Lose something?

4 July 2007
4:25 PM

When you lose things, it can be frustrating. Doubly so when people ask you, “Well, where did you last see it?” Presumably that’s the first place I would look. If the lost something happens to be important, the experience can be embarrassing as well. Like when NASA announced last year that it had lost the tapes with the first video of man walking on the moon. Wonder where they last saw it.

In any event, NASA can relinquish the most-stunning-loss title for now; moon-walk video tapes aren’t the only thing missing. According to a recent BBC article, Chile has gone and lost a lake. It was there in January, but when scientists returned for a checkup in May, the lake was gone. The work of master thief Carmen Sandiego? Initial speculation was only slightly less dramatic: some scientists posited that an earthquake had opened a fissure in the lake floor, draining all the water away. The latest report, which came out today, blames global warming. The ice wall that dammed the lake’s water succumbed to pressure from melting glaciers, opening an exit to the sea.

Disappearing Chilean Lake
Photo by Associated Press

There’s some perspective for you the next time you misplace a pen.

Tip courtesy of Jon Lesser.

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