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How Nearby Supernovae Affected Life On Earth
sycodon writes with news of research into how nearby supernovae affected the development of life on Earth. "[Professor Henrik Svensmark] found that the changing frequency of nearby supernovae seems to have strongly shaped the conditions for life on Earth. Whenever the Sun and its planets have visited regions of enhanced star formation in the Milky Way Galaxy, where exploding stars are most common, life has prospered. Prof. Svensmark remarks in the paper, "The biosphere seems to contain a reflection of the sky, in that the evolution of life mirrors the evolution of the Galaxy.' ... The data also support the idea of a long-term link between cosmic rays and climate, with these climatic changes underlying the biological effects. And compared with the temperature variations seen on short timescales as a consequence of the Sun's influence on the influx of cosmic rays, the heating and cooling of the Earth due to cosmic rays varying with the prevailing supernova rate have been far larger.""
Considering the majority of matter on the planet, including life, is from the remnants of a supernova, I'd say it helped quite a lot.
IIRC, a temporal anomaly - which was created by the Enterprise shooting its magical bullshit beam into the same place, at three points in time, grew bigger as it went back in time, and prevented life from forming.
Q bopped Picard around from past to present until he figured it out, and saved the day with an inverse magical bullshit beam and paradox, whatever bullshit LeVar Burton spewed out to "explain" it.
Ultimately Q's the good guy, since while he wasn't allowed to directly affect or fix it because of more magical bullshit Q rules, he bent the rules to lead Piccard figure it all out.
Or was that not the last episode? You should maybe ask someone who liked the show more than me. I just liked to rub one out to the space cheerleader mind reading chick, now and then.
"Aww...it didn't happen. See what you've done?"
>Whenever the Sun and its planets have visited regions of enhanced star formation in the Milky Way Galaxy, where exploding stars are most common, life has prospered.
Nothing like repeated blasts of high-energy gamma radiation to stir things up.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
No, that was where Picard PREVENTED the start of life, because he was jumping through Q's hoops, then he realized it and stopped the stuff that was making the anomaly.
Trying to make sense of this:
And compared with the temperature variations seen on short timescales as a consequence of the Sun's influence on the influx of cosmic rays, the heating and cooling of the Earth due to cosmic rays varying with the prevailing supernova rate have been far larger
Is this a correct translation?
"The influence of supernovae on cosmic rays is greater than the sun's influence on the cosmic rays"
correlate with supernovae rate? This is a interesting analysis and paper, although I think it is hard to draw the distinction when only two (or three, if you count bacteria over all time) clades have actually 'dominated' the earth, reptiles and mammals. I don't know enough about classification to also include the oceans, but it is my understanding that they contain relatively low biomass other than microorganisms. I guess you could consider some sort of insect or arthropod for both, but those have dominated fairly consistently with bacteria as far as I know.
Koalas. They're telepathic. Plus, they control the weather. -Margaret
That is indeed a pretty solid synopsis of "All Good Things". It should be emphasized though that the episode was completely paradoxical: the anomaly only started manifesting in the first place because the beam was fired to fix it. At the time it was hailed as a really strong Star Trek episode, but going back to it after watching seven seasons of the HMS Reset Button (Voyager), it's obvious that the writers were completely daft.
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life creating kaboom?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
in the 90s she was goddess of all geeks
This ain't the 90s anymore, gramps.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
For those who understand plasma universe theory already, this makes perfect sense. The energy output of the sun is tied to the electric field strength of the surrounding galactic neighborhood, which fluctuates over time. The energy output of the sun has huge impacts on historical biodiversity and how well the biosphere thrives. Supernovae are events caused (at least in part) by stars exceeding their surface output capacity and blowing off their outer charged layer or dividing into smaller stars, which happens when the electric differential is higher than previously.
The fact that a correlation has been found between nearby supernovae and a highly sucessful biosphere on Earth is excellent news. It helps prove that solar output is tied to events outside our solar system, in our galactic neighborhood. Fascinating stuff.
(For those of you who haven't been convinced of the validity of the plasma universe theory, you are behind the times and need to get cracking. Be a scientist and stop supporting the dead Big Bang theory.)
--Jaborandy
The energy output of the sun is tied to the electric field strength of the surrounding galactic neighborhood, which fluctuates over time.
Indeed. I'm working on a unification for Electric Universe Theory and Time Cube Theory, which, if I can pull it off, should make me the Crank of the Century.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
In the new work, the diversity of life over the last 500 million years seems remarkably well explained by tectonics affecting the sea-level together with variations in the supernova rate, and virtually nothing else.
I'm guessing that if he were to factor in the rate of meteor impacts, the beating of butterfly wings would turn out to be a driver of evolution too.
