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Climate change isn’t just melting ice caps, it’s about melting magma too. This, in turn, will lead to more volcanic eruptions. The recent volcano in Iceland may have disrupted air travel, but what’s even more amazing is that a huge volcanic eruption in Indonesia 74,000 years ago changed the course of evolution!

The largest ice cap in Iceland is getting smaller every year at the same time the volcano underneath it is heating up. As the ice disappears, it relieves the pressure on the rocks deep underneath, which increases the rate of magma melt.

In New Scientist, Catherine Brahic quotes volcanologist Bill McGuire as saying, “We are going to see a massive increase in volcanic activity globally. If we look back at previous warm periods, that is what happened.”read more

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It seems like a miracle, but it’s true: A simple cotton tee shirt may one day be converted into tougher, more comfortable body armor for soldiers or police officers (or those of us who live in dangerous cities?)

Researchers have drastically increased the toughness of a tee shirt by combining the carbon in the shirt’s cotton with boron, which is the third hardest material on earth. The result is a lightweight shirt reinforced with boron carbide, the same material used to protect tanks.
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What’s the latest on the Iceland volcano that’s cancelling flights to Europe? While airlines have grounded their planes and are making test flights to evaluate the situation, winds are sending rocks and debris from the eruption into Europe, and these are not ORDINARY rocks.

Most pilots learn about how to fly through ash during flight training. It’s called “VA,” for “volcanic ash.” In Wired.com, Jason Paur reports that in 2000, NASA studied VA by flying a DC-8 through a cloud of volcanic ash that was too small to be seen by the flight crew. Despite this, a post-flight examination revealed that the plane’s engines were damaged. More than 90 planes have been damaged after flying through volcanic ash over the past 30 years.
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One cancels out the healthy effects of the other – Scientists have some bad news (for some of us anyway): We all know that they go together and while smoking is just generally unhealthy, drinking a glass or two of wine a day can be healthy, but NOT if you also smoke!
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