Monday Reads: Kewl Science
Posted: September 9, 2013 Filed under: morning reads, nature, science 60 Comments
Good Morning!
Let’s take a break today from the usual stuff. Let’s chase down the kewl!!
The world’s largest cave has been discovered in Vietnam. They’re getting ready to give tours!!
The Son Doong Cave in Vietnam is the biggest cave in the world. It’s over 5.5 mileslong, has a jungle and river, and could fit a 40-story skyscraper within its walls.
But nobody knew any of that until four years ago.
A local man discovered the cave entrance in 1991, but British cavers were the first to explore it in 2009. Now, tour company Oxalis is running trial tours of the cave andaccepting sign-ups for real six-day tours to take place next year.
The man who discovered Son Doong didn’t go in because the entrance he found had too steep a drop. On next year’s tours, visitors will rappel 80 meters to
enter Son Doong.
The world’s largest volcano has been discovered beneath the Pacific Ocean.
Scientists say that they have discovered the single largest volcano in the world, a dead colossus deep beneath the Pacific waves.
A team writing in the journal Nature Geoscience says the 310,000 sq km (119,000 sq mi) Tamu Massif is comparable in size to Mars’ vast Olympus Mons volcano – the largest in the Solar System.
The structure topples the previous largest on Earth, Mauna Loa in Hawaii.
The massif lies some 2km below the sea.
It is located on an underwater plateau known as the Shatsky Rise, about 1,600km east of Japan.
It was formed about 145 million years ago when massive lava flows erupted from the centre of the volcano to form a broad, shield-like feature.
The researchers doubted the submerged volcano’s peak ever rose above sea level during its lifetime and say it is unlikely to erupt again.
“The bottom line is that we think that Tamu Massif was built in a short (geologically speaking) time of one to several million years and it has been extinct since,” co-author William Sager, from the University of Houston, US, told the AFP news agency.
“One interesting angle is that there were lots of oceanic plateaus (that) erupted during the Cretaceous Period (145-65 million years ago) but we don’t see them since. Scientists would like to know why.”
Prof Sager began studying the structure two decades ago, but it had been unclear whether the massif was one single volcano or many – a kind that exists in dozens of locations around the planet.
While Olympus Mons on Mars has relatively shallow roots, the Tamu Massif extends some 30 km (18 miles) into the Earth’s crust.
Scientists say there is a sixth sense and its not what you think it is.
Until recently, however, scientists weren’t able to locate it, which had led to some skepticism as to whether a map for numerosity exists.
Benjamin Harvey of Utrecht University and his colleagues have discovered signals that show that the much-debated numerosity map really does exist.
Numerosity is different from symbolic numbers.
“We use symbolic numbers to represent numerosity and other aspects of magnitude, but the symbol itself is only a representation,” Harvey noted.
Numerosity selectivity in the brain comes from visual processing of image characteristics, where symbolic number selectivity comes from the recognition of the shapes of numerals, written words, and linguistic sounds that represent numbers.
“This latter task relies on very different parts of the brain that specialize in written and spoken language,” Harvey added.
To discover the map, Harvey and his colleagues asked eight study participants to examine patterns of dots that differed in number over time, all the while studying the neural response properties in a numerosity-associated part of their brain utilizing high-field fMRI. This technique allowed the researchers to scan the subjects for far less time per session than would have been necessary with a less powerful scanning technology.
Harvey and his team turned to population receptive field modelling to measure neural response.
“This was the key to our success,” Harvey posited.
It allowed the scientists to model the human fMRI response properties they saw following results of recordings from macaque neurons, in which numerosity experiments had been conducted more fully.
They discovered a topographical layout of numerosity in the human brain: the small amounts of dots the participants saw were encoded by neurons in one area of the brain, the bigger amounts, in another.
The discovery shows that topography can also develop for higher-level cognitive functions.
“We are very excited that association cortex can produce emergent topographic structures,” Harvey said.
So, BB knows me and knows my fascination with graves. It seems a badger has unearthed a treasure trove of medieval European graves.
A badger has led German archaeologists to a stunning find of medieval warrior graves, complete with one skeleton still clutching a sword and a wearing snake-shaped buckle on his belt.
Scientists are now examining the burial site where at least eight people were buried.
