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Dinosaurs Died Within Hours of Asteroid Impact, says New Study
colonist writes "SPACE.com reports that most dinosaurs were incinerated within hours by the 'heat pulse' of an asteroid impact 65 million years ago. The study 'Survival in the first hours of the Cenozoic' presents a scenario where the only survivors were underground or were underwater in swamps or oceans. All unprotected creatures were 'baked by the equivalent of a global oven set on broil.'"
Actually it's well accepted as by far the most likely candidate for what happened. By the way, other theories include the theory of gravity, relativity theory etc... all pretty much proven, ask Hiroshima about E=mc^2 if you don't believe that one :P
"Studies have shown that people who eat peanuts live longer than those who do not eat."
"There's no question over whether an asteroid hit. The roughly 6-mile-wide (10-kilometer) space rock carved out the Chicxulub crater off Mexico's Yucatan Penninsula."
But fairly recently there was another article posted on slashdot, about the alleged impact having occurred in (what is now) Australia. (check, e.g., here http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4969840/ for a similar story.)
so what is the consensus *really*, in the scientific community? or is there just none?
Of course I didn't read the article, as I don't subscribe and am lazy, but wouldn't the heat kill all the plants too? And I thought there were "many" survivors. Mostly small animals, besides plants and lower life forms. And how could 1 impact effect the entire planet with such a high amount of heat? Wouldn't that metemorph rocks as well? Or even react the atmosphere?
Why don't you guys have friends or journals?
1. Do the Americans really have enough nukes to destroy the world ten times over?
This one I hear a lot. First of all, despite what you may have heard, really the majority of the energy of a nuclear explosion turns into heat and blast immediately, NOT radiation. The only exception to this is the so-called Neutron bomb, designed specifically with radiation (more specifically fast neutrons and gamma rays) in mind. But realistically, although the Americans have built approximately 70,000 warheads of almost 70 different types, they now possess a stockpile of around 9600 warheads. Surprising as it may sound, this is NOT enough to 'destroy' the world. Even hitting every city in the world with everything in every country's arsenal would not be able to 'destroy' the world. The world is still a
BIG place. Keep in mind the Russians have around the same numbers of warheads.
Funny, no. But sometimes that kind of dramatic analogy is necessary to get the point across to people who don't understand what the word "theory" means in a scientific context.
I tend to personalize it a bit: "If you believe that ___* is 'just a theory,' be aware that gravity is 'just a theory' as well. I invite you to try jumping off a skyscraper because, surely, nothing that is 'just a theory' can hurt you."
*___ is almost always evolution, of course, though sometimes it's relativity.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
Someone post the article so we can make intelligent comments on it.
To be honest, I have no idea why an article like this is not considered spam, if we have to pay to read it.
The fact that man has the power to potentially do something shouldn't make you sad. It should actually make you proud. Now, if man would actually do it, that would be sad.
Man can kill man, but until they do, there is nothing to be sad about.
I think you're underestimating how strong many animals really are. Our close relatives, the chimpanzees, are considerably stronger, pound-for-pound, than we are. Reptiles are also noted for being very muscular, even if they don't have much stamina.
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
Before and after Chicxulub Earth was experiencing a lot of volcanic activity. So much in fact, that the compositiom of the atmosphere was changing. As I recall the oxygen content was reducing from 30% down to 24% (I'm sure these are not the exact numbers, but they are close). Less oxygen meant that animals had to work harder in take in the same amount of oxygen. The dinos may have have suffocated.
Of course, a large impact would not have helped them out...
Nope, the fact that you fall if you jump off a skyscraper is that fact that you fall if you jump off a skyscraper. Gravity is the theory that says you fall because the Earth, being rather large, exerts a powerful attractive force on your soon-to-be corpse. You could just as easily explain the falling by using the Aristotelian (IIRC) "things fall because it is their nature to fall" -- but that theory proved to be incompatible with the evidence, and thus was discarded; modern gravitational theory is the best we've got, so far.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
Actually, the fact that you fall if you jump off a skyscraper is the fact of gravity.
