Science is interesting

Madican · **Joined:** Sun Feb 20, 2011 8:18 pm **Posts:** 13531

Exeres wrote:

Syobon, did you know that there's a skeleton INSIDE OF YOUR OWN BODY RIGHT THIS MOMENT?

Appropriate. http://buttersafe.com/comics/2012-05-31-ReadyOrNot.jpg

YCobb · **Posted:** Tue Aug 21, 2012 2:14 pm

A bit later here, but I am the only one who found "DNA can survive for hundreds of thousands of years in a box in your garage." to be incredibly surreal?

Mr. Mander · **Posted:** Tue Aug 21, 2012 4:49 pm

Also false. Ancient DNA is fragmented beyond all comprehension, it's the reason we can't clone dinosaurs.

YCobb · **Posted:** Tue Aug 21, 2012 5:20 pm

I don't know much about this, but couldn't that be why they only say "hundreds of thousnads," rather than "billions?"

There would also probably be some sort of preservative involved. I believe the article mentioned beakers and shit? I'm sure keeping DNA in a solution of stuff made for it is better than leaving it in fossils and stuff.

Exeres · **Posted:** Tue Aug 21, 2012 5:57 pm

"Hundreds of thousands", "billions", and "millions" might all seem like arbitrarily large numbers, but there are orders of magnitude separating them. There was no such thing as DNA "billions" of years ago, dinosaurs would have been in the "millions" range, and yes, DNA can last for hundreds of thousands of years, under the right conditions.

YCobb · **Posted:** Tue Aug 21, 2012 6:08 pm

Oh whoops yeah that was my bad, I thought dinosaurs were in the billions.
I never really paid attention in museums.

Exeres · **Posted:** Tue Aug 21, 2012 6:53 pm

For future reference, they lived about 225-65 million years ago.

Unless you're a Creationist, in which case God put giant bones in the ground to test your faith about 6000 years ago.

Terraem · **Posted:** Wed Aug 22, 2012 7:01 am

A really interesting video that explains solar storms in a nutshell

Brekkjern · **Joined:** Tue Mar 29, 2011 9:22 am **Posts:** 1435

Actual video from the Curiosity landing

Footage was taken at 6 frames per second and is played back at about 24 frames per second, meaning that the video is 4 times as fast as what actually happened, but this is still amazing to see!

Fluffdick · **Posted:** Wed Aug 22, 2012 11:21 pm

Brekkjern wrote:

Actual video from the Curiosity landing

Footage was taken at 6 frames per second and is played back at about 24 frames per second, meaning that the video is 4 times as fast as what actually happened, but this is still amazing to see!

This is fascinating. What makes this so special is that it is another planet and yet it looks so similar to ours.

Exeres · **Posted:** Wed Aug 22, 2012 11:34 pm

My brother thought it was CGI.

Fluffdick · **Posted:** Wed Aug 22, 2012 11:34 pm

Exeres wrote:

My brother thought it was CGI.

Slap him

Exeres · **Posted:** Wed Aug 22, 2012 11:37 pm

Well I have to admit it does look rather surreal. Maybe because the video is going so fast, I dunno.

Not Malum · **Posted:** Wed Aug 22, 2012 11:39 pm

Holy shit that is beautiful

The Willow Witch · **Posted:** Mon Sep 03, 2012 8:41 pm

Quote:

Adam Savage dipping his fingers into a pot of molten lead. Immediately prior to submerging his fingers in the lead, he wet them with water, which will form a thin protective layer of water vapor on contact with the lead, which was heated to 850 degrees Fahrenheit. This is known as the Leidenfrost effect.

AWKWARD ZOMBIE

Science is interesting

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