A bed of flowers amidst barren hills...... ( Muscat, Jan 2010)
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
It's official: An asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs
A panel of 41 scientists from across the world reviewed 20 years' worth of research to
try to confirm the cause of the so-called Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) extinction,
which created a "hellish environment" around 65 million years ago and wiped out more
than half of all species on the planet.
Scientific opinion was split over whether the extinction was caused by an asteroid or
by volcanic activity in the Deccan Traps in what is now India, where there were
a series of super volcanic eruptions that lasted around 1.5 million years.
The new study, conducted by scientists from Europe, the United States, Mexico,
Canada and Japan and published in the journal Science, found that a
15-kilometre (9 miles) wide asteroid slamming into Earth at Chicxulub i
n what is now Mexico was the culprit.
"We now have great confidence that an asteroid was the cause of the
KT extinction. This triggered large-scale fires, earthquakes measuring more
than 10 on the Richter scale, and continental landslides,
which created tsunamis," said Joanna Morgan of Imperial College London,
a co-author of the review.
The asteroid is thought to have hit Earth with a force a billion times more powerful
than the atomic bomb at Hiroshima.Morgan said the
"final nail in the coffin for the dinosaurs" came when blasted material flew
into the atmosphere, shrouding the planet in darkness, causing a global
winter and "killing off many species that couldn't adapt to this hellish environment."
Scientists working on the study analysed the work of palaeontologists,
geochemists, climate modellers, geophysicists and sedimentologists
who have been collecting evidence about the KT extinction over the last 20 years.
Geological records show the event that triggered the dinosaurs'
demise rapidly destroyed marine and land ecosystems,
they said, and the asteroid hit "is the only plausible explanation for this".
Peter Schulte of the University of Erlangen in Germany,
a lead author on the study, said fossil records clearly
show a mass extinction about 65.5 million years ago --
a time now known as the K-Pg boundary.
Despite evidence of active volcanism in India, marine and land ecosystems only
showed minor changes in the 500,000 years before the K-Pg boundary,
suggesting the extinction did not come earlier and was not prompted by eruptions.
The Deccan volcano theory is also thrown into doubt by models of
atmospheric chemistry, the team said, which show the asteroid impact
would have released much larger amounts of sulphur, dust and soot in a
much shorter time than the volcanic eruptions could have, causing extreme darkening and cooling.
Gareth Collins, another co-author from Imperial College, said the asteroid impact
created a "hellish day" that signalled the end of the 160-million-year reign
of the dinosaurs, but also turned out to be a great day for mammals.
"The KT extinction was a pivotal moment in Earth's history, which
ultimately paved the way for humans to become the dominant
species on Earth," he wrote in a commentary on the study.
Qurm Beach, Muscat.....
Qurm Beach at Muscat on a cloudy evening.....
The picture quality is not so good as I used my Blackberry phone camera
RSK
Friday, March 5, 2010
MyReview: Karthik Calling Karthik
A sincerely made film on a topic rather new to Hindi films ( schizophrenia) ......
Farhan initially made waves as a gifted film director when he directed Dil Chahta Hai, Lakshya ( Don was a sad exception) but I also played a sensitive lead role in ROCK ON...he carries on that good work in this film too ...... the setting, the dialogues are urban and keeping in with current times...Dipika carries on from where she left in Luv Aaj Kal as a modern Indian woman capable of looking after herself and carries herself with great ease....The music blends with the style of the film......
If for nothing else, it needs to be watched for the sincereity of the effort and the self-belief in the quality of the offering...... makers of MNIK could learn a few things from Farhan...
Farhan is not exactly young to be a conventional film hero but then he has brains to select appropriate roles.....his voice is a big let down though...it seems good talent comes packaged with below-average voice quality...remember Sachin T ??!!
RSK
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Neck Exercise
.......for all Computer Addicts
A doctor advises his patients to exercise their neck by just reading this message.
In the end, all patients go home happily without asking the doctor for any medications. 'It is very effective,' said the doctor.
'All my patients never come back to me again............
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