The Norwegians have opened a new observatory on the island of Svalbard, called the Kjell Henriksen Observatory. The Arctic lab, about 78 degrees north, has instruments from 16 institutions from 7 different countries. It will primarily focus on visual observations, but will be able to do other things, such as launch radar rockets into the arora borealis, and due to their extreme latitude and long periods of darkness, explore daytime arora.

• Northern Lights Lab

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As I sit and watch the snow fall, I find this article very intriguing. It’s pretty common knowledge that clouds need seeding, the results of which tend to be either rain or snow, or something in between. I’m used to thinking of the seeding material, or aerosols, as being very small bits of dust, non-biological dust. But, apparently, bacteria contribute to the aerosol composition, as well as fungi and algae. In fact, it seems that the presence of bacteria tends to cause water to freeze out at a higher temperature, and scientists think this is part of a strategy that the bacteria use to attack their hosts. In one case, bacteria can cause water on plants to freeze at a higher temperature, causing the plants to suffer tissue damage, making it easier for the bacteria to feed.

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Wikepedia has become a resource on the web, in a fairly short period of time. Sure, it isn’t perfect, and the knowledgeable know to be wary of what is written there, as self-interest often biases the information content. I’m hoping that the ‘Encyclopedia of Life’, created in the Wikepedia way, will be a very useful tool to catalog life, hopefully without the political meddling that taints its inspiration. The site is a bit slow right now, but that is due to its currently immense popularity and newness. It offers an impressive scientific level of detail, crisp images and even video of the creatures it covers. Let us hope this site flourishes!

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What can I say? Savage vedge (not Savage Love)…at your service.

• Alien Veg-I-Eat-You

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It would be nice to think that if one really tried, escaping the pollution of urban and suburban areas would simply require getting as far away from them as possible. This, apparently, is not true. A very comprehensive 6-year study done by the US federal government has shown high levels of mercury and DDT in places such as Olympic, Sequoia, and Denali National Parks. Some of the mercury has been attributed to pollution from coal-burning plants in China that has drifted over to the US, attached to rain or snow, eventually falling on high-altitude, mountainous regions. The report also details the levels of contamination of fish, and fish-eating wildlife.

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It seems that the French have their own water problems, just like we do here all over the United States. The Rhone river is apparently in very bad shape, especially when it comes to the level of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the river, and in the fish that swim in it. The government has forbidden fish harvest for human consumption because the level of PCBs found in them is 10-12 times the safe limit. The government also had a hand in this, as it ran an industrial waste processing center on the Rhone’s banks, called Tredi, and dumped PCBs directly into the river. Trust no one, not the government (any of them), not corporations or businesses. If you really want to know if your water is safe, or if your fish has toxins in it, get the stuff tested yourself, and then, you have a chance of knowing. The high level of PCBs in the Rhone was discovered by a local fisherman, who sent some of his fish off to be tested as a ‘just in case’ sort of thing, and wound up inadvertently eliminating his livelihood.

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Our last best hope? At least part of humanity is very concerned about preserving one of Earth’s greatest treasures, the biodiversity that has evolved on this planet over the millenia. A repository, or vault, has been created near the Arctic Ocean, in Norway, to preserve seeds from all across the world, in hopes that we can keep safe these priceless results of evolution from destructive forces such as drought, disease, catastrophic disasters, and of course, humanity itself.

• Seed Vault

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Talk like a physicist. Yes, and why not? Here is a website that celebrates doing such a thing, and proudly, too! Oh, and don’t forget ‘Talk Like a Physicist Day’, which is March 14th, 2008. Why March 14th? It’s Einstein’s birthday, of course!

• Talk Like a Physicist

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It seems that the number of wolves has increased from around none to 1,500, in an area encompassing Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Wooptie. Those are some very big, low population western states, and there are three of them. And now, they’re planning on opening up hunting for them. Wow. What kind of pathetic beings nearly wipe out a species, and then barely hold off until there are less than 2,000 of them to start killing them again? I’ve heard the crying stories before, about how inconvenient these creatures are. I just think we humans are weak and pathetic if we feel the need kill down everything that makes our lives a touch less easy or safe. After all, there are only over 6 BILLION of us.

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Ah yes, nothing like a nice swim in warm, Florida waters. Just, mind the sewage discharge. Yes, I know some claim that there is no effect on the Atlantic ecosystem, but, I think most of those types really don’t want to find any problems, because, as in most cases, finding a link to these sewage discharges and environmental damage means dollar signs, lots of them. Water, water, water everywhere, except, most of it is a touch too salty. Water conservation, decontamination and rehabilitation will be one of the big issues of this century, and I think the problems that we are currently up against have snuck up on some of us, especially Americans. Sure, we’ve had droughts before, but, one thing is for certain, we’ve never had this many people living in the US, and as the population rises, so do the water needs for drinking, growing food and generating power, among other things. We have to get cracking on these issues, and I mean yesterday!

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