Artist and voluntary monument maintenance man Lars Wilhelm said he was watching badgers near his home in Brandenburg, north Germany, when he realized they were digging into an ancient grave.
He said he had been watching the progress of an enormous badger sett for five years. “My wife and I – we are both sculptors – wanted to put artworks in there.”
But this was now out of the question, he said. “The bones changed everything,” he added.
The Berliner Zeitung newspaper said Wilhelm called the experts as soon as he realized the animals had dug up bones. Archaeologists moved in and expanded the work of the badgers, freeing up eight graves, two of which were of noblemen.
“These are late Slavish graves,” said Professor Felix Biermann from the Ernst-August University in Göttingen, who is leading the dig in the Uckermark Stolpe area. He said they dated from the first half of the 12th century AD.
“Apart from these last heathen Slavs, the whole surrounding area was already Christianized. It’s special because these rulers still had their independent heathen beliefs.”
The warrior graves were particularly exciting. The skeleton of one man, aged around 40, was complete with a two-edged sword, and a bronze bowl at his feet.
“At the time such bowls were used to wet the hands before eating,” said Biermann. “The bowls would a sign that a man belonged to the upper classes.”
He added that the warrior also had a bronze buckle with a snake’s head, which probably came from Scandinavia. His grave also contained an arrow head.
“He was a well-equipped warrior. Scars and bone-breaks show that he had been hit by lances and swords, and had also fallen from a horse.”
While the international community debates what to do about Syria, evidence of the use of chemical weapons dating back 1,700 years has surfaced.
British archeologist Dr Simon James believes 20 Roman soldiers may have been killed by lethal poisonous gas during a Persian attack on their fort at Dura-Europas in Eastern Syria during the 3rd century.
If true, it would be one of the earliest documented incidents of chemical weapons.
The soldiers met their fate in a narrow space in around 256AD, according to a statement by the University of Leicester academic in 2009.
Speaking at the time, Dr James said: ‘For the Persians to kill 20 men in a space less than two metres high or wide, and about 11 metres long, required superhuman combat powers, or something more insidious.
‘I think the (Persians) placed braziers and bellows in their gallery, and when the Romans broke through, added the chemicals and pumped choking clouds into the Roman tunnel.
‘The Roman assault party were unconscious in seconds, dead in minutes.’
Dr James was alerted to the evidence by mineral residue near the bodies. He concluded the gas was created by adding a compound of burnt bitumen and sulfur to fire.
So, there’s some interesting stuff to get our minds off the current problems. I’m going to let you get us up to date today. What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
peej
Carissa
ecocatwoman
mablue2
Mama Lopez
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Oh be still my Silurian heart! Oh quiet mine morbid mind!
Being a former paleontologist and spelunker the San Doong Cave and Tamu Massif stories bring me much joy! Being a lover of the brain, the neurosity report sends mine reeling – a jubilant reeling!
I have a penchant for graves too (and archeology) so the last too articles also excite the mind. Exceptional post today. Thank you; you made my day!
As to chemical weapons use in ancient times, most definitely it occurred in the East, West and Middle East, and beginning quite early – in the neolithic. Also primitive biological weapons were in use in the ancient world. Not so much of a moral imperative with respect to dissuading their use either – by classical times chemical/biological warfare was pretty common.
I love all that stuff too. We’re lucky it was such a slow news day yesterday. It’s fun when Dak starts looking around for science links.
You helped totally! The power went out last night for several hours.
Whatever he cause, it was a great post and relief from the news. Thanks!
She’s being modest. She helped me with the links!!!
Painting found in Norwegian attic is confirmed to be priceless lost Van Gogh.
Wow. some one just became very wealthy!
Old eavedropping records may come in handy.
tpm: NSA May Have Evidence On Mysterious 1961 Crash That Killed UN Chief Hammarskjold
CSMonitor.com @csmonitor 1m
Why are corals turning ghostly white? Scientists unravel mystery. http://bit.ly/1aYmF7k
the shrill one:
Great as always and too true.
A way forward on Syria? Apparently, Obama and Putin discussed Syria disarming at the G20.
tpm: Kerry: Assad Can Avoid Military Action If He Turns Over Weapons
tpm: Russia Will Push Syria To Surrender Chemical Weapons
That is progress
Either progress or Kerry shot his mouth off and is forced into a corner. I don’t care which if it works,
Progress? I sure hope so!
