When non-erupting volcanoes make the news...

The massif is the light blue (indicating shallow bathymetry) object located about
centrally between Southern Japan and the Emperor Island Chain.
You can see Mauna Loa at the end of the Hawaiian Chain (bottom right) for comparison)

Twenty years. That's a flipping long time to work out whether a volcano's a volcano or more than one volcano. But geologists have come to conclusion, yes, after 20 years since it was first discovered, that Tamu Massif is one giant, British Isle sized, single vent, shield volcano in the Pacific Ocean, 1000 miles East of Japan.
A staggering 119,000 square miles in area, 2.2 miles high and extends down 18 miles into the Earth, this beauty erupted 144 million years ago and dwarfs Earth's current largest active volcano Mauna Loa. It's so gigantic it's almost on the scale of Olympus Mons on Mars (fun fact below about that volcano). That actually surprised me because I recall Prof. Brian Cox discussing at length in Wonders of the Universe that a massive volcano like Olympus Mons could not support itself on planet Earth because our gravity is too great. Presumably there's a decent explanation!

In other news, international collaboration has meant extensive monitoring of a volcano very few people have heard of.

Mount Paektu (no I've not heard of it either by that or any of it's other, many names) straddles the border of China and North Korea. It's last '1000 year event' in 940 AD was on a scale that was only matched by the Tambora eruption of 1815 AD (which was scientifically termed 'super-colossal' in case you weren't fully aware). Actually, the last explosive event at Mount Paektu occurred in 1903. With a recurrence cycle of about 100 years and recent increased seismic activity naturally volcanologists are concerned.
But it's a proud day for science triumphing over politics for the greater good with volcanologists from the UK, US and North Korea working together. (See full article for details).

Fun fact about Olympus Mons:

Mars was, prior to the space age, the only other celestial body besides the Earth and Moon in close enough proximity to us to be mapped.
As a result a bit of creative naming and a lot of mythology surrounds Mars and its features; Olympus Mons being one of them. It was first identified as a bright spot 20 degrees North of the Martian Equator and was dubbed Nix Olympica. This feature's name was artistically translated as 'the Olympian Snows' by Isaac Asimov in an essay of the same name (it's probably more like 'Olympic snow' but the former is, granted, a more aesthetically pleasing phrase). It was photography from Mariner 9 in 1971 that revealed there was no snow on Nix Olympica, but instead it was one, gigantic, volcano. Perhaps a more impressive thing! Soon after this discovery the volcano was renamed Olympus Mons. A fitting name for the biggest volcano discovered in the Solar System.

References:
Tamu Massif map: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/EmperorSeamounts.jpg
Telegraph article on Tamu Massif: 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/10291350/Worlds-largest-volcano-discovered-on-Pacific-floor.html
BBC article on Mount Paektu: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23981001
Wikipedia article on Mount Paektu: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Paektu
Definition of the Volcano Explosivity Index scale: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VEI
Asimov, I., 1976, The Planet That Wasn't: The Olympian Snows, Sphere Books Ltd.

Prof. Brain Cox talks about promoting science

A little off-topic once again but I think in keeping with the science theme of this blog.

I think it is desperately important for people of all ages to engage in science. Science isn't just that lesson you fell asleep in in High School because your teacher was a stuffy bore. It's live, relevant, exciting, constantly progressing.
When I was a small child I thought I couldn't be a scientist because everything had been discovered, gravity, electricity, wave-particle duality et cetera ... how wrong I was and woe betide any teacher who makes a child think otherwise!

Part of the reason why I chose the field of Earth Sciences as my subject (despite my love of bangs and sparks of physics and chemistry) is because at a grass roots, non-high powered electron microscope, level there are still discoveries to be made. Although I've discovered that high powered scanning electron microscopes do produce some intense images of samples. Like this:

This is a piece of volcanic ash

In recent times great advocates for science have appeared on television, the airways, the internet and in books. Chief among these is Professor Brian Cox of the University of Manchester. With his boyish good looks and a winning smile he's woo'ed the hearts of the nation and with any luck their ears too while he plainly, effectively and, most importantly, enthusiastically, shared his love of science.

I saw an article about the science shows being put on at the Edinburgh Fringe this year. One of the scientists doing a show and self-identifies as a nerd said this:

"We're trying to redefine nerd as not being someone who sits in their room and never talks to anyone.
Being a nerd is being unable to stop yourself communicating this cool stuff.
 We cannot conceive that people would not be interested in this stuff."
- Helen Arney

It's no surprise that enthusiasm for material is what gets other people engaged. It's infectious. 

I think back to the teachers I really loved in High School and I know that the reasons why I loved them and loved their subject is because they did too. They wanted to show us how cool their subject was, they bubbled with enthusiasm and where even more excited when you showed interest back. (I'm sure it must be crushing though to have people in your class who don't give a damn. I mean, I find it hard when my friends eyes glaze over when I talk about rocks).

But I promised Brian Cox so here he is giving a speech at the Institute of Physics after being presented with the President's Medal:

And if you want even more Brian Cox, here's his BBC programme 'A Night with the Stars':

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TQ28aA9gGo

Vive la Science!

References:

More info and origin of the ash picture: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/about/pglossary/ash.php

Science at The Fringe: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23571166