A snowflake’s shape! Science!
I was stunned to find out that most/many people are unaware that Mars has polar ice caps. Here are three images; the first is the northern cap, Planum Boreum, from the Viking-1 mission, the second is Planum Boreum from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), and the third is the southern ice cap (Planum Australe, which sublimates each year) taken from Earth through a small 8” telescope.
Keep looking up!
Nicknamed the “Iceman,” Wim Hof is a Dutch adventurer and daredevil who ran an Arctic marathon at minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit while shirtless. He also holds the world record for being immersed in ice for an hour and 44 minutes. In 2007, he was able to survive for 72 minutes outdoors at the North Pole while wearing nothing but shorts.
A new low for Arctic sea ice for the summer of 2010. A new study out by the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey Institute shows that the understanding of climate change falls along party lines. Republicans think it either isn’t happening or that the changes are natural. Democrats tend to acknowledge that human activity is the primary cause.
This is a stark contrast to the scientific community’s unified stance regarding the warming of our planet.
“Although there remains active discussion among scientists on many details about the pace and effects of climate change, no leading science organization disagrees that human activities are now changing the Earth’s climate,” said study researcher Lawrence Hamilton, professor of sociology and senior fellow with the Carsey Institute. “The strong scientific agreement on this point contrasts with the partisan disagreement seen on all of our surveys.”
Look how cool this glacier is. It is called the Sverdrup Glacier in Nunavut, Canada.
Scientists in New Zealand have demonstrated that, on icy footpaths in wintertime, people slip and fall less often if they wear socks on the outside of their shoes. No really, here is a link to their research.
New radar images underneath the Antarctic ice shelf have surprised scientists. Once, we thought that the liquid under the glacier just lubricated them and sped their delivery to the sea. Now, they are seeing how the glaciers are growing and changing from the bottom of the ice shelf and even changing surface topography. Bottoms up, Antarctica! The next question is whether or not this is happening in Greenland, which we all know how important that gigantic ice sheet is for global climate.
More info: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/a-big-surprise-beneath-the-ice/?ref=science
