Why do deserts form?

 

Last week we spoke of sandy beaches along the vast seas… And today we take a look at a different kind of oceans, the endless expanse of dunes we know as desert.

Much like on the beach, in the desert sand due to erosion, inheriting the colour of the rocks and soil and varying in consistency according to the extent of weathering. Unlike our favourite summer destination, however, deserts are the last thing we want to spend our vacation in unless it’s to see the pyramids or the spring blooms.

Photo by Winfried Bruenken

Photo by Javier Rubilar

Deserts can be cold or hot and equally unfriendly to the majority of living beings, but how do they form and conquer so much land?

A variety of conditions and reasons lead to the formation of deserts but by far the most important are distance from the ocean and the presence of natural barriers such as mountains. The further we get from the seas, the dryer the air becomes as moisture is absorbed by the land and plants along the way leading to little or no rainfall in the inner areas. Mountains, like the Andes or the Himalayas, are also excellent shields against moisture, trapping clouds to one side and leaving the other dry.

Desertification also depends on the winds, dryer, hotter winds in the equatorial zones can slowly erode the land into finer and finer sand. These winds prevent the formation of clouds and the dryer the area becomes, the fewer the plants keeping the soil together. The more sand is formed due to erosion, the stronger the wind erosion becomes as sand is carried on, grinding down hills and suffocating plant life.

Or at least that’s the simple version. Deserts may be hot or cold, covered in sand, pebbled stone or even ice, they can have little to no vegetation or a cover of low grasses, what they all have in common is the aridity. Whether no rain falls, or the land and air are unable to preserve moisture, the lack of surface water leads to scarcity of plants and large empty planes of sand or ice dunes.

References and additional reads:

National Geographic Encyclopedia: Desert

Bright Hub: Learn How Deserts Came Into Existence

St. Mary College Media: How are deserts made?

Geology Class: The Geology of Deserts

Wikipedia: Desert

Vikings

Today we depart for the frozen wastelands in the far north. To a treacherous landscape dotted with forests, beasts and danger that gives birth to the toughest of marauders and warriors: Vikings. A historical drama about, well Vikings.

The plot is relatively simple, it’s about Vikings, their society, laws, customs and beliefs. We follow Ragnar Lothbrok, played by Travis Fimmel who, tired of constant raids to the east, embarks on a trip west in search for richer lands and loot.

However historically accurate the show is, it’s engaging enough, though it can be too dramatic at times which can slow down the action quite a bit.

As expected and demanded from such series the props, make up and fight scenes are good, everything well made and choreographed. The acting is decent too, and the series is shot well and on location in Ireland.

Overall I’d give it a watch, especially if you like hardcore historic dramas about people struggling to make a living in a harsh world riddled with battles, political, social or actual.

Without further ado, Vikings episode one: Rites of Passage.

We open in the Eastern Baltic Sea, sometime early AD. Or so the caption tell us before panning to a tree being struck by a lightning and the face of a bloody viking, Ragnar. It’s the aftermath of a battle and the winners are culling the fields for any survivors. One of the victors looks over the land littered with corpses and perhaps it’s his fatigue playing tricks on him but he sees the figure of death strolling among the bodies accompanied by crows. He blinks and a vision of valkyries descend for the souls of the warriors.

Unspecified time later, in Scandinavia, two women are fishing in a shallow body of water. It’s Ragnar’s family, his wife and daughter fetching dinner while he trains his son with the sword. A perfect picture of normalcy.

The next day the father and his son depart for the annual gathering, and no sooner is he gone that two vile looking men invade his house. His wife offers them drinks or food if they’re in need, but they desire other things. However, viking women are no pushovers and Lagertha, played by Katheryn Winnick, shows them the right way to use a heated hearth poker.

Every summer the men are sent at sea to raid for resources in foreign lands. Usually, they’re sent east, but the people there are as poor as them so our protagonist intends to argue for sailing west. His confidence comes from a sundial/compass he received from a wanderer but the lord isn’t easily swayed by the offer, instead taking offence in his meddling.

We also see the viking court of law in action and the preciousness and political struggles for farmland, the lord rules, the people rule, and the criminals are punished.

After the refusal, Ragnar finds himself at a loss so he consults the oracle of the gods. But like any other prophet, he grants him a cryptic answer. With the oracle being no help, Ragnar goes to talk to Floki, played by Gustaf Skarsgård, a boat builder and a seer of sorts. But he does not seek advice, he has asked instead for a boat to sail without the need for his lord’s assistance.

