The News Today

I don't think I ever told you but this is a really good website! It has a new space picture a day with an explanation which is pretty cool because they are just so beautiful. I don't think I'm really a space physicist, I just seem to like pretty things...

So many people have told me that I need to start following physics in the news so I don't really have any excuse for my laziness anymore... So I'll be reading the physics world app on my Ipod more and listening to these every Thursday... And so far (this evening...) this is has been pretty successful! I have learnt about the European mission to the moon, and why the UK want to be involved but how we might not be able to because it would probably cost us more than 20 million euros so we're trying to decide if there are better places to spend the money.

Even cooler than that is the Chinese space station! Well, it isn't a space station yet but they are developing it and they managed to send up a shuttle, land it, orbit with it and then they will bring it back in 12 days. That's pretty cool but the coolest thing was that there is a co-operation between Germany and China called Simbox which involves taking plants into space to observe the cells at under zero gravity conditions. They think it could lead to a cure for cancer which of course would be amazing in itself but I also find it incredible that space exploration has so many implications. I also found it really interesting to see how political issues affect space exploration in regards to the alliances made because the USA won't work with China at the moment, even though they are both so successful. Oh, and there was a pretty video at the end!

There is going to be a vote in January at the World Radio Conference of the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva about whether they should abolish or keep the leap second. Basically every few years (not exactly, it has to be calculated when it will be every time) our clocks are about a second behind the earths rotation so all the clocks are pushed forward a second (well all the important clocks!). Some people want to abolish it because it's a hassle to correct but others (e.g. the UK) want to keep it because it has implications for the future (a second seems very small but over several hundred years its an hour) but whatever they decide everyone will have to do it. Can't believe I had never heard of a leap second before! I don't want to miss the next one but they can't work it out yet (usually 6 months notice) so I guess I'll just have to check this site around July time...