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Japanese Scientists Dig up Million-year-old Ice

Posted by samzenpus on from the ancient-daiquiri dept.

ToxikFetus writes "During expedition to Antarctica to research past climate patterns, Japanese scientists unearth million-year-old block of ice, breaking the previous mark by 200,000 years."

70 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. i wonder... by baub · · Score: 3, Funny

    is it still cold?

  2. Sadly, by Odin_Tiger · · Score: 5, Funny

    the sample was destroyed when the scientists decided to celebrate with drinks on the rocks.

    --
    Unpleasantries.
    1. Re:Sadly, by madaxe42 · · Score: 1

      You joke, but at the Dome C drilling site upon completion, everyone had whiskey on the rocks - on 1,000,000 year old ice - apparently it practically exploded in the glass due to the pressure of the gas trapped within.

  3. bible is teh truth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    you silly secular atheist. earth is only 6000 year old.

    1. Re:bible is teh truth by bvwj · · Score: 1

      Yes, but how old did the ice appear to be when God created it?

      --
      You can mod me down, but you cannot call me a coward.
    2. Re:bible is teh truth by vettemph · · Score: 2, Insightful

      About as old as God appeared to be when the Christians created Him.

      --
      The government which is strong enough to protect you from everything is strong enough to take everything from you.
    3. Re: bible is teh truth by Black+Parrot · · Score: 1

      > you silly secular atheist. earth is only 6000 year old.

      He's not a secular atheist, he's an Orthodox Reform Congregational atheist!

      --
      Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
    4. Re:bible is teh truth by securityfolk · · Score: 1

      coward

  4. Scientific errors by quokkapox · · Score: 2, Funny
    There are many obvious errors in the methods they used of measuring the age of that ice. Even the pictures in that article are clearly Photoshopped.

    I'm a teenager, and my high school biology class here in Topeka School District has already performed a detailed analysis of these biased claims. Since the ice cannot be more than about 6,000 years old, and the article even advocates the "fact" of climate change and microbial evolution, you can easily see how they're trying to destroy religion in America.

    This country (and Japan too) is going downhill fast. The end times are near.

    --
    it's a blue bright blue Saturday hey hey
    1. Re:Scientific errors by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Wait until you get into college. They will teach you how to use photoshop properly for scientific experiments. On a Mac, no less! :P

    2. Re:Scientific errors by kryonD · · Score: 1

      Ahh...you fortunate souls in Topeka, at least your leaders are honest about violating the seperation between Church and State. Here in Utah, the current Bill (SB 96) distinctly avoids any use of words relating to Religion, Creation, or Intelligent Design. It also fails to identify by name any of the "other theories" that the teachers are supposed to indicate that exist.

      Next thing you know Orin Hatch will be pushing a bill to put the words "In Someone We Trust" on our money and swear up and down this solves the religion problem because it doesn't say "God".

      --
      I've dirtied my hands writing poetry, for the sake of seduction; that is, for the sake of a useful cause. --Dostoevsky
    3. Re:Scientific errors by flood6 · · Score: 1

      If you look closely at the top-right of the picture you can see a noodley appendage.

      --
      SEO Firefox Extension
    4. Re:Scientific errors by thpdg · · Score: 1

      Wow, I hate to be naive, but are you being sarcastic?
      This country is going down hill fast, but it's because these brain dead conservatives are starting to gain voice in DC and on TV and are trying to make everyone one else feel wrong and stop forward progress. They're like the Amish, or something. "We know we're backward, but we want to be right, ha ha ha!"

      --

      -Patrick

      "They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

  5. the important question by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So, the important questions is this: What was water made of 1,000,000 years ago?

    (Yes, it's a joke. Yes, I'm aware that this is significant because the trace amounts of other minerals and elements that they'll find in it will be major signifiers of the atmospheric composition back then.)

    --
    This guy's the limit!
  6. Japanese Scientists Dig up... by Eightyford · · Score: 2, Funny

    Japanese scientists dig up million-year-old ice and find a giant moth. Godzilla saves the day.

    --
    Religion for nerds. Stuff that really matters
    1. Re: Japanese Scientists Dig up... by ShadowXOmega · · Score: 1

      Noo
      they find a cave, and inside a barrel like thing with lots of appendages and a star shapped head....with a hard skin ..... that hides a terrible secret....muaahah ( ohh, no! is in the necronomicon!..run!)

  7. Whale Meat by biocute · · Score: 1

    What I want to know is if there is frozen whale meat in that block of ice.

