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Comet Dust Found In Antarctica

Posted by Soulskill on from the maybe-someday-we'll-discover-philae-dust dept.

sciencehabit writes: Researchers have discovered comet dust preserved in the ice and snow of Antarctica, the first time such particles have been found on Earth's surface (abstract). The discovery unlocks a promising new source of this material. The oldest astronomical particles available for study, comet dust can offer clues about how our solar system formed.

17 comments

  1. Just the beginning by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 3, Interesting

    After most of that ice melts, thanks to global warming, other interesting discoveries are to be made.

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    1. Re:Just the beginning by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 2

      "After most of that ice melts, thanks to global warming, other interesting discoveries are to be made."

      You mean like this?

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      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    2. Re:just the beginning by dpilot · · Score: 1

      Or just read "The Year When Stardust Fell" or "In the Days of the Comet" for other examples. Many would say more interesting ideas, because they're not simple monster movies.

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      The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
    3. Re:Just the beginning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      No, that's just a silly movie. The discoveries of this university research project in the 1930s are much more disturbing: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/...

    4. Re:Just the beginning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      After most of that ice melts, thanks to global warming, other interesting discoveries are to be made.

      Yeah, because the ice in Antarctica growing is a sure sign of global warming.

    5. Re:Just the beginning by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      Oh please, it's just a little dust. We can always just sweep it under the carpet, which we can lay on the freshly bared land.

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      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    6. Re:Just the beginning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Several hours of flying time typically yield one particle of dust." So, nothing to sneeze at.

    7. Re:Just the beginning by YoungHack · · Score: 4, Informative

      In the mathematical models I've seen, ice in Antartica growing is in fact a sign of global warming. Thinking that warming is going to be uniform is hopelessly naive on a world with the complex ocean and atmospheric phenomena we have.

    8. Re:Just the beginning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thankfully, by the time the really important ones, like how fucked up the environment really is and how ecological disasters will become the norm, most of us will be dead of old age.

    9. Re:Just the beginning by Dutchmaan · · Score: 4, Informative

      Antarctic SEA ice is growing.. Antarctic LAND ice is decreasing.

      If I had to venture a guess, land ice melting into the sea lowers the salt levels of the surrounding waters making a higher freezing temp and thus increased sea ice.

    10. Re:Just the beginning by eric_harris_76 · · Score: 1

      Whereas thinking that a huge and hugely complex system can be accurately modeled is not naive? Especially when so many of those models have been off in their predictions by a factor of two?

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  2. just the beginning by turkeydance · · Score: 2

    of a sci-fi movie. take the comet dust inside, where it's warm, and things start to happen.

  3. link to 2010 CNRS press release by jerome · · Score: 1

    Cocorico ! Just a link to previous work on the same subject (as mentionned in TFA) :
    http://www2.cnrs.fr/en/1731.htm

    I was lucky enough to see a talk by J. Duprat about collecting extraterrestrial dust in Antarctica a few years ago. A amazingly cool guy !

    1. Re:link to 2010 CNRS press release by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      Looks cool, indeed.

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  4. Suggest Angel Dust Next by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For that will be magical.

  5. Is it good for snorting? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds like an ultimate high.

  6. Just the beginning by theronb · · Score: 1

    Great - a whole new continent to drill for oil and gas! Environmental problems are always trumped by economics if there's money to be made.