Those younger than forty will probably live to see the fall of the Big Bang Theory.
Remember this mocking when that time comes. You'll have plenty of company in your camp of people who didn't see it coming, but you'll forever lose your geek cred when you find that you've been the flat-earther, mocking the true scientists who based their theories on observations, not mathematical models.
The claim is that more cosmic rays cause cloud formation, which reflects heat.
When these things go off, wise men and kings go hunting for babies to garnish with bling.
Gently reply
Cosmic rays are charged particles that bombard the Earth's atmosphere from outer space. Studies suggest they may have an influence on the amount of cloud cover through the formation of new aerosols (tiny particles suspended in the air that seed cloud droplets). This is supported by satellite measurements, which show a possible correlation between cosmic-ray intensity and the amount of low cloud cover. Clouds exert a strong influence on the Earth’s energy balance; changes of only a few per cent have an important effect on the climate.
http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/research/CLOUD-en.html
it's in my head
Possibly, but it's certainly not going to be the electric universe "theory" that replaces it.
Carefully read this blog. While his main point is to say that there isn't any evidence that cosmic radiation is causing global climate changes, it does discuss a possible mechanism.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
I believe they also did an experiment at CERN
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Svensmark is the scientist whose controversial ideas ultimately led CERN to conduct its CLOUD experiment. The gist of his idea was: cosmic particle presence (more clouds, due to more substrate) and solar magnetic activity (less clouds, due to repelled particles) are amongst the driving factors --perhaps the primary one-- of climate volatility on Earth, because they control overall cloud cover.
CERN's conclusion? Svensmark was basically spot on with respect to cloud formation.
Make no mistake here. Clouds excersice materially high positive and negative feedback loops on climate. Whether it is overwhelmingly superior or merely predominant to carbon dioxide et al is the only point of contention.
In light of this, is any Slashdot reader surprised that proximity of supernovae, aka amount of cosmic particles, accepting the evidence that the latter have an impact on cloud cover and thus on climate, might have an impact on how life in thriving on Earth?
I found it a really strong episode, not for the plot (Which, like most trek, is BS) but for the way Q and Picard play off each other. TNG's best episodes often have a strong Q/Picard dynamic. My favourite being Tapestry, which had that *and* a half decent story around it.
Disclaimer: I am not a trekkie. Despite looking like your stereotypical example of one
It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
Let's see, on the one hand I have the opinion that almost every cosmologist holds, and the other I have the opinion of a Slashdotter.
I'm really torn on this one.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Oh noes! Human CO2 causes supernovas!!! I'm super cereal!
(yes, yes, mod me troll/flamebait)
"If you believe in Science"
Not only does my tribe "believe in Science", we also fight for peace and fornicate for chastity.
But our reality distortion does not stretch so far as betting some third party lipstick yet to come will make this scientific spam into Miss Universe.
According to the graphs, we are currently on an uptick. Does that mean I'll grow a second wanker?
Table-ized A.I.
Effective immediately Al Gore is announcing a SuperNova Credits Exchange!
Taxes paid by every man women and child will stop the SuperNova's climate change effects!
It is illegal not to pay.
So you better not cheat on your SuperNova taxes or we will take away your Passport.
Oh yeah, we got ya covered.
-Hack
Got Geometrodynamics? Awe, too hard to figure out? Too bad.
If research scientists would stop cherry picking their data it would probably help the rest of us. Using the same astronomical model - the earth passing through the galactic plane - has also been used to explain most of the mass extinction events on the planet.
Sometimes specialization causes worse effects than Adam Smith could have foreseen.
Except that the person above you posted a link to the CERN site for CLOUD which includes a link to CLOUD's website (http://cloud.web.cern.ch/cloud/) which includes a link to their publications (http://cloud.web.cern.ch/cloud/People/Publications.html). All they have is some preliminary data from a prototype but still includes a link to the initial publication "Results from the CERN pilot CLOUD experiment" (http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/10/1635/2010/acp-10-1635-2010.html)
But that probably doesn't fit with what ever decoder ring you found at the bottom of your box of cocoa pebbles which rather than suggesting you drink more Ovaltine apparently claimed that CLOUD results are classified.
Well, i for one, will at least wait to see his final mod score before i take sides!
although, you do have a lower UID then him
now I am torn.
Yeah, Tapestry is probably my favourite Q episode and easily one of the strongest episodes in the whole franchise, not counting the really incredible DS9 pieces like In The Pale Moonlight (a title which has the distinction of being the only Batman reference in all of Star Trek.)
