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Cool Science/Archaeology etc News and Discussion thread

cobainwasmurdered

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I'd intended to make a thread along these lines for awhile but well, I'm lazy! There's probably a cool science article on procrastination. Anyway here's a thread for us to talk about the latest (or our favourite older!) discoveries. If you want to throw down about history or science in general we can do that too.

A couple articles that caught my eye lately:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/09/what-61000-hidden-structures-reveal-about-maya-civilization/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

Earlier this year, a team of archaeologists announced the discovery of more than 61,000 long-lost Maya roads, fortresses, drainage canals, and buildings hidden beneath the dense green canopy of northern Guatemala’s tropical forest. The findings were the result of an airborne laser, or lidar, survey of 2,144 square kilometers of the Maya Biosphere Reserve.

Being able to use lidar like this is a big game-changer and they've already made some preliminary estimates based off what they've found (obviously still somewhat controversial)

Garrison, with archaeologists Marcello Canuto and Francisco Estrada-Belli of Tulane University and colleagues, used the lidar survey data to estimate that a Mayan population of between 7 million and 11 million people lived in the central Maya Lowlands (parts of the Yucatan, Guatemala, and Belize) in the bustling Late Classic Period between 650 and 800 CE

They also found evidence of fortification and things that imply the Maya were more warlike than many thought they were. Obviously they'll have to do a lot more research to confirm the findings but this gives a huge new tool to the field.

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/10/voyager-2-spacecraft-approaches-interstellar-space

When it comes to space exploration, no one has the Voyager missions beat. On October 5, NASA reported that their Voyager 2 spacecraft is nearing our heliosphere’s outer borders, and could soon enter interstellar space. Data shows that the probe is detecting more and more cosmic rays from outer space — indicating a slow escape from the sun’s stellar bubble. If all goes as planned, the craft will follow in the footsteps of Voyager 1 and become the second human-made object to ever visit the interstellar medium.

I love space stuff like this. The fact we now have a second Voyager that's entered interstellar space is so amazing to me.
 

SFH

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The Voyager stuff keeps me up at night when my mind starts wandering to "What ifs" on it being discovered by an alien race. Things that have been covered in fiction, sure, but it still causes me insomnia.
 

cobainwasmurdered

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Have you ever wondered what the worst year was to be alive on the planet? Well scientists found out! the year 536 AD.
https://news.sky.com/story/researchers-identify-worst-year-to-be-alive-on-earth-11559911

The Earth was plunged into darkness for 18 months when a thick cloud blocked the sun - causing temperatures to drop, crops to fail and people to starve.

Temperatures that summer plunged to between 1.5C and 2.5C (36.5F). The decade that followed would be the coldest in the previous 2,300 years.

Yeah I'll take 2018.



https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/11/19/oldest-customer-complaint/

According to Quartz, about four thousand years ago, Nanni, possibly a businessman or artisan, wrote a note to a merchant, Ea-nasir, complaining that the copper ingots he had purchased were of inferior quality and that Ea-nasir had treated him badly by not refunding his money.

I love that some of the oldest surviving writing in any form we have is just the most mundane human interactions, it shows that people were always people whether it's 2018 BCE or CE.
 

cobainwasmurdered

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https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/woolly-mammoth?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1

A team of Japanese and Russian scientists has successfully "reawakened" cells from a 28,000-year-old woolly mammoth, according to a study published Monday in Scientific Reports.

We've just taken a major step closer to Jurassic Park
 

SFH

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cobainwasmurdered said:
https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/woolly-mammoth?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1

A team of Japanese and Russian scientists has successfully "reawakened" cells from a 28,000-year-old woolly mammoth, according to a study published Monday in Scientific Reports.

We've just taken a major step closer to Jurassic Park
Giggity


Hopefully they spare no expense.
 

Laz

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I, for one, welcome our mammoth overlords, and spit on the legacies of those cavemen who stabbed its friends.
 

BruiserBrody

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[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6

terminator-terminator2.gif
 

Laz

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Now THIS is part of the cyberpunk future I was promised
 

SFH

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I got clickbaited on an article about new Roanoke discoveries. It was from 2020.
 

cobainwasmurdered

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all of the top comments saying that its reverse-engineered alien tech tell me everything I need to know about the state of twitter.
 
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