This week in science: Water is thick enough

If "follow the water" is the mantra for astrobiology, then Gale Crater may be the bumper sticker. Mars Curiosity struck pay dirt just a few steps away from its dramatic landing zone:

In another sandy light-colored rock that Curiosity passed, named Link (above), the rover spotted clasts that had fallen to the ground, creating a pile of stones that had been liberated from the rock.

Along with material seen at the Goulburn scar, which was uncovered when Curiosity's lander rockets disturbed the ground, these rocks add up to a picture of an ancient stream bed that once flowed through this area. Judging from the size of the gravel that was carried, scientists estimate that water likely ran at a steady two miles per hour and came to about ankle or hip height.

• Please, oh Mighty Masters of the Webz, I beseech thee: Stop pushing Bing on me.
• Climatologist extraordinaire and pioneer science blogger Dr. Michael Mann will be in Austin for several events beginning this Monday thru Weds. I hope to be able to thank him in person for his tireless work in the face of wingnut BS and I'd love to see any fellow travelers while there.
• A new comet has been found that may dazzle onlookers in 2013:

  The most exciting aspect of this new comet concerns its preliminary orbit, which bears a striking resemblance to that of the 'Great Comet of 1680.' That comet put on a dazzling show; it was glimpsed in daylight and later, as it moved away from the sun, it threw off a brilliantly long tail that stretched up from the western twilight sky after sunset like a narrow searchlight beam for some 70 degrees of arc. (A person's clenched fist, held at arm's length, covers roughly 10 degrees of sky.) The fact that the orbits are so similar seems to suggest Comet ISON and the Great Comet of 1680 could related or perhaps even the same object.