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New Evidence About 'The Great Dying' 250 Million Years Ago

Posted by michael on from the didn't-have-bruce-willis-to-save-them dept.

PornMaster writes "The Guardian is reporting that scientists have found the first direct evidence that the killoff of 80% of land species and 95% of marine species 2 billion years ago was due to a meteor." The project web site has more info, maps, etc.

35 of 657 comments (clear)

  1. And this means? by HuckleCom · · Score: 2, Funny

    So uh... A giant meteor hit the earth and all the dinosaurs turned into giant roasted chickens?

  2. What's An Order Of Magnitude Among Friends? by Steve+B · · Score: 5, Funny

    New clues to 2bn-year-old murder
    A buried crater off Australia could be the first direct evidence of a celestial assassin that wiped out more than 80% of life on Earth 250m years ago.     Obviously, Guardian headline writers follow the /. habit of not bothering to RTFA.

    --
    /. If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.
    1. Re:What's An Order Of Magnitude Among Friends? by AllUsernamesAreGone · · Score: 4, Funny

      Maybe they are using RIAA counting systems and it was really 8 impacts 250m years ago?

      (8 may need to be adjusted up or down depending on your country's definition of billion...)

    2. Re:What's An Order Of Magnitude Among Friends? by Robmonster · · Score: 4, Funny

      Ahha, but the meteor could have been 2Bn years old, but only crashed into our humble planet 250Mil ytears ago.

      --
      I have no sig yet I must scream.
    3. Re:What's An Order Of Magnitude Among Friends? by eggfellow · · Score: 2, Funny

      i think the headline is using "dog years"

  3. As Homer would say... by swordboy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Mmmm... unprocessed gasoline...

    --

    Life is the leading cause of death in America.
  4. Finally... by tommertron · · Score: 5, Funny

    They found the weapons of mass destruction!

    --
    Random rants about technology: http://technorants.blogspot.com
    1. Re:Finally... by ArmenTanzarian · · Score: 2, Funny

      So that's why Bush is so interested in going to the Moon and Mars...

    2. Re:Finally... by Jagasian · · Score: 1, Funny

      You unpatriotic, traitor, anti-semitic, terrorist, if you aren't with us you are against us, freedom fries, imminent threat, weapons of mass destruction, obtain nuclear weapons, oil, not torture just abuse, sadaam was an evil sadist, ariel sharon is a man of peace, arafat is a terrorist, axis of evil, evil do'ers, terrorism, dirty bomb, patriot act, god is with us, god bless america, school vouchers, restrictions on stem cell research, they will welcome us with open arms and flowers, evil dictator, iraq, al qaeda, crusade, jihad, peace through a series of large scale wars, glad that companies are outsourcing, orange alert, security, deficit, support for pakistan, support for saudi royal family, must stop those who harbor terrorists, iran, iraq, north korea, pollution, abortion, hero, god bless our soldiers, intifada, muderer, world is a safer place, as long as it takes, fired for taking pictures, no cover-up, palestinians will never get their homeland back, ethnic cleansing, terrorists, bible, holy war, weapons of mass destruction, united nations is not needed, international law does not apply, camp x-ray, enemy combatent, detainee, interrogation, no due process, search and seisure, guantanamo bay, just letting off steam, no cover-up, won't release further pictures for security concerns, watergate, haliburton, mercenaries, bring it on, unilateral action, no EU allies, ...

  5. The Great Dying? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Sounds like a *BSD article.

  6. what is the evidence? by Roger+Keith+Barrett · · Score: 1, Funny

    Did they find evidence of offshore outsourcing?

    --

    Why don't you embrace your slashbotness instead of living in a dreamworld?
    1. Re:what is the evidence? by KDan · · Score: 4, Funny

      In the case of the giant meteor coming to earth I think they tend to call it "insourcing". But it's all terminology of course. In the end, it's all because of foreigners!

      Daniel

      --
      Carpe Diem
  7. My bad by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Funny

    I knew I should not have put that giant can of Lysol in the time machine. But I did it anyway. Sorry.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  8. I wonder... by Woogiemonger · · Score: 3, Funny

    I wonder if historians 2 billion years from now will come to a similar conclusion when they find the 125 mile-wide crater in Redmond.

  9. Anyone know... by thatguywhoiam · · Score: 4, Funny
    .. out of curiosity.. how big that rock was?

    You never really see figures about how fast, and how big that chunk of rock (?) was. Gimme a nice scientific factoid, in standard Volkswagen units or something.

    --
    If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
    1. Re:Anyone know... by WinterSolstice · · Score: 2, Funny

      Is it ironic that a culture that can't standardize on metric or imperial (or whatever inches are) can standardize on the "width of the human hair" and "volkswagens"?

      -WS

      --
      An operating system should be like a light switch... simple, effective, easy to use, and designed for everyone.
  10. Evolution from celestial contamination by heir2chaos · · Score: 4, Funny

    So, a giant meteor crashes off the coast of a continent that has some of the strangest creatures on the planet, Austrailians. Oh, and think of all the weird animals there too.

  11. Lies.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    The earth was created in 7 days. Dinosaurs are a fabrication by atheists. God is perfect and didn't need to practice by making Dinosaurs, you twits. The fact is that they never existed!

