Congratulations, you've made it through the week!

Have a Happy Thought:     At the end of this week, possibly as you are reading this email, you get to have some separation between work colleagues and home life. (If you’re retired… well, I’m already jealous, so don’t @ me with a “ what is a week-end ” sort of quote).   But four very lucky people (yes, I’m somehow jealous of them as well), this week began a 378-day “week”, being shut in with their colleagues.   June 25 2023 was the start of the CHAPEA Mission 1 - a simulated Mars habitat at NASA's Johnson Space Centre. For just over one year, these four people will live as if they were on Mars, giving us valuable insights into logistics and human psychology. You can watch the emotional press-conference / shutting-the-door-behind-them , it’s actually very cute! Mission patch for Chapea-1 https://www.nasa.gov/chapea/mission1  with the mission motto Ad Martus A Domo and the participants' names Selariu, Haston, Jones and Brockwell.   Of cour...

Have a Happy Thought:     The new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is opening up the origins of the universe and very distant galaxies, stars and exoplanets to our understanding.   You’d think we’re only looking that far because we’ve figured out how everything works closer to us, right?   Wrong! Science is great because there’s always something new to explore and figure out. Here are just a few of the mysteries that remain for us to solve, or maybe just a few things you didn’t know, right here in our own solar system:   Q: What is our sun’s surface actually made of? A: We’re… not 100% sure, actually! We know mostly, by analysing the light that comes from the sun. You see, every time light passes through an object, including a bunch of gas, it changes the spectrum that we see – that object, or gas, absorbs some of the energy of light at specific wavelengths (or sometimes absorbs-and-re-emits-at-slightly-different-wavelengths). So astronomers ca...

Have a Happy Thought:   We are coming up on the mid-year solstice, 6 days from now to be exact - That’s the date where the Earth’s tilt has the greatest impact on the length of the day.   For those of us in the Southern Hemisphere, this means the days will be getting longer soon!   And for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere – you get to really enjoy those long, slow evenings, and need to get up really early to catch those sunrises!   6 months ago exactly, I wrote to you all about the wonderful practice of cities naming their snowplows .   I am back to tell you that cities all over the world name all sorts of their infrastructure… including (and Aucklanders will immediately resonate with this): Storm drains!   Yes, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, specifically, has an “ adopt a storm drain ” programme. The main point of this is to recognise the work that people do to keep their storm drains clear (and also give some safety tips). But anyone wh...

Have a Happy Thought:     For those of us in the southern hemisphere, winter is well and truly taking hold. And the idea of having a fluffy down coat sounds absolutely wonderful. For those readers in the northern hemisphere, you may be feeling quite the opposite, but you may be able to see these sorts of images in <gasp> real life!   Sometimes you need to snuggle against mum or dad. The warm glow of a setting sun softly illuminates a Piping Plover parent and its downy chick. Piping Plovers. Photo: William Pully/Audubon Photography Awards   Sometimes you need to snuggle against all of your siblings and friends, too! As five Common Goldeneyes rest on a lichen-speckled rock, the mother, on the left, keeps one eye open to carefully guard her four chicks, capped in black down and sporting a distinctive white cheek stripe. Common Goldeneyes. Photo: John Kay/Audubon Photography Awards Just remember that, even in winter, getting out for some exer...