Academic Bun Fight! Upper Triassic Cotham Marble is NOT Evidence of a Mass Extinction

That was NOT a sign!

COMMENT TO IBARRA ET AL. MICROFACIES OF THE COTHAM MARBLE: A TUBESTONE MICROBIALITE FROM THE UPPER TRIASSIC, SOUTHWESTERN U.K

Authors:

Mayall et al

Abstract:

Ibarra et al. (2014) have presented an interesting paper on the Cotham Marble, an enigmatic microbialite from the Rhaetian Penarth Group of SW England, and an iconic piece of British stratigraphy. They have re-interpreted some aspects of our earlier work (Wright and Mayall 1981) in which we tried to be amongst the first researchers to apply an ethological approach to decipher an ancient microbial texture. That paper (Wright and Mayall 1981) was restricted editorially with respect to its content requiring a second one to illustrate the microbial microtextures we felt were critical to understanding the morphogenesis of the limestone (Mayall and Wright 1981). In addition to challenging previously published work, Ibarra et al. (2014) use the Cotham Marble to identify evidence for the late Triassic mass extinction event, thus substantially broadening the importance of this unit for the wider readership. However we would like to take this opportunity to question a number of their conclusions, in particular using the Cotham Marble as an indicator of a mass extinction event and the role of Microtubus communis in forming the Cotham Marble.

Yes, it is!

MICROFACIES OF THE COTHAM MARBLE: A TUBESTONE CARBONATE MICROBIALITE FROM THE UPPER TRIASSIC SOUTHWESTERN U.K.: A REPLY

Authors:

Ibarra et al

Abstract:

Mayall and Wright question interpretations in our microfacies analysis of the Cotham Marble microbialites (Ibarra et al. 2014) in which we primarily highlight previously overlooked aspects of Cotham Marble microbialite formation. They are specifically unconvinced about the Cotham Marble’s potential relevance to the end-Triassic mass extinction and our interpretation that Microtubus is not integral to the formation of the dendrolitic microbialite phases. Here we address Mayall and Wright’s comments under the same headings in which they present them.

A 2nd Call to Reform Russian Universities

Russian universities need change of tack

Author:

Renad Zhdanov

Exert:

Of the factors contributing to Russia's poor scientific performance (see, for example, A. Gorobets Nature 503, 39; 2013), the plight of the country's university professors stands out.

These professors are poorly paid; most are forced to supplement their earnings with other employment. Their typical annual teaching load of up to 1,000 hours is three to five times higher than that in universities elsewhere, leaving them little time for research or writing up their work. On top of this, professors are now under pressure from Russia's Ministry of Education and Science to publish two or three papers a year in international journals to help their universities to reach the top 200 in global rankings.

A Call to Reform xSoviet Universities

Research: Discard Soviet doctorate systems

Author:

Alexander Gorobets

Exert:

The research performance of most former Soviet states is still low compared with that of many Western countries. In my view, progress will be stifled as long as the archaic academic systems passed down from the former Soviet Union persist.

I have analysed the research performance of several of these nations on the basis of their per capita gross expenditure on research and development from 1998 to 2010 and their number of research publications from 1998 to 2012.

DWave STILL Controversial

Paper:

Quantum annealing with more than one hundred qubits

Authors:

Boixo et al

Abstract:

Quantum technology is maturing to the point where quantum devices, such as quantum communication systems, quantum random number generators and quantum simulators, may be built with capabilities exceeding classical computers. A quantum annealer, in particular, solves hard optimisation problems by evolving a known initial configuration at non-zero temperature towards the ground state of a Hamiltonian encoding a given problem. Here, we present results from experiments on a 108 qubit D-Wave One device based on superconducting flux qubits. The strong correlations between the device and a simulated quantum annealer, in contrast with weak correlations between the device and classical annealing or classical spin dynamics, demonstrate that the device performs quantum annealing. We find additional evidence for quantum annealing in the form of small-gap avoided level crossings characterizing the hard problems. To assess the computational power of the device we compare it to optimised classical algorithms.

vs counter paper:

Classical signature of quantum annealing

Authors:

John A. Smolin and Graeme Smith

Abstract:

A pair of recent articles concluded that the D-Wave One machine actually operates in the quantum regime, rather than performing some classical evolution. Here we give a classical model that leads to the same behaviors used in those works to infer quantum effects. Thus, the evidence presented does not demonstrate the presence of quantum effects.

counter counter paper:

Comment on: "Classical signature of quantum annealing"

Authors:

Wang et al

Abstract:

In a recent preprint (arXiv:1305.4904) entitled "Classical signature of quantum annealing" Smolin and Smith point out that a bimodal distribution presented in (arXiv:1304.4595) for the success probability in the D-Wave device does not in itself provide sufficient evidence for quantum annealing, by presenting a classical model that also exhibits bimodality. Here we analyze their model and in addition present a similar model derived from the semi-classical limit of quantum spin dynamics, which also exhibits a bimodal distribution. We find that in both cases the correlations between the success probabilities of these classical models and the D-Wave device are weak compared to the correlations between a simulated quantum annealer and the D-Wave device. Indeed, the evidence for quantum annealing presented in arXiv:1304.4595 is not limited to the bimodality, but relies in addition on the success probability correlations between the D-Wave device and the simulated quantum annealer. The Smolin-Smith model and our semi-classical spin model both fail this correlation test.

 Controversy continues.

Hmmm: Svenson on Permian Extinction

An ancient killer is hiding in the remote forests of Siberia. Walled off from western eyes during the Soviet era and forgotten among the endless expanse of wilderness, scientists are starting to uncover the remnants of a supervolcano that rained Hell on Earth 250 million years ago and killed 90 percent of all life.

Researchers have known about the volcano -- the Siberian Traps, for years. And they've speculated that the volcanic rocks, which cover an area about the size of Alaska, played a role in runaway global warming that led to the end -- Permian mass extinction, the worst dying the planet has ever seen.

Now a team of researchers led by Henrik Svenson of the University of Oslo in Norway have performed a series of experiments, showing the volcano employed an arsenal of deadly weapons during its 200,000-year-long assault on the biosphere.

Prime among them was carbon. Searing magmas from the volcano intruded into the Tunguska Basin in eastern Siberia, a region laden with thick deposits of coal, oil and gas. Heat from the molten rock baked the hydrocarbons, turning the area into the world's largest fossil fuel-burning plant. In all, the volcano may have belched as much as 100,000 gigatons of carbon into the air (all of humanity emits about eight gigatons of carbon annually).

That's more than enough to cause a global climate apocalypse. But the team also wanted to know what happened when lava infiltrated the area's abundant salt deposits. When heated in a laboratory to 275 degrees Centigrade (527 degrees Fahrenheit), the salts released a host of toxic gases, chief among them methyl chloride, an efficient ozone-killer.

"This is the first geologically realistic evidence that ozone collapse during the end-Permian could have actually happened," Svenson said.

Does anyone have either contact info or the paper that this above article is referencing? I tried looking around on the Unviersity of Oslo website, but can't seem to find Dr Svenson...All I can find is the Discovery article and blog links back to it.

New Mexico Better Than Most States for Good Teachers!?!

Which states are which is just... bizarre.

Just. Not. Right.

A college class based entirely around Blizzard's real-time strategy game StarCraft has opened at UC Berkeley, according to a course listing found by StarCraft Wire.

The class will begin with a lecture on topics "from the viewpoint of pure theory to the more computational aspects of how exactly battles are conducted." Following the lecture, replays of students' battles will be "analyzed," and "homework" will be assigned.

(o.O)

While fun, ummm, does this really need to be a class?