Priorities

null
Rising Fossil Fuel Emissions Will Screw With Carbon Dating

Environment

Rising Fossil Fuel Emissions Will Screw With Carbon Dating

by The Daily Eye Team July 22 2015, 4:22 pm Estimated Reading Time: 0 mins, 47 secs

There are many reasons why we need to cut down fossil fuel emissions: pollution, climate extremes, irreparable damage to our natural world. Now there?s another to add to that list: our emissions are messing with radiocarbon dating. A study published in PNAS on Monday claims that increasing fossil fuel emissions will throw off analyses of carbon isotopes, which are used in radiocarbon dating?a method of measuring the age of an object by analysing how much radioactive decay it has undergone, also known simply as carbon dating. Author Heather Graven, a lecturer in climate physics and Earth observation at Imperial College, writes that, ?Given current emissions trends, fossil fuel emission-driven artificial ?aging? of the atmosphere is likely to occur much faster and with a larger magnitude than previously expected? and that her findings imply ?that radiocarbon dating may no longer provide definitive ages for samples up to 2,000 [years] old.? Read More?at ?www.motherboard.vice.com



About Author

User avatar

Vinta Nanda


Former Director Ideation at Zee Network, filmmaker and writer Vinta Nanda is the editor of The Daily Eye, and has recently directed a feature-length documentary on feminism in India titled #SHOUT. Vinta produced, directed and wrote television serials including Tara, Raahein, Raahat, Aur Phir Ek Din and Miilee. Her film, White Noise (2004), was screened at international film festivals. Her Edutainment work includes the serials Sheila and Kasbah, feature film Anant, and Documentary, The Distant Thunder and she led The Third Eye program from 2013 to 2018 in partnership with Hollywood Health and Society, Norman Lear Center, USC Annenberg, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which built platforms for interactions  between creative communities and specialists, experts, social scientists and activists to initiate the idea of conscious storytelling.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of thedailyeye.info. The writers are solely responsible for any claims arising out of the contents of this article.

Carbon Carbon Dating Carbon Emissions Climate Change Earth Emissions fossil fuels Imperial College Industrial Revolution IPCC Radioactive Decay Radioactivity Radiocarbon uk

You May Also Like

ENVIRONMENT: CAMPAIGN AGAINST LAND GRAB GAINS MOMENTUM

2024-01-17 00:00:00

Climate Change: Millions Could Migrate by 2050

2021-09-21 00:00:00

How Photo Pollution Is Impacting Planet Earth

2021-01-12 00:00:00

Aarey Wah!

2020-12-15 16:00:00

Winter flight to India

2020-11-11 00:00:00

Farmlands of Gujarat: Escape for city-dwellers

2020-08-12 16:00:00

Oh Kolkata!

2020-05-20 20:33:00

Living standards will decline as South Asia’s heat rises

2019-08-27 10:59:00