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Clam That Was Killed Determining Its Age Was Over 100 Years Older Than Estimated
schwit1 writes "In 2006, climate change experts from Bangor University in north Wales found a very special clam while dredging the seabeds of Iceland. At that time scientists counted the rings on the inside shell to determine that the clam was the ripe old age of 405. Unfortunately, by opening the clam which scientists refer to as 'Ming,' they killed it instantly. Cut to 2013, researchers have determined that the original calculations of Ming's age were wrong, and that the now deceased clam was actually 102 years older than originally thought. Ming was 507 years old at the time of its demise."
Science destroys to understand. LHC smashes particles to examine their innards.Biologists dissect cadavers to examine their innards. Geologists smash rocks to examine their innards.
In this case, the fact that the animal was still alive should have been indication enough that science should leave the old boy alone, or attempt only explicitly non-destructive examination. This sounds a lot like Indiana Jones's style archaeology...
"In the end, there is simply no weapon more devastating than the truth, delivered in just the right way." - tnk1
507 years is pretty old, but not quite as old as Prometheus : a ~5000 year old tree that was cut down in the 1960's so that it's rings could be counted. At the time of its demise, it was the world's oldest known living organism, and (as far as I know) no older organism is known to exist.
They killed the animal to measure on the inside, which they thought would be easier, but:
on the second count, the researchers concentrated on the growth rings on the outside of the shell.
So, the more precise measurement came from the outside, and they killed the oldest living animal for nothing but stupidity. I sincerely hope that instead of accolades, they get nothing but scorn from their colleagues.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Clone
It was actually named after the Ming Dynasty - which was around when the clam started life. Even with the additional 100ish years added, the name still fits as the Ming dynasty was still around at the time.
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The summary incorrectly states they killed it to examine it. In reality, it was frozen upon capture (standard procedure as they were gathering samples for study) and was long dead by the time they opened it for study, or realized it was hundreds of years old.
If sharing a song makes you a pirate, what do I have to share to be a ninja?
there is a HUGE difference between a 10 year old tree and a 100 year old tree
But not so much visible difference between a 400 year old tree compared to a 500 year old tree.
Also, there are two places to count clam rings - and the hinge is generally used as the better one (though opening the clam to see the hinge rings kills it), though in this case due to SOO many rings, the ones on the inner hinge were not as easy to count as the ones on the outer shell - hence some (or one in four) were missed.
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Werner von Braun said those words
No, he didn't. That was the brilliant mathematician, comedian and pianist Tom Lehrer putting words into von Braun's mouth.
That doesn't necessarily discount your assertions about von Braun's complicity with the Nazi regime, but you should know better than to call someone a "stupid sack of shit" based off a (pretty obviously) fake quote that was meant as a joke.
"95% of all Slashdot
What kind of asshole kills something just to check its age ?
The kind of asshole who doesn't deserve to live.
Poe's Law may be relevant here
But it's worth noting that these clams are fished commercially:
People do eat quahogs, although this is more common in North America, Iceland and Norway than in the UK. Commercial fisheries for the bivalve suddenly increased enormously in the mid-1970s, and have remained at those levels ever since.
As a vegetarian scientist, I'm actually a bit uncomfortable with field expeditions to collect (and kill) scientific specimens. But in this case, the scientists may actually be saving far more of these clams (e.g. from commerical fishing) than they are killing themselves - by raising awareness of the age of these clams.
You're likely thinking of the sudden decline of the panamanian golden frog due to chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis , which had a probably vector of humans. Didn't necessarily have to be conservationists though, as could also been tourists or 'pet hunters'.
That said, that fungus seemed to hit a few other species hard as well in the past.
Clam shells use up CO2 from the ocean and various minerals. So looking at the "age rings" like the rings of trees you get an idea how fast the clam was growing each year. And hence you get an idea about the sea water composition at that specific year in the area where the clam lived. However I could imagine the clam might have moved quite far over its life time.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.