Science Megathread

[Frodo]

Not only do we share our genes with Neanderthals and Denisovans -we share a passion for art as well:

World's Oldest Cave Art Found—And Neanderthals Made It

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[Frodo]

Diamonds reveal sign of the deepest water known inside Earth

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[dead0man]

well that's weird...how had I missed that were different kinds (phases?) of ice?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

well that's weird...how had I missed that were different kinds (phases?) of ice?

To begin with, all ice on the surface is in the phase Ice-I_h.

Ice-VII requires pressures over 20,000 atm to exist.

[dead0man]

yeah, I read (skimmed) the various wikis.  It was just weird that I had missed that little nugget in all my years of watching Nova, Cosmos, etc and reading wiki for hours on end.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

To be fair, you might have heard about it, but thought it was science fiction.

[Meclazine for Israel]

These are just fluid inclusion data in diamonds.

These are tiny inclusions found in the diamonds using microscopy and then spectrometry.

In no way does this suggest large quantities of water in the mantle.

However, it is interesting, and it should be noted that most minerals have a hydrous phase, albeit lessening the further you go into the crust.

Water by itself would have a hard time surviving, more likely in combination with brines and re-mobilised structural corridors.

CO2 and H2O are more commonly associated with upper crustal geology.  

Once you go deeper, you drive off these two molecules and end up with the "anhydrous" phase of the mineral concerned.

There are large slabs of primordial mantle material extruded onto the Earth's surface called Peridotite, and they have water in them added during retrogressive metamorphism as they are brought to the Earth's surface.... albeit slowly.

The reason why diamonds are thought to have better inclusions is that most diamonds are brought from the mantle to the surface in a matter of minutes. Kimberlites named after vertical diamond pipes in my home state.

As they were formed under huge pressure, all diamonds on the Earth's surface are thought to be on a path of degradation back into Graphite over the next 30-100 Million years.

A small consolation when you pawn Grandma's ring.

[Frodo]

Scientists discover evidence of early human innovation, pushing back evolutionary timeline
Evidence of innovation dates to a period when humans faced an unpredictable and uncertain environment, according to three new studies

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[Frodo]

The inland Clovis First theory suffers yet another body blow:

13,000-Year-Old Human Footprints Found—Oldest Yet From North America
Leading theories support the idea that prehistoric Americans first populated Alaska and may have migrated south along the coast.

[Mr. Morden]

It's possible that life is rare in the universe because it requires phosphorous to get going, and our solar system just happened to be unusually rich in phosphorous:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/alien-life-proof-phosphorus-discovery-planets-worlds-other-discovery-latest-a8288956.html

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Computer system transcribes words users “speak silently”
Electrodes on the face and jaw pick up otherwise undetectable neuromuscular signals triggered by internal verbalizations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuUSc53Xpeg

[Frodo]

It challenges the Out of Africa theory on several fronts:

1. Humans migrated out of Africa tens of thousands of years earlier than once thought.

2. They didn't just migrate along the coast to the rest of the world, but also through the Arabian hinterlands which were much wetter and more humid than they are today.

3.  They left in several (successful) waves, not just one.  

An 85,000-year-old finger fossil may challenge theories about how early humans migrated from Africa

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[Frodo]

New Source Of Global Nitrogen Discovered

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[HillGoose]

when r they going to bring back mammoth

[Frodo]

NASA, SpaceX to launch spacecraft to find another Earth

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[Frodo]

Sometime in the future, some of us could evolve to look something like this:



Larger spleens may help ‘sea nomads’ stay underwater longer
DNA tests reveal the genetic underpinnings of this adaptation in the ethnic Bajau divers

[dead0man]

if the Nancies let proper testing of CRISPR and other gene altering techs anybody that wanted gills could have them.  The Luddites and the socialists will never allow proper institutions to study things like that above the board though, so it will only be the super rich willing to break laws that will benefit.  You'd think they would be against that, but alas, that's what always happen when Luddites and socialists are allowed to hand cuff science.

[DINGO Joe]

From the Ministry of Silly Archaeology, this Pythonesque story:



This skeleton appears to be from a man who survived the initial explosion (at Pompei) and was fleeing the doomed city. But it was not slow-moving molten lava that killed most of the people of Pompeii. Instead, a vast cloud of hot gas and fragments - called a pyroclastic flow - surged over the city, killing its inhabitants wherever they were, and burying them in ash, preserving their final moment.

Archaeologists believe it was this lethal cloud which struck their newest discovery, throwing him backwards as he turned to look at it.

The man, believed to be in his 30s, was found on the first floor of a building, above the layer of small stones carried by the cloud.

But the force of the erupting gas and rock also picked up an enormous rock - which experts think might have been a door jamb (the vertical part of a door frame) - and hurled it at the victim, crushing his upper body near the throat and possibly removing his head, which is missing.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44303247

[DINGO Joe]

From the Ministry of Silly Palentology:



In Utah, dinohunters found an unusual fossil underneath a dinosaur foot, a half mammal, half reptile creature that had only been found in Asia before.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2018/05/29/scientists-discover-the-fossilized-skull-of-a-mammal-like-critter-under-a-dinosaurs-foot-in-utah-and-then-it-gets-even-weirder/

The fossil indicates that Pangaea didn't break up as soon as geologist thought.

[Frodo]

This isn't proof that Mars had life per se -rather it shows that it has the basic building blocks for life to exist.  One step at a time:

Building Blocks of Life Found on Mars

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[dead0man]

sucking CO² is cheaper than we thought

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[dead0man]

also Dr Oz is garbage, but we already knew that.

[Frodo]

Largest ice sheet on Earth was stable throughout last warm period (the Pliocene Era)

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[dead0man]

basketball sized AI bot helping on the ISS

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[dead0man]