009, a year that may well be remembered for its scandal-ridden headlines, from admissions of extramarital affairs by elected leaders and athletes, to corporate executives preaching about free markets while taking bailout money, it may be reasonable to ask: why are powerful people hypocrites?

Despite the multitudes of microbes that reside on earth, our knowledge of them is quite limited. Of the estimated nonillion (10³⁰) that exist, scientists have or are in the process of decoding 2,000 microbial genomes,  which means there is a vast unknown realm awaiting those researchers intent on exploring microorganisms that inhabit this planet.

In hopes of exploring that realm and expanding our understanding of microbes, a team from the the Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) have released the first volume of the Genomic Encyclopedia of Bacteria and Archaea (GEBA), an analysis of the first 56 genomes representing two of the three domains of the tree of life. The encyclopedia is detailed in the December 24 issue of Nature.

New research conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey suggests that the Arctic could face seasonally ice-free conditions and much warmer temperatures in the future. The conclusion is based on climate reconstructions of the mid-Piacenzian Age of the Pliocene Epoch,  3.3 to 3 million years ago. The findings will help refine climate models, which currently underestimate the rate of sea ice loss in the Arctic, the researchers say.

Scientists documented evidence that the Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas were too warm to support summer sea ice during the mid-Pliocene warm period . This period is characterized by warm temperatures similar to those projected for the end of this century, and is used as an analog to understand future conditions.

Despite spending this holiday season at home, where the sun is shining, the grass is green, and the orange and palm trees sway, I've been metaphorically snowed under. Between wrestling a paper into submission (that was a pun! submission, like to a journal? hah? hee?) and preparing data for a conference presenation, squid blogging has fallen somewhat by the wayside.

But squid news continues relentlessly, never pausing for its chronicler's busy schedule. So, I give you the tentacular highlights that have accumulated over the last few weeks, starting with PW Style's truly large, totally amazing homemade squid presents:

Two days ago I offered you three problems in experimental particle physics, of varied complexity. Three readers tried answering the test in the comments thread: a rather underwhelming turnaround, but what did I expect - we are deep in Christmas vacations after all.

I will give below my own answers to the questions, and then comment some of those I received. For ease of reading, I paste here again the three questions.

Photo: Bente Lilja Bye
Christmas at Fishermans Wharf, San Francisco.

The American Geophysical Union is said to be the world's largest gathering of geoscientists. Remember that planet Earth is exactly that – a planet. So include a number of astronomers and astrophysicists in this herd of nerds, some 16000 of them actually. This gathering is misleadingly called The American Geophysical Union Fall meeting, when in fact it is more like a Christmas meeting as it takes place the week before Christmas every year in San Francisco, one of my favorite cities in the whole wide world.

Researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health claim that children regularly exposed to tobacco smoke at home are more likely to develop early emphysema in adulthood. The findings, published in the December 2009 American Journal of Epidemiology, suggest that the lungs may not recover completely from the effects of early-life exposures to tobacco smoke (ETS), the research team says.