While the stars are aligning, Ragnar returns home to discus the crew gathering with his brother in arms. Who for some unfathomable reason decides to mess with his wife. Not a smart idea considering she’s an ex shieldmaiden. So why would Ragnar’s self proclaimed brother try to seduce his wife?

Nevertheless, she promptly puts him in his place, her words as sharp as her sword.

Meanwhile as Ragnar is tying up the boats, he sees death again. He takes it as a sign that they are doing the right thing.

Soon the boat is ready, but Floki isn’t too confident in his craft. It was too fine an idea for him to pull off, he claims, but Ragnar believes it won’t sink.

The episode ends with a nice cliffhanger of the lord pouting upon hearing about the boat.

Overall not bad, anyone who likes character drama would find it engaging enough. Good acting, decent story and okay fighting whenever it happens. The episode was slow, but engaging, give the show a watch if you like historical reimaginings.

What determines the colour of sand?

If there was one place we’d rather be on a hot summer day, other than a well air conditioned room, it’s the beach. Palm trees, clear skies, pristine waters, and golden sands as far as the eye can see.

Or maybe white sands, orange, or black, or red, or even green. Beaches come in many shades. So what determines their colour, and the colour of sand in general?

The short answer is the geology of the region.

Sand is composed of fine particles formed when rocks and minerals are weathered down and eroded. In Hawaii or Iceland we find black sands formed by lava rocks like basalt. In other places we see red beaches because of the high iron content in the soil. Beyond rocks and soils, common ingredients are shells, corals or minerals like quartz that give the sand a pink or even pristine white hue.

Usually sand is a mixture of different types of minerals and rocks that make it brown or tan in colour but when we have a dominant or single source of formation, we may get  quite vivid colours.

References and related reads:

Wikipedia: Sand

Coastal Care: Beach Basics

Rock Cycle lab: Analyzing the Origin of Different Sands

Tourism on the Edge: World’s Most Beautiful Colorful Sand Beaches

Pictures: Spectacular Sand Beaches in a Rainbow of 10 Incredible Colors

Andromeda

This week we take a look at Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda. I wondered why in every ad, introduction or opening they kept underlining the name of the maker rather than the title. I mean how much more important can the screenwriter be than the series very title? And then I did a short google search and realized he was the maker 0f the original Star Trek. Ah, that’s what they tried to capitalize on. Though their insistence on his name in the title is somewhat deceiving because while the series are based on an archived idea of his, he was long dead to develop, observe or participate in the scriptwriting of the actual TV series.

So what exactly is Andromeda and how good is it compared to other sci-fi series?

The main plot is pretty simple. Once there was a strong and just systems confederation called the Commonwealth, one of its members rebelled and shattered the union. 300 hundred years in the future, people hardly remember the good times as their galaxy is ravaged by strife, lawlessness and poverty.

However, one of the best Commonwealth battleships is stranded on an event horizon along with its Captain Kevin Sorbo as Kevin Sorbo, I mean Dylan Hunt. And once he gets free, he embarks on a mission to restore the galactical communism, ahem Commonwealth, so that everyone can live better. He is joined by a diverse crew of aliens, who are mostly modified humans living on other planets and two actual aliens. The episodes are mostly stand alone as Andromeda, the ship, encounters different adventures, with some overarching character and story lines.

The acting is decent. At least the actors seem to have fun with the roles without making their characters too over the top or stereotypical. Most of the time anyway. Lexa Doig is also in the series though it’s not her finest performance with lots of eyebrow use to compensate. She does improve a as the series progresses.

Both the music and the dialogue can be quite cliche and obvious.

The CGI doesn’t look all that convincing even for its time. Love the ship design though. The art does improve as the series progresses and looks almost smooth by season three, but they never really get past repeated footage and low quality 3D images. The makeup and sets are pretty good though.

Andromeda is decent, though cheesy and unpolished at times. It could have been better, but it’s still fun. An okay watch for sci-fi fans.

But let’s take a look at episode one. Or should I say one and two because the series opens with a two parter. How bold. So here are Under the Night and An Affirming Flame, featuring Kevin Sorbo’s hair, Lexa Doig’s boobs and RatMan.

The episode opens with the starship Andromeda running a combat drill. Despite a few slowpokes, it all goes well. Until they get a distress signal from a supposedly small Nietzschean ship under attack.

