[HN Gopher] The Case of the Mysterious Holes on the Seafloor
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       The Case of the Mysterious Holes on the Seafloor
        
       Author : smartmic
       Score  : 80 points
       Date   : 2022-08-07 19:26 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (oceanexplorer.noaa.gov)
 (TXT) w3m dump (oceanexplorer.noaa.gov)
        
       | LadyCailin wrote:
       | It's so you can more easily tear the ocean floor.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | silasdavis wrote:
       | The spinal column of a since devoured vertebrate?
        
       | jamestimmins wrote:
       | It often _feels_ like there aren 't many mysteries left in
       | nature, so it's great to see scientists react with childlike
       | excitement about the prospect of something new and unexplained.
        
         | kadoban wrote:
         | The deep ocean is a great place to look for such mysteries too,
         | we have such a limited view of it, and it's _such_ an alien
         | place in a lot of ways.
        
         | swayvil wrote:
         | Check out meditation. It could be called a study of seeing.
         | 
         | Given one way of seeing, certain models and conclusions can be
         | drawn. But change the seeing and the models cease to hold. And
         | then change it again. And again.
         | 
         | We have a couple of methods for messing with that. A whole
         | seeing-cultivation program.
         | 
         | Lots of good mystery there.
        
           | oment wrote:
           | ecco?
           | 
           | who is we?
           | 
           | your comment hist. (opened) - observing patterns.
        
       | jessepasley wrote:
       | funnyhairguy.jpg
        
         | dhosek wrote:
         | I'm not saying it's aliens but... it's definitely aliens.
        
       | dennyabraham wrote:
       | This reminds me of another deep sea mystery trace,
       | Paleodictyon[1]. Once an unconnected set of geometric fossils and
       | modern hole patterns, it's been discovered that this phenomenon
       | has occurred in a consistent form for half a billion years up to
       | the present day.
       | 
       | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleodictyon
        
         | ThisIsMyAltFace wrote:
         | There's a nice PBS video about them with footage of the holes:
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz1fccY3S84
        
       | a9h74j wrote:
       | Also interesting that they reference similar evidence in fossils.
        
       | abecedarius wrote:
       | What do they mean by sublinear here?
        
         | walnutclosefarm wrote:
         | "Almost in a line."
        
         | kadoban wrote:
         | > Almost but not quite linear in shape.
         | 
         | Seems like the intended meaning based on context.
         | 
         | https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/sublinear
        
         | kuprel wrote:
         | O(n^k) where 0 < k < 1
        
           | aaaaaaaaaaab wrote:
           | More like o(n).
        
           | quantum_mcts wrote:
           | Would O(ln n) be "sublinear", though?
        
             | [deleted]
        
             | thaumasiotes wrote:
             | Of course. kuprel already said so.
        
               | sterlind wrote:
               | I'm bad at math, but this is because d/dx ln(x) = x^-1,
               | while d/dx x^k = kx^(-1+k), so as long as k > 0 the
               | derivative of the latter is larger, right?
        
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       (page generated 2022-08-07 23:00 UTC)