It's incredible to me that fossils can be linked to the specific day or so of the impact.
An asteroid killed dinosaurs in spring, which might explain why mammals survived
21–30 of 87 posts
Re: An asteroid killed dinosaurs in spring, which might explain why mammals survived
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would love to see a scientific paper on the bouyant dinosaur theory.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/26553081_Atmospheri...
I'm not great at evaluating the quality of Journals (Chemical Industry and Chemical Engineering Quarterly is at least peer reviewed), but that article has been cited 0 times, and its abstract reads like a YouTube video trying to convince me Bush did 9/11.
> how can a giant dinosaur such as an apatosaur pump blood up to its brain (more than 13 m above its heart) when animal energetics and physics say that in no way can it do it. Do we have to change the laws of physics and biology? I don’t think so.
The "Science says it's impossible! Either we have to change the laws of science, or must be true!" is just really characteristic of that style.
Re: An asteroid killed dinosaurs in spring, which might explain why mammals survived
#23Springtime for T-Rex and dinosaurs
I think it would be
Springtime for mammals and marsupials Winter for dinos and fish Springtime for mammals and marsupials Come on humans, you've got your wish
Re: An asteroid killed dinosaurs in spring, which might explain why mammals survived
#24Another wildly speculative claim that they will contradict in a few months. Headlines like this are effectively worthless clickbait.
That's standard pop-sci title inflation. The article is about how evidence from analyzing fish buried in debris tsunamis indicates that the impact happened in Spring (in the Northern Hemisphere). That is a genuine contribution to understanding what happened. You're right that the hibernation thing is pretty speculative -- but it's also a falsifiable hypothesis that other evidence could shed light on later, so it's not like we shouldn't talk about it.
Re: An asteroid killed dinosaurs in spring, which might explain why mammals survived
#25Re: An asteroid killed dinosaurs in spring, which might explain why mammals survived
#26It's pretty wild that all of humanity only exist because of that completely random spring surprise!
> Some 66 million years ago, a catastrophic event wiped out three-quarters of all plant and animal species on Earth, most notably taking down the dinosaurs. The puzzle of why so many species perished while others survived has long intrigued scientists.
More importantly, it means that even if we annihilate our specie because of our stupidity, life has great chances going on and in millions of years perhaps, the earth might be governed by another intelligent specie.
https://www.sciencefocus.com/planet-earth/when-will-earth-be...
> Simple computer models initially suggested this disaster could render our planet inhospitable in as little as 150 million years from now. But late last year the journal Nature published a much more sophisticated simulation by a team from the Laboratory for Dynamic Meteorology in Paris, and this suggests we have got at least a billion years before this apocalypse.
Re: An asteroid killed dinosaurs in spring, which might explain why mammals survived
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would love to see a scientific paper on the bouyant dinosaur theory.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/26553081_Atmospheri...
Just skimming for what I was interested in, I don't see anything to suggest that a thicker atmosphere would provide support for a large land animal.
That would require structures in the animal kept at below ambient pressure. e.g. heated air sacs
Re: An asteroid killed dinosaurs in spring, which might explain why mammals survived
#28It's pretty wild that all of humanity only exist because of that completely random spring surprise!
> Some 66 million years ago, a catastrophic event wiped out three-quarters of all plant and animal species on Earth, most notably taking down the dinosaurs. The puzzle of why so many species perished while others survived has long intrigued scientists. More importantly, it means that even if we annihilate our specie because of our stupidity, life has great chances going on and in millions of years perhaps, the earth…
If we wipe ourselves out within 100,000 years, I'm not sure "intelligence" is a particularly advantageous trait, evolutionarily-speaking.
Re: An asteroid killed dinosaurs in spring, which might explain why mammals survived
#29One thing that isn't talked about as much as it should be, there's a possibility that 65 million years ago during the time of the dinosaurs, the earth's atmosphere was very thick. All these Dinosaurs with their extremely long necks and bodies couldn't support their own weight if wandering around the earth today. The mass extinction event may have occurred simply because the atmosphere changed and these giant beasts u…
The cretaceous atmosphere had a higher oxygen concentration (roughly 50% more oxygen than today). It was denser, but the idea that it provided structural support for large animals is ridiculous. Part of the reason animals could be larger then (from "giant" insects to genuinely-giant dinosaurs) is that the extra oxygen meant smaller lungs (or better absorption for non-lung-havers) required to support higher energy use. It isn't because the atmosphere literally stopped them from falling down. It's still a gas, and gravity hasn't changed.
Re: An asteroid killed dinosaurs in spring, which might explain why mammals survived
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Some 66 million years ago, a catastrophic event wiped out three-quarters of all plant and animal species on Earth, most notably taking down the dinosaurs. The puzzle of why so many species perished while others survived has long intrigued scientists. More importantly, it means that even if we annihilate our specie because of our stupidity, life has great chances going on and in millions of years perhaps, the earth…
If we wipe ourselves out within 100,000 years, I'm not sure "intelligence" is a particularly advantageous trait, evolutionarily-speaking.
That's an interesting thought, when you think about long term survival of a species, how much does all this technology help?
If you think about humans surviving the same asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs, I think we would have a good chance, some people would stay in underground bunkers and eventually repopulate the Earth, but the majority of the population would probably die, and a lot of technological progress would be lost.