1. What’s the maximum amount of radioactive material could I get for a “big-science” experiment on non-equilibrium chemical synthesis using radiation? It that’s not enough, could I substitute accelerated electrons from a cathode?

2. Would the centre of Lake Eyre be a good place to dig for recent skeletons and fossils? How deep is the deepest salt layer?

3. Has anyone ever put a plant in a brain scanner (eg. fMRI or PET)? It’s not such a daft idea, choose a plant such as the Venus flytrap. fMRI measures the speed of blood/sap which would increase when neural activity is present. For PET, use sugar injected into a vascular channel and observe the locations of greatest sugar usage (energy need).

4. Whereas the oldest kangaroo fossil (the size of a large rat) is quite recent, 25 million years, the age of the oldest platypus fossil is a massive 110 million years, which is about 45 million years before T rex appeared on the scene.

5. The oldest fossils of a single celled animals, forams and radiolaria, appeared after the first fossils of multicelled animals (including worms, sponges, trilobites and bivalves). Why?

6. The results of my origin of life experiment using cellular automata are looking promising. One shape when it exists in isolation is known to reproduce itself exactly 24 times before dying. I’ve got one simulation where, starting from a random constant-temperature initial state, this shape reproduces itself 131 times before dying.

mollwollfumble said:

1. What’s the maximum amount of radioactive material could I get for a “big-science” experiment on non-equilibrium chemical synthesis using radiation? It that’s not enough, could I substitute accelerated electrons from a cathode?

Is thorium any good?
Because in the ‘thoriated’ tungsten electrodes used in TIG welding, they have about a 2% thorium content. Pretty cheap to get as well.

> Is thorium any good?

Yes.

mollwollfumble said:

> Is thorium any good?

Yes.

I don’t know how difficult it would be to separate from the tungsten. By melting I guess … ?
Very easy to get, eg – http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2-4mm-Bossweld-2-Thoriated-Tungstens-Pkt-of-10-/301508317279?hash=item46334bd05f:g:0DQAAOSwYGFUyZae

Spiny Norman said:

mollwollfumble said:

> Is thorium any good?

Yes.

I don’t know how difficult it would be to separate from the tungsten. By melting I guess … ?
Very easy to get, eg – http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2-4mm-Bossweld-2-Thoriated-Tungstens-Pkt-of-10-/301508317279?hash=item46334bd05f:g:0DQAAOSwYGFUyZae

For this application I wouldn’t separate it, just grind it up in a ball mill to get maximum surface area.

I was thinking about a properly planned big-science experiment, with approved proposal and international collaboration.

mollwollfumble said:

> Is thorium any good?

Yes.

From web:
“Certain uranium and thorium compounds, such as uranyl acetate or thorium nitrate, are regulated differently than licensed radioactive materials. By regulation, the general public is allowed to order these materials without possessing a radioactive materials license, so vendors will sell these compounds directly to any customer. However, educational institutions are not allowed to possess more than 3.3 pounds of uranium or thorium at any one time.”

mollwollfumble said:

> Is thorium any good?

Yes.

From web:
“Certain uranium and thorium compounds, such as uranyl acetate or thorium nitrate, are regulated differently than licensed radioactive materials. By regulation, the general public is allowed to order these materials without possessing a radioactive materials license, so vendors will sell these compounds directly to any customer. However, educational institutions are not allowed to possess more than 3.3 pounds of uranium or thorium at any one time.”

That’s 0.0005 curies. Not much. Hmm.

mollwollfumble said:

2. Would the centre of Lake Eyre be a good place to dig for recent skeletons and fossils? How deep is the deepest salt layer?

3. Has anyone ever put a plant in a brain scanner (eg. fMRI or PET)? It’s not such a daft idea, choose a plant such as the Venus flytrap. fMRI measures the speed of blood/sap which would increase when neural activity is present. For PET, use sugar injected into a vascular channel and observe the locations of greatest sugar usage (energy need).

4. Whereas the oldest kangaroo fossil (the size of a large rat) is quite recent, 25 million years, the age of the oldest platypus fossil is a massive 110 million years, which is about 45 million years before T rex appeared on the scene.

5. The oldest fossils of a single celled animals, forams and radiolaria, appeared after the first fossils of multicelled animals (including worms, sponges, trilobites and bivalves). Why?

6. The results of my origin of life experiment using cellular automata are looking promising. One shape when it exists in isolation is known to reproduce itself exactly 24 times before dying. I’ve got one simulation where, starting from a random constant-temperature initial state, this shape reproduces itself 131 times before dying.

bump

I also just found out that Eucalypts have been the dominant vegetarian in Australia for a mere 5 million years.

mollwollfumble said:

I also just found out that Eucalypts have been the dominant vegetarian in Australia for a mere 5 million years.

time flies

mollwollfumble said:

I also just found out that Eucalypts have been the dominant vegetarian in Australia for a mere 5 million years.

What was the dominant type before that?
Are they still around?

party_pants said:

mollwollfumble said:

I also just found out that Eucalypts have been the dominant vegetarian in Australia for a mere 5 million years.

What was the dominant type before that?
Are they still around?

