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Research Finds Carbon Dating Flawed
eldavojohn writes "New research funded by the National Science Foundation at the University of Miami is showing that carbon dating (the 13C/12C ratio used to infer age) in the ocean can only be trusted up to 150 million years ago. From the primary researcher, 'This study is a major step in terms of rethinking how geologists interpret variations in the 13C/12C ratio throughout Earth's history. If the approach does not work over the past 10 million years, then why would it work during older time periods? As a consequence of our findings, changes in 13C/12C records need to be reevaluated, conclusions regarding changes in the reservoirs of carbon will have to be reassessed, and some of the widely-held ideas regarding the elevation of CO2 during specific periods of the Earth's geological history will have to be adjusted.' While this research doesn't necessarily throw carbon dating out the window, it should cause people to rethink so many theories about early life that revolved around ages of sediment in the oceans."
Is frustrating, oh no its only accurate for 150million years. JUST WAIT for the ID people to jump all over this and start with the whole dinosaurs didnt exist, invisible man made everything 5000years ago. *sighs* these people live in my neighborhood and are going to harass me with their ignorance again.
Will there be a patch?
Sig? What sig? Do I have to have a sig!?!?
Anyone who uses any form of radiometric dating knows that there are limits to the accuracy. The fact that a new limit was discovered doesn't make the technique "flawed", though I will grant that it may call for re-evaluation of some results. Anyone who thinks that the fact that these limits exist is news, though, is terribly misguided.
JESUS cares about those dirty rocks, you insensitive clod!
You're confusing 14C radiometric dating with 13C/12C isotopic ratio dating. There is no decay rate issue for 13C/12C dating - well, except maybe for theoretical proton decay!
I was going to switch to one of those plastic blow up dolls until I found out that they're loaded with carbon too!
Engineering is the art of compromise.
For next-generationcarbon dating, try eCarbony.com
The article at least seemed to have a fairly good grasp of the subject. I guess they may have overstated the implications a bit to make the article seem less boring.
Although, no one even seems to read far enough into the article to come away with that naive misunderstanding. Instead people seem to think this related to carbon-14 dating and going into off-topic discussions about creationism when the off-topic discussion for this article should in-fact be global warming.
If this signature is witty enough, maybe somebody will like me.
You need to learn the bible for insight into much of western thought, but you should also learn it for the fun that can be had with it's biblically ignorant followers.
First, ask them what the ten commandments are. This will trip 95% of them up and they'll walk away without bothering you. If they say that the commandments are not important, tell them you think the same about the rest of the Bible.
Claim you don't believe in Yahweh because you don't believe in infanticide. They'll give you a strange look, and then ask them to read Psalm 137:9, which is in context, Jews daydreaming about smashing their enemies' infants to pieces.
Ask them if they eat lobster, or if there's a girl in the group, if they wear pants. If they say yes, ask them why they support the homosexual agenda, since all three are abominations according to the bible.
They will go to great lengths to explain away why what they do or don't is covered by some painful translation-based loopholes, and what everyone else does is what's really wrong. This is the basic definition of a hypocrite, which concerns my favorite scripture:
'As he taught, Jesus said, "Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.'
Don't get me wrong, the world would be a great place of everyone followed the advice of Jesus, but most of them have never read more than ten pages of their Holy Book.
I agree. Long ago I noticed that journalists are often spectacularly wrong about stuff I happen to know a lot about.
How can I trust them to be right about things I don't know much about?
That's for Carbon 14 dating. 14C has a half-life of 5,730 years, so after 80,000 years, it's essentially all gone.
This article isn't about dating at all, in that sense. Carbon 13 and Carbon 12 are stable. But plants preferentially incorporate Carbon 12, unless they're growing so fast that they take whatever carbon they get.
So when you see more 13C in some sediment you know that plants are growing faster. When you date the sediment (using other techniques, like uranium dating or argon/argon dating) you know a little bit about the plants growing at the time, and the atmosphere they were growing in.
The title of the Slashdot article is extremely misleading. The article it links to is rather clearer.
Have you ever watched The Bible is Repulsive? It's a great 15 minutes. Spare it. You won't regret it.
I used this video one time while talking to a fundamentalist. We were downtown, there was a gay rights parade (I'm a left-coaster) and the usual fundamentalist Christians on the other side of the street. Several blocks away, I struck up a conversation with a guy who was hanging around.
I guess it was because I'm obviously hetero, and fairly well-dressed, short hair, etc. because he assumed that I was on the Christian Fundamentalist side. I joshed with him for a while, talked about the wife, the kids, working, paying bills, blah blah blah. I mentioned something about strictly following the good book, and tisked about the guys down the street. He was very adamant that we should "follow the good book".
Having planted that seed, I got the kids into the conversation again a little while later. I started in with how I have lots of kids (I do) and how they sometimes misbehave. He agreed, and then I talked about what do you do about it? How do you keep your kids in line!?!? You have important values you want to teach! and he was with me all the way.
And then I said:
"It's a good thing that the good book thought of this, two. When my oldest son snuck out and smoked a joint with his buddies, I grabbed some bricks and killed him, right there on the spot". I played it perfectly, too! He was speechless. "Yeah, I believe that the good book should be taken literally, and it's pretty clear, right there in the Deuteronomy, when your children misbehave, you stone them to death".
As he cursed and walked away, I hollered out: "And the cops haven't even investigated! It's been 2 years now!"
I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in all my life...
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
This is NOT carbon dating. The title is exceedingly confusing. C-14 is radiocarbon dating - good for 50,000 years back - 100,000 years with very good equipment. To date this sort of age you would need something like uranium lead, lead-lead techniques. These are accurate to a percent or so out to billions of years. The C12/C13 ratio is purely used as an indicator of how fast plants are growing and how abundant CO2 is at that time. It is NOT used for dating.