ABC: Syria ‘Welcomed’ Russian Proposal to Destroy Its Chemical Weapons
Glad to see the UN getting braver too.
We can keep our fingers crossed that this is a genuine diplomatic solution, but I’m skeptical. I still remember UN weapons inspectors, particularly Hans Blix, assuring the world that Saddam Hussein had no WMD and GWB and too damn many of our Congress people choosing to believe otherwise. I don’t think there’s any doubt that civilians were killed by Sarin and it’s likely that the regime did the deed, but I have mixed emotions about military intervention as a solution to anything in that part of the world. I fear the long reaching after effects of a strike against Syria, and I also fear the excuses the hawks in our government will use to put boots on the ground if there’s a retaliation against us. This will quickly become a Middle East shit storm, and too much of our human treasure has been lost in that part of the world already. There has been tribal, secular, religious fighting in the Middle East for thousands of years, I’m not sure there is anything short of total annihilation that would end their centuries long equivalent of the Hatfield & McCoys.
Come on. Remember Operation Desert Fox in 1998? That was a load of cruise missile strikes like this one. No shit storm erupted.
Yeah….I remember that well. One son-in-law, a cousin two close friends were deployed.
My problem with these actions is that they stir up hatred and determination for revenge. Desert Storm and the presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia was the reason used by Osama Bin Laden for the attacks of 911.
Like I said, I have mixed emotions about these actions. I totally understand the use of drones vs. boots on the ground to kill terrorists, but no matter what we do in that part of the world, there is a price to pay later on. We’re damned if we do, damned if we don’t.
Or was that Desert Storm? Who can keep track?
Or Desert Shield? How many times have we done this dance or a facsimile thereof?
Breaking news . . . Obama is not GW Bush. He doesn’t want “boots on the ground.” It didn’t happen in Libya. I don’t think Obama really wants strikes. But there has to be some world response to 100,000 deaths and then chemical weapons.
Amen. My thoughts exactly. The conventional wisdom on all this Syria business is totally wrong.
The CW on Syria should be expressed in Gergin units of cynicism.
“Breaking news . . . Obama is not GW Bush. He doesn’t want “boots on the ground.” ”
I totally agree with that, but I think you, I and Ralph are old enough to remember another civil war where “boots on the ground” weren’t the original objective, yet we lost 58,000 American lives in that undeclared war. And if I remember correctly it was LBJ who put those boots on the ground after he said he wouldn’t commit troops to combat. I think Ike and Kennedy both sent military to Vietnam, but in the role of advisors & trainers only. I’m not saying that Syria shouldn’t pay a price, but I am concerned that this would become a slippery slope if this action creates retaliation against U.S. interests in the region. If that happens even the best intentions to avoid direct involvement could suddenly become irrelevant.
I have no problem with anything Obama has done to date regarding Iraq or Afghanistan, I’ve defended his foreign policy, even supported the use of drones. I have no problem with Obama’s line in the sand with Syria over the use of chemical weapons, but today Obama said that the strikes would be “small” and my question was and is, to what purpose? And then later I read that he’s backtracking on a strike altogether without the approval of Congress. I just believe this whole thing has not been handled well. I don’t pretend to know what the answer is, but I also don’t know that a few cruise missiles is the answer. Maybe my concern is coming from purely selfish reasons since I currently have 4 family members serving in the U.S. Army and I don’t want to see any of them deployed again. That could be at the root of my skepticism.
I was very outspoken against the Iraq war, I think GWB created a clusterfuck there. And I think that GWB turned what should have been a search for Osama Bin Laden and Al Quaeda into a major military conflict in Afghanistan with many lives lost for no good reason. I have a number of family members who served in both Iraq & Afghanistan. I have a grandson-in-law who served 3 tours, 2 Iraq, 1 Afghanistan.. Our last 2 family members, my youngest daughters husband, and my 2nd cousin, just returned home from Afghanistan. One came home in June, the other July. Every family member who’s served in Iraq and/or Afghanistan has told me the same thing, “they hate us”. That’s hard to hear considering the ultimate sacrifice paid by those Americans who will never come home.
