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| Science News General; Stuff that doesn't need its own topic | |
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| Topic Started: Apr 9 2014, 07:11 AM (11,229 Views) | |
| Holben | Apr 9 2014, 07:11 AM Post #1 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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It's hard to decide whether a development should become a topic in this subforum, so here's a topic for stuff that doesn't need its own. If in doubt, here is probably the right place. Also, if you want to talk about updates in science, this would be a good place to do it. The prompt that made me create this topic is this here: http://home.web.cern.ch/about/updates/2014/04/lhcb-confirms-existence-exotic-hadrons Horribly simplified summary at end.
So quarks tend to exist in either the form of hadrons or mesons. Hadrons have three (valence) quarks with different "colour charge" (nothing to do with real colour, named such because of the RGB system) which "cancel out". Mesons have a quark and an antiquark, so the charge of one and anticharge of the other cancel out. However, what we've found here is something outside this system, which requires further investigation. |
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Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea. "It is the old wound my king. It has never healed." | |
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| Holben | Apr 23 2014, 09:33 AM Post #2 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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Because you people are boring and hate science, I have to double-post : P
Via BBC. I personally don't really like whimsical names being used in biochemistry, but for ecology, as long as it's a minor thing, I can live with it. But that goddamn gene name. |
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Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea. "It is the old wound my king. It has never healed." | |
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| T.Neo | Apr 23 2014, 01:22 PM Post #3 |
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Translunar injection: TLI
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Them's fighting words, Holben. Scientific discussion isn't limited to posting news articles about random discoveries, after all. |
| A hard mathematical figure provides a sort of enlightenment to one's understanding of an idea that is never matched by mere guesswork. | |
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| Ànraich | Apr 27 2014, 05:35 AM Post #4 |
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L'évolution Spéculative est moi
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A new mineral, unrelated to any of the known minerals on Earth, has been discovered in Antarctica. Yes, really, and no not like some alien conspiracy thing. http://www.salon.com/2014/04/26/the_worlds_newest_mineral_is_unlike_anything_weve_ever_seen_before_partner/ |
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We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar. "The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming Tree That Owns Itself
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| whachamacallit2 | Apr 27 2014, 09:57 AM Post #5 |
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Guy who yells at squirrels
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Holy crap, I wonder if my mineralogy professor knows about this already. |
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Click for shameless self plug! Spoiler: click to toggle Get you one at http://whachamacallit1.deviantart.com/ Learn the life, history, and fate of the tidally locked planet Asteria at: http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5725927/1 | |
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| Ànraich | Apr 28 2014, 03:53 AM Post #6 |
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L'évolution Spéculative est moi
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http://nix.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20050092385&qs=N%3D4294966819%2B4294583411 So NASA has estimated that if humanity utilized resources from asteroids alone the solar system could support up to 10,000,000,000,000,000 (ten quadrillion) human beings. I'm sure it's more of a mathematical curiosity than a legitimately plausible number, but it's compelling nevertheless. |
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We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar. "The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming Tree That Owns Itself
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| T.Neo | Apr 28 2014, 11:33 AM Post #7 |
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Translunar injection: TLI
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Interesting, but not particularly revolutionary- John S. Lewis proposed a similar figure in Mining the Sky. I wouldn't consider it particularly compelling, much as a postulation, for instance, of an interplanetary fusion torchship putting out many terawatts of power and being capable of travel to Mars in a couple of weeks is probably not a very compelling argument for fusion power. Space travel is still extremely expensive, and there are no habitable environments within our reach whatsoever beside Earth. Sure, we can make our own habitats- in theory- but that's not exactly something we yet know how to do in the self-sustaining sense and even if we did it'd probably come with considerable cost. Space technology will not be a silver bullet for overpopulation, resource/energy availability or environmental problems. At best asteroid mining might make acquiring rare elements easier, and there's also the possibility of space-based solar power, but these are questionable (solar power on the ground is a viable option- and is currently much cheaper, obviously). A lot of developments that will be beneficial on Earth will also be beneficial in space, but it's not like they need to be applied in space to be beneficial overall. I think we also need to consider the mathematical issues with large populations such as these. Continuous exponential growth and population sizes approaching the carrying capacity of star systems are not something I've found particularly encouraging. |
| A hard mathematical figure provides a sort of enlightenment to one's understanding of an idea that is never matched by mere guesswork. | |
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| Ànraich | Apr 28 2014, 04:42 PM Post #8 |
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L'évolution Spéculative est moi
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I agree. I'm a proponent of human expansion into and colonization of space, but I think it would be beneficial to learn how to live a sustainable, high technology lifestyle with minimum impact on the environment here on Earth before we go spreading to other worlds. That being said I also think it's important that we establish outposts on neighboring bodies like the moon and Mars right now so that we can learn how to practically establish human habitation in such hostile environments. I think outright colonization is a bit much given our current technology, even if it is possible, but manned scientific research posts similar to the ISS would be very beneficial. |
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We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar. "The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming Tree That Owns Itself
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| Scrublord | May 18 2014, 12:18 PM Post #9 |
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Father Pellegrini
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An enormous new sauropod has been discovered in 90-(or 95-the sources seem to conflict)-million-year-old rocks in Argentina. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/argentina/10837839/Worlds-largest-dinosaur-discovered-in-Argentina.html |
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My Projects: The Neozoic Redux Valhalla--Take Three! The Big One Deviantart Account: http://elsqiubbonator.deviantart.com In the end, the best advice I could give you would be to do your project in a way that feels natural to you, rather than trying to imitate some geek with a laptop in Colorado. --Heteromorph | |
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| Holben | May 18 2014, 12:21 PM Post #10 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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Nice, BBC had the find on there too - apparently one of their TV teams was there at the find. Interesting that there's no mention of Amphicoelias, from my viewpoint I see palaentologists ignoring and accepting it in equal numbers |
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Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea. "It is the old wound my king. It has never healed." | |
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| Scrublord | May 18 2014, 12:48 PM Post #11 |
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Father Pellegrini
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There's also no mention of Alamosaurus, which was apparently just as big. |
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My Projects: The Neozoic Redux Valhalla--Take Three! The Big One Deviantart Account: http://elsqiubbonator.deviantart.com In the end, the best advice I could give you would be to do your project in a way that feels natural to you, rather than trying to imitate some geek with a laptop in Colorado. --Heteromorph | |
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| Kamidio | May 28 2014, 05:52 PM Post #12 |
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The Game Master of the SSU:NC
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Apparently 'big' only means weight when it comes to paleontology. Nevermind that people want length in sauropods, not girth. |
SSU:NC - Finding a new home. Quotes WAA
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| colddigger | May 28 2014, 06:37 PM Post #13 |
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Joke's over! Love, Parasky
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Maybe for you
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Oh Fine. Oh hi you! Why don't you go check out the finery that is SGP?? v Don't click v Spoiler: click to toggle | |
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| Martin | May 30 2014, 04:42 PM Post #14 |
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Prime Specimen
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Exactly , you can't imagine something by knowing just it's weight. |
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| LittleLazyLass | Jun 19 2014, 08:53 PM Post #15 |
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Proud quilt in a bag
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That's downright the meaning of the Word "big". As for Amphicoelias fragillimus, I've seen it recently suggested it was a giant Rebbachisaur.... On other palaeontology news, new hadrosaur open-access paper with really interesting phylogenetic analysis (I hope someone other then me can see why it's so weird for these days....). |
totally not British, b-baka! You like me (Unlike)I don't even really like this song that much but the title is pretty relatable sometimes, I guess. Me What, you want me to tell you what these mean? Read First Words Maybe | |
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