Harmonices Mundi - The Science Megathread

[Hastings]

Well it has come to my attention via the suggestions forum that some others, including myself would like to see a science forum, if we can't have that, why not make a massive megathread full of science goodness? Post science news here!

To start it off, some rather dispiriting news from NASA discrediting the rumours that had been flying around about Curiosity's discovery:
http://news.discovery.com/space/nasa...mkcpgn=rssnws1

And some slightly brighter news, the oldest, most distant object seen by humans in the universe.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hu...ce-record.html

And a cool video from SciShow commenting on it:


Gravitational Lens, what an amazing concept.

So anyways, some groundrules for this thread, No discussion of religion, please try and have credible sources before posting news/information, don't be an ass to people, and try and keep the discussion relevant.

Let the intellectual discussion commence! (And remember, keep it civil)

---------- Post added 2012-11-29 at 07:58 PM ----------

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/sc...s-suggest.html

Mercury has ice on it, albeit at the poles, but still amazing nevertheless.

---------- Post added 2012-11-29 at 09:03 PM ----------

Well, I suppose what the mods said in the suggestions forum was even more true than I thought, people just aren't interested in it...

[Frostys99]

I second the idea of a Science forum, the only reason I come here anymore is to check on the science threads from time to time.

[Forfax]

i'm all in for a science forums

you have my signature.

[vizzle]

People always say they want a science forum but the science threads always die...

[jotabe]

It certainly is disappointing... they shouldn't fling around the words "for the history books" that lightly. Very little things, when it comes to science, actually go into the history books, and only the evidence that Mars harbored life at some point (or still does) would go into the books.

---------- Post added 2012-11-30 at 06:37 AM ----------

People always say they want a science forum but the science threads always die...

Because science has much less room for debate than politics or history or daily news. A stance is either supported by evidence or it is not. Debates are mostly about when several interpretations are valid or when it comes to science-related policy.

[vizzle]

Because science has much less room for debate than politics or history or daily news. A stance is either supported by evidence or it is not. Debates are mostly about when several interpretations are valid or when it comes to science-related policy.

Which gives it even less reason to have its own forum. It would pretty much just turn out like a cherry picked version livescience.com's front page, and the threads would be comment sections like "wow that's cool" etc.

[Anakso]

I'd love a science discussion thread (I think an actual sub forum would be too dead)
The problem is, most people only really like talking about science when a new discovery is made, like the recent NASA on mars mysterious discovery.

The ice on mercury is a pretty interesting find though. I wonder if this means there are spots on Mercury where life could exist. By the sound of the article, NASA thinks so with the line "The ice could be an intriguing science target for a future robotic lander or even a resource for astronauts in the far future. "

[Whitey]

As much as I personally love science and new discoveries, I just don't see a subsection of it to be popular enough to justify.

[Sunshine]

If you want a science forum, prove that there's enough interest in science discussion by discussing science!

We don't really need a megathread; just make a thread on whatever topic interests you, like those in the OP. It's difficult to discuss things like this properly given a megathread.