    --
    Virtual Betting on Facebook for non-geeks.
  8. Ice versus.... by 955301 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wonder, would this have been news if it was a rock core sample? Or perhaps some really deep dirt? Understanding of course that ice potentially contains more to study because it's a fluid at temperatures that live is able to exist in, but it seems a little strange to suggest that people outside this field of science should get excited. It's a piece of solid material which at some point in the past was a liquid:

    Japanese Scientists Dig up Million-year-old Rock

    News Science
    ToxikFetus writes "During expedition to Africa to research past climate patterns, Japanese scientists unearth million-year-old block of rock, breaking the previous mark by 200,000 years."

    --
    You are checking your backups, aren't you?
    1. Re:Ice versus.... by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 1

      It's a piece of solid material which at some point in the past was a liquid

      It was probably a vapor at some point, too.

      --
      This guy's the limit!
    2. Re:Ice versus.... by spurtle15 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes, but it is easier for bubbles to form in ice that contains trapped ancient air samples. It's the old air they're excited about.

    3. Re:Ice versus.... by Vellmont · · Score: 1


      I wonder, would this have been news if it was a rock core sample?

      A million years is actually very young for rock. For comparison, the ordinary everyday rock from Devils Tower in Wyoming varies from between 100-200 million years old. The grand canyon ranges in age from 200 million to 2 billion years old. So I think it's safe to say that someone digging up rock that's merely a million years old wouldn't make the news.

      --
      AccountKiller
    4. Re:Ice versus.... by stevesliva · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The reason ice cores are important is that they contain records of climate change, and climate change is big news these days.

      --
      Who do you get to be an expert to tell you something's not obvious? The least insightful person you can find? -J Roberts
    5. Re:Ice versus.... by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      It might if you were investigating a really major volanic eruption from a million years ago ;-).

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    6. Re:Ice versus.... by stonecypher · · Score: 1

      I wonder, would this have been news if it was a rock core sample?

      Sorta. Really old rocks are news, but a million years isn't much for rocks. The principle holds, yes, but the time scale is entirely different. We have a few zircons from Australia which are almost 4.3 billion years old, so the number would have to be three and a half orders of magnitude bigger.

      --
      StoneCypher is Full of BS
  9. In related news. by Eightyford · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think this is cool, but the more exciting thing that Japanese geologists are doing is planning to drill into the earth's core. link

    --
    Religion for nerds. Stuff that really matters
    1. Re:In related news. by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 2, Informative

      The article lead-in is wrong, since they have no plans to get anywhere near the core. They are planning on drilling down to the mantle (which is correctly reported later in the article). As this figure shows, this is akin to breaking through the skin of an apple to see what mushy goodness lies within.

      --
      This guy's the limit!
    2. Re:In related news. by Eightyford · · Score: 1

      You're right, and I should have picked that up. Still, getting through the crust would still be an amazing accomplishment.

      --
      Religion for nerds. Stuff that really matters
    3. Re:In related news. by RobertB-DC · · Score: 1

      You're right, and I should have picked that up. Still, getting through the crust would still be an amazing accomplishment.

      Don't feel bad. I hear that the sort of dig you suggested will be possible soon with the appropriate advances in materials science.

      --
      Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
  10. In later news... by ObjetDart · · Score: 1

    ...all contact with the Japanese antarctic research station has been lost.

    Researchers from McMurdo have been dispatched to investigate.

    --
    I read Usenet for the articles.
    1. Re:In later news... by HunterZ · · Score: 1

      Heheh one of my favorite movies :) http://imdb.com/title/tt0084787/

      MacReady: "I know I'm human. And if you were all these things, then you'd just attack me right now, so some of you are still human. This thing doesn't want to show itself, it wants to hide inside an imitation. It'll fight if it has to, but it's vulnerable out in the open. If it takes us over, then it has no more enemies, nobody left to kill it. And then it's won."

      Reminds me of my fellow posters here on /.

      --
      Arguing about vi versus Emacs is like arguing whether it's better to make fire by rubbing sticks or banging rocks.
  11. Seriously by quokkapox · · Score: 4, Insightful
    You have all these measurements that come together consistently, the rate of ice formation, the depth of the ice, these cores are probably consistent with other cores from other areas across a wide range of metrics, you could analyze a million different factors and they all happen to come out in favor of an ancient Earth, not a young earth.

    Why won't the fanatics give it up? We need to get with the program and learn as much as we can about this planet before we kill ourselves off permanently.

    --
    it's a blue bright blue Saturday hey hey
    1. Re:Seriously by nagora · · Score: 1
      Why won't the fanatics give it up?

      Because then people would stop paying attention to them and they'd have to grow up.

