back to article Exploding dinosaur theory EXPLODED

Bone-bothering boffins have long theorised that sea-dwelling ichthyosaurs were prone to exploding because their skeletons are often found in a scattered pattern. Not that a time-traveller from the future was there and lobbed a hand grenade at them - but that the creatures' decomposition process produced enough putrefaction …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Is pressure now measured in...

    bloated human and goat corpses?

    1. Peter Murphy
      Happy

      Re: Is pressure now measured in...

      Looks like we need a new Register unit for pressure.

      Bloated human corpse = 0.035 bar = 3500 Pascals.

      So the pressure at Challenger Deep (where James Cameron popped down last week) is 31429 bloated human corpses.

      1. Peddler
        Go

        Re: Is pressure now measured in...

        ...or 13924 bloated goat corpses.

  2. hugo tyson
    WTF?

    But it never said the dead beast sank then exploded, so the pressure at depth is irrelevant. It said it floated and bloated then burst and sank. Didn't it?

    1. Evil Auditor Silver badge
      Pint

      hugo, you're applying logic? Sod off, it's Friday!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Bloat 'n float

      Is an accepted palaeontological term for when terrestrial fossils are found in marine sediments. The dead beasty gets all puffy and bob, bob, bobs down a river until it goes flat and sinks to the bottom.

      Unless of course they all died in the Flood.

      1. Peddler

        Re: Bloat 'n float

        It is indeed a tragic irony that so many marine animals died in The Flood.

  3. Arctic fox
    Unhappy

    I realise that the work is worthwhile and contributes to the science but.........

    "so the researchers measured the internal pressure of a hundred bodies "

    ...............there are some jobs I am very happy for other scientists to do!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I realise that the work is worthwhile and contributes to the science but.........

      The article doesn't mention whether they were extremely hot blonde human bodies. Nor where the "internal" pressure was monitored.

    2. Armando 123
      Devil

      Re: I realise that the work is worthwhile and contributes to the science but.........

      I think some guys were caught by authorities and one of them BSed their way out of it (we've all gone to school with that guy). So they got grant money, and I say the field of exploding corpses is one that needs funding. In fact, I'm tempted to add anybody associated with the Twilight series as test subjects.

  4. Blofeld's Cat
    Coat

    Is it just me...

    Did anyone else picture some surface dwelling scavenger taking a bite from the bloated carcase, and then watching helplessly as its meal shoots off across the water at high speed?

    Just me then...

    1. Bumpy Cat
      Happy

      Re: Is it just me...

      With a humourous "tthhhhbpbpbpb!" sound as it skims across the waves ...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Is it just me...

      No.... it's just you.

      (I'd see someone about that...)

      1. Blofeld's Cat
        Pint

        Re: Is it just me...

        "I'd see someone about that..."

        Oh, but I did. I once had a long chat with somebody about the role of humour in everyday life, and how it was important to see the ridiculous side of things whenever possible.

        I also touched briefly on how people take themselves far too seriously, and how children lose that vital spark of magical wonder and excitement as they grow up and settle down.

        I found it very useful, but I don't think he really understood me. After about ten minutes he even stopped trying to sell me their extended warranty...

        1. Asiren

          I'm also picturing

          said scavenger desperately holding its nose or passing out from the smell afterwards...

  5. Evil Auditor Silver badge

    Exploding carcases

    Somehow that reminds me of the "theory" that cow carcases do occasionally explode due to putrefaction gas. Especially in remote areas such as high up in the Alps. The putrefaction gas turned out to be pyrotechnically encouraged... Then again, I don't think that many Austrian mountain farmers shared their lifetime with ichthyosaurs.

    1. Mephistro
      Mushroom

      Re: Exploding carcases

      This article reminds me of my grandpa telling me this history from the Spanish Civil War, when some of his mates, Republican soldiers like himself, had the bright idea of shooting a rotting dead cow from ten meters away. The cow exploded, and these geniuses spent two days trying to remove the stains and the stench from their kit, their clothes and themselves, in a mountain river, in April. Don't think they tried the same trick again :-).

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Coat

      Re: Exploding carcases

      It must be the sudden spread of decompositional odours from the ruptured carcass that then leads to loud and repeated bouts of vomiting from any nearby cows.

