N.M. cavers chart unique 'snowy' river of crystals

July 24, 2008 By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN , Associated Press Writer
N.M. cavers chart unique 'snowy' river of crystals (AP)

Caver John McLean talks about the many questions scientists have about the Snowy River formation while on an expedition in Fort Stanton Cave, N.M., on July 3, 2008. New Mexico's two U.S. senators have proposed legislation to designate the cave and Snowy River as a national conservation area. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)

(AP) -- Hundreds of feet beneath Earth's surface, a few seasoned cave explorers venture where no human has set foot. Their headlamps illuminate mud-covered walls, gypsum crystals and mineral deposits. The real attraction, though, is under their shoes.



Content from The Associated Press expires 15 days after original publication date. For more information about The Associated Press, please visit www.ap.org .

4.7 /5 (22 votes)  

Filter


Move the slider to adjust rank threshold, so that you can hide some of the comments.


Display comments: newest first

DoctorKnowledge
Jul 24, 2008

Rank: 1 / 5 (7)
"Unknown to science". Gimme a break. "Scientists" as such don't own knowledge, they aren't the only people who make discoveries. The microbes were just "unknown". (And hey, "unknown to the most select groups of published, acknowledged, famous, up-and-coming,world-class scientists, at that.) I.e., "unknown".
thales
Jul 24, 2008

Rank: 4.4 / 5 (7)
Here's your break, Doctor: they can't claim it's unknown to you without assuming what you know. Maybe you did already know about these microbes. Thus, "unknown to science" is LESS arrogant than "unknown to anyone".
jeffsaunders
Jul 25, 2008

Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
perhaps unclassified would have been more grammatically correct.

As there have been plenty of discoveries "unknown to science" of animal species that were commonly hunted and eaten by indigenous peoples.

To claim that none of these peoples was a scientist is pretty damn arrogant.
DoctorKnowledge
Jul 30, 2008

Rank: not rated yet
Note that thales just misrepresented -- in the best scientific tradition -- misquoting me. I didn't write "unknown to anyone", I specifically said the phrase "unknown to science" was not appropriate, because it implies that only scientists can know things.

jeffsaunders got the point, and added his perspective.

On the other hand, thales' unlogical comment, which makes no point, except to abstractly criticize, appealed to Trippy, mikiwud, Corvidae, MrFred, RAL, Mercury_01, and yyz. Obviously deep thinkers, all.
Rank 4.7 /5 (22 votes)
Tags

Relevant PhysicsForums posts
  • Discrepancy between oxygen and carbon-dioxide levels
    created10 hours ago
  • where gems are found in the world
    created14 hours ago
  • Wind Waves in Reservoir ~ Wind run-up and Wind set-up
    createdFeb 08, 2012
  • Balance of oxygen in the atmosphere
    createdFeb 01, 2012
  • The case for a methanol-based economy
    createdJan 30, 2012
  • Weather in a rotating cylinder
    createdJan 25, 2012
  • More from Physics Forums - Earth

More news stories

Mars Science Laboratory computer issue resolved

(PhysOrg.com) -- Engineers have found the root cause of a computer reset that occurred two months ago on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory and have determined how to correct it.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created 43 minutes ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Clam fields found at deep, low-temperature Mariana vents

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have marveled at the unusual life forms thriving at high temperature hydrothermal vents of the deep ocean.

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created 18 minutes ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Streams need trees to withstand climate change

(PhysOrg.com) -- More than twenty years of biological monitoring have confirmed the importance of vegetation for protecting Australia's freshwater streams and rivers against the ravages of drought and climate ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created 27 minutes ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

The turbulent birth of super star clusters in galaxy mergers

By combining two of the most advanced telescopes in the world -- the new Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) and the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of ESO -- a team of French astronomers from the Institut d'astrophysique ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created 9 minutes ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Putin receives 'prehistoric' water from Antarctic lake

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was given a water sample Friday taken from a pristine lake hidden under Antarctic ice for over a million years, after Russian scientists drilled down to its surface.

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created 49 minutes ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0


A frank discussion of the power law and linking correlation to causation

(PhysOrg.com) -- Michael Stumpf a mathematics professor at Imperial College in London, and Mason Porter a lecturer at Oxford have teamed together to write and publish a perspective piece in Science regarding the in ...

Advanced power-grid model finds low-cost, low-carbon future in West

(PhysOrg.com) -- The least expensive way for the Western U.S. to reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to help prevent the worst consequences of global warming is to replace coal with renewable and other ...

Small modular reactor design could be a 'SUPERSTAR'

(PhysOrg.com) -- Though most of today's nuclear reactors are cooled by water, we've long known that there are alternatives; in fact, the world's first nuclear-powered electricity in 1951 came from a reactor ...

Seeing colors in music, tasting flavors in shapes may happen in life's early months

Famed violinist Itzhak Perlman sees a deep forest green whenever he plays a B-flat on his Stradivarius' G string. The A on the E string is red.

The question of life in the ancient world

There’s a general feeling that we don’t get the Greeks – ancient or modern. Many, including heads of state like Angela Merkel, visibly shake their head in exasperation, rightly or wrongly, at ...

Study suggests girls can 'rewire' brains to ward off depression

(Medical Xpress) -- What if you could teach your brain to respond differently to things that make you feel sad, down or stressed out? What if doing that helped ward off depression?