Science & Technology

Busting the megalodon myth: Did a 3m shark get eaten by an even bigger shark?

Kirsten Lea
CsiroNewsblog.com
Wed, 11 Jun 2014 14:16 UTC

Sometimes the internet goes a little crazy with quirky, fantastical, scary stories. Take for example the recent hoax, 'huge sting ray attacks man', which turned out to be a great video of a man diving around the shadow of a kite.

So, what can we make of the mysterious discovery of a CSIRO shark tag washed up on a beach that had some fairly typical data recorded on it? Some are incorrectly interpreting the data and speculating that this is evidence of the existence of a megalodon, an ancient extinct species of shark that lived millions of year ago. The megalodon was huge, around 15-24 metres in length... eek. White sharks grow up to 6 m in length.

People want to know the truth about the shark-eating-shark, so here it is.

In late 2003 we tagged a white shark approximately 3m in length off south-west Western Australia with a tag that collects data on swim depth, water temperature and light levels. The tag records data at regular intervals against a date/time stamp. The tag was programmed to release from the shark on a pre-programmed date, float to the surface and transmit the data collected back to us via satellite. These 'archival' tags are commercially produced and are in common use by researchers around the world.

New bitcoin app provides financial incentive for future leakers

Jim Urquhart
Reuters
Fri, 13 Jun 2014 14:02 UTC

A pair of software developers has unveiled a piece of open source technology that aims to make it possible for anyone hoping to leak secret information to be paid in bitcoin, a model that could make for-profit classified disclosures a thing of the future.

Amir Taaki and Peter Todd told Wired magazine they are still at work on the program known as PayPub, but hope that the prototype creates the notion that information will become even more decentralized. Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, and other whistleblowers have traditionally been motivated by their ideals, although PayPub creates the possibility that money will be a major incentive for future leakers.

Comment: While interesting, this app may not be very useful in the "times" to come. The chances of having the technological infrastructure to support humanitarian innovations such as this seem slim to none.

Dogs like to earn treats by solving problems, rather than receiving handouts

Jonathan O'Callaghan
Daily Mail, UK
Thu, 12 Jun 2014 14:51 UTC

Researchers in Sweden have found that dogs are happier when they solve problems to get a treat rather than just being given a reward, much like how humans have a 'eureka moment'. Pictured here is a stock image of a three year-old beagle being given a reward after making a find of illegally imported food

* Researchers in Sweden say dogs like to solve problems just like humans

* They found the pets were visibly happier when they had a 'eureka moment'

* In experiments 12 beagle dogs were trained to use pieces of equipment

* Half had to use the equipment to get a reward while the other half didn't

* And the scientists found those that had to earn their reward were happier

In humans the 'eureka moment' is a commonly known feeling that occurs when we solve a particularly troubling problem.

But new research suggests that we're not the only animals to experience this - dogs, too, gain pleasure from solving a tricky task.

In a series of experiments, scientists found dogs were happier when they earned a reward by performing a task, rather than just being handed a treat.

Russia's Popigai meteor crash linked to mass extinction

Becky Oskin
Live Science
Fri, 13 Jun 2014 06:35 UTC

© Mopic/Shutterstock
A space rock that slammed into Earth some 33.7 million years ago not only took a gouge out of the planet but also may be linked to the Eocene mass extinction, scientists say.

Sacramento, California - New evidence implicates one of Earth's biggest impact craters in a mass extinction that occurred 33.7 million years ago, according to research presented here Wednesday (June 11) at the annual Goldschmidt geochemistry conference.

Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles precisely dated rocks from beneath the Popigai impact crater in remote Siberia to the Eocene epoch mass extinction that occurred 33.7 million years ago. Popigai crater is one of the 10 biggest impact craters on Earth, and in 2012, Russian scientists claimed the crater harbors a gigantic industrial diamond deposit.

The new age, which is later than other estimates, means the Eocene extinction - long blamed on climate change - now has another prime suspect: an "impact winter." Meteorite blasts can trigger a deadly global chill by blanketing the Earth's atmosphere with tiny particles that reflect the sun's heat.

"I don't think this will be the smoking gun, but it reopens the door to Popigai being involved in the mass extinction," said lead study author Matt Wielicki, a UCLA graduate student.

This isn't the first time flying space rocks have been implicated in the Eocene's mass die-offs. Other possible culprits besides Popigai crater include three smaller Earth-meteorite smashups between 35 million and 36 million years ago: Chesapeake Bay crater offshore Virginia, Toms Canyon crater offshore New Jersey and Mistastin crater in Labrador, Canada.

Earth's largest water reservoir is found trapped in rock 400 miles under the surface

Mark Prigg
Daily Mail, UK
Thu, 12 Jun 2014 14:31 UTC

The presence of liquid water on the surface is what makes our 'blue planet' habitable, and scientists have long been trying to figure out just how much water may be cycling between Earth's surface and interior reservoirs through plate tectonics. They now believe reservoirs 400 miles under the surface hold the key.

