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DemPGH
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« Reply #50 on: January 23, 2014, 05:22:51 PM »

The spectrum of ball lightning has been discovered. It consists of neutral atomic silicon, calcium, iron, nitrogen and oxygen—in contrast with mainly ionized nitrogen emission lines in the spectrum of the parent lightning.

I've got my idea -- that they are space-chilled pieces of debris from supernova explosions that strike the earth's atmosphere at great speed and are heated to great temperatures through frictional drag.  Silicon, calcium, and iron are among the later and heaviest elements formed in a star as it approaches the supernova stage (and its catastrophic, fatal demise). If they are unoxidized, silicon, iron, and especially calcium react violently with the oxygen in the Earth's  atmosphere.

Ball lightning has certainly been proposed as an explanation for some UFO sightings and on rare occasions for paranormal sightings.

As to your proposal, wouldn't that have a shooting star effect, though? Ball lighting, from what I have read, need not behave that way.

Don't get too excited about this, but dolphins are huge backers of legalized pot or at least legalized puffer fish.

Freakin hippies.

Haha, surfers and pot smokers. Ehh, might be a bad influence on the kids after all! Tongue
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NewYorkExpress
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« Reply #51 on: January 23, 2014, 07:14:59 PM »

http://guardianlv.com/2014/01/weight-loss-aided-by-colder-temperatures/

Scientists found out that weight loss is easier in cold temperatures...

Guess I'm going to squat in the freezer next time I want to lose five pounds.
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Deus Naturae
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« Reply #52 on: January 23, 2014, 08:42:08 PM »

Water vapor has been discovered around the dwarf planet Ceres.
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pbrower2a
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« Reply #53 on: January 24, 2014, 10:11:59 AM »

The spectrum of ball lightning has been discovered. It consists of neutral atomic silicon, calcium, iron, nitrogen and oxygen—in contrast with mainly ionized nitrogen emission lines in the spectrum of the parent lightning.

I've got my idea -- that they are space-chilled pieces of debris from supernova explosions that strike the earth's atmosphere at great speed and are heated to great temperatures through frictional drag.  Silicon, calcium, and iron are among the later and heaviest elements formed in a star as it approaches the supernova stage (and its catastrophic, fatal demise). If they are unoxidized, silicon, iron, and especially calcium react violently with the oxygen in the Earth's  atmosphere.

Ball lightning has certainly been proposed as an explanation for some UFO sightings and on rare occasions for paranormal sightings.

As to your proposal, wouldn't that have a shooting star effect, though? Ball lighting, from what I have read, need not behave that way.

A wild conjecture, but not as wild as the idea that silica or silicate would be reduced to silicon vaporized on Earth (which requires a huge amount of energy to perform) and then that it would react with atmospheric oxygen in a strongly-exothermic process. The combustion of 'vaporized silicon' would release no more energy than was necessary for reducing silica to silicon, and the heat released from the condensation of silica basically recovers the heat of vaporization of silica or reduced silicon.  

Laws of thermodynamics preclude the possibility of the reversal of a process in roughly the same place and time yielding more energy than was put into the process.

To be sure, I have an extraterrestrial explanation -- but not involving any unknown processes of nature. Supernova explosions happen, and they eject huge amounts of material, some of it silicon, calcium, and iron; they are one of the few arguable sources of unoxidized silicon, calcium, and iron. Uncombined iron not a human creation (of course we have a huge iron-and-steel industry) does exist in meteorites. Calcium is extremely reactive, literally burning if it comes in contact with water. It would not last long in a terrestrial environment. Silicon is difficult to reduce, but it is common only in human artifacts typically of extremely-recent origins (electronics). Uncombined silicon and silicides have been found on Earth, but both are rare and are associated with meteorites. Silicates, in contrast, are extremely common.

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NewYorkExpress
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« Reply #54 on: January 25, 2014, 02:36:03 PM »

http://guardianlv.com/2014/01/oldest-cancer-in-world-discovered/

The oldest cancer in world was discovered in an 11,000 year old dog... and it still exists in today's dogs.


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NewYorkExpress
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« Reply #55 on: January 25, 2014, 02:54:23 PM »

http://www.livescience.com/42778-electrical-burn-star-cataract.html
A man developed star-shaped cataract after an electrical burn...



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True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
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« Reply #56 on: January 27, 2014, 12:54:32 AM »

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While interesting, I'd wish they'd worry at least as much about the flavor as the nutrition.
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NewYorkExpress
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« Reply #57 on: January 28, 2014, 04:33:25 PM »

http://www.webmd.com/lung-cancer/news/20140128/breath-test-may-detect-signs-of-lung-cancer-study

They've apparently come up with a breath test that can detect Lung Cancer...
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True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
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« Reply #58 on: January 30, 2014, 01:12:10 AM »

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If this holds up, this will be another well-deserved blow to those who insisted we should have gone full speed ahead with embryonic stem cell research and never mind those who had ethical qualms about the practice.  More and more it's looking like we don't need to tear apart human embryos to get stem cells.
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Miles
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« Reply #59 on: February 02, 2014, 12:08:40 PM »

Severe droughts out west could hamper the water supply in rural areas.
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DemPGH
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« Reply #60 on: February 04, 2014, 04:32:05 PM »
« Edited: February 04, 2014, 05:17:41 PM by Acting Pac. Gov. DemPGH »

Interesting: Sugar is even worse than thought (link to the original study contained therein), or just as bad depending upon your circle. The nice thing about cleaning up your diet is that once something is gone, it's gone. For example, if you really do eliminate excess sugar your tolerance to it goes down so that something that used to not be very sweet now is too sweet. While salt is an issue, sugar is a big one.

