catdynamics | June 3, 2008A young, male polar bear was discovered in northern Iceland this morning.
He had, almost certainly, got stuck on an ice floe that broke off the east Greenland pack and drifted to Iceland, where he swam to land.
From Doktor.is
Video of what follows - not for the squeamish
Seriously - if you are a sensitive sort, do not click through to watch the video.
The bear was spotted near a farm, wandering around about a kilometer from the road. Polar bears are not endemic in Iceland, but strays drifting over on ice are not uncommon, even nowadays, and were more common still in the 19th C and early…
catdynamics | June 2, 2008New planet discovery by Bennett et al, about three Earth masses, adds to the variety of exoplanets.
Prospects for lots of Earth mass planets being out there are improved.
Bennett et al report today the discovery of a 3.3 Earth mass planet at the AAS meeting in St Louis.
Discovery is through microlensing by the MOA and OGLE collaborations.
It is a very, very interesting result.
Planet is 3.3+4.9-1.6 Earth masses,
that is it could have a mass as low as 1.7 Earth masses or as high as 8.2 Earth masses.
The host star of the planet is 0.06+0.028-0.021 Solar masses - that is, it is a high mass brown…
catdynamics | June 2, 2008It is very rare at this stage of my life that I find myself unable to put a book down.
Mark Alpert has written a novel.
"Final Theory" - Touchstone Books (Simon & Schuster) ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-7287-9
David is a historian of science, ex-physicist and divorced father.
His former advisor is found tortured and before dying he tells David a clue... hijinks ensue, with the FBI, very bad bad guys and a range of implausible physicists. Some good cameos in there also.
The tone is reminiscent of a Dan Brown novel, but the science is much, much more plausible, and the plot not nearly as moronic.
It…
catdynamics | June 1, 2008The Roadside Gallery in Carbondale, CO, is doing a Hubble exhibit...!
Just can't get away from the bloomin' thing:
"Stellar images
(CARBONDALE) Roadside Gallery at 320 Main St. is exhibiting "The Hubble Show" with stellar art shot by the Hubble Space Telescope, printed on large-format canvas.
The Roadside Gallery also, apparently, has a Route 66 photo exhibit, which actually sounds much more interesting right now...
catdynamics | June 1, 2008The Phoenix lander on Mars has touched the soil and is getting ready to do some digging
Images from beneath the lander show spots of what appear to be bright consolidated surfaces, possibly sub-surface ice exposed by the lander
view underneath
more on the "Snow Queen" feature
and the arm has made the first gentle scoop to see what is down there...
Not down to ice yet at this spot...
They also did a rather nice panorama composite image around the lander
catdynamics | May 31, 2008today was a beautiful day.
the sun shone, temperature was mild, the air was clear, the pool was open
I sorted, archived and deleted 2,200 e-mails.
Took me almost all day, though I did get an hour and a bit of walking in.
I had estimated I couldn't do more than a thousand per day, but at this rate
I'll be mostly done tomorrow.
Might even get to hit the pool before the rain moves in.
catdynamics | May 31, 2008Discovery launched
This is important for two reasons:
they may be able to clear the toilet on ISS; and,
it clears the pad for a GLAST launch at the end of this week, probably...
catdynamics | May 30, 2008Still friday mountain high, and proposal season is finally over, for now.
So we bounce to the Mighty iPod and ask breezily: will Phoenix dig up evidence for life at last?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Þá líður okkur vel - Hemmi Gunn
The Crossing: Le Glace Au Citron - Henri Des
The Crown: Like Cockatoos - Cure
The Root: Goalhanger - Billy Bragg
The Past: Yellow Submarine - Beatles
The Future: Peter Prepares to Catch the Wolf - Prokoviev
The Questioner: Fuckin' 'Ell It's Fred Titmus - Half Man Half Biscuit
The House: Revolution Rock - Clash
The Inside: La Fourmi Amoureuse…
catdynamics | May 29, 2008Sizable earthquake in southwest Iceland this afternoon
Magnitude 6.1-6.3 on Richter scale, by Selfoss, about 50 km from Reykjavik,
no damage reported in Reykjavik, road to Selfoss is cut, probably some damge in the general area. No reports of injuries, though it is early to tell for sure.
