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Backing out of an explosive situation…Media reports indicate George Bush has publicly scolded Spain’s new socialist prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero for wanting to withdraw support of the U.S. in Iraq. However, SFU political scientist Alex Moens, an expert on American politics who has just returned from Washington, D.C., disputes that analysis. He can expand on his perspective of how the Bush administration is reacting to Spain’s desire to back its troops out of Iraq. Spain’s threatened withdrawal by the summer is in the wake of the recent train bombings, which killed more than 200 people.

Alex Moens, 604.291.4361, alexander_moens@sfu.ca

Who’s minding the volcanoes?…SFU vulcanologist Glyn Williams-Jones studies the formation, structure and activity of volcanoes in Central America, but he keeps an eye on activity in B.C.’s coastal mountains and the Cascades. Williams-Jones, a new recruit in earth sciences, can talk about the importance of volcano monitoring, especially in B.C. which is dotted with simmering volcanoes. He notes B.C.’s coastal mountains and the United States’ Cascades are connected. Williams-Jones warns that if Mount St. Helen’s in Washington State were to blow again, as it did in 1980, it could spew out ash that impacts airplane traffic. If ice-packed Mount Baker were to erupt, as it did in the mid-1980s, its mixture of ice and molten lava would create a deadly mudslide that could engulf parts of the Fraser Valley. The vulcanologist is fluent in French and Spanish, as well as English

Glyn Williams-Jones, 604.291.3306, glynwj@sfu.ca

A 'planetoid' past Pluto.…A NASA-funded team of scientists announced Monday the discovery of the coldest and most remote object known to orbit the sun. Christened Sedna, after the Inuit sea goddess, the new planetoid opens a new "fossil window" into the solar system. Astrophysicist Leigh Palmer can offer background and insight into the implications of this profound astronomical discovery.

Leigh Palmer, 604.291 4844, 604.299.3731, leigh_palmer@sfu.ca