You are assuming that you know what will happen in some unobserved (hypothetical) event. Either you are Psychic, or you are using some theory that seems to have been useful in the past to predict what will happen in the situation you propose.
Whaddayaknow? You were using the theory of gravity. (the fact of gravity that you speak of is strictly for chumps)
If, 5 milliseconds after I die, I believe anything at all, then I will be surprised and change my opinions based on the new evidence. If a vengeful God chooses to damn me for not feeling the same way throughout my life despite lack of evidence, then screw Him.
"Studies have shown that people who eat peanuts live longer than those who do not eat."
The new study reviewed existing geologic evidence for the known impact and considered interesting patterns in species survival. How did some birds, mammals, crocodiles, snakes and other animals endure the calamity that wiped out larger species?
That's a good question. But it's got a bug in it - the phrase "wiped out larger spieces". Better to say - selectively wiped out one branch of animals that came in all shapes and sizes, and lived in all kinds of environments right alongside animals that *didn't* die out.
That asteroid sure was amazing!
The survivors burrowed underground or were protected from the firestorm by swamps or oceans, says study leader Doug Robertson of the University of Colorado at Boulder. The details were published in the May-June issue of the Bulletin of the Geological Society of America.
That's so plainly idiotic that it beggars belief. Dinosaurs came in a wide variety of sizes, some smaller than chickens. And there were many aquatic animals that also became extinct, that supposedly would have been safe according to this "study leader".
Another win for the hypothesis that makes for a good special effect, then. And published by the Geological Society - well colour me not suprised.
There's plenty of evidence of evolution out there. I'll go ahead and choose the easiest to see: bacteria. There's a reason that penicillin (and other antibiotics) don't work much any more. The bacteria they used to kill have developed an immunity to their effects. One might even go so far as to say they evolved into a new form of species that is immune/resistant to the effects of antibiotics. There's some evidence for you right there.
Oh, and just so you know, the theory of gravity hasn't been proven, either. It's just got lots of evidence for it, as does evolution. Theories can only really be disproven, not proven.
This is easy to visualize if you imagine a strike at the North Pole and the debris traveling along the lines of longitude to the South Pole.
Lasers Controlled Games!
The AC says:
The AC, is in fact, quite mistaken. What he quoted here is not the core tenet of Christianity; this is just a nice way to live with God thrown in for good measure. What Christianity is is this:
God and mankind had a good releationship, but this relationship was broken because people choose to live without acknowledging God. People are incapable of reconciling this relationship, so God, because He loves people, sent His son Jesus Christ to die on the cross and suffer horribly as a reconciliation so we can have a restored relationship with God. The restored relationship with God is what allows people to actually succeed in loving others and God...
That is the core of Christianity; not the Pope, not communion, not hymns, not going to church every week, not even the Bible. You can verify this for yourself, it's not some "theory" about Christianity - you should be quite able to go pick up a Bible and read it and you should see this is the case, and if you are so inclined, I'd recommend it.
As a man who has decided to commit himself to Christ, I kind of am distressed and saddened by the fact that people do not really understand my faith and lump it in with "you narrow-minded American Christian!". Especially since I am a scientist, love physics, and don't see a conflict between evolution and a universe created by God (if God is all powerful, why can't He use evolution?)
Anyway, at least I hope that you have an understanding now that the common perceptions of "Christianity" might not be universally accurate. Another instance of "don't believe everything you see on TV! (or read on /.!)"
"There are a dozen opinions on a matter until you know the truth. Then there is only one." - CS Lewis (paraprhase)
Exactly! Evolution put a lot of effort (so to speak) into evolving seeds that refuse to germinate unless the conditions are just right. Germinating only when conditions are right maximises the chance of survival for the plant.
I had a packet of cactus seeds with instructions to soak them in very hot water for one minute, plant them immediately afterwards in moist sandy soil and leave them in the dark for a week or so. Even so, mine didn't germinate until three weeks later. Fussy little buggers they are.