Monday Science Links

This week's science:

• Mike at The Questionable Authority looks at volcano monitoring in the context of the stimulus, and the wider context: I've already talked about the basic dishonesty Bobby Jindal exhibited when he took a swipe at the mention of "volcano monitoring" in the stimulus - Jindal claimed that there was $140 million in there for "volcano monitoring", when it's actually only one of a number of projects listed under that line - but there's something more important that I didn't discuss. I took a swipe at the messenger, but what about the message? Jindal may be a liar, but that doesn't make him wrong. He is wrong, of course. He delivered the argument dishonestly, but the argument still fails on the merits. Volcano monitoring is a legitimate governmental function, and it would still be a good investment even if we were spending the entire $140 million on nothing but monitoring.


• John at archy posts on mastodon nightmares: The Americans enthusiastically adopted the idea of the killer mastodon. Almost every Indian legend about giants or monsters was called forth as proof that the beasts had once prowled the same land where rustic frontiersmen were setting down roots. In his Notes on Virginia Thomas Jefferson, citing those legends, argued that the monster must still exist in the far north or west of the continent. The only reason for its current absence in the East, he went on, was that the Indians had exterminated its food supply when they were given guns and incorporated into the fur trade. The image of a carnivorous elephant lurking in the forests of America inspired some wonderfully purple prose...


• Amanda, aka Dr Astropixie, says goodbye, evening star: while the moon has passed by venus in our evening sky during the last several months, this will be our last opportunity to see the evening alignment for a while. next month, venus will pass between the earth and the sun so that it will rise in the morning sky for the rest of the year! venus will not be our "evening star" again until 2010!


• Lee at Cocktail Party Physics looks at recent claims that Iran has enriched uranium: One surefire way to panic the heck out of people is to mention nuclear bombs and radical Islam in the same sentence. I dunno about you, but I kinda had a mini-freakout when I read about the amount of enriched uranium the United Nations says that Iran has at its disposal for bomb making. It was hard not to, with the alarming headlines: the LA Times said "IRAN HAS ENOUGH FUEL FOR A NUCLEAR BOMB, REPORT SAYS"; the New York Times was a little more low-key: "IRAN HAS MORE ENRICHED URANIUM THAN THOUGHT." Coupled with our mostly ignorant, media-induced fear of all things Muslim, this was a briefly heart-stopping revelation. But as is true of any story told by any human being, it's the framing that counts. Both reports, in their xenophobia, downplayed the fact that the enriched uranium Iran possesses has only been enriched by 4% (reactor grade), while bomb-worthy uranium must be at least 85% enriched. ... So what does that mean, exactly? How much is "enough" weapons-grade uranium? And how much more work would it be for Iran to enrich that reactor-grade uranium to bomb-making level? And how easy would it be to spot it?


• Craig McClain at Deep Sea News looks at the fish with the transparent skull: The barreleye (Macropinna microstoma) has extremely light-sensitive eyes that can rotate within a transparent, fluid-filled shield on its head. The fish’s tubular eyes are capped by bright green lenses. The eyes point upward (as shown here) when the fish is looking for food overhead. They point forward when the fish is feeding. The two spots above the fish’s mouth are are olfactory organs called nares, which are analogous to human nostrils. In the second image, you can see that, although the barreleye is facing downward, its eyes are still looking straight up. This close-up “frame grab” from video shows a barreleye that is about 140 mm (six inches) long
  

Enjoy!