The so called Nietzscheans are off world humans who are genetically engineered and socially and ideologically bred for perfection. Or at least for what they consider physical and mental perfection.

Andromeda responds to the call just to find itself in the middle of an invading fleet. Turns out, the Nietzschean systems decided to rebel and create their own empire. I mean what can you expect from people who call themselves Nietzscheans? Sit around and sip wine while discussing culture? Yeah, there’s a lot of that too. But mostly xenophobic, self-serving behaviour and philosophy. The concept of the Nietzscheans really plays on the idea of master and slave morality, but for anyone interested in that aspect go read Beyond Good and Evil or On the Genealogy of Morality. I do like how sci-fi plays with philosophy though.

The battle doesn’t go well for Andromeda and Dylan orders his crew to abandon ship. he then turns towards the nearby black hole hoping to take as much of the enemy fleet with him as possible.

His best friend, and second in command, is a Nietzschean who, gasp, betrays him. But it is not the villainesque ‘I got you’ kind of betrayal but more like the ‘sorry friend but I’m loyal to my people’. So rather than individuals, beliefs and systems of governance play the role of the real antagonist in the series.

The Officer kills the pilot, a fancy bug alien, too bad she didn’t stick around, and the two battle it off as the ship drifts towards the black hole. Dylan wins just as time dilation becomes so large time just stops. Not sure it works quite like that, but okay, I’ll buy it.

Side note: Dildo laser guns. Who came up with those things? Seriously? But they are handy since they not only shoot but also elongate into staffs.

While the beginning does establish the main conflict and characters it is a bit hard to follow. We don’t know why suddenly part of the confederation decides to rebel. It makes even less sense considering no one saw it coming or noticed them building an armada. The Nietzschean motivation is even iffier. They are gene modified and decide to destroy/enslave those inferior. Again, how did the rest fail to notice such discriminatory ideology? But let’s suspend our disbelief and imagine the conflict has been built off screen in the backstory.

Still we get a lot of name/species dropping and expository dialogue trying to cram in knowledge that we can’t relate to because the universe hasn’t been established yet. Classic example of telling rather than showing, lethal when we’re talking about TV series. It does get smoother as the series progresses, but we are swarmed with too much build up context too early.

But moving on.

We cut to 300 years later, when Beka Valentine, played by Lisa Ryder, and her crew of mongrels are hired by the Ratman, I mean Gerentex, played by John Tench, to do a transportation job. Pull out the Commonwealth starship from the black hole, bring to seller, profit.

Only they didn’t take into consideration that there might be someone on the ship who isn’t too inclined of surrendering it. Nor that the ship’s AI is complex enough to possess a personality and equally unhappy about surrendering herself.

But that’s okay because Ratman brought his own crew of mercenaries, led by a Nietzschean, Tyr Anasazi, played by Keith Hamilton Cobb who is considered by random pop magazines as one of the prettiest people alive.

 So surprise, surprise, Ratman plans to double cross them once the ship is under control.

Beka’s crew is cornered between the angry Commonwealth captain and the treacherous Gerentex so they decide to ally Dylan, the more reliable character. They win, send the rat on its way, annex Tyr who is equally annoyed with him and impressed by Dylan, and then are gently coerced into becoming the Andromeda’s crew.

From there on, Dylan takes them on his crazy mission to restore the Commonwealth, meanwhile each character deals with their own personal issues and storylines.

If there’s one thing I love about this kind of shows are the characters. Mostly quirky, sometimes stereotypical, but nevertheless fun as the writers experiment with ideas and designs. The same can be said here, we get a rather varied and balanced crew, while still filling the necessary roles. The brilliant pilot, the quirky medic and plant lover, the spiritual quantum physicist (or something along those lines), the ship mechanic, the weapons and combat expert, topped with a justice frenzy, strategist of a captain. And lets not forget the AI that is slowly learning what is like to be a human.

So even with the flaws, Andromeda still grabs the attention and serves some decent action.

How does caffeine affect us?

The sun is rising, the birds are singing, and traffic is starting to hum outside your window. It’s a brand new day and most of you probably won’t even crawl out of bed without a hot cup of coffee waiting in the kitchen.

Drinking coffee has not only become a daily routine for many, but also a ritual ingrained in culture and history. People gather to chat over coffee, drink it with breakfast or dessert. Some mythologies incorporate it, and many economies depend on it.

But why has coffee become such a big thing? What has made it into one of the primary substances consumed, almost on par with sugar?

