NewScientist The Last Word - Tag 'Planets' details

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Weird rock thing I recently found a most bizarre rock which appears to have been melted and folded around a collection of other glass-like stones. I have no idea whether this could be as a result of a human activity such as glass-blowing, or whether it is naturally occurring.Joe Inglis, Gloucestershire, UK
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Asked by Michael Marshall
on 2008-03-06 14:49:30

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Categories: Human Body, Planet Earth, Unanswered.

Tags: human body, unanswered, planet earth.

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Ice circles

In February, the tarmac roof of my office building in Hilversum was covered in hoar-frost. When I went for a walk up there, I noticed some circle-shaped patches. An outer annulus had a darker colour than the surrounding hoar-frost, an inner disk was ice-free, and in the middle of the larger patches sat a millimetre-sized ice grain, resembling a small hail stone.There were some hundred of these patches, some merged, or with multiple ice-free inner disks. The day had started out freezing, but when I noticed the pattern, it was around 10 Â° Celsius. All day, the sky had been sunny, but the tarmac was in the shadow of a building.What caused these patches?Bruno van Wayenburg, Leiden, Netherlands

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Asked by Michael Marshall
on 2008-02-26 11:53:11

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Categories: Planet Earth, Weather .

Tags: animals, unanswered, weather, planet earth, environment.

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No use crying

While making a cup of coffee, I spilt some milk and it made an interesting pattern. There were approximately 18 small droplets surrounding a larger central droplet (see photo, left). It reminded me of a photograph I saw in a textbook during my childhood, where a drop had just fallen into a glass of milk, resulting in a splash like a king's crown.Why did my pattern and the one from the book form? Presumably they are related. Do other liquids make similar patterns?Stephen Broderick, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

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Asked by Michael Marshall
on 2008-01-25 17:01:09

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Categories: Domestic Science, Planet Earth, Unanswered.

Tags: unanswered, domestic science, planet earth.

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Life glue What causes cells to stick together in the human body rather than simply falling apart?McKenzie Gibson, Glasgow, UK
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Asked by Michael Marshall
on 2008-01-16 17:48:40

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Categories: Domestic Science, Human Body, Planet Earth, Unanswered.

Tags: human body, unanswered, domestic science, planet earth.

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Frozen images In January I dropped some bricks into my pond, which is a metre deep. In March the pond froze over and an image of the bricks appeared like a hologram in the ice (see photo). What caused this? Clive Gardner, Glenfield, Leicestershire, UK
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Asked by danp
on 2007-12-05 17:52:28

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Categories: Planet Earth.

Tags: planet earth.

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Crossed channels While cycling in Ireland I had ample opportunity to observe rain and puddles. I took a photo (left) of muddy water running across a road. Why has it separated into bands, and what determines their spacing?Robert Johnstone, Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK
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Asked by Michael Marshall
on 2007-12-05 17:52:13

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Categories: Planet Earth, Weather .

Tags: weather, planet earth.

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Moulting season

When the weather turns cooler in early autumn, I notice an unusual smell in the air, my hair falls out more than usual and my thoughts turn to travel and memories of places that I have visited in the past. This coincides with my friendâ€™s hens moulting and ceasing to lay eggs. Is this phenomenon biologically based, and has it been scientifically investigated or named?Margaret Ellis, Attadale, Western Australia

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Asked by damian
on 2007-10-16 18:03:39

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Categories: Planet Earth, Weather .

Tags: weather, planet earth.

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Slow roll

From this ocean-bound city I recently glanced up at late afternoon sunlight on the underside of a continuous then sheet of altostratus cloud, to see a strange light. A solitary huge ripple, looped in cross section like the Greek letter omega or the ruck in a disturbed carpet, stretching almost from one horizon to the other, rolled slowly across the cloud sheet. The rest of the cloud, in front of and behind the feature, remained calm. I estimated its front-to-back width to be roughly 100 metres, and its speed to be between 5 and 10 kilometres per hour. What was this?George Farrant, Auckland, New Zealand

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Asked by damian
on 2007-10-16 18:02:45

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Categories: Planet Earth, Weather .

Tags: weather, planet earth.

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Clouds away During the BBC broadcast of the total eclipse, the astronomer Patrick Moore remarked that when it was overcast, the clouds often cleared at the time of totality. I observed this at the Lizard in south Cornwall â€“ breaks in the clouds appeared just as the Sun disappeared behind the Moon. What is the explanation?G. C. Shephard, Norwich, Norfolk
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Asked by damian
on 2007-10-16 18:01:18

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Categories: Planet Earth.

Tags: planet earth.

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Drip reduction Why does a water tap, when adjusted to a trickle, reduce to a drip after a couple of minutes? I have noticed a gas flame also becomes smaller during this period.Keith French, Hornsby, New South Wales
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Asked by damian
on 2007-10-16 17:57:06