Endless mysteries lurk in the depths of space. To pare the list down to eight—now, there’s a challenge

These findings show that Matson and his JPL colleagues have made little progress explaining how Io’s volcanoes could last for billions of years since our first story on Creation-Evolution Headlines 12 years ago (see 8/16/2000).

• These findings show that Matson and his JPL colleagues have made little progress explaining how Io’s volcanoes could last for billions of years since our first story on Creation-Evolution Headlines 12 years ago (see 8/16/2000).

Saturn’s Enceladus:  Saturn’s geyser moon Enceladus (a.k.a. Cold Faithful) continues to baffle planetary scientists who need to keep the activity going billions of years.  Now, as reported by New Scientist, PhysOrg and other media outlets, the geysers produce a plasma unlike anything seen before: tiny dust grains that pick up negative ions from water molecules pumped out the geysers.  Moreover,  “It seems that Enceladus provides most of the plasma in the magnetic bubble, or magnetosphere, surrounding Saturn,” an astonishing influence for an Arizona-diameter moon to have over billions of cubic miles. Has this been going on for 4.5 billion years? 

• Saturn’s Enceladus:  Saturn’s geyser moon Enceladus (a.k.a. Cold Faithful) continues to baffle planetary scientists who need to keep the activity going billions of years.  Now, as reported by New Scientist, PhysOrg and other media outlets, the geysers produce a plasma unlike anything seen before: tiny dust grains that pick up negative ions from water molecules pumped out the geysers.  Moreover,  “It seems that Enceladus provides most of the plasma in the magnetic bubble, or magnetosphere, surrounding Saturn,” an astonishing influence for an Arizona-diameter moon to have over billions of cubic miles. Has this been going on for 4.5 billion years? 

Planetologists are typically reluctant to invoke special conditions that allow phenomena to commence near the time humans became available to observe them.

• Planetologists are typically reluctant to invoke special conditions that allow phenomena to commence near the time humans became available to observe them.

• Observers of planetary scientist psychology are sure to notice two conditioned responses peculiar to that sub-population of Homo sapiens: (1) an eagerness to connect any mention of water with life, and (2) a reluctance to discuss the age implications of small active bodies like Io and Enceladus.  Peculiar, indeed.

Nutcracker sweet:  The mantis shrimp won another gold medal after triumphing in the circularly-polarized eye competition.  PhysOrg, New Scientist and Live Science all gave it thumbs up for its club-like hammer claw, found to be the “strongest club in the world” able to deliver a force 1,000 times its own weight without breaking.  Not only that, the clubs accelerate to 10,000 g’s, have the fastest moving parts in the animal kingdom (23 m/sec), and are so durable they deliver a thousand blows before the next molt replaces them.

• Nutcracker sweet:  The mantis shrimp won another gold medal after triumphing in the circularly-polarized eye competition.  PhysOrg, New Scientist and Live Science all gave it thumbs up for its club-like hammer claw, found to be the “strongest club in the world” able to deliver a force 1,000 times its own weight without breaking.  Not only that, the clubs accelerate to 10,000 g’s, have the fastest moving parts in the animal kingdom (23 m/sec), and are so durable they deliver a thousand blows before the next molt replaces them.

Unsurprisingly, manufacturers of body armor are raising eyebrows with visions of joining the club.  Mantis shrimp use their weapons to break open molluscs and crabs.  They have been known to break aquarium glass with their little karate choppers.  The clubs survive breakage through construction with hard, then medium, then soft layers that distribute the force and inhibit cracks from forming.  The original paper in Science (8 June 2012) calls the claw “A Formidable Damage-Tolerant Biological Hammer.”

• Unsurprisingly, manufacturers of body armor are raising eyebrows with visions of joining the club.  Mantis shrimp use their weapons to break open molluscs and crabs.  They have been known to break aquarium glass with their little karate choppers.  The clubs survive breakage through construction with hard, then medium, then soft layers that distribute the force and inhibit cracks from forming.  The original paper in Science (8 June 2012) calls the claw “A Formidable Damage-Tolerant Biological Hammer.”

Al G. Lightner, NRG:  Algae and bacteria accomplish a feat green engineers drool over: the ability to harvest light efficiently for energy.  Artificial fuel cells need their secrets to make green energy competitive with fossil fuels (which, by the way, are by-products of plants that used photosynthesis to make the complex hydrocarbons).  PhysOrg reported on new attempts at Lawrence Livermore Labs to use X-ray diffraction to probe the secrets of Photosystem II, the plant antenna where the magic happens and water is decomposed into hydrogen, oxygen and electrons.  The article paid customary lip service to Mother Nature and long ages without explaining how the complex process arose:

• Al G. Lightner, NRG:  Algae and bacteria accomplish a feat green engineers drool over: the ability to harvest light efficiently for energy.  Artificial fuel cells need their secrets to make green energy competitive with fossil fuels (which, by the way, are by-products of plants that used photosynthesis to make the complex hydrocarbons).  PhysOrg reported on new attempts at Lawrence Livermore Labs to use X-ray diffraction to probe the secrets of Photosystem II, the plant antenna where the magic happens and water is decomposed into hydrogen, oxygen and electrons.  The article paid customary lip service to Mother Nature and long ages without explaining how the complex process arose: