Access to caves being restricted...

by government agencies: Bat Disease Threatens to Close America’s Caves.

Unfortunately the article does little to indicate if it has been proven that contaminated clothing is a significant vector in the spread of the bat-killing fungus. While conservation and protection of bats is important, where's the science in support of this policy?

The father of fractal geometry...

has passed away: “He Gave Us Order Out of Chaos” — R.I.P. Benoît Mandelbrot, 1924-2010.

Inside and out...

of the International Space Station.  An excellent and comprehensive graphic.

360-degree view from the summit...

of Mount Saint Helens.  Very nicely done, and very cool.

Um, never mind...

Doubt Cast on Existence of Potentially Habitable Planet Gliese 581g

Here's my earlier related post on this recently discovered (?) but yet unconfirmed exoplanet.

Milepost ahead...

on the search for exoplanets: 500th Alien Planet Could Be Discovered This Month.  The count stands at 494 extrasolar planets as of today.  Stay tuned.

Wise words...

New ideas pass through three periods: It can't be done. It probably can be done, but it's not worth doing. I knew it was a good idea all along!

-- Arthur C. Clarke

10/10/10...

is a wonderfully simple and binary shorthand for today, the 10th of October, 2010. Enjoy using it while you can.

Personally, I can hardly wait until 11/11/11. But 12/12/12 still seems a long way off.

Time lapse tour de force...

Timelapse Montage from Mike Flores.  Stunning astrophotography, best viewed fullscreen with the sound turned up.

The Pleistocene was a good vintage...

Glacial Terroir

Where in the solar system...

are the many and various spacecraft that have been hurled from Earth?  The Planetary Society provides a convenient summary:  What's Up in the Solar System in October 2010.

Be prepared for the living dead...

with this shopping list:  Zombie Apocalypse Survival Supplies.

Amazing caves around the world...

pictured in a photogallery.

RELATED:  The 7 Longest Caves in the World.

Describing dirt with sed/strat students...

during a terrific autumn afternoon at the Key Rock aggregate pit just a short distance down the road from the EWU campus (click to enlarge).  We're actually examining unconsolidated sands and gravels of Pleistocene age, deposited by the glacial outburst floods that periodically swept eastern Washington, creating the Channeled Scablands.

Ice Age Floods Institute lecture...

this coming Monday, 11 October 2010, at 7 pm in the Lair Auditorium, Spokane Community College:

"Some Springs and Fossil Discoveries
in Washington Territory"

Charles T. Luttrell
Washington State Parks Archaeologist

During the late 1870s, numerous fossils were recovered from natural springs located within the northern Palouse Hills--an area mostly bypassed by the many Glacial Lake Missoula outburst floods. Columbia mammoths are the best known specimens, but other species include bison, antelope, and deer. Some spring locales also contained prehistoric artifacts. The Palouse Hills sub-region is a unique environment whose potential to contain extinct fauna and other discoveries is largely unrealized.

Mr. Luttrell has over 20 years of experience with the archaeology, history, and historic preservation of the Pacific Northwest. Formerly a contract archaeologist associated with Archaeologist & Historical Services, Eastern Washington University, Mr. Luttrell presently assists the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission with cultural resources in the state parks.

Science geeks get no respect...

Sunday Night Innovation: Why Scientists Should Be the Real Role Models

Operator error, not GPS failure...

Don't Look Down: White Van and Driver Airlifted to Safety After Satnav Error Sends Him to Top of Mountain

Reminds me of this story.

UPDATE and BUMPED:  GPS Directs Driver to Death in Spain's Largest Reservoir.  Yikes.  It's like the machines are out to get us.

Final external fuel tank...

for Space Shuttle Endeavour, the last shuttle ever to fly, has been delivered to Cape Kennedy (click to enlarge).   The last shuttle mission (STS-134) is scheduled to launch in February 2011 and will carry spare parts to the International Space Station (ISS).  Thereafter, US astronauts will have to hitch a lift to the ISS from the Russian Space Agency.

Here's a photogallery that documents this depressing event, the beginning of the end of US manned spaceflight for the foreseeable future.

Stereo viewing made easy...

using lunar photographs as examples: Look Ma! No Glasses!

What I'm reading...

right now:  On Food and Cooking - the Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee.

This encyclopedic work on culinary science isn't really meant to be read, chapter by chapter, but explored by "dipping" into various sections depending on your curiosity at the moment.  If you enjoy food  - the joyous intermingling of water, protein, fat and carbs - and are a serious science geek, then you'll definitely appreciate this tome.

Hat tip:  RT.  Thanks for the gift!

