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After dodging icebergs and flying fish, Jeff Standish and colleagues collected a suite of basalts from the Southwest Indian Ridge, to try and determine the mechanisms of mid-ocean-ridge formation.
Taxpayer-funded scientific research carries with it the responsibility to communicate to the general public its relevance in an accessible, open and inspirational manner. The HiRISE project that steers a camera on Mars admirably achieves this aim.
Indonesia's tsunami-warning system is scheduled to enter full operational mode by March 2010. The sooner it runs, the better: the threat of a tsunamigenic earthquake in the region is still imminent.
Nearly an eighth of the population in Bangladesh relies on arsenic-contaminated drinking water. Arsenic-removal filters could help to reduce exposure, but their price is high for the poor and their maintenance is cumbersome.