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  #41  
Old 12-08-2021, 05:04 PM
raymo
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The Eastern part [Byzantine Empire] might well have survived longer than it did, but I doubt that it would affect us Westerners much.
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  #42  
Old 12-08-2021, 06:31 PM
Swartz (Nick)
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If you take 'our history' as anytime after humans became humans in evolutionary terms, thus eliminating events such as the demise of the dinosaurs. There have been two significant events that have lead to every other significant event in our history.

Ability to harness fire: allowing us to cook and keep warm. The list goes on and on for the benefits for fire.

The written word. From cave paintings to hieroglyphics to the first words written down on parchment. The ability to pass on knowledge has been invaluable.
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  #43  
Old 12-08-2021, 07:40 PM
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Humans domesticating dogs.
There is the proposition that by having the dogs , not only of value for hunting and gaurd duty..but as they did the sniffing releasing the room in our brains used for sniffing to give room for speech stuff... true
Alex
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  #44  
Old 12-08-2021, 07:42 PM
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Cooking was a really big deal giving more energy and probably contributing to preservation of meat.
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  #45  
Old 12-08-2021, 08:41 PM
2StarsInScorpio (Andrew)
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Not sure I agree with mitochondria, though of course they are very important to life. If we are talking origin of life I would say "membrane" which also begins with m. It's the cell membrane that allowed early life to separate itself from its environment and maintain homeostasis.

btw...mitochondria were originally free living organisms that became "captured" inside early cells through the process of endosymbiosis. And to make a connection back to astronomy... this theory was first proposed by Lynn Margulis the first wife of Carl Sagan!

Thanks for the challenge...the simplest questions are the most thought provoking.
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  #46  
Old 12-08-2021, 09:18 PM
gb44 (Glenn)
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Mutation.
Without mutations DNA would remain unchanged and the variations within living organisms wouldnt occur. We'd all be bacteria.

GlennB
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  #47  
Old 12-08-2021, 10:21 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 2StarsInScorpio View Post
Not sure I agree with mitochondria, though of course they are very important to life. If we are talking origin of life I would say "membrane" which also begins with m. It's the cell membrane that allowed early life to separate itself from its environment and maintain homeostasis.

btw...mitochondria were originally free living organisms that became "captured" inside early cells through the process of endosymbiosis. And to make a connection back to astronomy... this theory was first proposed by Lynn Margulis the first wife of Carl Sagan!

Thanks for the challenge...the simplest questions are the most thought provoking.
Yes the ability to house off a special little place...I contend a mere drop of water will form a membrane ...the molecules on the surface line up just as you need and by charge can cause "stuff" to move to the middle ..véry egg like...I cant find the article unfortunately...most interesting.
Alex
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  #48  
Old 12-08-2021, 11:03 PM
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Stonius (Markus)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gb44 View Post
Mutation.
Without mutations DNA would remain unchanged and the variations within living organisms wouldnt occur. We'd all be bacteria.

GlennB

Oh, good one, Glenn. Nice choice. I won't protist that one. :-D
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  #49  
Old 13-08-2021, 04:51 AM
Renato1 (Renato)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by raymo View Post
I fail to see the connection between the battle of Manzikert and the Roman
Empire, as the Roman Empire ceased to exist almost 600yrs before that
battle.
raymo
Depends which historians you read.
Some refute the part about the Roman Empire falling in 476, because it had moved to Constantinople a century and a half earlier - taking with it nearly all the bureaucracy and administrators necessary to run an empire, and that what eventually became known as the Western Roman Empire was just a shell, an empire in name only.

Meanwhile, the Eastern Roman Empire just kept growing and was the wealthiest place on the planet for centuries. The historians suggest that the myth of a real, viable Western Roman empire collapsing, was pushed strongly by the British Empire in the 19th century as propaganda. The term "Byzantine" was given to the Eastern Roman Empire by historians centuries after it fell, but they called themselves Romans, and proudly traced themselves back to Rome.

After the Eastern Roman Empire lost at Mazikert, they lost Anatolia to the Muslims. They then regained it, only to find that the Muslims had destroyed it - and, whereas they could previously raise some 40 divisons from it (the bulk of their army), now they could barely raise two or three divisions. So they had to survive the next nearly four centuries relying on the superior military tactics and mercenaries, though it was the Venetians of the Fourth Crusade who effectively did them in.
Regards,
Renato
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  #50  
Old 13-08-2021, 06:27 AM
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I think Renato is pretty much on the money..by the time Rome was being raided it was somewhat a back water really...
Alex
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  #51  
Old 17-08-2021, 05:28 PM
gb44 (Glenn)
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Mitosis and meiosis.
Cell division, mixing of chromosomes. Sometimes mutations arise during these processes, so they are up the chain from mutation.
Without this no life would continue, as we know it captain anyways.

GlennB
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  #52  
Old 17-08-2021, 10:20 PM
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Sunfish (Ray)
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I don’t think the Romans disappeared. Seemed to be a lot of them when I was there and I have since met a few. Great food and clothes. Superb universities.

Quote:
Originally Posted by xelasnave View Post
Which ever date you decide the Romans disappeared one could say they live on even today because of the Roman Catholic Church...we tend to think of only the Western Empire falling when in fact the Eastern Empire continued for a very long time after the West was gone and forgotten.
Alec
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  #53  
Old 17-08-2021, 10:25 PM
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Sunfish (Ray)
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I am with Raymo as it led to sunshine and water as others have suggested and which we enjoy directly every day.

Quote:
Originally Posted by raymo View Post
Assuming that it actually happened, the Big Bang.
raymo
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