If I Touched the Moon, What Would It Feel Like?

Cool! Or, hot, I mean. Actually, I'm not sure. One thing I am sure of: I hope NYTimes runs more like this.

Go on Elon. Is a bet on now?

Mr. Munroe please do something on the AI field and the tools/techniques/approaches in it, so we can end the idiocy about SkyNet coming to eat your brain or stealing your medical data. To move move forward we need to stop the hype.

Wow Randall Munroe in the New York Times! It’s a good day.

What a joy to read :-)

I would much rather read a column by a scientist that is a writer (and has a sense of humor), than the usual science articles by journalists that write about science. Thank you!

I’m a big fan of xkcd and it’s great to see Randall here on the New York Times. I will put in a plug for explainxkcd for those who don’t know about it. And my family and I have enjoyed Mr. Monroe’s books I’m immensely. More please!

Keep up the great work Mr. Munroe

I was watching a TV show on the Science Network this weekend and found out the lunar surface was so abrasive and sharp, it wore down the boots of the astronauts and lots of the astronauts who walked on the surface of the moon had little rips and tears in their space uniform because of the deadly sharp lunar dust and they were covered in this dust. The dust also wouldn't come off their uniforms because it had an electro-magnetic charge.

According to several Apollo astronauts, moon dust also smells like gunpowder. They kept it to themselves during the mission so as not to worry the ground controllers. Source: Apollo Lunar Surface Journal (a fascinating resource).

I remember once reading that the temperature on Mars varies greatly, hundreds of degrees up or down, but that it sometimes reaches a balmy 72 degrees F. for brief periods. I could imagine some daring pioneering astronauts bravely holding their breath and removing their helmets to be the first ever to experience what space is really like - defying mission control's orders, undoubtedly. Would the vacuum of space cause their eyes or tongues to dry up and burst?

I have to say, as a middle school science teacher (and as a seventh grade boy at heart), that Randall Munroe is just wonderful!

Congratulations to Randall Munroe, now publishing in the Times. Still love you XKCD site and books.

Randall Munroe, also known as xkcd , is an amazing science explainer and simplifier. I absolutely love his stuff. This is a useful and informative piece, typical of his great work. Here's his incredibly useful and accurate timeline about earth's recent climate history, "A Timeline of Earth's Average Temperature Since the Last Ice Age Glaciation: When people say "the climate has changed before, these are the kinds of changes they're talking about" https://xkcd.com/1732/ Thank you!

Lunar dust will insulate inhabited underground structures from temperature extremes. But its sharpness and jaggedness (given its silicon dioxide — glass — content) coupled with its fineness and probable electromagnetic attraction to moisture will make it a severe biohazard for colonists: fatal if inhaled. Silicosis, asbestosis, Black Lung disease and mesothelioma strike me as the closest terrestrial post-inhalation examples, although Lunar versions of those diseases might prove more pernicious given their heavy metal content. Bolide dust traps ions carried from the Sun by the Solar Wind like a sponge. Lunar regolith is proportionally heavy in it from bolide impacts, but also because the Moon itself is the largest bolide in near-Earth orbit. So, chronic low-level exposure to heavy metals will be a hazard of Lunar life much the same way as chronic low-level exposure to carcinogenic metals and gene-damaging chemicals is for uranium miners and petrochemical workers. Extraordinary precautions will be taken to limit exposure, joining other mandatory procedures like recycling life-support elements, new water synthesis and aquaculture. Automated robotic systems will do most of that work. But humans will be required on-site to monitor, inspect, evaluate and repair failing systems. Should they permanently occupy a lunar base however grand or modest new pulmonary diseases will inevitably arise for which medical science will have no treatments. Martian dust will be even worse.

I guess “streaking” on the moon, wearing only moon boots and a space helmet, is still probably not a good idea. Thanks for the smile and laugh!

In the 1968 science fiction film '2001: A Space Odyssey', after the HAL-9000 computer murders the crew of their spacecraft, Astronaut David Bowman blows the hatch on his POD capsule and briefly exposes himself to the vacuum of space. Director Stanley Kubrick hired NASA consultants for the film, so at the time they probably thought that someone could live after a short exposure to vacuum. No doubt NASA tested such things to find out what would happen. Another thing to ponder is that the HAL-9000, an artificially intelligent computer, murdered the crew because he became neurotic after being ordered to withhold information from the crew. Something to ponder when your doctor explains that your medical data is now stored in a giant cloud computer, and cared for by an artificially intelligent computer, managed by a company with no moral scruples whatsoever. First, because a cloud computer is not physically under the control of medical staff, and they have no real way of knowing who or what is fiddling with your lab data. Second, the A.I. system running that cloud computer isn't accountable to a medical board, and so the State can't pull their license under the HIPPA regulations if it messes with your data. Third, the A.I. system has no empathy (or, for that matter, the emotions of a psychopath). And Fourth, the A.I. system is so complicated that nobody really knows why it decides to do the things it does.

A refreshing change from NYT's usual format. I loved the drawings and the (cleverly disguised as humor) science. I hope this becomes a regular column!

Been reading xkcd since high school. I’m in grad school now and Mr. Monroe has always been an inspiration for explaining complex concepts clearly and with humor. Congrats on the new column!

Once my brother and I were visiting the National Air and Space museum in DC. The museum had a case near the entrance and it contained a small moon rock inside and below. On top of the case was a sign that said moon rock and when it was collected. Everyone who entered had to see it. Being a practical joker I found a small black stone outside the museum and when no one was looking I placed the stone on top of the case next to the signage . It now looked like one of those touch exhibits ; you know, touch a piece of the moon. Except that the stone wasn’t glued or in anyway secured. I stepped back and watched the show. The second and third people then to pass was a mom and her son. They read the sign and junior touched the fake moon stone... and it moved! The boys eyes opened like big marbles , then he looked at his mom with a big question mark expression... what should we do? At that point I turned around and walked away.

I hope this becomes a more regular column. Love both the explanations and the drawings!

"It’s like when you take hot clothes straight out of the dryer: Even if all the parts of the clothes are the same (hot) temperature, the lightweight, insulating fabric feels pleasantly warm, whereas the dense, conductive zippers can burn you." An object lesson that "temperature" and "heat", while related, aren't the same thing.