An image of Earth...

from space showing the southwestern US (click to enlarge).  The Grand Canyon and Lake Mead are seen in the lower left, with the Mojave Desert, Basin and Range and Sierra Nevada Mountains also featured prominently.  Here's more information about this image.

Image credit:   Astronaut photograph ISS024-E-14071 taken 9 September 2010;  NASA, Johnson Space Center.

Extremophiles, world's weirdest life...

in an image gallery.  Tough little buggers.

The geology of Yellowstone...

explained in a terrific infographic.

They say a lot of things...

Winter Could be a Whopper, Forecasters Say

I guess we'll see.  Snowfall statistics for the Inland Northwest during La Niña conditions can be found here.

A close encounter with Comet 103P/Hartley 2...

will occur later this month when the glowing object passes within 11.2 million miles of Earth on 20 October 2010.  It's already visible in small telescopes and binoculars, and it should become a naked eye object if observed from a rural location.  More information about its rapid approach can be found here and here.

NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft is already beaming back images of this target object, and should pass within about 600 miles of Hartley 2 in early November.  Stay tuned for more images!

UPDATE:  Here's an excellent finder chart and, for astro geeks, ephemeris data.

Astronomer dispenses with the scientific method...

and leaps to an unsupported conclusion:  '100 percent' chance for life on newly found planet?  More technical article here: First "Potentially Habitable" Planet Announced.

Indeed, why bother with actually doing the hard science when one can generate sensational headlines with a ridiculous proclamation made with no evidence whatsoever?  For the record, this is what it would take:  If There's Life on Alien Planet Gliese 581g, How Do We Find It?

Twittering nitwits forecast earthquake...

in southern California:  Thursday's Predicted Earthquake Downgraded to Hoax.  The USGS responded appropriately with a tweet of its own: 

"Seeing many tweets on quake prediction. Folks, let's set the record straight...no one can predict quakes...no one http://go.usa.gov/xA9."

Aliens have landed at EWU...

and here's the indisputable evidence captured on film, er, digitally:

It's not clear if the Visitors are posing as students (or faculty?) and infiltrating classes.  Perhaps the anticipatory stance recently taken by the Vatican and UN for greeting ET were appropriate after all?

Actually, this is an advertising stunt to promote the library fundraiser on 16 October 2010 at EWU's Kennedy Library, seen behind the landing craft in the image above.

EWU Geology Club...

will meet every Tuesday at 11:30 am in SCI 118 during fall term.

UN to appoint ET ambassador...

in preparation for first contact with aliens:  United Nations to Appoint Alien Ambassador?

This is interesting, especially following the recent announcement that a papal astronomer would baptize an alien if it/he/she asked him to do so.  Is there something happening that we don't know about?

Like Fox Mulder, I want to believe.

How to fossilize yourself...

for future generations.

I've always thought that being entombed by a turbidity current in a deep (anoxic) basin would favor long-term preservation.

What I'm reading...

right now:  Bear Attacks - the Deadly Truth by J. G. Shelton.

Hat tip:  EG

RELATED:  Zucchini Handy for Fending Off Bear Attack

Saturnian aurora...

captured by Cassini in this false-color image of the south polar region of the ringed planet (click to enlarge).  Read more about the new views here.

It's field work Friday...

again, and I anticipate finding the lowest groundwater levels in the Rathdrum Prairie aquifer for the year when I make my measurements in six monitoring wells later today.

UPDATE:  Equipment problems prevented me from making a full round of measurements.  I'll fix the sounder and try again in two weeks.

'Year of the Bat' program...

launched by the United Nations.

Remember:  Bats need friends.

Some geoscientists need to get a life...

Scientists Uncover Skull From Horniest Dinosaur Ever

Hat tip: LS

Trip reports describing my voyage...

this summer across the Bering Sea with Zegrahm Expeditions are now on-line:

• Northern Ring of Fire: The Bering Sea & Aleutians
• Northern Ring of Fire: Kamchatka & The Kurils

Enjoy!

Tonight's Harvest Moon accompanies...

the change in seasons: Watch Out for the Super Harvest Moon.

The autumnal equinox occurs this evening, at 8:09 PDT, when we make the transition from northern summer to fall.

The fully assembled 1:72 scale model...

of the Space Shuttle Discovery is nothing less than spectacular as it sits in my office, a birthday gift from my nieces and nephew from earlier in the year. The detail is quite impressive, and there are a number of see-through components.

Very cool. Thanks, kids!

It's back to my day job...

this week after six months of active travel and high adventure. Classes resume this Wednesday at EWU and I always enjoy the beginning of fall term, catching up with faculty colleagues, chatting with returning energized students, and the resumption of a predictable schedule.

Important things to do today: attend a department meeting, prepare the syllabus for strat/sed, and get a haircut. Don't want to overdo it.