Like some kind of albino scuba monkey spider!

It's horrid! Horrid I tell you!

Mmmmmm, phytoplankton bloom

What happens when there is an abundance of Co2 in the atmosphere? Ask these guys.

Dear human of the future, I am resentful of you and your kind

The Cassini program is an international cooperative effort involving NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), as well as several separate European academic and industrial contributors.

The wonderful success to-date of this mission gives some reason to feel proud to be a European.

I don’t personally take this little European approach to the project and remind readers that, once again, the USA proves itself capable of the most wonderful achievements in technology, planning, timing, brave risk taking (anyone else fancy flying through Saturn’s rings?), sharing and pin-point accuracy at huge distances while the Europeans manage to fall out of the skies.

Ok, that’s significantly unfair and, in truth, I also feel proud of ESAs achievement. However my pride is, more generally speaking, in us. People. Human people. We can be pretty gross sometimes but are also capable of things that are so mind bogglingly brilliant that one can’t help but gasp at the sheer magnificence of it all.

To think that it was not all that long ago that things like this were cutting edge and just about as cool as the human race could possibly be at the time, well, it certainly gives one reason to be hopeful for the future.

Hopeful and also resentful. I mean look; just over 100 years ago powered (heavier than air) flight was nothing but a pipe dream. Now we are hitting the moons of Saturn with probes. In another 100 years times we might be achieving things so phenomenally fantastic that they would leave a man of today shaking in awe and admiration. I’m pretty damn resentful that I won’t get to see any of that future goodness.

Damn future humans with their interstellar drives and purple hair.

I am as a God

To you I have given form. I have given you life and the gift of time. Look towards the heavens and revel in discovery, for this will make you great. Look to the Earth as it offers you its substance. From this you may build great machines and this will make you its master. Dwell upon who you are, who you were and who you may become. From this you will gain wisdom and understanding. Look to me and wonder how it has all come to be this way, for I cannot be forever and there is more to do. Ask yourselves how and why and what and if, and share what you have asked and how you have asked it. Share what you have discovered for there is reason in how it is done. Marvel at it. Destroy it, rebuild it, change it and re-make it for this is my plan.

And then it will be done and I will have fulfilled my bargain and you will have become as a God.

Textbook warnings

It's amazing what you stumble upon on the web.

This is just one of many of what look like warning stickers to be used on scientific text books.

Spaceships and cigars

I’ve not said much on this blog about SpaceShipOne and the achievements of Rutan and his mates but that does not mean to say that I am silent on the subject. Only last night I was out in the ‘courtyard’ with the Mrs. taking in a cigar when I looked up into the cloudy sky and said: man, that SpaceShipOne really rocks.

Via Boingboing, some photos.

A hot topic, global warming

Iain Murray writes about some seemingly less than diplomatic behaviour by Sir David King (chief scientific adviser to the British government) and his delegation at an international seminar on climate change and the Kyoto Protocol held in Moscow on July 7 and 8. It seems like the British delegation walked out after failing to, how shall I put this, gain more 'editorial control' over what was said at the seminar. In response to this behaviour, Andrei Illarionov (Adviser to the President, Russian Federation) remarked:

"It is not for us to give an assessment to what happened, but in our opinion the reputation of British science, the reputation of the British government, and the reputation of the title 'Sir' has sustained heavy damage."

This whole thing seems to have turned into a bit of a brawl. Illarionov, someone called Douma and Simon Ostrovsky, a reporter for the Moscow Times, trade 'blows' in this letter exchange.

Science was never this exciting when I was at school, though once one kid did melt the teacher's pen using a Bunsen burner.

Good luck rocketman

All this talk of space ships reminds me of that Star Trek film where there's that guy who builds and launches the first ship with that, you know, special engine. What was his name? Eddie Cochran or something.

The more I read about it the more special the day feels.

