Cold Comfort by Scott LaFee - Eureka! on Creators.com

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Cold Comfort

One place where folks are likely to talk just as much about cold temperatures as global warming is Vostok Station in Antarctica. The place holds the current record for coldest spot on the planet: minus 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit, set July 21, 1983.

British scientists analyzed the weather conditions that created that record chill and say it was produced by an unusual, near-stationary atmospheric vortex that prevented warming air from the ocean to reach Vostok.

When the vortex moved the next day, temperatures jumped 36 degrees F. However, the researchers calculated that if a similar vortex were to appear again, with slightly lower wind speeds, the temperature could conceivably drop more than 10 degrees below the current record.

And that still might not even be the coldest place. The nearby Dome Argus could reach minus 150 degrees F because of its higher elevation. At that temperature, it's so cold gasoline freezes.

'TRUE FACTS'

NASA astronomers using the Kepler space telescope have been studying a distant exoplanet that is particularly odd: It is 1.5 times the width of Jupiter but has just one-tenth the density, which is akin to polystyrene, the stuff of which packing peanuts are made. Scientists hypothesize that heat caused the planet, dubbed Kepler 7b, to bloat, but do not yet know how it happened.

BRAIN SWEAT

Return now to the dreaded fifth-grade word math problem:

A tourist is driving her car up a mountain.

In one hour, traveling 30 miles per hour, she reaches the top of the mountain, whereupon she suddenly remembers that she forgot her camera. She immediately turns around and drives downhill at 60 mph. Assuming she spent no time at the top, what was her average speed? Hint: It's not 45 mph.

HANDLE WITH HAIR

Here's a tip for exotic-spider handlers: Wear protective eyeglasses. The British medical journal Lancet reports on the case of a hapless tarantula owner who received a misty blast of barbed hairs shot into his eyes from his annoyed pet. The hairs severely irritated his cornea and required months of steroid treatments to clear.

BRAIN SWEAT ANSWER

Since it takes the tourist one hour to reach the top (traveling at 30 mph), the hill must be a 30-mile route. Traveling at 60 mph, she'll cover the same distance down in just 30 minutes. The average speed is the total distance divided by the total time (60 miles divided by 1.5 hours) or 40 mph.

WHERE IN THE WORLD? ANSWER

The giant marbles rock formation in Joshua Tree National Park, which straddles San Bernardino and Riverside counties. For scale, see if you can spot the two climbers.

To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.