The Science Thread

[basilio]

Understanding the Great Extinction of 252Million years ago.

When a Killer Climate Catastrophe Struck the World's Oceans
The worst extinction in Earth’s history offers chilling predictions for the planet’s future—and for humanity’s efforts to keep climate doom at bay.

Identifying a killer can be difficult when it seems like every murder weapon imaginable has been used in the crime, and when the victim is the entire planet. About 252 million years ago, a rich and wonderful world was annihilated in the worst mass extinction ever: the end-Permian, a catastrophe with no close competitor in Earth’s history. Volcanoes of a truly preposterous scale erupted in Siberia over many thousands of years, loosing all manner of chaos on the world. Rounding up, everything died.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/12/oxygen-loss-during-mass-extinction/577537/

 

[basilio]

More research on past oxygen starvation in the worlds oceans
A Foreboding Similarity in Today’s Oceans and a 94-Million-Year-Old Catastrophe
The ocean is suffocating—but not for the first time.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/01/suffocating-oceans/550415/

Burning Fossil Fuels Almost Ended All Life on Earth
A road trip through the geological ruins of our planet's worst mass extinction.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/07/a-road-trip-to-the-end-of-the-world/532914/

 

[basilio]

Understanding the worlds climate through ice cores. Great pics, great story


A frozen history of climate change – in pictures
Scientists at EastGrip are examining ice from as far back as the last ice age. Photograph: Anna Filipova

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Buried deep under the Greenland ice sheet is a unique archive of life on Earth 40,000 years ago. Scientists are using this information to try to predict future changes to the planet

Photographs by Anna Filipova

Fri 11 Jan 2019 18.30 AEDT

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...limate-change-greenland-ice-sheet-in-pictures

 

[Darc Knight]

Check out U.S. Navy's latest Destroyer U.S.S. Zumwalt: 182m long, with stealh capabilities so she looks like a small fishing boat on radar

Interesting to note that the famed "Boomer" submarines seem to be being phased out and the use of Nuclear reactors on Submarines makes their stealth abilities problematic, making our deisel tubs handy little things @sptrawler

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Zumwalt

 

[luutzu]

Check out U.S. Navy's latest Destroyer U.S.S. Zumwalt: 182m long, with stealh capabilities so she looks like a small fishing boat on radar

Interesting to note that the famed "Boomer" submarines seem to be being phased out and the use of Nuclear reactors on Submarines makes their stealth abilities problematic, making our deisel tubs handy little things @sptrawler

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Zumwalt

So... lots of fishing boats will better be careful lest they get blown out of the water?

 

[Darc Knight]

So... lots of fishing boats will better be careful lest they get blown out of the water?

Yea, you're in a fleet of other fishing boats and this thing casually tries to "mingle in" you'd be getting the hell outta there quick smart

 

[Xendragon]

Check out U.S. Navy's latest Destroyer U.S.S. Zumwalt: 182m long, with stealh capabilities so she looks like a small fishing boat on radar

Interesting to note that the famed "Boomer" submarines seem to be being phased out and the use of Nuclear reactors on Submarines makes their stealth abilities problematic, making our deisel tubs handy little things @sptrawler

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Zumwalt

Its a pity they cant afford projectiles for the advanced guns on this thing. It still has plenty of missile fire power though. Maybe they will pull the guns out and fit something else eventually.

 

[Ann]

Not exactly sure where this should be dropped but here is probably as good as anywhere.

I read a great book called "Bad Pharma" by Ben Goldacre, and also worked for a couple of drug companies as a detailer way back, so this comes as no surprise.

Physician-targeted marketing is associated with more opioid overdose deaths, new study finds

By Sarah Toy
Published: Jan 20, 2019 12:26 p.m. ET

Number of payments to doctors is the thing most associated with opioid-related overdose deaths, more so than the amount paid
Opioid-related overdose deaths are higher in areas of the country where there’s increased marketing of opioid products to physicians, highlighting the role the pharmaceutical industry plays in the opioid epidemic.