Good luck to the ground crew and good luck to Mike Melvill. I'm sure that he's done everything he can to ensure that the trip is a safe one but that doesn't stop him being a very brave man indeed.

Space is not just for spacemen

In the olden days it took countries to send rockets into space. Things are a little different now, it seems, as the worlds first amature rocket to make the trip is launched

"It just roared off the pad and flew into space," said rocketeer and CSXT avionics manager Eric Knight.

Private enterprise and amateurs are great aren't they? As soon as the privately owned firm Scaled Composites gets to the edge of space with their SpaceshipOne we have another bunch of guys who build a rocket able to shoot it down.

The animals are to blame

So we begin to see the results of the tactics historically used by the less well behaved members of animal rights groups:

About 10,000 UK-based employees of BOC Group, the big listed industrial gases company, have won wide-ranging protections against animal rights campaigners.

This is not an isolated example as another nine companies have successfully applied for such orders over the past year.

I have mixed feelings about this as protest activity is a good and proper tool in a democracy. However, there is an important lesson to be learnt here. If your cause becomes associated with violent activity (albeit the activity of a minority of thugs) then it is your cause that will suffer.

Frankly I don’t think that animals have been served particularly well over the past decade or two and some animal rights groups need to look inwards to understand why.

Large blue, how are you?

The outrageous demand for cereal crops and carrots by vegetarians in the 1970’s contributed to the extinction of the large blue butterfly in the UK by 1979. Now, thanks significantly to the activities of meat eating scientists and conservationists, the large blue is making a comeback.

Isn’t this good news?

Via Glenn Reynolds we have Jay Manifold blogging on a possible asteroid impact on the Earth 500 years ago. This ‘roid was quite possible a full kilometre in diameter.

So, why is this good news? Well, it’s all down to statistics really. The experts tell us that such a ‘roid should hit us every one hundred thousand years or so (if memory serves) and that we are long overdue. Well, now it seems that we are not. Yay!

Disclaimer: Some statistics are wrong. Also, we may be hit by a large asteroid again and soon regardless of how recently we have been hit. We will not accept any litigation arising from asteroid strikes on you or your property caused either directly or indirectly by decisions you make based upon the observation made by The England Project above. Space is big and dangerous and the Earth, whilst mostly harmless, is a target for other stone throwing celestial bodies such as Jupiter, which has never really liked us.

Mother Nature's perfect timing

Accipiter nisus Vs Turdus migratorius and this time it's personal:

Birdwatchers from all over Britain who gathered in Grimsby to catch sight of a rare American robin were horrified to see her eaten by a passing sparrowhawk.

Fecking right wing sparrowhawks, Lording it up at the expense of yer working class immigrant robin. Something must be done.

Artist's impression

NASA rocks – but not my world

From the dawn of time, that is ever since I can remember, I have been interested in all things astronomical. Mars in particular has been the source of some fascination for me probably due to a combination of its prominence in various sci-fi novels and its potential for exploration.

This means that I have been taking more than a passing interest in all the various missions to Mars and all the bits and bobs and scraps reported in the news. This interest has altered my perception and expectations of the planet over the years and I find it interesting how my position has changed.

I have moved from a position of potential surprise should it be found that Mars once had great seas and lakes of water to a position of surprise if it did not. This expectation changed some years back.

Another change is that of the chances of life being discovered. My position here changed in line with my expectations of the discovery of standing and free flowing water and confirmed microbial discoveries would no longer be a surprise for me.

This all makes me somewhat jaded. Reports like this one (Mars rocks once 'water drenched') just continue to confirm something I have already made my mind up about which is why I am finding it hard to get excited about the whole thing.

For me, what this whole Mars and solar system exploration business is missing is the WOW event. Something unexpected. Something amazing.

This just in - Mother Nature not doomed shocker

Bjørn Lomborg is not a scary right wing American according to Michael Jennings:

...but has precisely the quality of sincerity and genuine concern that a lot of his opponents like to believe that they have a monopoly of. And this, more than anything is what I think they find so threatening.

