This week, Nature has an article on the reconstruction of global tectonics during the past 200 million years.
a–c, Maps are separated by 10 Myr. The shapes of the large plates do not change much, whereas the adjustment of the small plates evolves quickly. d, 90 Myr after the first snapshot (a), the distribution of the large plates and smaller plates has evolved substantially. In a–d, the top panels show the viscosity of the mantle (colour scale); the bottom panels show the different boundary types (coloured lines) and plate sizes (shading) within the boxed regions in the top panels (which focus on longitudes between −30° and 90° and latitudes between −30° and 30°). The arrows indicate the direction and magnitude (represented by arrow length) of the mantle flow.
In Science, we can read about a thorough analysis of a site where a mastodon was butchered by North American hunter-gatherers 14,550 years ago.
(A) Location of Page-Ladson in northwestern Florida. (B) Map of the Page-Ladson underwater excavations, showing the entire sinkhole and previous excavation areas, as well as excavation areas and sediment cores reported in this paper. Core 4A is marked with a blue star. Other cores are marked with blue circles. Previous excavations are marked with yellow. Our excavations are marked with red. Contours are in meters below datum. (C) Detailed map displaying the location of bones (gray), drawn to scale, and artifacts (black) recovered from geological Units 3a to 3c and 4a to 4b
And of course, the big news, scientists have put a probe in orbit around Jupiter.
Meanwhile, in Kentucky…
The creationists have built a big fake boat which they think will prove that the Earth is only 6000 years old. It opens to the public today.
Ham said the massive ark, based on the tale of a man who got an end-of-the-world warning from God about a massive flood, will stand as proof that the stories of the Bible are true. The group invited media and thousands of supporters for a preview Tuesday, the first glimpse inside the giant, mostly wood structure.
To the kinds of gullible people who donated to this boondoggle, it will probably be effective.
Clint Bishard of Tulsa, Okla. stood outside the ark Tuesday to see where the money he donated went. He wasn’t disappointed.
It’s about telling the true history,Bishard said.There was a supernatural creation. There was a global flood. That’s very different from what you hear in the public school system.
That’s right. It is very different from what science and a good education will tell you.
And that’s because Ken Ham is a a liar.
We have these scientists to show people that we do real observational science in the present,Ham told the Star on a recent tour of the Ark.We can show you that the science of genetics confirms the Bible’s account of kinds, not an evolutionary process. We can show from the fossil record that it confirms catastrophism consistent with the flood of Noah’s day, not slow processes over millions of years.
No, modern genetics and geology refute the claims of the creationists, and building a big theme park with fake exhibits no more proves the Bible than that Disneyland proves the existence of giant talking mice.
I am embarrassed for these benighted people. They, of course, have no shame.
I note that the corporate media are treating this in a fair and balanced way.
You mean to tell me that Steamboat Willie is not a documentary? Next thing you will say is that Mighty Mouse isn’t here to save the day!
I saw (perhaps on the Beeb site) that someone was calling it a ‘reproduction’ of the Ark. Surely there cannot be a reproduction of something that was never produced in the first place???
Sure you can. Here, for instance, you can buy a replica or reproduction of Heron’s Flight, the sword that Tam al’Thor gave to his son Rand in The Eye of the World. Which is uncontroversially a work of fiction, but the real pseudo-weapon (created intentionally to match the description given in the book, although I’m sure without the use of saidar) is universally described that way, despite the fact that what it replicates or reproduces never existed outside of imagination.
I saw a news story yesterday with an interior picture of the “ark”. My thoughts flashed back to the time I toured the USS Constitution, a fairly large wooden ship and contrasted the large amounts of open space and high ceiling in the “ark” picture with the low overhead space on the Constitution.
Of course, you can’t see the “gopher steel” and “gopher concrete” that hold up the “ark”. I think a local flood would be beneficial so Ham can explain why it won’t actually float….
The only thing Ham’s ark is ever going to float on is a sea of charitable contributions and state tax breaks — and even that’s looking unlikely.
… and a b liar, and a c liar, and a d liar…
You may have heard that 59 months earlier, and 1.9 billion miles away, some scientists in Florida, using a lot of Newton and a little Einstein, predicted when Juno would enter Jupiter’s orbit. Their estimate was wrong. Stupid fallible scientists. They missed it by approximately 9/10ths of a second.
