wade davis, anthropologist, speaks of the varied world of ethnodiversity and how varied culture is so important to the human race.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
THE LAST EXTINCTION
in 11,900 bc (now called. "bce" for "before common era") the large beasts of north america became extinct and no knows for certain why they suddenly became extinct. these large beasts included several species of wooly mammoth, the mastodon, the giant sloth, the saber-tooth cat ("saber-tooth tiger"), the glyptodon, (a giant version of today's armadillo), as well as others. also, why is it that some animal species survived and others did not? time, in the geological sense, is measured in layers of dirt, lake mud and ice. every year the earth deposits dust and snow upon its surface. dirt layers can be measured for millions of years and ice to about 400,000 years, as ice did not exist on earth for its entire 4.5 billion year history. going "back in time" in the geological record, to the time of the extinction of these large beasts, 11,900 bce, a layer known as the "black matt" is visible. this "black matt" is a layer of soil quite different from the layers above and below it, previous in time and beyond it in time. the soil is black and contains different elements than other layers and holds some of the evidence necessary to explain this extinction.
the theories:
early humans crossed the land bridge in 15,000 bce and hunted the large beasts into extinction, but the amount of early humans in north america at the time and the ability to systematically hunt and eliminate every last beast is highly unlikely with the technology available at the time and not plausible at all.
or was it just climate change, from some unknown reason, that warmed the earth, ending the last ice age and creating an environment unsuitable for large beasts? there is evidence of previous climate change, but these large beasts survived it, so why did they not survive this past change in 11,900 bce? could early human hunter-gatherers combined with climate change have been the cause?
or could it have been a large scale extraterrestrial object, such as a comet or an asteroid impacting earth, causing large amounts of atmospheric dust, longer winters and disrupting the global food supply, making it most difficult for large beasts to survive? this scenario is similar to the extinction of the dinosaurs, but is there sufficient evidence to support this? where is the impact crater? if there was no ground impact, an atmospheric explosion of a comet or asteroid is possible, but would have generated large surface plasma fires, destroying vast amounts of plant life, and changing the landscape into something quite different than what we have today.
there are even more possible scenarios that could have taken place as well, but all with devastating effects to all life, not just to large beasts.
the evidence, amassed so far:
evidence in this "black matt" geological layer points to astronomical causes, like the discovery of iridium, found only in rare amounts on earth, but replete in space objects, such as asteroids and comets.
evidence in the greenland ice sheet, the geological record for earth, as well as evidenced in the "black matt" layer, shows hex-shaped nanoscale diamonds, not the typical earth-bound cubic-shaped nanoscale diamonds. these hex-shaped nanoscale diamonds are quite common in asteroids and comets and are extremely rare as naturally occurring on earth.
these, and other discoveries, currently point to the conclusion that an asteroid or a comet impacted the earth at the time of the "black matt" extinction, in 11,900 bce. so where is the impact crater? if a large extraterrestrial object hit the earth's crust in such recent history, the impact crater would be almost perfectly preserved, as erosion and geological intervention can take millions of years to obscure the original shape and structure of such an impact crater. there is no such impact crater in north america. maybe this extraterrestrial object did not impact land directly. if such an object exploded into fragments in mid atmosphere, and then impacted the surface of the earth, it would have created small impact craters, which could have easily been erased over the last 13,000 years due to erosion and the like. or if such an object hit the ice sheet of the last ice age, or, more likely, split into fragments in mid atmosphere before impacting the ice sheet, there would be no impact crater, and this would account for the iridium and the hex-shaped nanoscale diamonds.
there are still unanswered question surrounding this hypothesis, for instance, why was a frozen mammoth discovered recently in antarctica found with undigested daisies in it's stomach (suggesting an almost instant freezing of the creature)?
the comet fragment impact is the best guess so far, and will be the current accepted explanation for the extinction of the large prehistoric beasts until future discovered evidence proves otherwise.
the theories:
early humans crossed the land bridge in 15,000 bce and hunted the large beasts into extinction, but the amount of early humans in north america at the time and the ability to systematically hunt and eliminate every last beast is highly unlikely with the technology available at the time and not plausible at all.