A new study found that both deaths from opioid overdose and opioid prescriptions rose in areas of the country where physicians received more opioid-related marketing from pharmaceutical companies, such as consulting fees and free meals, according to an analysis of national data from 2013 to 2015 published in JAMA Network Open. Researchers looked at pharmaceutical marketing information from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Open Payments database, linking it with data on county-level opioid prescribing and overdose deaths from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention databases.


Interestingly, researchers found the number of payments to doctors in an area had the greatest association with prescription numbers and opioid-related overdose deaths, more so than even the amount paid. Areas with a higher number of payments per capita saw increased opioid prescribing rates and more opioid-related overdose deaths.


For every three additional payments made to physicians per 100,000 people in a county, opioid-related overdose deaths were 18% higher, the study found. More......
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/p...s-new-study-finds-2019-01-18?siteid=rss&rss=1

 

[basilio]

Great find Ann. Agree with you about being unsure where to drop it. Maybe a thread about the role of Big Pharma ?

 

[Ann]

Great find Ann. Agree with you about being unsure where to drop it. Maybe a thread about the role of Big Pharma ?

Not sure there would be enough for a thread nor am I interested Bas. The article quotes research statistics, that is why it landed in the science thread. I could get into a discussion about statins their efficasy/side effects/over prescriptions/dodgy science but then I would be harangued as a 'statin denier' added to that it holds no interest for me, there is little or nothing further for me to learn. I am over bloody doctors and pharmaceutical drugs I learned years ago from the close professional contact I had with doctors as a medical detailer, never ever to take anything they suggest other than for an immediate short term remedy. They are rewarded for their product support in greater and lesser degrees by the pharmaceutical companies.

 

[qldfrog]

statin denier?
You mean like showing a whole country like scotland having the same frequency of heart arest before and after the use of statins decreases cholesterol levels
To put oil on the fire, cholesterol is to heart attack what CO2 is to global earming, a consequence.
A healthy body has low choresterol and also..(not so)..low heart issues

 

[qldfrog]

Note.i do not say global warming creates
co2..just that creating co2 often adds to global warming

 

[Ann]

statin denier?
You mean like showing a whole country like scotland having the same frequency of heart arest before and after the use of statins decreases cholesterol levels
To put oil on the fire, cholesterol is to heart attack what CO2 is to global earming, a consequence.
A healthy body has low choresterol and also..(not so)..low heart issues

I wasn't having a go at Bas about being called a 'statin denier' it is a real term and they are adopting the same tactics as is proving so succesful for the GW political lobby. Create fear and confusion, fear alone will make people compliant. Check out the link....
https://www.csicop.org/si/show/statin_denialism

 

[qldfrog]

No misunderstanding here Ann,
Nor was it a peak at Basilio
Just liked the Denier analogy in the brushing off any counter argument in front of ideology based propaganda fed conviction.

 

[qldfrog]

Interesting article in your link.
Nevertheless mentioned that between 70 and 250 people have to take statins for life to no use for one who will benefit.and maybe as a side effect which could be gained with aspirin for example.
My position on statins was confurmed by the abc catalyst report which was aired a while back.i can not access abc sites as i am in china now nor can i google but if anyone is interested, it is worthwhile watching
Hope it help,reduce stress and blood pressure,be active eat healthy and tgat will be much better fir you than popping a statin daily.
Not easier and less money for pharmas i know

 

[Ann]

Interesting article in your link.
Nevertheless mentioned that between 70 and 250 people have to take statins for life to no use for one who will benefit.and maybe as a side effect which could be gained with aspirin for example.
My position on statins was confurmed by the abc catalyst report which was aired a while back.i can not access abc sites as i am in china now nor can i google but if anyone is interested, it is worthwhile watching
Hope it help,reduce stress and blood pressure,be active eat healthy and tgat will be much better fir you than popping a statin daily.
Not easier and less money for pharmas i know

I saw that show as well, the whole might of the Pharmaceutical industry came down on the ABC and they withered. This is the sort of massive attacks whistleblowers have to cope with. It is a brave man or group who will stand up to the massive power of the $B backed machine.

https://ama.com.au/ausmed/abc-dumps-controversial-statins-program

 

[Ann]

This discussion is starting to drag this thread off Topic. I will start another thread later. I have thought of a good topic just need to decide on a title.

