Comments on: A very large explosion

A very large explosion

C17H19NO3 — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 05:42:30 -0800

NASA scientists say that a large gamma ray explosion within our own galaxy may have triggered a mass extinction hundreds of millions of years ago.

By: C17H19NO3

C17H19NO3 — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 05:43:50 -0800

Sorry if this is a double post. I could not find anything like it in the archives.

By: HuronBob

HuronBob — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 05:51:31 -0800

Key quote "The strength of their work is their atmospheric modeling -- essentially a "what if" scenario". I hope we aren't paying them to do this!

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 05:55:30 -0800

Dr. Bruce Banner was unavailable for comment.

By: dfowler

dfowler — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 06:18:04 -0800

Great post.

By: Smart Dalek

Smart Dalek — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 06:25:54 -0800

I knew those microwaveable fishsticks were stale. HuronBob - this sort of research is very important. Studies of of this variety are useful for more immediate concerns, such as climate changes brought on by sunspot activity. In other instances, researching the impact of gamma bursters can help us understand early planetary formation or help in development of better shielding for orbital satellites.

By: travis vocino

travis vocino — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 06:41:28 -0800

Good post, thanks.

By: HuronBob

HuronBob — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 06:51:10 -0800

Smart Dalek... yep, I realize the importance of this kind of research... I think my pointing that out was about our tendency to pretty easily take a theory and turn it into a fact....

By: NinjaPirate

NinjaPirate — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 07:00:29 -0800

(evolution) [de-trolls]

By: HuronBob

HuronBob — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 07:31:01 -0800

NinjaPirate...interesting article on that in this month's National Geographic (only a portion of it is online...I won't waste a link)... We've taken a lot of "theories" and turned them into "facts".. evolution, electricity, relativity, even the earth orbiting the sun...... not that we were wrong, just that we are prone to do that sometimes... perhaps because the "theory" just makes sense, perhaps 'cuz it serves some purpose for us.. like they say... "don't confuse me with the facts"....

By: Chunder

Chunder — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 07:39:26 -0800

"In other instances, researching the impact of gamma bursters can help us understand early planetary formation or help in development of better shielding for orbital satellites." Uh... and hopefully some kind of shielding for us feeble squishies down here... HuronBob: even the earth orbiting the sun What??! HERETIC! BURN HIM!

By: C17H19NO3

C17H19NO3 — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 07:46:32 -0800

So is this a good post, considering it's my first?

By: AspectRatio

AspectRatio — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 07:57:44 -0800

hahaha check out c17blahblahblah seeking love... Yes, it is a good post. *Hugs*

By: Jikido

Jikido — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:06:34 -0800

Hey morphine, good post.

By: travis vocino

travis vocino — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:25:43 -0800

"We've taken a lot of 'theories' and turned them into 'facts'.." While I agree with you to a certain extent, it's not as if we are just thinking of interesting new concepts and calling them "theories." That's philosophy, not science. All of the theories you mentioned in your post are science, not philosophy. They're based on experimentation and observation.

By: ZenMasterThis

ZenMasterThis — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 08:37:56 -0800

"Ra-di-a-tion. You hear so many things about how it's baaaad for you. Pernicious nonsense! The human body can withstand 40 x-rays a year ... and it should have them!"

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 09:39:15 -0800

Any linkage to the original paper?

By: nkyad

nkyad — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 11:54:11 -0800

Have anyone else read Greg Egan's Diaspora? Besides being a wonderful science fiction novel for anyone who likes very advanced Physics (and plainly unintelligible for anyone without at least some knowledge of Quantum Mechanics), gamma ray bursts caused by colliding stars play a major role in the plot development. It is actually one of the best sci-fi books I've ever read.

By: Fat Guy

Fat Guy — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 13:04:26 -0800

In about 29 minutes, I'll be taking a pass and downlinking some data from Swift. Our spacecraft is designed to look for GRBs and slew to a burst if one is detected. Provided it is more interesting than whatever the planned target might be.

By: Iax

Iax — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 16:54:47 -0800

I second the greg egan recommendation.

By: bevets

bevets — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 19:33:53 -0800

Beginning in 1980 with the dinosaur/asteroid controversy, it has more recently become popular for geologists to consider not just local, but global catastrophes to account for the geologic evidence they see. One can be assured that for a community to have made such an incredible shift -- in spite of the strong association which exists between catastrophism and creationism -- there must be profound evidence for catastrophe throughout the geologic column. ~ Kurt Wise Luke 17.26 "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all."

By: travis vocino

travis vocino — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 19:52:21 -0800

bevets, the key word there was evidence; or is quoting scripture enough for you?

By: troutfishing

troutfishing — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 01:33:45 -0800

We're all sitting ducks.

By: dhruva

dhruva — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 03:01:37 -0800

Have anyone else read Greg Egan's Diaspora? That's the first thing I thought of when I saw this post :)

By: longbaugh

longbaugh — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 03:47:14 -0800

So wait bevets, was it a flood of gamma rays? Was the ark made of solid lead? Did god create the heavens and the earth and then occasionally he uses a gamma ray burst to cleanse his creation? Come now - elaborate from your quotes with some thoughts of your own. If gamma ray bursts take hundreds of millions of years to reach our system and destroy vast swathes of life on our planet then how do you square that with your young earth theories? The two quotes you have just posted there have little to do with the subject - perhaps you could be a bit more specific with what you are trying to tell me. Alternatively you could stick to the topic in hand.

By: bevets

bevets — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 05:09:35 -0800

there must be profound evidence for catastrophe throughout the geologic column. ~ Kurt Wise travis vocino the key word there was evidence; For I am well aware that scarcely a single point is discussed in this volume on which facts cannot be adduced, often apparently leading to conclusions directly opposite to those at which I have arrived. ~ Charles Darwin But our ways of learning about the world are strongly influenced by the social preconceptions and biased modes of thinking that each scientist must apply to any problem. The stereotype of a fully rational and objective 'scientific method,' with individual scientists as logical (and interchangeable) robots, is self-serving mythology. ~ Stephen Jay Gould Luke 17.26 "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all." or is quoting scripture enough for you? The Word of God is an unfair and overwhelming advantage over human mythology