Cool Science thread

[Norseman]

23,000 year old human foot prints found at White Sands NM, alongside those of now-extinct animals like mammoth and dire wolves. People were definitely on the continent during the height of the ice age.





https://phys.org/news/2021-09-earlie...-americas.html

[jackattack]

23,000 year old human foot prints found at White Sands NM, alongside those of now-extinct animals like mammoth and dire wolves. People were definitely on the continent during the height of the ice age.

https://phys.org/news/2021-09-earlie...-americas.html

Saw this on the NYT. Native history is so incredibly deep, makes me want to learn more.

[LongShortLong]

I wonder how it's going in Fukushima these days.

Probably still pumping 100 tons of water into it each day, but it's not leaking (officially). It's fine. Nothing to see.

[jono]

Probably still pumping 100 tons of water into it each day, but it's not leaking (officially). It's fine. Nothing to see.

Shame about the price of gold. A few hundred tons of that would be a neat solution.

[Mazderati]

Japan is actually going ahead with a controlled release of cooling water from the Fukushima reactors.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56728068


I occasionally watch a YouTuber over there and if his videos are any indication the area is still in rough shape and still patrolled.

[LongShortLong]

Paging Summit....

Modern fission nuclear is certainly far, far safer than the Chernobyl reactors or anything else from that era. But, man, knowing that if something goes wrong it's fucked forever is heavy.

Even knowing that the older shit occasionally goes wrong, and humans are gonna f*ck up, the older shit produces so much power with so little environmental damage (including the accidents), that nuclear should be considered as a power source. E = mc^2 is far far more energy productive than chemical reactions or diffuse renewable energy.

They say a coal plant would never be licensed by the NRC because it releases too much radiation. (Dunno if that includes accidents)

[jono]

Don't you think accidents at coal plants would be pretty acceptable if increased radiation was the only concern? Probably a really telling stat.

These old nuclear plants should all have catch basins under them, shaped to disperse the fuel enough act like un-refineries without letting anything leak lower. Before the accident, the solutions are a lot simpler than convincing anyone to implement them. After the accident you gotta drip gold in there.

[bodywhomper]

This is fascinating. From the event, to the analyses, to the conclusions, to the potential oral tradition that was recorded in the Bible to the reminder of the intensity and length of dense human occupation in some areas of the world.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s415...iZUZnPh4#Sec95

[old goat]

This is fascinating. From the event, to the analyses, to the conclusions, to the potential oral tradition that was recorded in the Bible to the reminder of the intensity and length of dense human occupation in some areas of the world.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s415...iZUZnPh4#Sec95

great stuff. Like you I'm fascinated by this period.

[abraham]

The fact that there are two cases of human settlements being destroyed by meteors is humbling.

[old goat]

The fact that there are two cases of human settlements being destroyed by meteors is humbling.

Don't worry. The chance that a meteor destroys us before we destroy the world is vanishingly small.

[neufox47]

Don't worry. The chance that a meteor destroys us before we destroy the world is vanishingly small.

It’ll probably happen right after a 100 year period of humans getting climate change under control. We did it! Boom.

[Dantheman]

This is fascinating. From the event, to the analyses, to the conclusions, to the potential oral tradition that was recorded in the Bible to the reminder of the intensity and length of dense human occupation in some areas of the world.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s415...iZUZnPh4#Sec95

Holy shit.

[Norseman]

What's the name of the article? The link doesn't work for me.

[bodywhomper]

What's the name of the article? The link doesn't work for me.

A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea

[Norseman]

Thx

[ötzi]

So there's been two in ~5,000 years of recorded history. Or one about every 2,500 years on average. And it's been how long since this latest event?

[Gepeto]

^^^
1100 years overdue - give or take

[Supermoon]

^^^
1100 years overdue - give or take

[bodywhomper]

So there's been two in ~5,000 years of recorded history. Or one about every 2,500 years on average. And it's been how long since this latest event?

What is recorded history? (That’s a serious question) How do you/we know how many there have been in that timeframe? The last known one, apparently, was in 1908.

[jono]

The more likely landing spot being an ocean, do tsunamis count?

[Dantheman]

What is recorded history? (That’s a serious question) How do you/we know how many there have been in that timeframe? The last known one, apparently, was in 1908.

I took that to mean two cities destroyed, not megaton-scale airbursts. Presumably there have been a lot more of the latter. We certainly know about every single one that has happened since the dawn of the nuclear age.

The more likely landing spot being an ocean, do tsunamis count?

Airburst wouldn't create a tsunami, I assume. It is interesting to wonder how many oceanic impacts may have happened that created locally- or regionally-significant tsunamis but didn't create global effects.

[PB]

I lose more sleep at night worrying about the planet destroying things lurking "nearby" in the galaxy/universe than local bad shit that you at least have a chance of getting out of the way of. I still sleep pretty well, though.

[Dantheman]

I lose more sleep at night worrying about the planet destroying things lurking "nearby" in the galaxy/universe than local bad shit that you at least have a chance of getting out of the way of. I still sleep pretty well, though.

A major CME worries me more than an impact event.

[PB]

Coronal Mass Ejection? Yeah, me too. Although far less likely, something about Gamma Ray Bursts also make me uneasy.