Volcanic Ash on Mars (Air Traffic Unaffected)

Airborne volcanic ash has once again been obstructing air traffic over Europe this past week. This would be an even bigger problem on Mars, where ash particles travel much farther due to weak gravity and a thin atmosphere. (Luckily, Mars does not have much air travel at this time).

Does Mars have volcanoes? You bet! The Red Planet is home to the biggest volcano known to man. Olympus Mons rises 27 km above the median Martian surface level. This makes it three times taller than Earth’s Mount Everest! And it is 2.6 times taller than Mauna Kea measured from the base on the ocean floor to the top!

I wonder how long it will be until human mountaineers summit Olympus Mons for the first time. It would be a long and strenuous climb, but all equipment would weigh only 38% of its heft on Earth. It seems far fetched, but I would be willing to bet that some day in the distant future, explorers will seek out the challenge of climbing the tallest mountain in the Solar System on foot.

But back to volcanic ash. Today, ESA released some amazing images of volcanic ash deposits in the Meridiani Planum, as seen by the Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera.

Meridiani Planum, a plain at the northern edge of the southern highlands of Mars, is half way between the volcanic Tharsis Region to the west and the low-lying Hellas Planitia impact basin to the south-east. Through a telescope, Meridiani Planum is a striking, dark feature, close to the martian equator.

It extends 127 km by 63 km and covers an area of roughly 8000 km², which is about the size of Cyprus. It was chosen as a central reference point for Mars’ geographical coordinate system. So the martian prime meridian, the equivalent of the Greenwich, UK, prime meridian on Earth, has been set to run through this region.

Click image for hi-res version. Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum).

In the center of this image is a 50 km wide impact crater. The black material appears to be volcanic ash composed of pyroxene and olivine. Martian winds must have whipped some of the stuff out of the crater and plunked it down in the region on the upper left. More ash was tossed into a smaller impact crater in the 10 o’clock position.

Volcanoes are not unique to Earth. Unmanned spacecraft have even found signs of active volcanic activities on moons such as Io, Enceladus, Triton and Europa.

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A Hairy Solution to Oil Spills

I just looked it up: 12 years ago I wrote a story on how human hair could be used to soak up spilled oil. (My article was published in a German science magazine, but I could not find a digital version posted online). What sounds like a hair-brained idea actually has merit.

Looks like after the terrible (and still ongoing) spillage in the Gulf of Mexico, the concept is being talked about again. It was originally proposed by a nifty Alabama barber, and Chemists at NASA ran promising tests. The surface structure of hair (from humans or animals — but especially human hair) is ideally suited to soak up large quantities of oil.

Calculations have shown that 10 tons of  human hair, held together in floating cushions, could collect and bind about 600,000 liters of oil. Afterwards, the cushions could simply be collected and burned.

Best of all, the raw material is plentiful. Tons of human hair ends up on the floors of barbers and hairdressers every day. The only problem is that nobody is collecting and storing hair clippings on a large scale. Instead, they are thrown out with the trash. Which is regrettable! Had the idea been implemented during last decade, we could now have a readily available stockpile of hair, to be deployed at catastrophic spills such as the current one.

Hairy, indeed.

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Mark Twain :. November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910

“The report of my death was an exaggeration,” he once noted laconically. And yet in the end, it wasn’t.

Today is the 100th anniversary of the death of one of my favorite Americans and historical figures – a journalist, author, traveler and philosopher born as Samuel Langhorne Clemens but better known under his pen name, Mark Twain. His work but perhaps more so, the way he lived his life, has been an inspiration for me since childhood.

Twain was an adventurer and explorer. A keen observer, he was convinced that it was a writer’s obligation to live life to the fullest in order to have something of interest to say. He was the embodiment of what we now call “participatory journalism”.

He was a self-made man who began his career as a typesetter and writer of humorous newspaper sketches. While working as a printer, he educated himself in public libraries during the evenings.

Twain went on to work the treacherous, highly dangerous job of a steamboat pilot, and after talking his brother into joining him, lost him in a steam boiler explosion.

Twain traveled widely and literally circumnavigated the world. He found his wife by falling in love with her photograph and befriended paupers and illiterates as well as intellectuals and royalty. He was an eccentric who in his later years wore only white from head to toe. But he was also a serious journalist, travel writer and documentarian, a book author, and a sought-after public speaker long before there was an industry hyping “media personalities”.

He made (and lost) fortunes of money (including his wife’s inheritance).

Twain was also a lifelong follower of science. He patented three inventions and was a close friend of the brilliant inventor, Nikola Tesla.

Twain supported women’s rights, the emancipation of slaves and the French and Russian revolutions. He spoke out against American imperialism and chastised the inequality of various ethnic groups before the justice system. In general, Twain made fun of mindless bureaucracies and selfish decadence. He was critical of organized religion, but became a Freemason in 1861 at Polar Star Lodge No. 79 in St. Louis. He was raised to the degree of Master Mason on July 10, 1861, but hardly commented on his ties to the fraternity.

