Crushing soda cans for science, why dolphins swim so fast, how urine helps mushrooms communicate, and more
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Research roundup: 6 cool science stories we almost missed
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"applying water around one mushroom increased electrical activity (and hence the flow of information), while applying water across a larger area reduced electrical activity. Applying urine to just one mushroom also reduced information flow. "
but, why did they fail to also try applying urine across a larger area? ^^ Or was the "44-year-old male without any chronic disease" who supplied the urine not up to the task?
but, why did they fail to also try applying urine across a larger area? ^^ Or was the "44-year-old male without any chronic disease" who supplied the urine not up to the task?
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Maybe I just need more coffee, but are these numbers presented backwards? Or are they older, not younger than previously thought?
the more I think about this, they almost have to be backwards - with finding a fossil 7M years old expanding the date range.
Edit 2: it seems they dated the lowest? layers, which constrained the formation to be older, not younger.
**Looks like the disconnect is that the original estimate was 7-15 million years ago, & it has been constrained to 8.6-14M years ago. So the oldest part of the formation is younger, while the youngest parts are older than originally thought.
ETA:
Edit 2: it seems they dated the lowest? layers, which constrained the formation to be older, not younger.
And the pillars themselves were created due to erosion in the last few thousand years:
**Looks like the disconnect is that the original estimate was 7-15 million years ago, & it has been constrained to 8.6-14M years ago. So the oldest part of the formation is younger, while the youngest parts are older than originally thought.
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Yes, we all do, which is why I was disappointed when the graphic with this section was just a still image and not the satisfying video of that can getting crushed that, we just agreed, we were all craving.
Edit:
Oh man, I just found the video in the study's "Supplementary information" section and now I'm even more disappointed because it's so much cooler than I pictured it being.
Supplementary Video (download AVI)
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The shipwreck article title had me going "Huh"? Shipwreck repairs? Who is breaking the shipwrecks, and why? I like my shipwrecks intact!
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I'm still confused how a date range that ends at 14mya can be conclusively stated to be younger than another date range that ends at 14mya.
That said, it's cool to read about the 12 Apostles and think "Hey! I took some good photos of those!" I'd love to spend more time in Australia.
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I too puzzled over this for longer than I feel comfortable admitting, but if the formation is indeed younger than previously thought, then the author has the old and new ranges reversed. As the dates are given, the formation is now older than previously thought.
Edit:
I don't think the study itself ever mentions either age range, but the lead author, Stephen Gallagher, did say this in the University of Melbourne media release: "Early preliminary research indicated the ancient limestone layers ranged between 7 to 15 million years old, but we discovered microscopic fossils that more accurately dated the layers as 8.6 to 14 million years old,"
Source: University of Melbourne media release
So the formation is now believed to be younger, and the typo was in the original estimate of the age range.
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If I remember the story from the Christian Torah properly, there will eventually only be one apostle left standing.
I see a few sites refer to the Mycelium Network as "Earth's Natural Internet"* which of course makes me wonder if mushrooms share cat pictures.
* So it's a series of tubes.
I see a few sites refer to the Mycelium Network as "Earth's Natural Internet"* which of course makes me wonder if mushrooms share cat pictures.
* So it's a series of tubes.
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So are you accusing the researchers of using AI when writing their original papers? I'm confuzzled.
Regardless, it's a bold accusation with zero facts asserted to bolster your position. So I'm just gonna assume you're full of shit.
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The only thing more tiresome than AI-generated crap is baseless human-generated crap accusations of things being AI-generated crap.
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Its interesting to think that trees communicate through their roots and these fungal networks about all sorts of things... But its also mildly disconcerting to consider that if a bear defecates in the woods (or you for that matter), the whole forest may be gossiping about it...
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Per your edit: but that would make it older, not younger... right? Tell me I'm not taking crazy pills here...
ETA: I guess the fact that they contracted the oldest age makes it younger & takes precedence over the youngest age now being further back. IDK. My brain hurts...
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The 12 (now 7) apostles story made me think of the scene in Mel Brooks classic "I bring you these 15 (crash)...errr...TEN commandments!"
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I want to know more about how dolphins swim fast not to make better robots, but to be able to swim more efficiently myself
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This is presented almost as an afterthought, but is the most amazing detail....
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David Bowie sends his support.
I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
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Can someone ELI5 this one to me? 
Wouldn’t that make it older than previously thought?
Wouldn’t that make it older than previously thought?
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Seems like the shipwreck data could be telling us some mix of where the pitch had been produced and where it had been applied. Ships needed a lot of pitch, and there were well developed trade networks in the region moving commodities around.
It does seem unlikely that a ship engaged in regular service between a handful of ports would end up incorporating pitch from a wide variety of locations, it’s just that we have to be careful about assuming such commodities were only consumed local to where they were produced.
It does seem unlikely that a ship engaged in regular service between a handful of ports would end up incorporating pitch from a wide variety of locations, it’s just that we have to be careful about assuming such commodities were only consumed local to where they were produced.
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But the entrapped pollen and other contaminants would indicate where the pitch was applied?
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I think you may be missing the possibility that the pollen and other contaminants were present in the pitch when and where it was produced, which may be far removed (time-wise and geographically) from where it was applied.
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While I’m sure this dolphins study is actually intended to improve submersibles, I have to admit I get nervous when I hear about the Japanese “studying” cetaceans.
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I love these round-ups.
"I peed on mushrooms. For Science!"
Jennifer: "I wrote about people peeing on mushrooms. For Journalism!"
"I peed on mushrooms. For Science!"
Jennifer: "I wrote about people peeing on mushrooms. For Journalism!"
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So the enshitification of the internet started far earlier than Cory Doctorow imagines (since we're talking about mushrooms).
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If a tree falls in the forest and there is nobody there to ... there is always something there to observe and gossip about it.
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Probably. Wikipedia says cosmic rays, but 90 % of those are protons. If you follow the rabbit hole to Air Showers, they eventually produce neutrons among other things, and the neutrons then react with N14, yielding C14.
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It can be done.
Source: Its a few years ago now, but i had the bucket chemistry job of making up nearly four tonnes of artificial cow urine for a field trial, then organising application of it with watering cans.
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High enough energy photos would be fine. They are packed full of protons and neutrons!
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As far as I can tell, US English was actually designed to be close to achieving maximal ambiguity.
“I read that book”
“At the Bank of the river”
“I saw the person with a telescope”
And even in at least one of the articles:
"... videos of people using hydraulics to crush a variety of objects? That includes physicists at the University of Manchester"
etc.
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