You've hit the nail on the head about characterization, though. 80s/90s/00s Star Trek was at its core a human drama, just in the context of science fiction. Ron D. Moore once said in an interview that in some episodes the writers didn't even write the actual technobabble; they just put the word 'tech' in the script and a science consultant filled it in before shooting. That's a major reason why so many episodes are resolved with one-hit deflector dish wonders; they didn't really work on integrating the sf into the story. There are lots of great counterexamples to this (one early Voyager episode is about a ride in a space elevator), but they're way too few in number.
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not to mention the CLOUD project at the European Organization for Nuclear Research!
Brought to you by the society for redundantly linking redundantly to redundant links
The odds are 10,000 to 1 against this unexpected link between cosmic rays and the variable state of the biosphere being just a coincidence, and it offers a new perspective on the connection between the evolution of the Milky Way and the entire history of life over the last 4 billion years,’ Dr Svensmark comments.
So I Googled it and found this article containing a refutation and further examples of over-reaching. I leave it to /. to comment on the accuracy of these links.
While the mechanisms and effects are completely different, this article reminds me of Poul Anderson's Brain Wave .
Laissez lire, et laissez danser; ces deux amusements ne feront jamais de mal au monde. - Voltaire
Those younger than forty will probably live to see the fall of the Big Bang Theory.
Even if it turns out that many phenomena have electric-plasma origins, I don't think the most basic premise of the big bang is going to go away. Red-shifted galaxies provide strong evidence that galaxies have been moving away, and if you rewind the process you're left with a big bang.
Unless our understanding of the red-shift incorrect as well...
120 characters ought to be enough for anyone
Well, i for one, will at least wait to see his final mod score before i take sides!
although, you do have a lower UID then him
now I am torn.
It's a well-known fact that you can use the ratio of two people's UIDs to determine the probability of who's right.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
"80s/90s/00s Star Trek was at its core a human drama, just in the context of science fiction."
Most of the hard SF authors define science fiction as a human story in the context of some future world. So you can simplify your sentence to "Star Trek was at it's core science fiction."
Hey, be fair. It's a Slashdotter backed up by a half dozen or so cranks.
Speaking of early Voyager, I decided to watch some recently. In one very early episode they made a reference to 'warp particles'.. and suddenly all Star Trek looks daft now and no amount of Q can fix it.
Those younger than forty will probably live to see the fall of the Big Bang Theory.
Well, sure. If you look at the list of longest-running TV shows by category, it looks like Meet The Press, which started in 1947, has been on the longest. If The Big Bang Theory were to run for the same length of time, someone who's 40 now would have to live to be just over 100 to see it end its run. That's plausible, assuming humanity doesn't do something to wipe itself out in the meantime. But somehow I don't think it's going to run for 60+ years.
http://www.ann-geophys.net/30/9/2012/angeo-30-9-2012.pdf
Ann. Geophys., 30, 9–19, 2012
www.ann-geophys.net/30/9/2012/
doi:10.5194/angeo-30-9-2012
Cosmic rays and space weather: effects on global climate change
Regions with more radiation generate more mutations, allowing for faster exploring of the evolutionary gradient descent space. Interesting observation that this influence is not static.
BTW this is similar to "simulated annealing", a technique to help an organism trapped in a local minimum escape the well so it can find a deeper one.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Well, generally hard SF involves looking at how the changes of the future (or the peculiar anomalies) shape that human interaction, to some extent. In TNG and Voyager the use of the science fictiony elements as props is much more blatant, and often even an outright MacGuffin while the story proceeds to tell a tale that has nothing to do with that context. It's fiction, and there's speculative science, but the two don't quite fit together that well a lot of the time.
Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
Electric Universe?!! I wouldn't even do Electric Avenue!
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
How about the Electric Slide?
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
Unclassified is a classification too!
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
No question, it's (usually) not GOOD science fiction, but human drama and science fiction aren't two distinct concepts. Star Trek is science fiction, with the science part poorly done.
Okay. I'll roll with it—but I still feel like the difference in approach reflects some more fundamental difference from the canonical examples of good SF.
Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
Yeah, I'm not convinced that's accurate. It's a logic thing.
We know:
1 - Red shift is observed in proportion to distance
2 - Relative velocity (away from us) causes red shift
Based on these two facts, it cannot be proven that relative velocity depends on distance. That's why it's just a theory.
Relative motion is one possible cause of the observed red shift, but that does not mean it is the only possible cause. I think it is more likely that light loses energy in some form over thousands of years, and this energy loss is reflected as a red shift. This is perfectly consistent with observations, is simple, is consistent with every other physical process in nature (which cannot in general maintain perfect energy conservation over infinite time periods), and has the unfortunate side effect of causing a complete re-evaluation of everything we think we know about the universe.
Critique of tired light: http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/tiredlit.htm
It's possible that the big bang theory has it wrong about galactic redshift, but that seems more like wishful thinking than observational data.