Taste certainly has a part in it, but mostly coffee is favoured for its properties. In a busy world where you need to get up early and remain at your best through the day, it is irreplaceable. Coffee is considered a stimulant, keeping you awake, alert, and energetic.

How does this work exactly?

When the brain prepares to rest, a chemical called adenosine binds to specific receptors signaling you to feel tired, slowing down nerve impulses and gently guiding you to sleep. Caffeine has a very similar structure to adenosine, tricking the receptors into binding it instead. As caffeine intake reaches its peak, it outcompetes adenosine, preventing the brain from feeling fatigued. It also increases the heart rate and prepares the muscles for action, leaving you ready to face the day.

But for all the benefits, caffeine comes with an equal amount of drawbacks. Like any other drug, it can lead to addiction and withdrawal, even if weak, when consumption is interrupted. Some of the side effects include anxiety, insomnia, restlessness, upset stomach, irritability, and dizziness. And while coffee can alleviate headaches and migraines, habitual drinking can actually cause them.

You may feel energetic, but that feeling is a false one. Caffeine tricks the body into using up its energy reserves, which can leave you extra tired once it leaves the system.

Despite all, coffee is still the preferred morning beverage and drank reasonably in moderation can provide more good than harm.

References and related reads:

The Independent: Under the Microscope: How does caffeine work?

MedicalNewsToday: What is caffeine? How does it work?

mental_floss: How Does Caffeine Work?

howstuffworks: Why does caffeine keep you awake?

LifeHacker: What Caffeine Actually Does to Your Brain

Wikipedia: Coffee

Warehouse 13

Today we delve into one of the stereotypical government agents hunt down wacky artefacts series. In this case, Warehouse 13.

And that’s pretty much it. Simple theme, simple execution. The show is mostly carried by its wackiness, the weird objects, their effects, and the stories surrounding them. The characters, two government agents and their allies, are quite stereotypical, with one overarching trait each. True, there’s some development as the series progress, but it’s never the characters that make it watchable. Except for H. G. Wells, played by Jaime Murray, she was quite enjoyable.

The acting itself is okay, and so is the CG, nothing exceptional, just okay. The music can be annoying at times, too whimsical, or too obvious, or too annoying, but it fits so that at least is okay.

The series is formulaic, but enjoyable. Nothing too absorbing or philosophical. Just harmless, nonsensical, wacky, fun.

    So I guess that’s how I’d characterize it, wacky, give it a watch if you’re starved for a ‘government agency saves the world’ themed series and have nothing else to see.

    So what about the pilot?

    The episode opens in a museum in Washington, DC, where Agent Myka Bering, played by Joanne Kelly, is overseeing the preparation for an operation. With the comical music in the background promising whimsical, slapstick fun. None follows. For the moment.

    Meanwhile, Agent Pete Lattimer, played by Eddie McClintock, gets up from a one night fling with a bimbo who can’t figure out his job by his badge. Ah, a stuck up female Agent, and a ladies man male Agent, classic.

    Somewhere else, a random lab person is working on a creepy, round, stone mask. A ritual blood stone thingy, or so he clarifies. A minor accident occurs, he gets cut and ‘feeds’ it some blood. We know this won’t lead to anything good right from the start.   

I’m not really a fan of fragmented introductions. I suppose they work, but I prefer more connected beginnings. They make a story feel smooth, well connected, and not just patched up. At least it establishes everything fast and painless, character, situation, and stereotypes.

But moving on. The bimbo works as a server at the reception in the museum. It’s an expensive, high profile exhibition of new artefacts and the secret services are there to supervise. We see the lab attendant again, gulping in a whole glass of champagne, sweating profusely and acting creepy. The music makes sure to drive home the ominous foreshadowing, of course, along with a bloody fingerprint he leaves on the glass.

Immediately after, we’re introduced to the character conflict, Myka’s stuck up, Pete’s trying to be a playboy, perhaps I mentioned that already, and they are having a little alpha contest about who’s in charge. In other words, were this real life, he’d be fired or demoted at best.

Apparently, he gets ‘vibes’ so he knows what’s the best position for him, regardless of what was assigned. But this is a supernatural-ish show, so lets let it slide.

Another mysterious character with grey hair, grey beard, round glasses and a vintage doctor’s bag shows up, and the lab guy, stares at the mask with bloodshot eyes. Then the mysterious character starts disabling agents with a weird electric gun. Is he our bad guy? Probably not, the music didn’t cue an ominous, dramatic note when he entered, instead we get whimsical action choir.

