From: Damien Broderick (damienb@unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Tue May 13 2003 - 21:27:28 MDT
Suppose the Sun emits an enormous neutrino pulse into the plane of the
ecliptic every few thousand or tens of thousands of years? There'd be no
obvious trace left, since they rip right through the planet. Except maybe
for any lumps of uranium close to critical by seepage and accumulation, and
we know a lode *did* go critical ~1.7 billion years ago in Oklo. What's
more, maybe the pulse interacts with the iron core, which might be massive
enough, and this precipitates the infrequent magnetic pole reversals.
Suppose it looks as if one might be in the offing. What do the world powers
and terrorists do that own nukes, power stations, uranium
excavation/enrichment mines, hospitals with isotopes, whatever?
(I suppose it's unlikely, because Super-Kamiokande and other detectors
would have noted stochastic spikes of a sub-supernova magnitude from
0.000001 comparatively local G stars. Then again, Super-Kamiokande has been
down with damage... *or that's what they're telling us*...)
Damien Broderick
[dreaming of a new novel]
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