A new study in the Journal of Geophysical Research suggest that solar wind may charge polar lunar craters to hundreds of volts as it flows over natural obstructions on the moon.

The findings are important for NASA scientists who are investigating the resources, including water ice, which exist in polar lunar craters. Solar wind inflow into craters can erode the surface, which affects recently discovered water molecules. Static discharge could short out sensitive equipment, while the sticky and extremely abrasive lunar dust could wear out spacesuits and may be hazardous if tracked inside spacecraft and inhaled over long periods.

Attempting to eradicate disease is not a good use of public health dollars, say researchers writing in Proceedings of The Royal Society B. Instead, the emphasis should be placed on reducing the prevalence of diseases in areas most affected by them.

What's more, the scientists argue, new research shows that the most at-risk populations can be identified using just three variables.

A great diversity of local mammals and birds in a region, a large human population and ineffective disease control efforts point to a high-prevalence of disease. Climate plays a role in determining how many different kinds of diseases there are, but not how many people will suffer from them.

Possibly some of the more hotly contested fishing grounds in the world occur around the Falkland Islands, just off the Atlantic coast of South America. The islands themselves are a point of international contention, and the ocean comes right along for the ride, since fishing accounts for about half of the Falklands' economy.

If you're not familiar with it, this history of the Falklands/Maldivas makes for a fascinating read. The short version is that the United Kingdom and Argentina have been fighting over it, and so far the UK has won.

Arctic Tipping Points - #4: The Broken Bridges Of Nares

In Writing As Superpower I outlined how writing is for the eye, at the expense of the hands, despite the fact that our brains may have evolved to comprehend speech. We still prefer to 'listen' with our eyes, despite our eyes not having been designed for this.   In Harness The Wild Eye I showed how non-linguistic visual signs are a visual system designed to recognize objects and efficiently react to the information. 

To begin to grasp why using object-like visual symbols for words is a good strategy, consider two alternative strategies besides the objects-for-words one.

Arctic Tipping Points - #3: More About Feedback

This series is a follow-on to my 3-part series Arctic Ice 2010.  It begins with part #1: Background And Recent History.  In Arctic Tipping Points - #2: Some Feedback Mechanisms I wrote:

Analogies are a powerful way to explain complicated scientific concepts. I use them as much as I can whenever I describe particle physics in this blog or when I give a outreach talk in a school. However, good ones are not always easy to find. One usually needs examples from everyday life, which are simple to describe and which do not possess distracting features.

Today I wish to try my luck with you, to see if you come up with an analogy which is better than the one I could find to explain a feature of weak interactions. I must say I am not dissatisfied with my own find, but it is always good to subject oneselves to external judgement.

Eyjafjallajökull, Gígjökull, Jökulhlaup, Gosmökkur

The world is suddenly faced with the need to learn how to pronounce Islenska, the Icelandic language.


With much of European airspace closed due to volcanic ash in the skies, people are most commonly asking how long it will last, and if it may get worse.  Also, the media continues to confuse the issue with talk of an eruption under, variously, a glacier, an ice cap, an ice sheet.

There is a world of difference between an ice sheet kilometers thick, and the Gígjökull glacier and the Eyjafjallajökull ice cap.

Team Plans To Row To The North Pole - Media Claims

A team plans to row to the magnetic pole next year.


Proving once more, if proof be needed, that the media can't publish a story without incorporating 'added value', the media is misreporting a valiant team effort to reach the geographical North pole next Summer.  The public needs to know that this has nothing whatsoever in any shape or form to do with the possibility of rowing to the geographical North Pole.


Its the magnetic pole, ok?

Arctic Tipping Points - #2: Some Feedback Mechanisms

In part #1: Background And Recent History I wrote:

The global warming trend observed in direct measurements and a very wide range of proxy data since about 1860 has led many climate researchers to discuss the possibility that we humans are engineering a new tipping point through our profligate use of fossil fuels.

Of particular concern is the possibility that if the Arctic is ice free in summer, or if the Greenland ice sheet shrinks, or worse: both, then climate change may be inevitable and irreversible.