Mark Twain’s eccentricity extended to his own death. He frequently make sardonic remarks about dying. One time, when he was believed to have been lost at sea, he published a faux article in which he promised to “investigate these reports”.

Many of the famous quotes attributed to Twain are somewhat inaccurate renditions of what he really said and wrote. This one here is easily documentable:

Twain must have jotted down this note some time in May of 1879 while staying in London. Somehow, Twain had received word that the New York Journal had published his obituary. On June 2, Twain sent a telegram to New York, and the New York Journal published this now famous quote: "The report of my death was an exaggeration. - Mark Twain"

Twain had a great fascination with Halley’s Comet. He was born during Halley’s perihelion of 1835 and predicted his own death to coincide with Halley’s reappearance in 1910. And he was right.

http://www.twain2010.org

http://www.twainquotes.com/Death.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain

Book recommendation:
“Mark Twain”, by Geoffrey C. Ward, Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns
Based on the documentary film by Ken Burns. Published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York 2001.
ISBN 0-375-40561-5


_______________

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Amazing Footage of Eyjafjallajokull

In this amazing video, ITN reporter John Irvine and a helicopter pilot closely approach Eyjafjallajokull. The footage shows volcanic lightning bolts and pockmarks in the glacial ice caused by fallen lava.

I didn’t know that volcanic eruptions can cause electrical lightning. The phenomenon is caused by the interaction of  water droplets, ice, hail and ash, which builds up an electric charge.

Eyjafjallajokull can apparently get quite tempestuous. Its last eruption began in 1821 and lasted for two years. Not good! Historically, an eruption of Eyjafjallajokull has woken up nearby Katla. So far, there are no signs of this. But it could get nasty. Eyjafjallajokull managed to turn Europe into a no-fly zone for a week. Airlines were losing about $250 million every day. But Katla eruptions can be 10 times as strong!

By the way: I just returned from managed chaos at Los Angeles International Airport. What a strange sight! Many international terminals were empty because of cancellations. At other terminals, hundreds of stranded passengers were lined up, hoping to get a seat now that many routes are operational again. It will be chaos for a while.

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R.I.P. Peter Oliver

For the fifth time in the last half year, someone close to me has departed. Time and time again, I am reminded of life’s impermanence.

I met Peter more than 15 years ago. We have been training at the same martial arts dojo and under the same master. Peter was always jovial, even during extreme physical and mental exhaustion.

Given that he was physically fit, his death seems completely senseless and stupid. Returning home one fateful night in March, he realized he had locked himself out of his West Hollywood apartment. During the attempt to climb through a upper-floor window, the ladder gave way. Unfortunately, Peter’s neck hit an obstacle during the fall, and he succumbed to his injuries.

At the memorial service, someone stated that nothing disappears without a trace. In Peter’s case, there can be no doubt about this. Peter was a skilled carpenter. His hands’ toil can be seen all over the dojo and will remain there as a testimony to his labors, and to his memory.

22nd Annual Grand Canyon Karate Camp, Flagstaff, Arizona, 2001. From left to right: Reinhard Kargl, Mike Johanns (standing), Carol Genovese, Peter Oliver, Tibor Hegedus, Stephanie Vieth, James Field Sensei, Mary-Beth Macaluso, Irene Wong, Guy Okazaki

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Artificial Intelligence and an Ode to Spot

I often wonder what produces our self-awareness — the sentient part of our being. Is it just a matter of computational capacity? Would a computer, if large enough, become sentient? Is consciousness a product of our mind, and creativity a produce of consciousness?

There are some who have argued that if this notion was correct, even the Internet may become sentient one day.

“The internet behaves a fair bit like a mind,” says Ben Goertzel, chair of the Artificial General Intelligence Research Institute, an organisation inevitably based in cyberspace. “It might already have a degree of consciousness”. Not that it will necessarily have the same kind of consciousness as humans: it is unlikely to be wondering who it is, for instance.

To Francis Heylighen, who studies consciousness and artificial intelligence at the Free University of Brussels (VUB) in Belgium, consciousness is merely a system of mechanisms for making information processing more efficient by adding a level of control over which of the brain’s processes get the most resources. [New Scientist, April 30, 2009].

Information processing? What about creativity? Will machines ever be able to create true art, not coming from a rational, but rather from an emotional expression?

Star Trek: The Next Generation explored this question in several episodes and with the character of Commander Data. “He” is an android who tries “his” best to learn and experience what it means to be human, but fails over an over again. He dances, paints, plays musical instruments — and although technically more accomplished than any human, Data never seems to get the point.

As a cat lover, I took great delight in Data’s attempt at poetry. In the episode Schisms, Data recites a poem he wrote (“in the iambic heptameter mode”) for his pet cat, Spot:

♦ ODE TO SPOT ♦

Felis catus is your taxonomic nomenclature,
An endothermic quadruped, carnivorous by nature;
Your visual, olfactory, and auditory senses
Contribute to your hunting skills and natural defenses.

I find myself intrigued by your subvocal oscillations,
A singular development of cat communications
That obviates your basic hedonistic predilection
For a rhythmic stroking of your fur to demonstrate affection.