I’m guessing cycads.

dv said:

mollwollfumble said:

I also just found out that Eucalypts have been the dominant vegetarian in Australia for a mere 5 million years.

time flies

I thought vegetarians were New Age people.

Peak Warming Man said:

party_pants said:

mollwollfumble said:

I also just found out that Eucalypts have been the dominant vegetarian in Australia for a mere 5 million years.

What was the dominant type before that?
Are they still around?

I’m guessing cycads.

I have some in my back yard. Should I go & ask them?

Tamb said:

Peak Warming Man said:

party_pants said:

What was the dominant type before that?
Are they still around?

I’m guessing cycads.

I have some in my back yard. Should I go & ask them?

Cycads are ancient seed plants dating back over 200 million years. In the Jurassic Period cycad-like plants dominated world vegetation, which is why this era is sometimes referred to as ‘The Age of Cycads’.

Tamb said:

Peak Warming Man said:

party_pants said:

What was the dominant type before that?
Are they still around?

I’m guessing cycads.

I have some in my back yard. Should I go & ask them?

please, if you could.

party_pants said:

mollwollfumble said:

I also just found out that Eucalypts have been the dominant vegetarian in Australia for a mere 5 million years.

What was the dominant type before that?
Are they still around?

All the myrtles including the Eucalypts are descended froom the Antarctic Beech. World wide.

>>As Australia drifted northwards from Antarctica about 40 million years ago it moved into warmer climatic zones. Cool temperate forests, abundant over most of Australia, became confined to wetter areas. The vegetation as a whole became more open and in places heathlike.

Until about 15 million years ago one of the most abundant and widely distributed angiosperms in Australia was Nothofagus (southern beech). Evidence from a site in the Lachlan region of central New South Wales indicates that the decline in abundance of Nothofagus was accompanied by a corresponding increase in pollen from eucalypts and other mainly rainforest species from the same family (Myrtaceae). Somewhere between 15 and 8 million years ago the amount of charcoal relative to pollen at the same site also increased. Most likely, communities of eucalypts and related genera were subject to more frequent burning than the Nothofagus-dominated forests that preceded them. Similar evidence from pollen profiles from Lake George near Canberra reveals an abrupt change from a mixed forest of Nothofagus and gymnosperms to an open shrubland with grasses and daisies about three million years ago.<<

http://plantsinaction.science.uq.edu.au/edition1/?q=content/southern-hemisphere-view-nature

>>Nothofagus, also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere in southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and Australasia (east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea and New Caledonia). The species are ecological dominants in many temperate forests in these regions. Some species are reportedly naturalized in Germany and Great Britain. The genus has a rich fossil record of leaves, cupules and pollen, with fossils extending into the late Cretaceous and occurring in Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and South America. In the past, they were included in the family Fagaceae, but genetic tests revealed them to be genetically distinct, and they are now included in their own family, the Nothofagaceae (literally meaning “false beeches” or “bastard beeches”).<<

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothofagus

On TV program just finished.

The four eyed opossum eats fruit, small adult fruit-eating bats, and fish.

Are there any Australian possums that regularly eat adult bats? Or fish?

mollwollfumble said:

On TV program just finished.

The four eyed opossum eats fruit, small adult fruit-eating bats, and fish.

Are there any Australian possums that regularly eat adult bats? Or fish?

Does this critter have really four eyes? or does it just appear to have four eyes?

bob(from black rock) said:

mollwollfumble said:

On TV program just finished.

The four eyed opossum eats fruit, small adult fruit-eating bats, and fish.

Are there any Australian possums that regularly eat adult bats? Or fish?

Does this critter have really four eyes? or does it just appear to have four eyes?

Wears glasses.

PermeateFree said:

bob(from black rock) said:

mollwollfumble said:

On TV program just finished.

The four eyed opossum eats fruit, small adult fruit-eating bats, and fish.

Are there any Australian possums that regularly eat adult bats? Or fish?

Does this critter have really four eyes? or does it just appear to have four eyes?

Wears glasses.

What a coincidence, so do I !

bob(from black rock) said:

mollwollfumble said:

On TV program just finished.

The four eyed opossum eats fruit, small adult fruit-eating bats, and fish.

Are there any Australian possums that regularly eat adult bats? Or fish?

Does this critter have really four eyes? or does it just appear to have four eyes?

4 eyed opossum?…
the opiiiissum?

bob(from black rock) said:

mollwollfumble said:

On TV program just finished.

The four eyed opossum eats fruit, small adult fruit-eating bats, and fish.

Are there any Australian possums that regularly eat adult bats? Or fish?

Does this critter have really four eyes? or does it just appear to have four eyes?

It has a white spot above each eye, hence the name.

Bubblecar said:

bob(from black rock) said:

mollwollfumble said:

On TV program just finished.

The four eyed opossum eats fruit, small adult fruit-eating bats, and fish.

Are there any Australian possums that regularly eat adult bats? Or fish?

Does this critter have really four eyes? or does it just appear to have four eyes?

It has a white spot above each eye, hence the name.

Thanks Bubbles, I suspected something like that.