The Joy Of Science
In today's political climate, it's hard sometimes to remember that science, at its root, is about the fun of discovery. It's a kind of kids-play.
What animates the joy and the excitement and the inspiration so many folks feel in their encounters with science is a very pure sense of: "Wow, that is sooooooo cool."
I found this myself the other day when I stumbled across a scientific study of "dirt" on another world.
Back in 2004, the eased its way into orbit around Saturn.. Of particular interest was Titan, the largest of Saturn's satellites. Titan is actually the 2nd largest moon in the whole solar system — and is larger than the planet Mercury. It's also the only moon in the solar system with an atmosphere (mostly nitrogen with some methane). About six months after Cassini arrived, it released a small lander called Huygens that dropped down to Titan's surface leaving a legacy of amazing data in the form of images, spectra and other measurements.
