The headline is partly a reference to moon bases, and partly a shout-out to Donald J. Trump and the GOP alt-right, who have collectively turned assault and battery into a campaign asset to be proudly treasured. The image is from closer to home and an article over at EarthSky about changes in the Great Ocean Conveyor:
According to scientists, a sudden catastrophe is very unlikely. But it’s true that places along the northern Atlantic Ocean – eastern North America and western Europe – have milder climates than expected for their latitudes because of ocean currents that carry warm water from the tropics northward. What’s more, a recent study published in the peer-reviewed journal Geophysical Research Letters does indicate that these warm currents have been slowing since at least 2004, confirming a trend suspected before then from spottier data.
- Closer to sanity and decency, this week, President Obama weighed in on the importance of science, and specifically the effort to explore and settle our solar system:
That's one of the reasons why, in my first address as President to the American people, I vowed to return science to its rightful place. In our first few months, my administration made the largest single investment in basic research in our history, and I went to the Kennedy Space Center to call for re-imagining and reinvigorating our space program to explore more of our solar system and look deeper into the universe than ever.
- Skeptic and science-blogger Ed Brayton lists a partial review of Trump’s dishonesty in the last debate, which seems like decades ago, in Night of the Zombie Lies: part 1, part 2, and part 3.
- Samsung is throwing in the towel on their Galaxy Note 7 after reports that it and its replacement burst into flames.
- With the private space race to Mars—and beyond!—some feel the moon has gotten short shrift. There could be some advantages for colonists of our nearest neighbor, not the least of which they are relatively nearby in the event of big trouble, and could have some conditions for farming:
As it turns out, the Moon has some advantages over Mars, especially if you can plant your garden in a habitat or greenhouse on its summits of sunlight at the poles. Yes, it is rather chilly there, at -30° C (-22 °F), but there is no weather, good or bad, and the vacuum of space is a good insulator …