These are probably the world’s largest petroglyphs. They’re ancient rock carvings that we can see from space.

You can’t make out the funky checkerboards, or the hummingbirds or monkeys… but you can see that there’s something there.

Welcome to Nazca, ancient gods. Approach on runway number three.

[via NPR]

OK, well, instant veins of gold, at least. The gold, Nature says, is in the ground already. But it takes an earthquake to make it mine-able in a flash:

Scientists have long known that veins of gold are formed by mineral deposition from hot fluids flowing through cracks deep in Earth’s crust. But a study published today in Nature [...]

New Scientist opens wide to tell us Mars Rover Curiosity is ready to drill into the Red Planet:

Chemical analysis from one of the rover’s remote-sensing cameras shows that the veins are hydrated calcium sulphates, possibly gypsum. They probably formed when water flowed through fractures in the bedrock and left dissolved material behind behind.

The find takes NASA’s mantra [...]

And let me tell you, Nature is none too pleased:

The meeting was unusually quick, and was followed by a press conference at which the Civil Protection Department and local authorities reassured the population, stating that minor shocks did not increase the risk of a major one.

According to the prosecutor, such reassurances led 29 victims who would otherwise have [...]

You remember Lake Vostok, yes? The Antarctic lake where scientists pulled up some water from 20 million years ago, just to see what things might have survived? Well, New Scientist says, initial reports are …nothing much, so far:

Isolated from the rest of the planet for 14 million years, Lake Vostok might be the only body of water [...]

Once again, New Scientist delivers a headline I can’t beat. A statue the Nazis brought to Germany from Tibet has been found to have been made of stuff from space:

Known as the ‘iron man’, the 24-cm high sculpture may represent the god Vaisravana and was likely created from a piece of the Chinga meteorite that was strewn across [...]

Yep. Scientific American has more on the unmanned aircraft that NASA and the USGS is using to explore the alien landscape of northeastern California:

Yesterday marked the first day of the team’s expedition to map the underground faults and fractures in Surprise Valley, California using SIERRA, a small aircraft capable of flying without a pilot on board, or unmanned [...]

Click to embiggen vastly
This image is from the Earth As Art 3 collection, and shows the Great Salt Desert of Iran, the Dasht-e Kavir, as seen from space.

It’s a nearly 30,000 square mile expanse of dusty plateaus and inhospitable salt marshes. But it’s also beautiful.

You can buy a large poster of this (or download [...]

SONG: “Antarctica Awakes!” (To download: double right-click & “Save As”)

ARTIST: grant.

SOURCE: Based on “Scientists close to entering Vostok, Antarctica’s biggest subglacial lake”, Washington Post, 31 Jan 2012, as used in the post “Lovecraft report: Scientists set to disturb primordial lake, deep under Antarctic ice.” (cf. 2011)

ABSTRACT: This is an anthem, written (as [...]