Science Megathread

[Frodo]

In case anyone's interested:

A group of scientists have found, based on their study of 13,000 years-old nanodiamonds spread across from North America to Europe, that the cause of the Younger Dryas period was due to a comet impact that played a key role in the extinctions of the classic megafauna we all associate with the Ice Age -mammoths, cave bears, woolly rhinos, giant ground sloths, saber-toothed cats, etc.

  

We apparently helped them along...

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

That theory has been around awhile, but there are quite a few skeptics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Younger_Dryas_impact_hypothesis

[dead0man]

Indeed, good read.

[Frodo]

That theory has been around awhile, but there are quite a few skeptics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Younger_Dryas_impact_hypothesis

Do you think this latest study helps validate that hypothesis? 

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

That theory has been around awhile, but there are quite a few skeptics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Younger_Dryas_impact_hypothesis

Do you think this latest study helps validate that hypothesis? 

No, because it doesn't address the concerns that skeptics have with it.

[dead0man]

Researcher shows that black holes do not exist

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Say what now?  Muon?

[traininthedistance]

Researcher shows that black holes do not exist

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Say what now?  Muon?

Hmm, intriguing.

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Ooh, that's like the Holy Grail of physics right there.  Very grandiose.  Such proof.  Wow.  Where was this groundbreaking discovery published?  Presumably ALL THE JOURNALS would be clamoring for it!

Let's see...

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Oh.  Never mind.

[dead0man]

Indeed, and that is worrisome, but it's based on a peer reviewed paper that is tackling the same thing.  link

All of this stuff is way over my head, but I find it deeply interesting nonetheless.

[Mr. Morden]

Arxiv isn't peer-reviewed, but many of the papers there are preprints of papers that are or will be peer-reviewed in "real" journals.

But here's the paper in question:

http://arxiv.org/abs/1409.1837

There's nothing there suggesting that it's been submitted to a refereed journal.

[MaxQue]

Arxiv isn't peer-reviewed, but many of the papers there are preprints of papers that are or will be peer-reviewed in "real" journals.

But here's the paper in question:

http://arxiv.org/abs/1409.1837

There's nothing there suggesting that it's been submitted to a refereed journal.

BUT

The paper is titled "Back-reaction of the Hawking radiation flux on a gravitationally collapsing star II". There is, quite logically, a part I, which will be in the November "issue" of Physics Letters B (Volume 738), which is peer-reviewed.

EDIT: Also, the authors aren't from some dubious Indian/Chinese universities but UNC Chapel Hill and U Toronto.

[Mr. Morden]

Arxiv isn't peer-reviewed, but many of the papers there are preprints of papers that are or will be peer-reviewed in "real" journals.

But here's the paper in question:

http://arxiv.org/abs/1409.1837

There's nothing there suggesting that it's been submitted to a refereed journal.

BUT

The paper is titled "Back-reaction of the Hawking radiation flux on a gravitationally collapsing star II". There is, quite logically, a part I, which will be in the November "issue" of Physics Letters B (Volume 738), which is peer-reviewed.

OK, I didn't see that one.

[MaxQue]

Arxiv isn't peer-reviewed, but many of the papers there are preprints of papers that are or will be peer-reviewed in "real" journals.

But here's the paper in question:

http://arxiv.org/abs/1409.1837

There's nothing there suggesting that it's been submitted to a refereed journal.

BUT

The paper is titled "Back-reaction of the Hawking radiation flux on a gravitationally collapsing star II". There is, quite logically, a part I, which will be in the November "issue" of Physics Letters B (Volume 738), which is peer-reviewed.

OK, I didn't see that one.

But, to be fair, that "discovery" will need a lot of cross-examination (which will undoubtely happen once/if she gets published in a peer-reviewed publication).

[muon2]

Researcher shows that black holes do not exist

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Say what now?  Muon?

I read the link, but not the article. If it's mostly mathematics, then I fear it might be a bit like the aerodynamic calculations that conclude a bumblebee can't fly. There is significant evidence for the existence of mass in such a small volume that it is consistent with the Schwartzchild radius of a black hole. We can detect them by a combination of the velocities of stars nearby pulled by the gravity and the radiation they emit as very intense x-rays. The link suggests that the radiation is consistent with the author's hypothesis, but that leaves the question about how can so much mass be in such a small volume.

The link seems to concentrate on the impossibility of formation from a supernova. That doesn't address the supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies, which are supported by a number of observations. It also doesn't address evidence for stellar black holes, such as the Hubble data for Cygnus X-1.

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[Frodo]

About half of all the water on Earth is older even than the Sun.  

[muon2]

About half of all the water on Earth is older even than the Sun.  

Since both the planetesimals that bombarded Earth with their water and the Sun formed from the same molecular cloud, then the water from those planetesimals should be older.

[Frodo]

First carbon-capture plant opens in Saskatchewan, Canada.

[dead0man]

X37B set to return

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[Frodo]

World's largest asteroid impact zone believed uncovered by ANU researchers in central Australia

By Clarissa Thorpe
Updated about 3 hours ago

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This is the area in question:

[DemPGH]

Outrageous Acts of Science, btw, is a great TV show that shows the "fun" side of science for sure.

This Octopus video is amazing.

[Frodo]

The verdict is in:

New DNA Results Show Kennewick Man Was Native American

JUNE 18, 2015

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[Frodo]

We're all gonna die, basically:

Earth 'entering new extinction phase' - US study

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[traininthedistance]

We're all gonna die, basically:

Earth 'entering new extinction phase' - US study

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We're not entering the sixth mass extinction event.

We are the sixth mass extinction event.

[Ban my account ffs!]

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/06/24/uk-met-fastest-decline-solar-activity-last-ice-age/

The UK Met Office has raised the likelihood that the sun will will be in Maunder minimum conditions by 2050 from 8% to 15-20% after they found the sun is undergoing it's most rapid decline in activity in the past 9300 years.

The sun from about 1930-2005 was in what was called the "Modern Solar Maximum", a grand maximum in solar activity the very opposite of the grand "Maunder minimum" that occurred from 1645-1715 at the heart of the Little Ice Age period.

That came to an end when solar activity fell to unprecedented (by modern instruments) levels and the current solar cycle maximum has been the weakest in at least a century.

Of course the UK Met assures us human induced warming will overwhelm any cooling caused by the most rapid decline in solar activity since the last ice age.  We will see!

[Frodo]

New model of cosmic stickiness favors “Big Rip” demise of universe



by David Salisbury | Jun. 30, 2015, 2:12 PM

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[WVdemocrat]

Well that's depressing.