A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents;
You would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance.
And when not being utilized to aid in locomotion,
It often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion.

O Spot, the complex levels of behavior you display
Connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array.
And though you are not sentient, Spot, and do not comprehend,
I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend.

Regarding Data’s poem, the writer in me has one objection. The word “obviate” is used in the sense many people believe to be its proper usage from the way it sounds (“to make obvious”), although the word is actually defined as “to make unnecessary.” Data would presumably not make this mistake — so here is a giveaway that the poem was written by a human after all. (Errare humanum est).

[For Trekkies: The poem is referenced again in 2369 (A Fistful of Datas), when Data uploads some of his personal files to the main computer of the USS Enterprise-D during an experimental interface with his neural net. Data’s memories end up overwriting a play witten by the ship’s chief medical officer.]

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Enola Gay Weapons Specialist Dies

Morris "Dick" Jeppson's only combat mission was aboard the Enola Gay

The story of mankind’s first use of nuclear weapons in war has always fascinated me.

Who were the men who designed and built these weapons? And who were the men who delivered it? How did they personally justify, cope and live with the unspeakable destruction of civilian life, including women and children, caused by their actions?

One by one, the people involved in these events are passing away. With the death of Weapons Specialist Morris “Dick” Jeppson on March 30, at the age of 87, there is only one person from the Enola Gay crew still alive today: Navigator Theodore “Dutch” Van Kirk, who is 89 this year.

On August 6, 1945, it was Jeppson’s job, along with Navy Capt. William “Deak” Parsons, to arm the bomb that ended up destroying Hiroshima, and killing somewhere between 90,000 and 160,000 people within months. (Many others died from wounds and from the effects of radioactive contamination in decades to come).

After the war, Jeppson studied toward a doctorate in physics at UC Berkeley. He working at Berkeley’s radiation laboratory and the Lawrence Livermore laboratory, both here in California.

He also founded a number of companies, including Applied Radiation Corp., which built electron-beam accelerators for nuclear physics research, and Cryodry Corp., a maker of industrial microwave ovens.

Jeppson lived in Carmel, California, and retired to Las Vegas 20 years ago. He did not speak about the bombing in public until 1995, and even then, his comments were laconic: “You had a job to do, you just did it.”

Obituary in the Los Angeles Times

Enolagay509th.com

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L.A. Noir at Musso & Frank

Here is a shot I captured during a cocktail hour at Musso & Frank, one of Hollywood’s legendary old joints. In its heyday it was a popular hangout for the Hollywood scene, including movie stars, film directors, producers and writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner and Raymond Chandler. Ernest Hemingway sipped cocktails here, and Orson Welles used to hold court.

Legend has it that Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino, and Douglas Fairbanks raced each other down Hollywood Boulevard on horseback, the loser having to pick up the dinner tab at Musso & Frank.

This shot takes me to L.A. Noir. Perhaps this is Philip Marlowe‘s hat …

"Marlowe's Hat" • Photo: Reinhard Kargl

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British Amateur Photographer Takes Stunning Pictures of Earth

When I was kid, I often dreamed of attaching a camera to a balloon and flying it as high as it would go. But much to my chagrin at the time, crucial components for such a homemade undertaking were not yet available to the average school boy. At the time, commercial or military guidance systems and suitable cameras were beyond the means of the starry-eyed kid that I was.

Today of course, we have mass produced GPS receivers and cheap digital cameras. And now, Robert Harrison, a British amateur photographer has surprised the world with his stunning images of Earth, taken from the edge of space.

Photo: Robert Harrison

The technology could not be cheaper and simpler: a helium balloon, a simple digital point-and-shoot camera, and a tracking system using a commercial GPS receiver  is all Harrison needs to snap amazing pictures. And the marvel of Google Maps allows free flight tracking. All for the combined cost of about $750!

Harrison’s image gallery is here, and his personal web site is at:

http://www.robertharrison.org

Harrison, a computer engineer, lives in Highburton, West Yorkshire — which strikes me as an unlikely place from which to launch space missions. Since 2008, his contraptions have flown about 20 times. The camera used (a Canon A560) is very similar to one I own.

Photo: Robert Harrison

So where does “space” really begin? The question is not so easy to answer, because the Earth’s atmosphere does not simply “end” at a clearly defined elevation. It becomes gradually thinner. The further away one gets from Earth, an increasing number of air molecules escape the Earth’s gravity and magnetic field and drift away from our planet.

By international convention, “space” is presumed to begin at an elevation of 100 km (or 62.1 miles) — the so-called Kármán Line. Even higher, at 75 miles, space vehicles returning to Earth hit aerodynamic drag. But this is more attributable to the enormous speed at which a vehicle must travel when in orbit. The atmosphere’s density at such elevations is so thin that it is practically qualifies as an almost perfect vacuum.

But there are other definitions of “space”. For example, in the U.S., a person is presumed to be an “astronaut” after traveling 50 miles (or about 80 km) above the mean sea level. By that definition, a number of military test pilots have reached space as early as the 1960s while traveling in winged aircraft, and before many NASA astronauts traveling on ballistic rockets.

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