Man, that just kills me. Science has THAT level of predictive power, and yet Libertarians will claim that they can’t read thermometers and yardstciks when it comes to temperature and sea levels, while Christofascists will claim that it’s all one big Semitic/Satanic/Humanist lie. Until, ya know, they need to hop a flight to Chicago or get an MRI or drive over a bridge or use their GPS. Suddenly science works. Most of them probably learned that voodoo shit in public schools, too. Equations and stuff. Lord, what they teach chillum these days.
It’s telling that, while real scientists are busy doing experiments and studies, creationists spend their time and money on cheesy amusement parks. Secular scientists are the ones that actually sequence genomes, study geological structures, discover new extinct species, and find ancient artifacts. Creationists just cherry pick the parts of secular science they can twist to support their delusions.
@anbheal, 0.9 seconds off still is kind of a big deal when dealing with interplanetary distances. Wanna bet that NASA is working on that, this very moment? :)
Still, that’s better than I could manage. But then, to count to twenty, I need to remove my shoes.
I eagerly await data from the probe!
To put things in perspective, Kerbal Space Program, which simulates about a 1/10th scale solar system, cannot even hit that level of accuracy in simulation. What I mean by that is the game itself isn’t sure where the Jupiter stand in will be in 5 years time. But NASA got it right on a much bigger scale.
@wzrd1 #10 – actually, that margin of error describes how far off the main engine burn was during its expected nominal 35-minute (2100 seconds) firing whilst the spacecraft was careening at 130,000 mph relative to Jupiter through an extremely hazardous radiation zone of some 20 million rads that can knock the heck out of electronics, software and hardware, slowing its velocity by 1212 mph allowing itself to be captured into orbit around Jupiter…which is, in fact, pretty damned impressive.
@anchor #12, damned impressive indeed. Jovian radiation isn’t anything to play around with!
I don’t think that we can make electronics that would withstand the Io flux currents.
Looking at a few pictures of the “ark” on the web, it appears that the “keel” is hollow and framed out with stringers and plywood. I also like how it’s supported on cinderblocks. Is that subtle classism or just practical cheap-as-crap construction, I wonder?
And, I know I’m far from the first to point this out, but: tyvek wrap?! Just like in biblical days!!
The 20,000,000 rads figure is apparently for the whole year that the probe will be in orbit around Jupiter. Not that a human would survive for long in those conditions, mind.
@wzrd#13: Well, in fantasy principle we probably could make ‘electronics’ composed of individual ‘transistor switch’ components the size of kitchen sinks interconnected by ‘circuitry’ the gauge of high-tension cables, all shielded by a titanium box with walls a meter or two thick that might withstand it for a worthwhile time, but it would be the size of an office building and might be capable of only a few k of calculations/second…
Data and images might take years to downlink…an equally challenging problem is how to design sensors or a camera or imaging device that have to be exposed: Its hard to imagine how to fabricate a lens that won’t degrade or etch under that flux. Even diamond would degrade. Some sort of ‘pinhole-cam’ is the only thing that might work – the light-throw to a hardened ccd array some hundred meters focal length might work (given the immense size of the machine)…at least for one or two scans.
And that’s not even considering how to handle the power demand – a nuclear reactor that serves the demand of a small city, which would also need to be similarly hardened.
I’d hate to see the rocket necessary to toss a monster like that at Jupiter…it would probably incinerate half of Florida. 8/
@JohnnieCanuck #15 – Ah, yes, true: over its 18-month operation Juno will be exposed to that estimated total; so with 36 orbits planned, each perijove will subject the spacecraft to a bit over a half million rads, but that could vary substantially, say, anywhere between 100,000 to a few million rads, depending on what the Sun throws Jupiter’s way in the form of coronal mass ejections. Fortunately, the Sun is just now entering its solar minimum phase, so that’s fortunate timing.
Obviously Ken Ham is a gopher and this thing is his woodie.
I read once that the best model for a prehistoric ark would be a reed island. Lots and lots of little gopher’s woodies all tied together in big bundles, with reed houses and animal pens on top.
Looking at the images of the construction site I wonder what the biblical evidence there is for cherry pickers, heavy cranes, concrete foundations and tyvek. I am also quite puzzled about where Noah obtained his power ripsaws, chainsaws, power augers and glues.
Because this is supposed to be a reproduction I wonder where Mr Ham is obtaining his moss or oakum for caulking and how long he is allowing for the pitch to dry sufficiently
I seem to recall Ham railing against scientists making similar claims about their capabilities to make determinations about the past, especially when humans weren’t around to record events as they occurred, from their place in the present. I’m sure there’s some nuance I’m missing because that would mean Ham is a hypocritical ass-stain otherwise.