Comments on: Brains on Vacation

By: SF Reader

SF Reader — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 14:37:39 +0000

I’ve wondered: does Seth come up with those awful puns on the fly, or is he scripted?

By: Sergeant Zim

Sergeant Zim — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 22:37:51 +0000

When I read the title of this post: “Brains on Vacation”, I thought you were talking about the Republican National Convention, or alerting us to a “Discovery” Institute conference – my bad…

By: Dennis Zaebst

Dennis Zaebst — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 18:43:17 +0000

“You can listen to the rest of the podcast if you want to, but Iâ€™m not in it, so itâ€™s not as interesting.”

I hope that’s said tongue-in-cheek, because otherwise I might think you’re getting a big head (hahaha). Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

By: Nigel Depledge

Nigel Depledge — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 14:45:57 +0000

Dan, it’s not frozen methane per se. It’s methane hydrates, held in a partially-stable state (as a solid) by nothing more than high pressure. The freezing point of methane is very much lower than the temperature at the bottom of the Atlantic.

According to what I recall of a New Scientist article from about 6 or 7 years ago, when these methane hydrates are disturbed (for example, by an earthquake), they do very rapidly decompose into water and methane gas. As the gas erupts to the surface, the average density of the sea-water decreases (because it is mixed with large bubbles of methane gas), causing any hapless ship traversing that piece of ocean to sink without warning.

By: Troy

Troy — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 04:51:04 +0000

What’s this? Brains are on vacation so the cryptkeeper is filling in?

By: The Bad Astronomer

The Bad Astronomer — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 02:19:52 +0000

Fru, that’s a tad off-topic for here.

And besides, it’s not relevant. We know how much tides affect a human, and someone walking past you has a bigger effect.

By: Fru

Fru — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 23:03:59 +0000

A comment on your “full moon” article:
Your comment: “So tides within a human body are far, far too small to even measure, let alone to affect [on] our behavior.”
My comment on your comment: And, as every scientist knows, if we can’t measure it it doesn’t exist, since our measuring skills are perfect and will never be improved. Microbes, for example, did not exist until the microscope was invented, and even then were too small to do something like make people sick..