I wrote the title to the last post hastily and it came out poorly worded, but I might as well let the pun continue:
A.L. Sukstanskii,D.A. Yablonskiy, Journal of Thermal Biology
29, 7–8, October–December 2004, Pages 583–587
Just How Hot is Thought Anyway?
A.L. Sukstanskii,D.A. Yablonskiy, Journal of Thermal Biology
29, 7–8, October–December 2004, Pages 583–587
Earth’s Core Hotter than Thought
One of the ironies of our world is that the Earth’s core, although it is just shy of 4,000 miles away, is still harder to get to than, say, the Moon, nearly 240,000 miles away. (And of course our robotic exploratory probes can go much farther than that: Voyager 1 is still transmitting data from over 10 billion miles away.) The trouble with getting to the Earth’s center, of course, is its extreme heat and pressure. But if you can’t get there, you can still study such exotic places by recreating them in the laboratory. Here is a new study which concludes that the Earth’s core is likely about a thousand degrees hotter than previously thought, conducted by subjecting iron to core-like conditions within the lab.
The Earth’s core is iron-y, as concluded by various lines of evidence including analysis of the planet’s composition, the study of seismic waves and the geomagnetic field, etc.. Like other substances, iron’s phases are determined by its temperature and pressures. At the Earth’s core, substances are under conditions of extreme heat (which push most substances towards the liquid and gaseous phases) and extreme pressure (which generally pushes substances towards the solid phase.) By subjecting samples of iron to pressures up to 2.2 million atmospheres, researchers have been able to predict that at the pressure conditions at the Earth’s core, we should find iron at temperatures above 6000°C, or over 10,800°F. Previous calculations, based on a different laboratory technique critiqued in the new study, have resulted in a figure closer to 5000°C.
Read more from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility.
Image: ESRF
Br. Consolmagno on Science and Faith
Br. Guy Consolmagno, of the Vatican Observatory, discusses science and faith in a recent TED talk.
How Far is Mars?
This site will give you some idea: www.distancetomars.com
Notable Quote: Orwell on Spring
“If a man cannot enjoy the return of spring, why should he be happy in a labour-saving Utopia? What will he do with the leisure that the machine will give him? I have always suspected that if our economic and political problems are ever really solved, life will become simpler instead of more complex, and that the sort of pleasure one gets from finding the first primrose will loom larger than the sort of pleasure one gets from eating an ice to the tune of a Wurlitzer. I think that by retaining one’s childhood love of such things as trees, fishes, butterflies and — to return to my first instance — toads, one makes a peaceful and decent future a little more probable, and that by preaching the doctrine that nothing is to be admired except steel and concrete, one merely makes it a little surer that human beings will have no outlet for their surplus energy except in hatred and leader worship.
At any rate, spring is here, even in London N. 1, and they can’t stop you enjoying it. This is a satisfying reflection. How many a time have I stood watching the toads mating, or a pair of hares having a boxing match in the young corn, and thought of all the important persons who would stop me enjoying this if they could. But luckily they can’t. So long as you are not actually ill, hungry, frightened or immured in a prison or a holiday camp, spring is still spring. The atom bombs are piling up in the factories, the police are prowling through the cities, the lies are streaming from the loudspeakers, but the earth is still going round the sun, and neither the dictators nor the bureaucrats, deeply as they disapprove of the process, are able to prevent it.”
- George Orwell
From one of my all-time favorite essays, “Some thoughts on the common toad“. The image, of cherry trees in blossom, was taken in my in-laws front yard just this past week.
Upcoming Vatican Stem Cell Conference
The Vatican Information Service reports:
“Vatican City, 5 April 2013 (VIS) – This morning in the Holy See Press Office, a press conference was held to present the Second International Vatican Adult Stem Cell Conference, “Regenerative Medicine: A Fundamental Shift in Science & Culture”, which will place in the new Synod Hall of the Paul VI building in the Vatican from 11–13 April. Participating in the press conference were: Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture; Dr. Robin Smith, president of The Stem for Life Foundation and CEO of NeoStem; and Msgr. Tomasz Trafny, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture’s Science and Faith foundation.
[...]
[Msgr. Trafny explained,] “We want “to have a cultural influence on society, pointing to research models of excellence that are, nevertheless, in tune with the highest moral values of protecting the life and dignity of the human being from the moment of conception. However, we are aware that you cannot permanently influence society and culture without the constant and far-sighted support that comes from religious, social, and political leaders, from the community of entrepreneurs and from benefactors who are ready to commit to developing long-term scientific, bioethical, and cultural research.”
More information is also available from Zenit.
Mars on the Far Side
There are five probes actively exploring the Martian surface and beaming back data: the rovers Opportunity and Curiosity, and the orbiters Mars Express, Mars Odyssey, and the Mars Reconaissance Orbiter. This month, however, communications between Earth and the various probes will be kept to a minimum. Mars is now in conjunction with the Sun, meaning that it is on the opposite side of the solar system as Earth, with the Sun almost directly between the two planets. Next week, on April 17th, Mars will make its closest approach (as viewed from Earth) to the Sun, passing only 0.4 degrees away. To reduce the chance of the spacecraft receiving garbled instructions, communications to the probes and rovers are restricted whenever Mars comes within 2 degrees of the Sun. The spacecraft will continue to make observations, however, and data will be stored onboard for transmission back to Earth once Mars emerges into the clear.
Image: NASA/JPL
Drycopus pileatus
This gal—I think it’s a gal—has been poking around the yard a lot the past week: Drycopus pileatus, a pileated woodpecker. Both sexes have similar coloring, but the male’s crest is a bit bigger and brighter. Also, males have distinctive red stripes running from the bill to the neck, which are black in females (see here, for example.)
And if you want to know what she’s been up to, just compare the tree on which she is sitting to the one on the left.
A Double-Peaked Solar Cycle?
Science@NASA reports:
“Something unexpected is happening on the sun. 2013 is supposed to be the year of Solar Max, the peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle. Yet 2013 has arrived and solar activity is relatively low. Sunspot numbers are well below their values in 2011, and strong solar flares have been infrequent for many months.
The quiet has led some observers to wonder if forecasters missed the mark. Solar physicist Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center has a different explanation:
“This is solar maximum,” he suggests. “But it looks different from what we expected because it is double peaked.”
Tuscany Press Free E-book
Being of the writerly sort myself, I am eager to encourage Catholic letters, so I’m happy to pass on this message I have received from Tuscany Press about their collection of selected short stories from their 2012 contest for the Tuscany Prize for Catholic Fiction. If I understand correctly, an e-book format of the collection will be available for free tomorrow, Tue.-Wed., April 3rd and 4th only. Follow this link for more.