or was it just climate change, from some unknown reason, that warmed the earth, ending the last ice age and creating an environment unsuitable for large beasts? there is evidence of previous climate change, but these large beasts survived it, so why did they not survive this past change in 11,900 bce? could early human hunter-gatherers combined with climate change have been the cause?
or could it have been a large scale extraterrestrial object, such as a comet or an asteroid impacting earth, causing large amounts of atmospheric dust, longer winters and disrupting the global food supply, making it most difficult for large beasts to survive? this scenario is similar to the extinction of the dinosaurs, but is there sufficient evidence to support this? where is the impact crater? if there was no ground impact, an atmospheric explosion of a comet or asteroid is possible, but would have generated large surface plasma fires, destroying vast amounts of plant life, and changing the landscape into something quite different than what we have today.
there are even more possible scenarios that could have taken place as well, but all with devastating effects to all life, not just to large beasts.
the evidence, amassed so far:
evidence in this "black matt" geological layer points to astronomical causes, like the discovery of iridium, found only in rare amounts on earth, but replete in space objects, such as asteroids and comets.
evidence in the greenland ice sheet, the geological record for earth, as well as evidenced in the "black matt" layer, shows hex-shaped nanoscale diamonds, not the typical earth-bound cubic-shaped nanoscale diamonds. these hex-shaped nanoscale diamonds are quite common in asteroids and comets and are extremely rare as naturally occurring on earth.
these, and other discoveries, currently point to the conclusion that an asteroid or a comet impacted the earth at the time of the "black matt" extinction, in 11,900 bce. so where is the impact crater? if a large extraterrestrial object hit the earth's crust in such recent history, the impact crater would be almost perfectly preserved, as erosion and geological intervention can take millions of years to obscure the original shape and structure of such an impact crater. there is no such impact crater in north america. maybe this extraterrestrial object did not impact land directly. if such an object exploded into fragments in mid atmosphere, and then impacted the surface of the earth, it would have created small impact craters, which could have easily been erased over the last 13,000 years due to erosion and the like. or if such an object hit the ice sheet of the last ice age, or, more likely, split into fragments in mid atmosphere before impacting the ice sheet, there would be no impact crater, and this would account for the iridium and the hex-shaped nanoscale diamonds.
there are still unanswered question surrounding this hypothesis, for instance, why was a frozen mammoth discovered recently in antarctica found with undigested daisies in it's stomach (suggesting an almost instant freezing of the creature)?
the comet fragment impact is the best guess so far, and will be the current accepted explanation for the extinction of the large prehistoric beasts until future discovered evidence proves otherwise.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
the antikytheran mechanism. the world's first computer!
the antikytheran mechanism. the world's first computer; 1800 years before charles babbage.
the original, and only one of it's kind was found by pearl divers of the coast of antikythera, a small greecian island, near crete, in 1900. the device itself is from the 1st century bc, and is most likely from 86bc. however, this type of device was used throughout the ancient world from at least a century before.
the antikytheran mechanism was used to keep track of important dates, the future olympic dates, but most importantly, it was an astrological calendar and calculator. it could determine the astrological signs for any given day, as well as the moon cycle. this was most important to ancient peoples and certain events would not begin until the astrology was just right.
watch a video of a reconstructed model, built with identical materials and designs as the original.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrfMFhrgOFc
the original, and only one of it's kind was found by pearl divers of the coast of antikythera, a small greecian island, near crete, in 1900. the device itself is from the 1st century bc, and is most likely from 86bc. however, this type of device was used throughout the ancient world from at least a century before.
the antikytheran mechanism was used to keep track of important dates, the future olympic dates, but most importantly, it was an astrological calendar and calculator. it could determine the astrological signs for any given day, as well as the moon cycle. this was most important to ancient peoples and certain events would not begin until the astrology was just right.
watch a video of a reconstructed model, built with identical materials and designs as the original.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrfMFhrgOFc
Friday, June 17, 2011
SETI: the search for extraterrestrial intelligence
the possibilities:
there are :
100 billion galaxies in the known universe (approx.)
each galaxy contains 400 million stars (approx.)
each star can have several or many planets, many of them capable of supporting life.