      Which is why the hills are alive with the sound of moo-sick.

      Oh god I am so sorry. I think it's time to go home.

    3. Steven Roper
      Coffee/keyboard

      "pyrotechnically encouraged"

      Yes, we needed a politically correct term for "blew the fuck out of it."

      And that's the fifth keyboard this year. Thank you so very much! ;)

  6. Peter Ford
    Boffin

    Sorry to be pedantic...

    ... but ichthyosaurs are (were) not technically dinosaurs.

    1. Severen
      Trollface

      Re: Sorry to be pedantic...

      You're apologising for pedantry?!?

      You do realise you posted on The Register, right? ;-)

    2. Grey Bird
      Happy

      Re: Sorry to be pedantic...

      Thanks for helping me to avoid it. My first thought when reading ichthyosaur was... "That's not a dinosaur!"

  7. james 68

    scientists need to go back to school

    large marine creatures do in fact have a tendency to "explode" re: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3437455.stm

    land mammals have a more porous skin allowing gasses to seep out and not build pressure - marine creatures on the other hand have a much thicker hide with a lot less porosity allowing pressure to build until the creature splits or even explodes.

    1. Asiren
      FAIL

      Re: scientists need to go back to school

      And sometime we give them a helping hand...

      http://www.katu.com/news/3871922.html

      1. james 68

        Re: scientists need to go back to school

        i gather the 'Fail' icon was for failing to see the point, your link is to an entirely different event, which i might add was never misrepresented as being a natural explosion.

        fail indeed

      2. P. Lee
        Mushroom

        Re: scientists need to go back to school

        I hear the Japanese and Norwegians have been helping them for ages...

  8. JeffyPooh
    Pint

    False evidence on corpse decomposition

    The so-called forensic "experts" recently figured out that they'd totally neglected the role of vultures in the decomposition schedule of human corpses under some circumstances. Their theories of decomposition schedules were missing this potentially major factor. It seems likely that some murderers will have gotten away with it, and some innocent people will have been convicted, due to this underestimation of professional ignorance.

    The paleo folks are the absolute worst at understanding the limits of what they actually know, as compared to their seemingly unlimited imagination and their story-telling as 'facts' skills. If one attends a paleo*.* lecture, at the end of each statement, it's your scientific duty to yell out "..., maybe!!!! Or maybe not!!!"

  9. Northern Diver
    FAIL

    Boyles law

    Perhaps these scientists need to understand Boyle's Law.

    The pressure they measured inside the decomposing bodies was relative to the ambient pressure. A body decomposing on the seabed would have the same relative pressure, until it had enough gas inside to change its buoyancy and start floating, As the corpse rises the volume of gas will expand (Boyle's Law), increasing the pressure inside the corpse in relation to the ambient pressure. A corpse rising 10m from the seabed will see a 1bar increase in internal pressure, easily enough to rupture lungs etc.

    1. P. Lee
      Linux

      Re: Boyles law

      As per Flanders & Swann:

      "The greater the external pressure, the greater the volume of hot air."

      I guess "pressure" includes financial.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    Conspiracy

    "Not that a time-traveller from the future was there and lobbed a hand grenade at them"

    And how would /you/ know that, hm ?

  11. The last doughnut
    Alert

    Full floater

    Back then there were no manky seagulls swooping in to gobble up the rotting flesh.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Obligatory link

    We're talking about exploding marine animals (again) and no one has linked to this?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vmnq5dBF7Y

  13. Dave 32
    Angel

    Putrescene/Caderine

    Just for your'alls education:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadaverine

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putrescene

    Bonus points for the first person to synthesize a gallon of each and deploy them creatively. ;-)

    Dave

  14. Andus McCoatover
    Windows

    Isn't this a better explanation....?

    https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/p480x480/545673_410885292274263_205344452828349_1485632_1708851888_n.jpg

  15. Frank Butcher
    Pint

    In that case

    "the smell of ptrefaction and rotting flesh"

    Must get a Mcdonalds on the way home

    "swelling up with bloated gases"

    Followed by a couple of pints of Meantime Real ale...

    Delish. Almost brings a tear to my eye.

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