A very interesting report of what looks like a very interesting lecture delivered by the author of The Skeptical Environmentalist, a book described by sableunadorned (an amazon reviewer from Bristol in the UK) as:

...a nice, cosy hole in the sand for ostriches to stick their heads into.

which just goes to show that not only is it environmentally sound but it's also very animal friendly.

The BBC reports on the same lecture Michael Jennings was at, closing with:

It appears as if this stormy relationship is set to worsen. Dr Lomborg's Environmental Assessment Institute will host a major conference called Copenhagen Consensus at the end of May.

Its aim is to bring together leading opinion formers, scientists and academics to hammer out what problems facing the world should really be at the top of the agenda.

Guess what? Greenpeace are not invited.

A most excellent ending by the BBC who, funnily enough, never seem to close with "Guess what? The gun lobby are not invited." whenever the Gun Control Network have a meeting.

You know who you've got to love?

Those amateur astronomers, that's who.

Astronomers have revealed how they came within minutes of alerting the world to a potential asteroid strike last month.

A JPL researcher sent out an email saying that the asteroid had a 25% chance of striking the Earth's northern hemisphere in a few days and others were on the verge of phoning the president of the USA.

Cut to scenes of the president making an address to the nation. Then a momentary silence in the press room followed by shouted questions, arm waving, weeping from the back row.

Then all the news outlets go into overdrive with the BBC suggesting that the unnecessary war in Iraq is likely to mean that we have missed our chance to stop the rock. If only the Americans had been concentrating and had seen it earlier!

Aljazeera goes into a frenzy, blaming the Christians and the Jews for bringing down the wrath of God upon us. They name the rock Saddam's Hammer.

But no, wait, here comes the amateur astronomer:

Fortunately for all concerned, shortly after the ominous Chesley e-mail, an amateur astronomer managed to dodge the clouds and take a picture of a blank patch of sky.

This was significant because if 2004 AS1 really was going to hit the Earth, it would have been in the amateur's sights. The fact that it was absent meant the rock would not strike us.

Bless all you amateur astronomers. Bless you.

Sparrow decline

Apparently much of the blame has been placed on an irresponsible and elitist minority who hunt these beautiful birds with felines.

Experts think the sparrow population may be dwindling because we keep too many cats or because modern gardens are too neat and tidy, leaving nowhere for the birds to roost.

If the problem is the former then one has to wonder about the advice being given:

A government campaign advises people on enticing the creatures back to gardens after a slump in numbers to about 13 million from a 1970s peak of 25 million.

Tips include leaving out food, avoiding mowing lawns intensively during the summer and leaving small, weedy patches.

Sounds like they're trying to create better hunting grounds to me.

Stunning Mars Express images

I am very impressed with the images being released by the European Space Agency. Go here for a selection.

Visit this site for more information on Mars Express.

How to be lucky

Here's an interesting article on luck by professor Richard Wiseman in which he discusses an experiment that he conducted into why some people are consistently lucky whereas others are not. He identifies certain characteristics of lucky people and provides the following 4 point plan to increase your own luck:

Listen to your gut instincts - they are normally right

Be open to new experiences and breaking your normal routine

Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well

Visualise yourself being lucky before an important meeting or telephone call. Luck is very often a self-fulfilling prophecy

My current gut instincts are to not change a thing and to stick to my normal routine. I'm not sure what that means.

A new kind of tree hugger

This makes me want to go and hug a tree.

The Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation has today repudiated findings by the Danish Committees on Scientific Dishonesty (DSCD) that Bjørn Lomborg’s book “The Skeptical Environmentalist” was “objectively dishonest” or “clearly contrary to the standards of good scientific practice.”

"Yes tree, it's true, you are much better than they said you were."
"No, those other people seem to have made it up."
"There there, don't worry, there's a new kind of tree hugger in town and they know science!"