Earthquake was felt throughout western Iceland, and buildings in Reykjavik were evacuated. Continuing aftershocks are being felt.
Heavy blog traffic in Iceland, on this, but no immediate reports of serious damage or injury, mostly "yeah I felt it too" and "was it bigger than the 'quake of 2000"
Seems like…
catdynamics | May 28, 2008The Kavli Prize in astrophysics, for 2008, has been won by Maarten Schmidt of Caltech and Donald Lynden-Bell of Cambridge.
This is the first time the Kavli Prize is awarded, a biannual $1 million prize awarded in astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience.
The nanoscience went to Brus and Iijima, and the neuro prize to Rakic, Jessell and Grillner.
Schmidt and Lynden-Bell get the prize for the discovery of quasars and the elucidation of the basic mechanism for powering quasars, namely accretion onto a supermassive black hole.
The Prizes will be awarded in September at a ceremony in Oslo.…
catdynamics | May 27, 2008The Howard Hughes Institute just handed out $10 million to a select group of 56 biomed researchers. Each.
Focus is on risky long term research on large scale health and public health issues.
These are junior and early mid-career researchers, with 4-10 year experience as faculty. Appointment is for 5 years initially, so the mean funding level is just over $2 million per year per investigator.
Should help the tenure case for the junior end of the range... awardees were chosen from a list of about 1000 applicants.
HHMI press release
Bio of the new investigators
The affiliation of the…
catdynamics | May 26, 2008Where in that world is Phoenix
JPL Phoenix news site
Animation zooming in on Phoenix landing site starting from Olympus
Large movie showing Phoenix environs - zoom over the strip image to the horizon
Planetary Society blog is your source for all things Martian
catdynamics | May 26, 2008The Phoenix mission will only last about 90 days.
Starting to feel like they will be very intense 90 days, for some people.
HIRISE camera on MRO capture Phoenix parachute descent through Martian atmosphere
Oblique view - 0.76 m resolution from 310 km
That's kinda cool.
catdynamics | May 25, 2008In a persons life, there are often formative moments. Turning points, pivotal points, revelations, or times when a stance had to be taken.
Weblogs, by their nature are casual things, where the writer may try to give the audience insight into where they come from; a more dynamic relationship than most traditional written media, and more multimedia.
Here is one of the key formative moments in my life.
Hissing Sid is Innocent!
catdynamics | May 25, 2008The Phoenix Mars Lander landed successfully.
Yay JPL...!
JPL press release
Phoenix mission page
The ground at the landing site...
The polygonal patterns, seen from orbit previously, are suggestive of subsurface water ice that may have melted and refrozen repeatedly.
The lander will dig under the soil and sample water ice and look for organics.
The View - big picture...
First look...
Close up.
GNXP got there first
catdynamics | May 23, 2008Friday, sunny friday - and for some a time to party, celebrate, remember, remember, remember...
So, Oh Mighty iPod: we ask you The Question on everyones' mind, that Most Important Question of all right now - how will Fullkomið Líf, Iceland's long awaited Eurovision finalist act, fare in the final?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Are You Satisfied? - Jesus Jones
The Crossing: Truth No. 2 - Dixie Chicks
The Crown: Face of Wood - Modern English
The Root: Ég Er Bara Eins Og Ég Er - Stuðmenn
The Past: Lorelei - The Pogues
The Future: Refavísur - Bessi Bjarnason
The Questioner…
catdynamics | May 23, 2008Yo XMM users.
The XMM Project Scientist wants feedback on Senior Review recommendations.
Now.
Here is the XMM proposal to the Senior Review Panel.
Here is a link (pdf) to the full text of the review, now up on nasa.gov
catdynamics | May 23, 2008Eurovision 2008 this saturday night!
And Iceland made the final...? First time ever?
Well, it is better than American Idol, far as I can tell.
Now we will see if the Scandinavian alliance can pull in some of the other votes to overcome the Balkan block.
Geopolitics at its best.
And, for posterity - Dustin the Turkey with "Douze Pointe"
Go Ireland!
And it still beats American Idol...