* Ingredients for water are bound up in rock deep in the Earth's mantle

* Scientists claim the find may represent the planet's largest water reservoir

* It is believed to cover most of the U.S - 400 miles below the surface

* Researchers will now carry out further tests to discover if the water wraps around the entire planet

The Earth's largest expanse of water isn't on the surface of the planet, but instead is buried deep within its mantle, researchers have found.

They claim the ingredients for water are bound up in deep rocks, and scientists believe the discovery may represent the planet's largest water reservoir.

Deep pockets of magma were found using seismic waves beneath North America, and this magma is said to be a clear sign of water.

Were dinosaurs hot or cold blooded? Scientists say somewhere in between

Mark Prigg
Daily Mail, UK
Thu, 12 Jun 2014 14:13 UTC

Researchers say dinosaurs had growth and metabolic rates that were actually not characteristic of warm-blooded or even cold-blooded organisms, but somewhere inbetween - and this helped them grow large.

* Researchers say finding explains how T-Rex got so big

* Scientists evaluated the metabolism of dinosaurs using a formula based on their body mass

The hot question of whether dinosaurs were warm-blooded like birds and mammals or cold blooded like reptiles, fish and amphibians finally has a good answer.

Dinosaurs, for eons Earth's dominant land animals until being wiped out by an asteroid 65 million years ago, were in fact somewhere in between.

Scientists evaluated the metabolism of numerous dinosaurs using a formula based on their body mass as revealed by the bulk of their thigh bones and their growth rates as shown by growth rings in fossil bones akin to those in trees.

Google's new Skynet satellites

Marcus Wohlsen
Wired
Wed, 11 Jun 2014 11:30 UTC

The reach of Google's online empire is hard to overstate. In a sense, the Google search engine is the loom through which the entirety of the public internet is woven. With tools like Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs, the company also handles many of our private online tasks. Using the data generated by these services to target online ads, Google has built a business that generates tens of billions of dollars a year.

Now, with the $500 million purchase of Skybox, a startup that shoots high-res photos and video with low-cost satellites, Google can extend its reach far across the offline world. Thanks to its knack for transforming mass quantities of unstructured data into revenue-generating insights, the unprecedented stream of aerial imagery to which the company is gaining access could spark a whole new category of high-altitude insights into the workings of economies, nations, and nature itself.

But this acquisition will also demand assurances from Google that it will incorporate privacy safeguards into its vast new view of the world. Already Google gets a lot of flack for tracking user behavior online. With Skybox's satellites, Google may gain a window into your everyday life even if you don't use Google at all.

How superstitious are you? June full moon rises on Friday the 13th, just before summer solstice

Stephanie Pappas
Live Science
Thu, 12 Jun 2014 11:56 UTC

© NASA/Bill Ingalls
The June full moon, called the Strawberry Moon, occurs on Friday the 13th. Here a full moon climbs its way to the top of the Washington Monument, Sunday, June 23, 2013.

This month, the full moon falls on Friday the 13th.

Freaky? Nah, probably not.

Despite many myths, the full moon does not actually embolden criminals, bring about births or make people mad, studies show. And while Friday the 13th superstitions may be well entrenched, there's nothing particularly special about a full moon falling on this date.

This Friday's full moon will be the lowest in the sky this year, however, since it will occur so close to the summer solstice. You can watch this freaky full moon rising in a live webcast on Live Science, beginning at 9:30 p.m. EDT tonight (June 12).

Big Bang blunder bursts the multiverse bubble

Paul Steinhardt
www.nature.com
Tue, 03 Jun 2014 00:00 UTC

Premature hype over gravitational waves highlights gaping holes in models for the origins and evolution of the Universe, argues Paul Steinhardt.

Comment: Paul Steinhardt is professor of physics at Princeton University.

Whodunnit? Lie detector exposes sabotage of Proton-M booster

RT
Tue, 10 Jun 2014 19:25 UTC

Intentional damage to a Proton rocket booster was reportedly established by a polygraph and a criminal case has been initiated, Izvestia daily quotes the Ministry of Interior. Previously sabotage was considered an unlikely option.

An investigation into the Proton-M rocket crash in April 2013 conducted by the Federal Security Service (FSB) has resulted in establishing general proof that foreign matter could have been deliberately placed into crucial components of the booster in order to provoke malfunction - at the factory where the boosters are assembled.

As Izvestia found out, the Ministry of Interior launched a criminal case of "Intentional destruction or waste of property which caused human death through negligence or other grave consequences."

It has now been leaked that the cause for a special investigation occurred back in April 2013, when X-raying at an incoming control checkpoint detected several unused aluminum tube seals inside the air duct supply of the second stage engine RD-0210. If the fault had not been noticed, it would have resulted in yet another crash of the booster.

Emergency malfunction repairs cost about $6,000, and the $83 million launch of a booster (excluding the vehicle it was launching) was saved.

Comment: Worker discontent? Or political sabotage? See also: