The Scream, Jimmy Neutron, Star Wars and Dune

Most Popular Redoubt

Reporting at the news desk this week seems to have taken a cinematographic theme. Going back (to the future?) a bit, let me start at the very beginning … Volcanic Screams seemed to go down well. Amazingly, seismic noise observed just before the onset of volcanic eruptions in Alaska was more interesting to the general public that weight loss, J K Rowling, or Edward Snowden.

Dye sensitised solar cells, dinosaur teeth, neutron star collisions, iron fertilisation into the oceans and the influence of barchan dunes on Star Wars sets made up the rest of my week.

Screen Shot 2013-07-19 at 22.11.31Of these, Star Wars vs. Dune captured attention, which is, I guess, understandable. But there is a bit of science in there too, with links to dune migration not only on Earth but also on Mars and Titan. It went out on Friday evening, and before long had been picked up by other news outlets, so that was encouraging. It managed to sit at number one for quite some while too, beating JAY Z and even the weather.

Screen Shot 2013-07-19 at 21.28.35

I’m giving this a bit of a rest now, and taking off to a synchrotron to do some experiments and maybe make the science that makes the news … who knows?! The next post will likely be written from in ecstasy or despair, depending how that experiment progresses! See you soon …

Advertisement