    1. Re:Lies.. by cbiltcliffe · · Score: 2, Funny
      The earth was created in 7 days.
      True, but who's definition of a day are we going by here? An Earth day, a Saturn day, or a galactic day? Then there's the whole biblical "A day is as a thousand years" thing.

      Dinosaurs are a fabrication by atheists.
      Who, besides you, ever said this? Dinosaurs did exist, they just weren't millions of years before people... http://www.genesispark.com/genpark/foot/foot.htm

      God is perfect and didn't need to practice by making Dinosaurs, you twits.
      God is perfect, but if He had practised by making dinosaurs first, maybe people wouldn't be as fscked up as they are right now.....(*cough*RIAA*cough*GW*cough*)

      --
      "City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
    2. Re:Lies.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Didn't you hear it's been reported (Tina Fey, SNL) that Creationists and Evolutionists came to a compromise. The word evolution could still be used in textbooks but dinosaurs would be now known as jesus horses.

  12. Look at it another way: by Chemisor · · Score: 5, Funny

    Look at it another way: this just means that 80% of terrestrial life and 95% of marine life are completely useless.

    1. Re:Look at it another way: by julesh · · Score: 2, Funny

      this just means that 80% of terrestrial life and 95% of marine life are completely useless

      I could have told you _that_. It's a simple corollary of Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is crap, there's 4 times as much life in the sea as there is on land, so 80% of terrestrial life and 95% of marine life are completely useless.

  13. Re:250 Million years ago... not 2B by grub · · Score: 2, Funny


    it was at 250 million years ago not 2 Billion

    But Kent Hovind says the Earth is only a few thousand years old!

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  14. New clues to 2bn-year-old murder by Jonboy+X · · Score: 1, Funny

    Wow, clues to a 2-billion-year-old murder? Sounds like Angela Lansbury's first case...

    --

    "In a 32-bit world, you're a 2-bit user. You've got your own newsgroup, alt.total.loser." -Weird Al
  15. Dinosaurs still walk among us by AtariAmarok · · Score: 1, Funny

    The great dying didn't kill everything. Dinosaurs still walk among us. Here's an example, Gary Condit, a gentleman with the appearance and predilections of a T-Rex. The facial resemblance is striking.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  16. Re:Not 2 BILLION! by mirko · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yep, they converted Byte-years into bit-year to make it look like there were more, hence the whooping x8 factor. ;)

    --
    Trolling using another account since 2005.
  17. Re:I've always found those stats suspect by GuestFox · · Score: 3, Funny
    Actually evolution is a myth, it's made up science. Don't believe me? Prove me wrong then. I'll pit the Holy Bible against the theory of evolution or "The Big Bang" any day. Yep, yet another example of junk science just like Global Warming.

    Before you people get started...This post is not an attempt to start a flame.

    -=GuestFox=-

  18. I am surprised... by toupsie · · Score: 1, Funny

    Scientists didn't find a way to blame President Bush and Republicans for this. At least they could have come up with Dick Cheney and a time machine or something. The last thing we can have is "nature" causing extinctions, it has to be Republicans and SUV drivers! Get with the program!!!

    --
    Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
  19. Re:I've always found those stats suspect by Troed · · Score: 3, Funny

    There's no need to prove creationists wrong. We just shake our heads and laugh - they'll never amount to much anyway outside the US.

    --
    it's in my head
  20. Re:Effects by ErroneousBee · · Score: 5, Funny

    I love the 'May cause ear pain'

    I'm on fire, Im being tossed about in a 1400kph wind, I was hit by debris traveling at mach6 just a moment ago, did I mention the earthquake?

    Oh, and my ears hurt.

    --
    **TODO** Steal someone elses sig.
  21. Prevention by Syberghost · · Score: 2, Funny

    In order to keep this from happening to us, we need to:

    1) Advance as far technologically as we can, as fast as we can, especially in manned space travel.

    2) Learn how to survive with a polluted atmosphere, instead of just avoiding polluting it in the first place, which would retard technological growth.

    3) Get as many people the hell off this rock as fast as we can. A moonbase would be a great start.

    So, if you want the human race to become extinct, vote for John Kerry. If you want us to survive, vote for George Bush.

    Thanks for your support.

  22. This is HUGE news... by C-Diddy · · Score: 2, Funny

    I always thought the Republican Party was soley responsibile for such environmental and specieist devestation.

    --
    "Me fail English? That's unpossible." - Ralph
  23. Re:2 Billion Years Ago ?? by j-pimp · · Score: 2, Funny

    Is Two Billion Years metric for 250 million American years?
    I use sidereal time, you insensitive clod!!

    --
    --- Justin Dearing http://www.justaprogrammer.net/ We're just programmers.
  24. Re:2 Billion Years Ago ?? by Ocrad · · Score: 2, Funny

    In Soviet Russia, the universe didn't existed at that time. (-2*10E12 years).

  25. "Great Dying" Indeed! by Ratfactor · · Score: 2, Funny

    Haaarumph!! "The Great Dying" indeed!

    I don't remember anything so great about it!