within our own solar system, there are two strong possibilities that could contain microbial life, europa and titan. evidence confirms that mars once sustained liquid water and life; however it was most likely low on the evolutionary scale and not advanced or intelligent . (the molten iron core of mars, which generates the magnetic field, cooled long ago. when this happened the magnetic field could no longer protect the atmosphere and within approximately 10,000 years, the atmosphere was stripped from the planet by solar radiation, at which time any and all life disappeared. this event has been dated to 4billion years ago by an impact crater at that time that displaced only rock, no water or atmospheric debris. this date is doubted by some, as the formation of the planet would have been in its infancy and may not have had enough time to form an atmosphere. mars is smaller than earth, so it would make sense that the molten core of mars would cool sooner than the earth's, but not 4 billion years ago.if this can be proven in more than one way, i think it will be more accepted.).
within our own galaxy, there are approximately 10,000 possibilities of planets that could currently support intelligent life.
is that figure the same for every galaxy in the universe?
possibly.
is there life elsewhere in the universe?
yes. definitely without question.
is this life intelligent and as advanced as humanity or beyond?
most likely.
there are :
100 billion galaxies in the known universe (approx.)
each galaxy contains 400 million stars (approx.)
each star can have several or many planets, many of them capable of supporting life.
within our own solar system, there are two strong possibilities that could contain microbial life, europa and titan. evidence confirms that mars once sustained liquid water and life; however it was most likely low on the evolutionary scale and not advanced or intelligent . (the molten iron core of mars, which generates the magnetic field, cooled long ago. when this happened the magnetic field could no longer protect the atmosphere and within approximately 10,000 years, the atmosphere was stripped from the planet by solar radiation, at which time any and all life disappeared. this event has been dated to 4billion years ago by an impact crater at that time that displaced only rock, no water or atmospheric debris. this date is doubted by some, as the formation of the planet would have been in its infancy and may not have had enough time to form an atmosphere. mars is smaller than earth, so it would make sense that the molten core of mars would cool sooner than the earth's, but not 4 billion years ago.if this can be proven in more than one way, i think it will be more accepted.).
within our own galaxy, there are approximately 10,000 possibilities of planets that could currently support intelligent life.
is that figure the same for every galaxy in the universe?
possibly.
10,000 possibilities (within the milky way galaxy) times 100 billion galaxies = a highly probable and possible number that life exists and is intelligent.
is this intelligent life advanced enough to communicate? that remains to be seen....
is there life elsewhere in the universe?
yes. definitely without question.
is this life intelligent and as advanced as humanity or beyond?
most likely.
earth's magnetic field and pole reversal. the science, not the hype
the earth's magnetic field has reversed many times in the past and will reverse again in the future. but the reversal will not happen on a specific date and will not happen within our lifetimes. evidence from many different areas, including clay pots throughout history, computer models from super computers, pre-historic volcanic lava floes, nautical navigation records and more, has shown we are entering the beginning phase of a pole reversal.
the earth's magnetic field can be measured in clay pots. small amounts of magnetite within clay heat up in the kiln and reform according to the earth's magnetic field. so a record of the magnetic field can be measured and recorded from ancient clay pots. the trend observed, over the last 11,000 years indicates it has weakened in the last 2000 years, and especially within the last 300 years, signaling the beginning of a pole reversal. measured analysis of the current field has shown a weakening of the field in the south atlantic, confirming these results.
data obtained from ancient clay pots.
geophysicists, astrophysicists and geologists all agree that poles will reverse again and will reverse soon. but "soon" to these branches of science is roughly 3000 or more years from now. and the shift will not happen over night, but take several thousand years to complete the reversal. during this weakening of the field, the earth's protective layer, will let in more cosmic radiation, which could increase the amount of cancer and cause other variant results to life on earth. it is interesting that when this shift begins to happen, there will be 3 or 4 magnetic poles and the northern lights, auroras, will be visible from just about everywhere on earth.
the pole reversal process.
the pole reversal process.
according to results measured from lava flow samples, the poles reverse, on average, every 200,000 years.
the last time the earth's magnetic poles reversed was 780,000 years ago.
image of earth sowing multiple poles.
(this is just the science, not the psychic doomsday predictions.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)