The fear of failure is one of the most common, and crippling, fears there is. While most of us only have to fear being embarrassed at karaoke night or maybe fumbling some words during a short presentation, other people are faced with operating millions of dollars’ worth of equipment on a regular basis. For them, failure means a little more than it might mean to us. While the film Apollo 13 made us think that for NASA “Failure is not an option,” for others, it remains an ever-present possibility.
For Elon musk, the archetype of an eccentric billionaire, failure is always an option. “If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.” His rocket company, Space X, is one of the most interesting companies in the world. It also fails to reach its goals on a regular basis. To prove this, Space X has released a video showing many of its most spectacular fails. Showing all of its greatest bombs, from spectacular explosions, to crash landings, to a few empty fuel tanks- all to the tune of The Liberty Bell, the theme to Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
While this video is amusing, it also teaches us an important lesson. Failing is a chance to learn, failure is common, failure is ok. When we think of the great geniuses of history, we recall only their triumphs. Rarely do we ever encounter their bombs, their incomplete ideas, the pieces that don’t quite constitute a masterpiece. Space X, in showing us how many times they failed to land a rocket, reminds us that nobody gets it right on the first try. Especially when you’re trying to do something big.
So, watch the video, have a laugh. Then go try something. And remember, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!
Illustration showing the beginning of the Permian-Triassic mass extinction. 2020.
Dinosaurs are the most infamous victims of a mass extinction event 66 million years ago. But an even worse extinction happened 251.9 million years ago.
Called the end-Permian mass extinction or the Great Dying, this most severe of extinction events wiped out about 90 percent of the planet's marine species and 75 percent of terrestrial species. While scientists long have suspected it was initiated by volcanic eruptions in what is now Siberia, until now they haven't been able to explain exactly how so many species died out.
A new paper published in Nature Communications lays out the case that nickel particles that became aerosolized as a result of eruptions in the Siberian Traps region became dispersed through the air and water and were the cause of the ensuing environmental catastrophe. The paper pinpoints huge Norilsk nickel sulfide ore deposits in the Tunguska Basin that "may have released voluminous nickel-rich volcanic gas and aerosols into the atmosphere" as the start of the chain of events that led to the mass extinction.
The study is based on analysis of nickel isotopes that came from late Permian sedimentary rocks gathered from the Buchanan Lake section in the Sverdrup Basin in the Canadian High Arctic. What's notable about the rock samples is that they featured the lightest nickel isotope ratios ever measured, leading the scientists to conclude that the nickel came in the form of aerosolized particles from a volcano.
As the paper outlines, the only comparable nickel isotope values would be those from volcanic nickel sulfide deposits. The scientists write that of all the mechanisms that could result in such values, "the most convincing" explanation is that they got there as "voluminous Ni-rich aerosols" from the Siberian Traps large igneous province (STLIP).
The deadly effect of nickel particles
When the nickel got into the water, it wreaked havoc on the underwater ecosystem.
Co-author of the study, associate professor Laura Wasylenki of Northern Arizona University, explained that "nickel is an essential trace metal for many organisms, but an increase in nickel abundance would have driven an unusual surge in productivity of methanogens, microorganisms that produce methane gas. Increased methane would have been tremendously harmful to all oxygen-dependent life." This would have affected living creatures in and out of the water. The professor believes their data offers direct evidence that links nickel-rich aerosols, changes to the ocean, and the mass extinction that followed. "Now we have evidence of a specific kill mechanism," she added.
NAU associate professor Laura Wasylenki.Credit: Northern Arizona University.
Other theories on the Great Dying
Previous studies have pointed to other effects of the Siberian volcanic eruptions that likely contributed to the extinction event, including an overall warming of the planet, release of toxic metals, and acidification of the oceans, which likely killed off a number of species quickly. Others died out as a result of the depleted oxygen levels in the water.
"This domino-like collapse of the inter-connected life-sustaining cycles and processes ultimately led to the observed catastrophic extent of mass extinction at the Permian-Triassic boundary," said marine biogeochemist Hana Jurikova of the University of St. Andrews in the UK, who carried out a 2020 study on the end-Permian extinction. Her study looked at fossil shells from brachiopods in what is now the Southern Alps in Italy.