      Glad to help.

      TWW

      --
      "Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
    2. Re:Seriously by Viper+Daimao · · Score: 2

      theres still people who believe we didnt land on the moon, and that the illuminati control the world. In essence there will always be a small minorty of people who will believe anything, no matter how stupid or what the evidence.

      --
      "In the game of life, someone always has to lose. To me, if life were fair, that someone would always be Oklahoma." -DKR
    3. Re:Seriously by rco3 · · Score: 1

      Wait a minute: you mean there a people who believe BOTH that the moon landings were faked AND that the Illuminati rule the world? Amazing. How can people be so right AND so wrong, at the same time?

      --

      Ce n'est pas un vrai mouvement de robot!
    4. Re:Seriously by Gulthek · · Score: 1

      Why deceptive? If _I_ could figure it out, then I don't really think that the Creator intended it as a super-secret idea.

      Anyhoo, who says that the Creator possesses infinite good and love? How do you know that I don't believe in a religion that says the universe was created by Ultimate Evil, but His Evil Plans went wrong and goodness crept into the hearts of men and thus an eternal struggle was born that can never be resolved...

      "I am evil HoMER! I am evil Ho-mer! I am evil HoMER!"

    5. Re:Seriously by tehdaemon · · Score: 1
      Wow, sounds like a time for occams razor. either they are dead wrong and there is no god, or they are wrong - they misinterpreted genesis.

      They can't accept either of these options - 'cause either of them destroys them. They have thrown out every leg to stand on except the bible. If they now admit that their interpretation of the bible is wrong, even on only one chapter, then everything is suspect and they lose all of their power over the congregations.

      BTW, b) is meaningless, time dialtion means that the earth is old. c) is useless.

      --
      Laws are horrible moral guides, moral guides make even worse laws.
    6. Re:Seriously by stonecypher · · Score: 1

      Why won't the fanatics give it up?

      Uh, because they're fanatics?

      --
      StoneCypher is Full of BS
    7. Re:Seriously by StikyPad · · Score: 1

      You're being naive if you think that disproving one aspect of religion will "destroy" religion on the whole. Religion is not static, nor is it bound to logic. Interpretations have changed over time to suit (or affect) the current geopolitical climate, and the present, despite the grandeurs of glory we may have to the contrary, is no different. Every society believes that the age they live in is immune from the simple-mindedness of its ancestors, that they are more enlightened.

      Regardless, if Occam's Razor applied to religion, religion would have ceased to exist long ago.

      And you're still falling into the trap of arguing an illogical belief using logic. Trying to argue religion is futile, and possibly a greater folly than believing in it.

      --
      https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
    8. Re:Seriously by tehdaemon · · Score: 1
      Religion in general? Of course you right about that. I was not refering to this at all. I was refering to a specific set of Protestant Christian fundamentalists - including 'born agains'

      Roman Catholics have gotten over their old interpretation of Genisis. They now officially state that the theory of evolution more or less describes the method that god used to create the earth etc. They are in no danger from modern science with respect to evolution because they have a pope, who can and does proclaim official doctrine and biblical interpretations. Their religion can change without being destroyed.

      Born agains (and related) have the 'inerrant word of god' (the bible) as their sole authority. In practice this means that there is one official interpretation of the meaning of various scriptures. These interpretations are fixed and 'inerrant' because they are based on the inerrant bible. If they were to change their interpretation of any one part of the bible, especially an important one like Genisis, it would effectivly nullify the inerrancy of the bible. This would then put every other interpretation of the bible in question. As this sort of probing and questioning is incompatible with their understanding of 'faith', it would destroy their religion. ie. born-again theology, not christianity or christian beliefs of current born-agains. The born-again ministers recognise this.

      The core problem comes about because the theory of evolution is incompatable with their interpretation of genisis chap. 1. One will destroy the other. (unless the fundamenalist members remain forever ignorant - a non-zero probability) When you say that religion changes over time, you are correct. What I was pointing out is that this particular change would result in a particular theology being destroyed, (and set of ministers losing their current positions of power). Their particular doctrine admits no possibility of change. If it 'changes' it is destroyed.

      --
      Laws are horrible moral guides, moral guides make even worse laws.
    9. Re:Seriously by StikyPad · · Score: 1

      That's the thing.. you're categorizing people as either uninformed, or informed. You're not allowing for the idea that people are "willfully uninformed." That they will be faithful in the face of evidence which contradicts events. Each person is different. Some may only use religion to explain things that are inadequately explained otherwise, and some may use it to reject science altogether.