Pete sees the mask bleed and whisks it off, shouting he’s secret service. Now, I’m not sure it works quite like that. So why isn’t anyone calling security?

Myka sees the lab attendent, the blood he lets drip behind him, and the knife thing he pulls so she removes her heels, gathers up her dress, and jumps in pursuit. On a different museum level, Pete drops the mask and it rolls right to the mysterious character who is now sprouting weird protective goggles. The mask is neutralized, the creepy lab guy is subdued, and the exhibition is saved.

And we’re about ten minutes into the story. Not bad. Quite a lot of action in quite a little time without feeling rushed. Though from here on the story stalls.

First we get the obligatory, I know what I saw, versus we need urine sample to test you for drugs. Pete is suspended because his story is too crazy, but then Myka and he are transferred under the invitation of the mysterious Mrs Frederic, played by CCH Pounder. The two bicker, he fucked up but why is she taken along as well to a government facility in the middle of nowhere, and etc.

Some witty banter here and there, but overall its all cheese. Granted, not that bad cheese, but still cheese.

So the agents are introduced to the Warehouse and its wacky watcher Artie, or the mysterious character we saw earlier, played by Saul Rubinek. His character trait is that he’s smart and wacky.

 

Also there’s a cow in front of the warehouse, no one knows why, not what the poor thing eats as there’s no grass, but there’s a cow.

They spent the next twenty-ish minutes messing around, exploring the warehouse, and coming to terms with the fact wacky sciency, paranormal things exist and then getting in trouble by mistreating artefacts. That’s what the series are in a nutshell. They either need to find a misbehaving artefact or they start trouble on their own by messing with one already in the warehouse.

There’s also a lot of mumbo jumbo about energy, predisposition, alignments destiny and all that nonsense. I like to swipe that under the rug and never look at it again, else I get a headache trying to figure out what it all means.

In this episode the artefacts in question are Houdini’s wallet, which falls into Myka’s purse by accident, and Lucrezia Borgia’s comb. The comb induces rage in a young man forcing him to do bad things, makes a teacher set himself on fire, and other random accidents all incited by the a woman under its influence.

Luckily, our agents find the artefacts, neutralize it with the purple stuff, that’s what it’s called in the series, dispel whatever hold it had over the woman, the man, and the audience of a play and all is good and well until the next wacky adventure.

They do get in a car accident in the process, you know for action and stuff. The wallet, by the way, causes ghosts to appear, for some reason, in this case bringing visions of Sam, an agent Myka couldn’t save. It’s a minor story line that goes on for a while.

Overall, the episode is okay, it introduces the characters, the theme, the plot, but it meanders a lot and a slower, calmer lookover by the writers could easily yield a faster, shorter episode. Or at the very least something less than an hour and a half, which is how long the pilot episode is. Some shows may need such a long start, this one I’d ascribe to sloppiness in writing.

Why does the road appear wet when it's hot?

There’s no better time for a road trip than summer. But while they always lead us to exciting destinations, the journey itself can be quite laborious and hot. For hours, you may be stuck in a car, mindlessly looking out of the window, dozing off, or even driving. Sometimes in the heat of the day, a shimmery haze appears on the horizon as if water or even oil have been spilled all over. Yet there’s not a single cloud in the sky, and once you approach and drive past, the highway is as dry as it has been and the puddle has moved on.

Everyone who has observed asphalt in the summer has seen this phenomenon. It is called heat haze, an inferior mirage since it appears under the real object.

But how exactly does it form?

Under the sun, asphalt is much akin to a stove top, radiating heat and even capable of frying eggs if necessary. It turns the air drifting over it into a nice warm blanket that clings to the ground.

Like any optical mirages, the vision is caused by the way light travels through substances. Different media, including different atmospheric conditions, allow and bend light differently.

When it hits this border between the hot air of the asphalt and the cooler air above, the rays are refracted. What we see is the sky lying on the road because of how light is bent and redirected but our brain interprets it as water. Due to this refraction we may also see cars as if reflected in the surface underneath strengthening the illusion of water.

This phenomenon is also why we see oases and mirages in the desert.

Resources and additional reads:

Wikipedia: Mirage

PhysLink: What is the mirage effect?

thePhysicsClassroom: Mirages

MentalFloss: Why Does the Road Look Wet on Hot Days?