The Department of Defense's Corrosion Department

Random stuff like this interests me way more than it should.

The Pentagon itself spends something in the neighborhood of $23 billion per annum to combat the problem. "Weapon systems are routinely out of commission due to corrosion deficiencies," the DoD observes. "For example, corrosion has been identified as the reason for more than 50 percent of the maintenance needed on KC-135 aircraft."

So—get this—the Defense Department has an entire agency that does nothing but try to figure out ways to fight corrosive gunk.

XKCD: Sickness

you've surely all seen this by now, but still:

Richard Feynman on Magnets...

lol [via Kottke]

Political Boundaries Becoming Environmental Boundaries

For example, the antlion surplus in Israel can be traced back to the fact that the Dorcas gazelle is a protected species there, while across the border in Jordan, it can legally be hunted. Jordanian antlions are thus disadvantaged, with fewer gazelles available to serve “as ‘environmental engineers’ of a sort” and to “break the earth’s dry surface,” enabling antlions to dig their funnels.

[via Kottke]

Schitzophrenia and Manic Depression linked?

they seem to have similar chromosomal factors - very cool.