      At any rate, the key part of religion for the group you describe is their "personal relationship with God," not, particularly, a literal (or any other) interpretation of the Bible. And conveniently, since the Bible is one of those sources which says almost everything, it works well for almost any purpose. This group will also reject the teachings of the "pope," since the Bible describes no such centralized structure, and it undermines the idea of a direct connection with God.

      But as long as "what is my purpose in life?" or "why do bad things happen?" are things that science can't answer, religion will always fill in the blanks. Christianity has been around for 2000 years; not because of science, or the lack thereof, but because it's very compelling as taught. It appeals to people on emotional levels, which is something science will never do (for most people). Trying to use science to counter religion is as pointless as trying to do the opposite. They won't consider points you have to offer if they conflict with "God," any more than you'll listen to points they have to offer if they conflict with "facts."

      Anyway, I'm gonna discontinue posting to this discussion in favor of newer and shinier discussions.

      --
      https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
  12. You know it's a slow news day when..... by ShyGuy91284 · · Score: 4, Funny

    A block of ice manages to make headlines on slashdot.......

    --
    In undeveloped countries, the consumer controls the market. In capitalist America, the market controls you.
    1. Re:You know it's a slow news day when..... by Talinom · · Score: 1

      A block of ice manages to make headlines on slashdot.......

      Myself, I'm waiting for the live webcam of it melting.

      --
      "Giving money and power to governments is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." - P.J. O'Rourke
    2. Re:You know it's a slow news day when..... by SEWilco · · Score: 1

      The report is actually about gold being found in Africa, but the Slashdot story is a little mangled.

  13. Hyperbole by ShakaUVM · · Score: 2, Funny

    Oh, those guys. They're probably just using marketing hyberbole to see the ultimate luxury item -- DRINK THE BEST SCOTCH WITH THE BEST ROCKS: MILLION YEAR OLD ICE (supplied limited).

    Goes with the Chinese "Thousand Year Old Eggs"

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

    1. Re:Hyperbole by Ranger · · Score: 1

      Who in their right mind would drink the best scotch over ice? They probably use it to keep their whale meat sashimi nice and fresh.

      --
      "You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
  14. Re:Say what...? by NobodyExpects · · Score: 1
    The Japanese don't have the technology to create ice cubes and are now ruining the environment for ancient ice cubes? Where's the Sierra Club when you need them!


    They are harvesting the ice cubes for scientific purposes. The fact that they plan to consume them in drinks later is merely an effort not to waste a precious resource.
  15. OK, ice versus old rock by BerntB · · Score: 1
    I wonder, would this have been news if it was a rock core sample? [...] it seems a little strange to suggest that people outside this field of science should get excited.
    Well, old rock made the BBC.

    You can find more news articles about old rocks if you Google for a minute.

    --
    Karma: Excellent (My Karma? I wish...:-( )
  16. Re:Let me guess, Troll rating is coming for me.... by nagora · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Wonder what kind of excuses they would make up to still deny the existance of God.

    I don't think anyone needs to make up excuses to deny the existance of gods, I think it's up to the people who do believe in them to come up with reasons to do so. So far, they haven't.

    TWW

    --
    "Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
  17. Re:Let me guess, Troll rating is coming for me.... by madaxe42 · · Score: 1

    It's CTHULHU, not CTHULU. Christian Trolls Helping Unchristian Loser Heathens Understand.

  18. Well, several possibilities by Flying+pig · · Score: 1
    • They know it's rubbish as much as we do but are trying to demonstrate their power to persuade foolish people, which makes them feel important.
    • It's arts graduates trying to keep those pesky scientists under control by ensuring the majority of the population lacks confidence in their work.
    • They are genuinely uneducated stupid people who have gotten into positions of authority and are easily swayed by equally uneducated Bible thumpers
    • It is the fate of every empire to succumb to religious madness
    • The only way we can fight their loony fundamentalists is to become even more loony fundamentalists ourselves
    • No-one in the Mid-West learns Greek or Hebrew anymore
    • It's a virus affecting rednecks, spread by SUV to SUV contact.
    • ...-5 troll, ah well I'm clearly destined never to moderate, and just as well too
    --
    Pining for the fjords
  19. In Soviet-Russia... by dud83 · · Score: 1

    The million-year-old ice digs up YOU!

    ...fear the ice, I tell ya!

  20. Huh? by C10H14N2 · · Score: 1

    Why would the contents, components or age of anything that exists on this planet or anywhere else in the universe have anything whatsoever to do with the existence of [g|G]od[s] any more than the contents of my ham sandwich have bugger all to do with the existence of leprechauns?

