Terrible Guatemalan Sinkhole

Japanese King Arthur

Sun, 26 May 2013 05:49:28 +0100

Japanese King Arthur

Photo

Sun, 26 May 2013 05:13:07 +0100

Photo

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:18:08 +0100

Photo

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:53:58 +0100

>tfw

Sat, 18 May 2013 18:12:04 +0100

>tfw

The biggest difference between the books and the series are...

Tue, 14 May 2013 02:05:58 +0100

The biggest difference between the books and the series are Daenerys’s talking eyebrows. Huge improvement imo.

What we do propose to do is not to control content, but to...

Fri, 10 May 2013 03:23:38 +0100

What we do propose to do is not to control content, but to create context.

Exploding star remnants found in fossilized bacteria Thousands...

Tue, 07 May 2013 17:07:00 +0100

Example of a magnetotactic bacterium containing a chain of magnetosomes

Exploding star remnants found in fossilized bacteria

Thousands of metres below the sea, trapped in the fossilized remains of ancient bacteria, exists the iron remnants of a supernova explosion that happened millions of years ago. An imprint, here on Earth, of a dying star.

Iron-60, an isotope of iron created only in supernovae, has been found in fossilised seabed bacteria. The preliminary findings, announced by Shawn Bishop of the Technical University of Munich at a 14 April meeting of the American Physical Society in Colorado, may be the first time that a specific star’s debris has been found in our fossil record.

Iron-60’s half-life is relatively short when compared to the age of our solar system, so traces of the isotope on Earth suggests a direct interaction with a supernova in the planet’s history. The researchers searched for the isotope in fossils from seabed samples between 1.7 million to 3.3 million years old. They likely found traces of the isotope in fossils around 2.2 million years old.

The bacteria containing the Iron-60 are magnetotactic; they are strange organisms live in the seabed and align themselves with the Earth’s magnetic field. They extract iron from the water and sediment around them and create iron oxide crystals that are then preserved in the fossil record.

“For me, philosophically, the charm is that this is sitting in the fossil record of our planet,” said Bishop in a Nature.com report. The isotope had previously been discovered in seabed samples, but not in the fossil record.

“We are all, as Carl Sagan put it, stardust,” Bishop told Wired.co.uk. “[We have now] likely discovered, within crystal nano-fossils left behind by primitive bacteria, […] still-live radioactive atoms that can only have been synthesized within the same kind of nuclear furnace — an exploding star — that forged the elements from which all live on Earth is made. The cycle comes full-circle.”

It has been estimated that the supernova happened around 2.2 million years ago, and that the stream of cosmic rays would have had an effect on the Earth’s atmosphere by increasing cloud cover. The supernova responsible for depositing the iron-60 has not yet been found, but possible suspects have been identified in the nearby Scorpius-Centarus association.

This isn’t the first time that distant astronomical events have made an impact on Earth. In 2012, researchers found a surplus of radioactive atoms in Japanese trees, hinting at a violent cosmic event around 1,200 years ago.

What a majestic creature.

Fri, 03 May 2013 06:12:45 +0100

What a majestic creature.

Is that an awkward hug or are they dancing?

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 21:50:04 +0100

Is that an awkward hug or are they dancing?

no homo

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 18:49:48 +0100

no homo

Come at me, bro.

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 16:42:29 +0100

Come at me, bro.

Photo

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 02:17:10 +0100

Photo

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 13:57:52 +0100

GTA V

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 21:45:38 +0100

GTA V

“Nothing is true, everything is permitted”

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:50:48 +0100

“Nothing is true, everything is permitted”

Photo

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 18:57:27 +0100

That isn’t even his final form

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 06:26:31 +0100

That isn’t even his final form

OH NO IT’S THE SATANIC CHEMTRAILS

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 02:53:50 +0100

OH NO IT’S THE SATANIC CHEMTRAILS

Coven (1997)

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 22:24:38 +0100

Coven (1997)