Science news of the day thread.

[Ele]

Scientists say fish hooks go back 42,000 years
Fish appeared in the human diet about 1.9 million years ago.

But...but... but how do they know that people ate fish 1.9 million years ago if the evidence of fish hooks only dates to 42,000 years ago????

[Ronja]

Scientists say fish hooks go back 42,000 years
Fish appeared in the human diet about 1.9 million years ago.

But...but... but how do they know that people ate fish 1.9 million years ago if the evidence of fish hooks only dates to 42,000 years ago????

Wild guess: something in bone or teeth chemical composition changed, and this can be analyzed in fossils? (no I did not google that, so I may be miles off the mark)

[Ele]

I snipped large sections of this article.

In summary, kids, we're going to Mars to mine for minerals to make bonanzas of quillions of dollars to fill our pockets... and you taxpayers are going to pay for it!!!

Yeah, suuuure, we're looking for happy hope of a habitable planet for you all to inhabit later when Earth is inhabitable, mwahahahha, you BUY that crap everytime we pay our scientists to spin it, you love it!

"It's NOT dead, Jim!"

Large parts of Mars ‘could sustain life’

Posted by Paul Sutherland on December 12th, 2011

Large areas of Mars could be home to primitive alien life, space scientists have concluded. ...........

The research, by astrobiologists in Australia, concluded that most of the habitable parts of the smaller Mars lie underground. ..................

A NASA nuclear-powered spaceprobe, Mars Science Laboratory, or Curiosity, is currently en route to Mars for the next stage in the quest to find if the planet has ever been home to life. It will dig deep into the soil to look for chemicals that could be the remains of long-dead martian life.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Scientists say fish hooks go back 42,000 years
Fish appeared in the human diet about 1.9 million years ago.

But...but... but how do they know that people ate fish 1.9 million years ago if the evidence of fish hooks only dates to 42,000 years ago????

Wild guess: something in bone or teeth chemical composition changed, and this can be analyzed in fossils? (no I did not google that, so I may be miles off the mark)

Nerds.

They found fish bones in the middens.

[Ele]

Scientists say fish hooks go back 42,000 years
Fish appeared in the human diet about 1.9 million years ago.

But...but... but how do they know that people ate fish 1.9 million years ago if the evidence of fish hooks only dates to 42,000 years ago????

Wild guess: something in bone or teeth chemical composition changed, and this can be analyzed in fossils? (no I did not google that, so I may be miles off the mark)

Nerds.

They found fish bones in the middens.

Oh derrrr The oldest shell middens in the world are only like about 140,000 years old. it says so on wikipedia

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Scientists say fish hooks go back 42,000 years
Fish appeared in the human diet about 1.9 million years ago.

But...but... but how do they know that people ate fish 1.9 million years ago if the evidence of fish hooks only dates to 42,000 years ago????

Wild guess: something in bone or teeth chemical composition changed, and this can be analyzed in fossils? (no I did not google that, so I may be miles off the mark)

Nerds.

They found fish bones in the middens.

Oh derrrr The oldest shell middens in the world are only like about 140,000 years old. it says so on wikipedia

Yep, shell middens. But I used midden to include dumps and general piles of refuse. I'm lazy that way.

[Tero]

I filed my science report. See my signature. Also includes my method of reading chemistry articles.

[Tero]

Back in July
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 190044.htm

Minority Rules: Scientists Discover Tipping Point for the Spread of Ideas


ScienceDaily (July 25, 2011) — Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds
an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the
majority of the society. The scientists, who are members of the Social
Cognitive Networks Academic Research Center (SCNARC) at Rensselaer,
used computational and analytical methods to discover the tipping
point where a minority belief becomes the majority opinion. The
finding has implications for the study and influence of societal
interactions ranging from the spread of innovations to the movement of
political ideals.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Zplains religion nicely, don't it?

[Svartalf]

Scientists say fish hooks go back 42,000 years
Fish appeared in the human diet about 1.9 million years ago.

But...but... but how do they know that people ate fish 1.9 million years ago if the evidence of fish hooks only dates to 42,000 years ago????

Wild guess: something in bone or teeth chemical composition changed, and this can be analyzed in fossils? (no I did not google that, so I may be miles off the mark)

Better guess... fish scales and bones in detritus piles of prehistoric habitat.
And before fish hooks, they must have caught them by hand, or net, or done spear fishing.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Scientists say fish hooks go back 42,000 years
Fish appeared in the human diet about 1.9 million years ago.

But...but... but how do they know that people ate fish 1.9 million years ago if the evidence of fish hooks only dates to 42,000 years ago????

Wild guess: something in bone or teeth chemical composition changed, and this can be analyzed in fossils? (no I did not google that, so I may be miles off the mark)

Better guess... fish scales and bones in detritus piles of prehistoric habitat.
And before fish hooks, they must have caught them by hand, or net, or done spear fishing.

Yep, garbage heaps in caves is a good place to look a paleo-diets. As for fishing, we don't know how long cormorants have been kept, but we have found cord dating wayyyyyy back, so nets are a candidate, as is spear fishing. They could have also damned up pools at high tide and waited for the water to drain away. At low tide you collect the fish, and open the pool up again.

[Tero]

The oldest net in Europe was found in a bog in Finland. It was woven from the bark..I think of willows. Young trees.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The oldest net in Europe was found in a bog in Finland. It was woven from the bark..I think of willows. Young trees.

Native Americans used aspen bark to weave baskets.

[Pappa]

The oldest net in Europe was found in a bog in Finland. It was woven from the bark..I think of willows. Young trees.

Lime (Linden) was used for ropes/twines/nets in Europe too. The inner bark has extremely long fibres that, after a short period of retting (rotting) are easy to twist into usable cord. The names Lime and Linden come from the use of the fibres to make "line".

[Tero]

I posted a chemistry and biochemistry concept at Ratskep. It did not go far. Cali did not comment.

I put it in my blog that I almost never use:
http://esatero.blogspot.com/2012/01/homochirality.html