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POPSNew clues on "The Great Dying" The lessons of the Permian-Triassic massacre are "directly applicable to the present," said John Isbell, a geoscientist at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. He said the world today is in danger of exceeding a CO2 "threshold" that could set off an environmental upheaval as great as the one 251 million years ago.
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POPSForever Is A Long Time- Extinction Of Too Many Watch the slide show attached. Great sadness for the losses incurred and those that are coming in your lifetime. We are a destructive force and our role as caretakers of the world around us is not well exercised.
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POPSTunguska: 100 years of wondering 30th Jun was the hundredth anniversary of the Tunguska explosion. They think the answer might lie at the bottom of Lake Chelo. The rule of thumb is that a 100 metre asteroid equals a 100 mTon hydrogen bomb.
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POPSAsteroid Impacts On Earth: A Protection Plan Indeed, over billions of years, the Tree of Life here on Earth has been whacked time and time again by what Schweickart labeled as “the crazy cosmic gardener.” “The good news is that we can do something about this,” the former astronaut explained. “The marriage of we human beings and the machines that we’ve created are now at a level of capability which enables us to fire the crazy cosmic gardener. We can stop this process from occurring again.”
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POPSCould Jupiter wreck the solar system?
"So what's the likelihood Mercury could crash into the Earth? If it did, the asteroid that most likely wiped out the dinosaurs will seem like a drop in the ocean compared with a planet 4880 km in diameter slamming into us. There will be very little left after this wrecking ball impact. But here's the kicker: There is only a 1% chance that these gravitational instabilities of the inner Solar System are likely to cause any kind of chaos before the Sun turns into a Red Giant and swallows Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars in 7 billion years time. So, no need to look out for death-wish Mercury quite yet… there's a very low chance that any of this will happen. But some good news for Mars; the researchers have also found that if the chaos does ensue, the Red Planet may be flung out of the Solar System, possibly escaping our expanding Sun. So, let's get those Mars colonies started! Well, within the next few billions of years anyhow…" Good stuff for the next science-fiction movie :-)
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POPSEarth could seed Titan with life Dr Gladman's team calculated that up to 20 terrestrial rocks from a large impact on Earth would reach Titan. These would strike Titan's upper atmosphere at 10-15 km/s. At this velocity, the cruise down to the surface might be comfortable enough for microbes to survive the journey.But the news was more bleak for Europa. By contrast with the handful that hit Titan, about 100 terrestrial meteoroids hit the icy moon. "It's frustrating if you're a microbe that's been wandering the Universe for a million years to then die striking the surface of Europa," Dr Gladman mused.Asked after his presentation by one scientist whether he thought microbes would be able to survive Titan's freezing temperatures, Dr Gladman answered: "That's for you people to decide, I'm just the pizza delivery boy."
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POPSVulnerability of Web and World A world without internet is almost inconceivable, In an article in Gigaom, however, 10 ways of how it might die are described. Even the survival of our whole world on the long term is unsure. An article in Discover discusses "20 ways the world could end". All these desasters are listed below.
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POPSResearchers: Asteroid Destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah Mark Hempsell, one of the researchers from Bristol University who cracked the tablet's code, said: "It's a wonderful piece of observation, an absolutely perfect piece of science." Dr Hempsall said that at least 20 ancient myths record devastation of the type and on the scale of the asteroid's impact, including the Old Testament tale of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the ancient Greek myth of how Phaeton, son of Helios, fell into the River Eridanus after losing control of his father's sun chariot.
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POPSToxic gas caused the Great Dying? Once the gas made it to the ocean surface, it could have escaped into the atmosphere, triggering terrestrial extinction, Kump says. “Poisonous clouds of hydrogen sulfide wafting around the continents would have killed animals and vegetation,” he says. The gas also could have damaged the planet’s ozone layer letting destructive radiation reach Earth’s surface.
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POPSApophis REALLY Attacks EARTH While the possibility of a real impact from this large asteroid is possible, I find it humorous that astronomers named it after Apophis, one of the doomsday gods and a Guaul system lord in Stargate (SG-1)
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POPSChance of Asteroid Hit on Mars Increases "Some researchers are hoping for a cosmic smash" Some? This is the kind of thing astronomers dream of At the moment its known as 2007 WD5. I'm sure if it hits it will get a better name.
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