And, cancers are expected to increase. As people live longer and face other hazards (environmental, mainly), it sure could rise.
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True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
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« Reply #61 on: February 04, 2014, 07:13:00 PM »

Interesting: Sugar is even worse than thought (link to the original study contained therein), or just as bad depending upon your circle. The nice thing about cleaning up your diet is that once something is gone, it's gone. For example, if you really do eliminate excess sugar your tolerance to it goes down so that something that used to not be very sweet now is too sweet. While salt is an issue, sugar is a big one.

I can believe that. I like lemonade, but not the premixed varieties as they invariably are too sweet.  Similarly, I hate cake that has more than a thin layer of frosting just barely thick enough to not see the cake thru.
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Frodo
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« Reply #62 on: February 04, 2014, 11:42:47 PM »


It could get even worse:

Scientists: Past California droughts have lasted 200 years



SAN JOSE, Calif. — California's current drought is being billed as the driest period in the state's recorded rainfall history. But scientists who study the West's long-term climate patterns say the state has been parched for much longer stretches before that 163-year historical period began.

And they worry that the "megadroughts" typical of California's earlier history could come again.

Through studies of tree rings, sediment and other natural evidence, researchers have documented multiple droughts in California that lasted 10 or 20 years in a row during the past 1,000 years — compared to the mere three-year duration of the current dry spell. The two most severe megadroughts make the Dust Bowl of the 1930s look tame: a 240-year-long drought that started in 850 and, 50 years after the conclusion of that one, another that stretched at least 180 years.

"We continue to run California as if the longest drought we are ever going to encounter is about seven years," said Scott Stine, a professor of geography and environmental studies at Cal State East Bay. "We're living in a dream world."
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Frodo
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« Reply #63 on: February 06, 2014, 06:59:26 PM »

Here is a recently released night-time image of Earth from Mars, courtesy of our hardy rover, Curiosity:



source
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muon2
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« Reply #64 on: February 06, 2014, 11:16:18 PM »

Here is a recently released night-time image of Earth from Mars, courtesy of our hardy rover, Curiosity:



source

The best part is that the Moon is visible to the naked eye from Mars as well.
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Frodo
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« Reply #65 on: February 07, 2014, 12:35:42 AM »

More space news -Europe's star surveyor, Gaia, has taken up its observation post above the Earth, and is set to begin its mission of making an extremely precise 3D map of our Milky Way Galaxy:

Gaia 'billion-star surveyor' returns test image



By Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News


Europe's billion-star surveyor, Gaia, is on track to begin operations in the next two or three months.

Launched in December, the satellite has now taken up its observing station some 1.5 million km from Earth.

Engineers are currently commissioning Gaia's two telescopes and its three instruments, getting them ready to begin mapping the precise positions and motions of one-thousand-million stars.

As part of that process, an image has been produced of a small star cluster.

This grouping is sited in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a companion galaxy to our own Milky Way, some 160,000 light-years in the distance.

If the picture just released by the European Space Agency looks somewhat underwhelming, that is not really surprising - taking pretty vistas of the sky is not what this mission is about.

Rather, Gaia's job when operational will be to track and characterise points of light moving across its big camera detector - be those stars, asteroids, comets or the flashes generated by exploding objects such as supernovae - to work out how far away they are and how they are moving in relation to everything else.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26073173
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NewYorkExpress
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« Reply #66 on: February 10, 2014, 01:00:42 PM »

http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1425308/australian-astronomers-find-most-ancient-star-ever-seen


A pair of Australian Scientists discover the oldest known star in the universe, dated at 200 million years after the big bang. The Star is believed to be in the Milky Way Galaxy about 6,000 light years from earth.
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Frodo
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« Reply #67 on: February 12, 2014, 09:03:26 PM »

We're one step closer to developing nuclear fusion energy:

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The world will shine with light in our nightmare
Just Passion Through
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« Reply #68 on: February 17, 2014, 02:03:59 PM »

Human lung made in lab for first time
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DemPGH
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« Reply #69 on: February 17, 2014, 05:33:15 PM »

Avocados are not only good but are epic freedom food with tons of health benefits. I knew they were good for you, but not quite as good as they are. I've been working in one a day to my diet. You can do almost anything with them, although I would never ruin them by eating them with something that will kill you.

Related: if you want to go healthy, replace the black pepper in your pantry with cayenne pepper.
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Frodo
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« Reply #70 on: March 17, 2014, 02:37:37 PM »

Detection of Waves in Space Buttresses Landmark Theory of Big Bang

By DENNIS OVERBYE
MARCH 17, 2014


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DINGO Joe
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« Reply #71 on: March 20, 2014, 01:05:17 AM »



Paleontologists unveil the newly discovered "chicken from hell"

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/03/140319-dinosaurs-feathers-animals-science-new-species/

I think it was a recurring character on "Kids in the Hall"
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DemPGH
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« Reply #72 on: June 14, 2014, 12:41:53 PM »

Hello, science thread! It's been a while. Tongue

Interestingly, NASA appears to be seriously investigating the possibilities of faster than light travel. I guess the big improvement is that they've figured out a way to need less power than previously thought to fuel the thing. Previously, they thought they needed to generate the power put out by Jupiter. which is LOL, no.

Back in 2008 they reported this - at which point the concept was moving from speculation into science in terms of "maturity" with still quite a ways to go.

Needless to say, if this were ever a reality, there is no question that it would be the absolute crowning achievement of humanity.
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politicallefty
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« Reply #73 on: June 15, 2014, 08:06:29 AM »

Scientists appear to have discovered a huge subterranean ocean:

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politicallefty
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« Reply #74 on: July 06, 2014, 11:33:32 AM »

I found a very interesting article about the Fermi Paradox and the possibilities of extraterrestrial life. It's not the shortest article, but I definitely recommend it to anyone interested in the subject.
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