 

[Ann]

...and back to more science related subjects.

I have just started reading The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery.

He made mention of glaciers in New Guinea. I had never imagined such a tropical area could have still been supporting glaciers from the 'little ice-age.' From 1500 years ago, according to Lonnie G. Thompson, Research Scientist, Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, University Professor, School of Earth Sciences. The Ohio State University..

I have a couple of photos side by side.
The ones with the most glaciers was taken in November 1988 and the other was taken in December 2017.

That purple coloured round object in the recent photo is a massive copper mine called the Grasberg Mine. I cannot imagine why anyone would be allowed to mine virtually on top of an ancient relic of such major importance. Imagine the damage they have done to those glaciers with all the blasting, drilling heavy vehicular traffic. It must have shattered some of the glaciers with this sort of concussion. How could this have ever been allowed? Money, everything has a price.


The Grasberg mine is the largest gold mine and the second largest copper mine in the world.[1][2] It is located in the province of Papua in Indonesia near Puncak Jaya, the highest mountain in Papua. It has 19,500 employees. It is mostly owned by Freeport-McMoRan (FCX)

The icefields around Puncak Jaya are rare. You won’t find glacial ice for another 4,500 kilometers (2,800 miles) to the north on Japan’s Mount Tate, which lies outside the tropics where glacial ice is more common. Within the tropics, the closest glacial ice can be found 11,200 kilometers (6,900 miles) away on Mount Kenya in Africa. Like tropical glaciers elsewhere in the world, the glaciers on the slopes around Puncak Jaya have been shrinking and scientists estimate they could be gone within about a decade.
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/91716/glaciers-in-the-tropics-but-not-for-long

 

[basilio]

Good find Ann. Your right about the willingness of mining interest to do anything in pursuit of a buck. One of the outcomes of this process in New Guinea was the OK Tedi mining disaster.

Ok Tedi environmental disaster
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Ok Tedi mine
The Ok Tedi environmental disaster caused severe harm to the environment along 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) of the Ok Tedi River and the Fly River in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea between about 1984 and 2013. The lives of 50,000 people have been disrupted. One of the worst environmental disasters caused by humans, it is a consequence of the discharge of about two billion tons of untreated mining waste into the Ok Tedi from the Ok Tedi Mine, an open pit mine in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea.

This mining pollution, caused by the collapse of the Ok Tedi tailings dam system in 1984 and consequent switch to riverine disposal (disposal of tailings directly into the river) for several decades, was the subject of class action litigation, naming Ok Tedi Mining Limited and BHP Billiton and brought by local landowners. Villagers downstream from Ok Tedi in the Fly River system in the Middle Fly District and the southern and central areas of the North Fly District, in particular, believe that the effect on their livelihood from this disaster far outweighs the benefits they have received from the mine's presence in their area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ok_Tedi_environmental_disaster

 

[basilio]

This is a fascinating gooey story. Learnt lots..

No One Is Prepared for Hagfish Slime
It expands by 10,000 times in a fraction of a second, it’s 100,000 times softer than Jell-O, and it fends off sharks and Priuses alike.

Ed Yong 11:46 AM ET

A car is covered in hagfish, and slime, after an accident on Highway 101.Reuters

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At first glance, the hagfish—a sinuous, tubular animal with pink-grey skin and a paddle-shaped tail—looks very much like an eel. Naturalists can tell the two apart because hagfish, unlike other fish, lack backbones (and, also, jaws). For everyone else, there’s an even easier method. “Look at the hand holding the fish,” the marine biologist Andrew Thaler once noted. “Is it completely covered in slime? Then, it’s a hagfish.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/01/hagfish-slime/581002/
http://www.southernfriedscience.com...rushed-by-hagfish-frequently-asked-questions/