And please know that I respect both of your opinions. I’m just not convinced that Cruise Missiles will work and if they don’t, then what? Hopefully they can get the chemical weapons out through a diplomatic solution. If not, and those weapons are used again, or if there’s a major retaliation against U.S. interests, I fear the worst
Mouse. We can disagree but still be agreeable. I love it here 🙂
Mouse,
I don’t support bombing Syria. All I said was there needs to be some kind of response from the international community when hundreds of thousands of people–including children have died and now the govt has escalated to using chemical weapons. I don’t know what the answers are, but I’m not sure the current isolationist tendency in the US is the best choice. Ideally, we would use diplomacy.
I still don’t think Obama is analogous to GW Bush or LBJ.
I’m sorry BB, I’ve been so far out of the loop I’m not sure who’s saying what, who’s supporting what. I didn’t mean to imply that you support an attack. I think we’re all just frustrated that there never seems to be an end to these outrageous criminal assaults against innocent people. And we all know that no matter what POTUS does or doesn’t do the GOP will crucify him for it because he can’t do anything that is good enough for them. I know we’re all anxious to hear what the President says today because with or without chemical weapons Assad will continue to kill civilians. He’s following in his father’s footsteps.
U.S. To Take ‘Hard Look’ At Russia’s Syria Proposal
Christiane Amanpour @camanpour 2m
I examine the evidence on the Syrian chemical weapons attack, and who was behind it, with two experts: http://amanpour.blogs.cnn.com/2013/09/09/amanpour-examines-the-evidence-on-syria-chemical-weapons/ …
I trust information from her. Glad to see it.
Raise your hand if you’re surprised!!!
http://www.clickorlando.com/news/george-zimmerman-taken-into-custody-after-incident-with-gun-police-say/-/1637132/21851424/-/tlxm3oz/-/index.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
George Zimmerman questioned after alleged gun threat
I’ve just been waiting on this or something similar.
Brghahahahaha! Just as we predicted, but a little earlier than we expected. 🙂
I saw on twitter:
Don’t know what the hell is going on, I wonder if they decided not to press charges.
MT @businessinsider: ZIMMERMAN’S WIFE TO POLICE: ‘I’m really, really afraid. I don’t know what he’s capable of.’
She sat through a trial where he killed some one and he’s NOT sure?
I believe she’s quite sure. That’s why she’s really, really afraid.
She didn’t press charges. That’s why police should have to make an arrest in domestic violence cases no matter what the victim says.
There is some video footage. If he assaulted her on video, the police will press charges.
ZIMMERMAN’S WIFE TO POLICE: ‘I’m really, really afraid. I don’t know what he’s capable of.’
He’s capable of taking the life of a 16 year old boy whose only crime was walking while being black, near George Zimmerman’s home. I’d hate to be one of the Zimmerman jurors.
Somebody needs to take his gun away because he’s one dangerous bastard when he’s packing.
The updates are now saying the took away his gun.
UPDATE: Police confiscated Zimmerman’s gun http://thkpr.gs/16fsYzH
That’s good to know.
Police: Zimmerman wife not pressing charges
My guess is she will be calling the cops again soon enough…
You’re so right JJ. She needs to find a safe place before he kills her.
I read that he punched her father in the nose and bloodied it during the altercation. If that’s the case he could be charged with some sort of assault against her father without her pressing charges.
https://twitter.com/DahmPublishing/status/377247868798517248
You heard it hear first……………..WE told you sold, went into details with his domestic abuse the night before he went after Trayvon. Nobody wanted to speak to the evidence of him being involved in domestic violence………..heard he went after her father too.
Yes. Indeed.
@rightwingwatch: Michele Bachmann says Americans must repent & ask God for help to defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016 http://bit.ly/1eacMpe
God doesn’t want Methodist Presidents? Where’s that in the bible?
It’s in the Book of Urkidinus 1st chapter, verse 1-2. “The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting. He said, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When anyone among you brings an offering to the Lord, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock, no Methodists”.
Ha, riot!
LOL. Bachmann, Gohmert, and King have been playing 3 Stooges in Egypt. They are amazing!
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/42492_Michele_Bachmann_Louie_Gohmert_Steve_King_in_Egypt
LOL
Obama Sees Potential Breakthrough In Russian Syria Proposal
In case there was any doubt. Wonder if Assad is on board with his foreign minister?