The media was today almost drenched with the idea that water and other wonders would be been found on the Moon, but unfortunately LCROSS was the least moist of damp squibs ever and no 50 km plume was seen, not even a little splash. NASA scientists are trying to figure out why.
Meanwhile, in the October Spotlight Hot Topics on Intute, I discuss the speculation about water on our lunar neighbour and the possibility of it offering an oasis-like site for extraterrestrial missions.
Oh, and I included a nice big picture of the moon taken with my digital camera (thank you Nobel Physicists Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith of Bell Labs for the CCD that let me do that).
Also highly topical at the moment: US researchers have found a way to monitor geological faults deep in the Earth that could help them predict an imminent earthquake more precisely than with other methods. This is the first time that scientists have been able to detect temporal changes in fault strength at seismogenic depth from the Earth’s surface.
And, of unwanted topicality, the problem of chemical weapons, with US researchers having developed a molecular sensor that works 100,000 times faster than earlier detection systems and destroys agents, such as Sarin, in the process.