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by culi 1133 days ago
What is it with articles like these still using language like "discovered"

> Guided by tips from fishermen, scientists from Colegio de le Frontera Sur explored a tropical estuary off the southeastern coast

> the scientists names their new discovery the Taam ja' Blue Hole, using the Mayan language phrase

Clearly the locals have known about this already. If your argument is that the difference is when it's published in some scientific paper then that's also contradictory to:

> the new blue hole was discovered in 2021, the researchers only recently detailed their findings in a study published in Frontiers in Marine Science

"Discovered in 2021" pretty obviously means Western people here. If it was about "scientific description" then we would've said 2023.

It reminds me of that one white person that traveled to Mexico and "discovered" a variety of corn that produces a mucus-like goo that traps nitrogen from the air itself instead of using bacteria. This variety had an indigenous name and the people who've been growing it for thousands of years could trace back their entire lineage of people who've developed the variety specifically to grow in those low-nitrogen conditions

4 comments

Yeah talking about discovery is weird. The title even says it "just showed up" making me think there was a geologic events involved.

Though I wouldn't dismiss any relevance of the year 2021, as that was when the scientists did their field work. Imagine another team did study the same hole in 2022 but published earlier, then that would be relevant.

Because its depth was discovered by researchers in 2021.

The Mayans knew that it was a blue hole. They didn't know that it was among the deepest known in the world, simply that it was one of many blue holes.

> Clearly the locals have known about this already

Clearly they knew there was a small patch of deep water. Maybe not much more than that. I think you're being way too quick to jump to self righteousness

>Discovered in 2021" pretty obviously means Western people here. If it was about "scientific description" then we would've said 2023.

If the meaning is clear what seems to be the problem? It seems like manufactured outrage to be upset by this. I just discovered fuente avocados last week. I'm not claiming to be the first human to ever behold them.

As a thought experiment, can a secret never be discovered?

On the facts of the story, it seems highly unlikely that the locals knew that it was the second deepest blue hole on the planet.

The meaning is not at all clear. The only definition consistent with this set of facts is "a Westerner found out about it". No paper was published in 2021
The very first line is this:

"Scientists have released a study of their 2021 discovery of the world's second-deepest blue hole off the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula coast."

I wasn't the best at grammar, but I'm pretty sure the word "their" refers to the scientists, who found it in 2021.

Who did you think the article could have been talking about discovering it if you were so confused?

My guess is you knew exactly what it meant but were triggered and looking for something to be offended about.

To press the issue, how do you feel about Columbus discovering North America? Keep in mind no one has ever claimed that Columbus was the first human to lay foot in North America.

I'm finding it hard to believe you're not screwing with me now...

Is this a joke? Am I missing some kind of joke?

If not can you please link me the 2021 academic paper in which this was described.

Hint: it doesn't f*cking exist