@NewsfromScience. "Comet May Have Struck Earth Just 10 Million Years after Dinosaur Extinction." Science. N.p., 29 Sept. 2016. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.
In this article titled, “Comet May Have Struck Earth Just 10 Million Years after Dinosaur Extinction”, the author, Paul Voosen describes evidence that supports the theory that an asteroid hit the earth 10 million years after the dinosaurs extinction and the impacts this may have had on the earth’s climate. Off the shores of New Jersey, dark, glassy beads have been found that have direct connections with a comet impact that would have happened 10 million years after the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. According to Morgan Schaller and Megan Fung, the researchers who made the discovery, these spheres cannot have originated from a volcanic event because the spheres water content is too low. After presenting this theory to the Geological Society of America, the finding of beads has been accepted, but what these beads mean has been disputed. Jerry Dickens, an oceanographer at Rice University, has an alternate theory that explains why these beads exist saying that he believes the beads did form after an impact, but says that there is a more important effect of this impact. Dickens has put forward that this impact may have contributed to the warming of the world during a period known as the Paleocene- Eocene Thermal Maximum, in which a sudden change in climate resulted in mass migrations and extinctions.
This impact is very important in that it would create some context for why the earth began to warm during the Paleocene- Eocene Thermal Maximum. With a large impact, the comet may have thawed permafrost or released seafloor methane thus heating the earth further. It is unsure whether this impact affected the climate of the world, or only affected the area it hit which is still unknown. Still, if it did contribute to the Paleocene- Eocene Thermal Maximum, then the impact would have an influential role on how mammals began to form.
I believe that the author, Paul Voosen, did a thorough job in writing this article. Voosen gives a lot of historical context to the reader in order for the reader to understand the ramifications of this discovery. In addition, Voosen properly gave credit to both Morgan Schaller and Megan Fung who made the discovery. Although Voosen was very good at giving context for the discovery, he lacked in giving specific details for the evidence of the find. It is understood that the black spheres found in New Jersey are the evidence, but he never says what makes them different from other rocks.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSamantha Huss
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
D Block Odd
10/4/16
Review of Matthew’s Current Event Review
@NewsfromScience. "Comet May Have Struck Earth Just 10 Million Years after Dinosaur Extinction." Science. N.p., 29 Sept. 2016. Web. 30 Sept. 2016. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/09/comet-may-have-struck-earth-just-10-million-years-after-dinosaur-extinction
Matthew’s review was well written and interesting to read. Specifically, he did a good job of presenting facts to support his claims. These facts gave his claims and reasoning strength and helped to persuade the reader. Also, Matthew did a good job of naming credible sources. He paraphrased claims made by many different scientists. This added to the credibility of his review. Finally, Matthew did a good job of connecting the article to the reader. By providing the necessary connection between the topic and his audience, Matthew reinforced the importance of the article he was reviewing.
Although his review was very good, some things could be altered to improve it. Matthew had a few small grammatical issues such as run on sentences and missing commas. This takes away from the legitimacy of the review and makes the reader question it. He could improve this by reading over the review a little more closely. Lastly, Matthew ended his review by questioning how sure the claims are which were made in the article. It is good to question everything in science, however it would be best to do it in the middle or early on in the review, because it left the reader questioning and discredited a lot of what was read before.
Overall, Matthew’s review was well written and it was difficult to find anything to correct him on. By reading this review I learned a lot about the theory of the comet which could have hit earth. It was surprising for me to learn that the beads which were found to provoke this theory were found only one state over in New Jersey. It’s interesting that such an important discovery could come from only miles away.
Matthew's review of the article, “Comet May Have Struck Earth Just 10 Million Years after Dinosaur Extinction” by Paul Voosen, was very well written and thought out. I enjoyed how Matt made sure to quote and paraphrase from the article very often. This made the article seem more credible. Also, he backed up his ideas and claims with facts from the article. For example, when he says that an asteroid hit the Earth 10 million years after the dinosaurs' extinction, he backs it up with quotes and fact from the article. Finally, Matt also made sure to stay with the central idea of the article. Using the quotes helped him stay on track and not stray.
ReplyDeleteHowever, even though Matt did all these thing well, there are still some spots he could work on. For example, I thought it was counterintuitive to use all the quotes and facts and at the end of the review to say that there did not seem to be much evidence. I think he should have ended on a better note. Also, there are a few grammatical errors and some sentences that seem to run on for a little too long. These are not big problems, just small improvements to help with the flow of the article.
Overall, I enjoyed learning about this topic because space is interesting and it is cool to think about a mysterious asteroid hitting the Earth that no one knows about. It's also fun to think about the asteroid hitting very nearby to where we live.