It is a strange one. Metals are shiny, and this one certainly is, in a dark-grey, silvery way. It is so shiny that it can even be used as a telescope mirror. Metals tend to be hard, but this one certainly is not. It isn’t even a solid. Mercury is one of only two elements…
Guest post from Tallis Various types of explosive eruptions have been prevalent across history, after all not all volcanoes are the same. However some volcanoes have something in common with another whether it be a magma type, location, setup, age, or size. Allow to define what I mean by “Model”. My strongest science is not…
This story follows on from Henrik’s trilogy on the future exploration of Olympus Mons, which can be found at Mars 2067, the Olympus Mons Expedition (Part I, Part II and Part III). Henrik provided the characters and the ideas for why Arsia Mons would need to be explored. The crew gazed out of the windows…
A Clive special from 2015, re-published because it is worth re-reading. Ever since I saw my first pictures of Ball’s Pyramid, I wanted to know more about this isolated and amazing structure. The pyramid is named after Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball, who discovered it in 1788. On the same voyage, Ball also discovered Lord Howe…
Morn came and went – and came, and brought no day Lord Byron, Darkness, 1816 The world has changed. It is not something we normally notice – change is slow and memory surprisingly selective. Nothing has altered but everything’s changed, as the song says, paraphrasing Jean-Paul Sartre. We have little idea of how our parents…
The VC list of 25 super eruptions – continued In our quest for major eruptions, we are continuing our journey around the world, moving north from Indonesia. Kyushu, Japan Japan’s southernmost main island is volcanically highly active. Past explosions have left large calderas, separated into two groups. In the centre of Kyushu is Aso, and…
The battle of Stalingrad was among the bloodiest and most horrific of the second world war. During the cold winter of December 1942, the Commissar of Stalingrad organised open-air party meetings for local artists and musicians to encourage the exhausted and hungry soldiers. One of those musicians was the violinist Mikhail Goldstein. On New Year’s…
Volcano companion When I go with you into the world It comes alive in colour and mirth With you I find Vesuvius to travel with you is salubrious In distant past I went alone And found a world in monochrome With you volcanoes come alight The lava flows are burning bright To go with you…
The bird struts across the henge as if its owns the place. It is quite a sight itself: large, confident, and long extinct. It was re-introduced here a decade ago but is rarely seen. Great bustards are shy, befitting the fact that they look very edible. This one, for a strange reason, had lost its…
Guest post by Tallis. In my previous piece, I went over the process of large caldera forming eruptions and the abundant noise that they would produce but a comment by cbuso5 caught my attention and interest. I have one slight disagreement. I’m not necessarily sure that the signs before a super eruption would be particularly…