  21. relevance of blocks of ice by j1m+5n0w · · Score: 1

    This actually is somewhat important for establishing historical data for carbon dioxide density in the atmosphere. Presumably, the new data will allow someone to extend this graph, and see where we are now relative to a million years ago.

  22. I can top that by ralphclark · · Score: 1

    I just discovered a volume of spacetime in my bathroom that's approx. 13.7 billion years old. I win!

  23. Oddly Enough... by Carpe+PM · · Score: 2, Funny
    I don't know how to calculate the odds on this, but they found a hair embedded in the sample.

    Turns out after DNA analysis the hair belonged to the great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandson of Ted Williams. Go figure.

    1. Re:Oddly Enough... by TheTiGuR · · Score: 1

      Minor point....

      Wouldn't you find the great....great grand**FATHER** of Ted Williams? Or am I missing some time travel reference here?

      --
      "Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world; unreasonable people persist in trying to adapt the world to themselves
    2. Re:Oddly Enough... by CptNerd · · Score: 1


      Ted Williams is Zaphod Beeblebrox?

      --
      By the taping of my glasses, something geeky this way passes
    3. Re:Oddly Enough... by stonecypher · · Score: 1

      Turns out after DNA analysis the hair belonged to the great great grandson of Ted Williams. Go figure.

      Yeah, you'd think it'd be his great^30 grandfather, instead. Wonder if by then his middle name was Zaphod.

      --
      StoneCypher is Full of BS
  24. Almost as helpful as the Stardust mission by cwtrex · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I would expect that this ice would contain particles that might help estimate what the earth was made of a million years ago. Who knows how many comets have hit the earth effectively changing the content or even the ability to house life...

  25. Umm, isn't most ice older? by voxel · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Isn't most or all of earth's "ice" about 4 billion years old?

    He-he.

    --
    Modesty is one of life's greatest attributes
    1. Re:Umm, isn't most ice older? by stonecypher · · Score: 1

      Not the parts we can get to with a steam shovel, no.

      --
      StoneCypher is Full of BS
  26. Re:Let me guess, Troll rating is coming for me.... by ChreodeRiot · · Score: 1

    What if they DO find samples of bacteria. I wonder what excuses you will make up to still deny the validity of empirical research and science?

    PS. Beleiving in empirical facts as opposed to faith based dogma does not preclude a belief in the existence of God.
    I also put forth Bill Hicks' one word question: "Dinosaurs?".

  27. Re:Let me guess, Troll rating is coming for me.... by Black+Parrot · · Score: 1

    > I wonder what the scientists would do if they found nothing in that "1,000,000" year old block of ice. Just pure water. No organisms frozen for eons. Wonder what kind of excuses they would make up to still deny the existance of God.

    a) appeals to hypothetical data aren't very convincing

    b) most scientists in the USA believe in God

    c) hope you're trolling, 'cause otherwise you're an idiot

    d) p.s. - sorry for the flame

    e) p.p.s. - the apology is pro forma

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
  28. Re: X-Files by Black+Parrot · · Score: 1

    > These scientists apparently didn't watch the X-Files, or John Carpenter's The Thing for that matter. Of course the ice contains a microbe that will soon overtake the entire planet if not contained.

    Fortunately they used the ice to make martinis, and the alcohol killed all the vermin.

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
  29. Re:Ice is a mineral, probably also a rock by ls+-la · · Score: 1

    Snow doesn't have a regular structure. That's one of the differences between ice and snow.

  30. Grad Students by mswope · · Score: 1

    I TOLD Matsumoto-san to clean out the back of the leefligelaytah!

  31. Bad ass microbes by corngrower · · Score: 1

    Seriously, they quaranteened the astronauts after they came back from the moon trips for fear of microbial contamination. Wouldn't it be just as likely for some bad-ass microbe to exist in one of these frozen million-year-old ice samples?

  32. Yarr? by tepples · · Score: 1

    If you look closely at the top-right of the picture you can see a noodley appendage.

    Flying Spaghetti Monsterism holds that a decline in piracy leads to global warming. But hasn't there been a sharp increase in piracy through napster, winmx, kazaa, and now emule and bittorrent over the last six years?

    1. Re:Yarr? by RockModeNick · · Score: 2, Funny

      I think it has to be piracy on the high seas, so only those offshore CD duplicating boats count...

  33. And at 1,000,001 years depth by Timberwolf0122 · · Score: 1

    they would have found the scotch I left behind. Alcohol and time travel a winnning combination..... Bwhahahaha It was I who killed the dinosaurs and removed the disclamer from the bible!

    --
    In the not too distant future, next Sunday A.D.