My previous post was number 2800 at this blog, which is one week short of 14 years old today, so I'm averaging just slightly over 200 posts a year, which is not quite 4 posts a week.
The question, which I'm musing over and want to post now so I don't let it slip my mind, because it's interesting (even though I'm not yet ready to answer it) is:
What would be the most shocking and revolutionary scientific discovery you can think of that is possible, but currently seems unlikely to you?
To be clear, I mean scientific discoveries and not technological break throughs with existing scientific knowledge or highly foreseeable and expected new scientific discoveries. So, for example, vast improvements in quantum computing, or discovering a cure for some major kind of cancer, don't count.
Also, the answer to this question has a subjective element.
For example, the majority view among astrophysicists is that some form of dark matter particle which is beyond the Standard Model exists, so discovering one wouldn't be all that surprising to them. But this would be much more surprising to me, as I believe that dark matter phenomena are much more likely to have a cause rooted in some sort of gravitational effect.
Perhaps the most shocking discovery, to me, in the last few years, has been the discovery of human footprints in New Mexico dated to 22,000 years ago (well inland, close in time to but prior to the Last Glacial Maximum that was a barrier to settlement further south, and 8,000 years earlier that the southern migration of the primary human population of the Americas). These Progenitors, however, failed to thrive and left very few definitive traces of their presence.
Feel free to add you own answers to this question in the comments.
A clear biosignature from an exoplanet is one that I could see happening soon. JWST seems close to having that capability but not quite be there yet.
ReplyDeleteIt would surprise me as well if a dark matter particle was found. Most of the LCDM model seems very shaky at this point and I would be surprised if it was confirmed as being accurate.
ReplyDeleteActive life on Mars would surprise me, as it seems very harsh at this point, and the scenarios for life seem marginal. Fossil evidence would not surprise.
Just for fun, I'll make a claim that the gypsum footprints & tracklines are signs of Mela- × Poly- nesians pulling single hull and double hull canoes between lakes, rivers & coasts, disassembling them when necessary, used as shelters when overturned, who eventually made their way to the Amazon becoming today's Surui after heavy admixture with later arrivals.
ReplyDeleteI am referring to Jan '25 article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666033425000103
ReplyDeleteHere we report linear features associated with human footprints, some of which are dated to ∼22,000 years old, preserved in fine-grained sediments at White Sands National Park (New Mexico, USA). Using a range of examples, we identify three morphological types of trace in late Pleistocene sediments. Type I features occur as single, or bifurcating, narrow (depth > width) grooves which extend in planform from 2 to 50 m in length and trace either straight, gently curved or more irregular lines. They are associated with human footprints, which are truncated longitudinally by the groove and are not associated with other animal tracks. Type II examples are broader (width > depth) and form shallow runnels that typically have straight planforms and may truncate human footprints to one side. Type III examples consist of two parallel, equidistant grooves between 250 and 350 mm apart. They trace gently curving lines that can extend for 30+ m. Human footprints are associated with these features and may occur between, and to the side of, the parallel grooves.
Evidence that dinosaurs landed on the moon. :-)
ReplyDeleteSorry but "possible" is very broad...
Evidence that Lorentz Invariance is violated.
ReplyDelete