Science
Related: About this forumSheilaT
(23,156 posts)I was going to helpfully tell you about dark matter, and dark energy, but the video explains it much better than I ever could.
A couple of weeks ago I attended a lecture by Alan Guth about the Big Bang and the expansion of the Universe. Absolutely fascinating.
Xipe Totec
(43,890 posts)Why do video editors think we need the music to keep up the suspense and attention?
I usually HATE the music behind informative videos. It's annoying as all hell. When I see a video clip that has only visuals and music, I turn off the audio. I like music but never the music behind these type video clips.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)This issue is serious as balls, drop the bass
valerief
(53,235 posts)AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)It's made of energy!
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)Did you know that you are made of atoms which some of them are as old as the beginning of the universe? And others came from dying stars.......
That makes one ponder.
packman
(16,296 posts)"Ether, or luminiferous Ether, was the hypothetical substance through which electromagnetic waves travel. It was proposed by the greek philosopher Aristotle Eric Weisstein's World of Biography and used by several optical theories as a way to allow propagation of light, which was believed to be impossible in "empty" space"
Aristotle sitting on a bench under an olive tree sipping wine came up with the idea a few millennium ago. ETHER was the accepted idea of what space was - until some clever guys disproved that idea. However, I do believe Aristotle had an inkling of the whole concept.
http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/Ether.html
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)See: Spock's beard.
markbark
(1,560 posts)Hydrogen, Helium, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon and a smattering of other stuff.
yuiyoshida
(41,831 posts)Sugar and spice, and everything nice, Snips and snails , and puppy dog tails!
passiveporcupine
(8,175 posts)Or maybe that's just the internets!
Bonobo
(29,257 posts)Phlem
(6,323 posts)Scientific American, New Scientist, lots of great articles out there to make sense of it all, as far as we know.
Been riding this ride for a while, puts a lot of things into perspective, I love it! Enjoy!
King_Klonopin
(1,306 posts)Kablooie
(18,634 posts)Peace Patriot
(24,010 posts)It makes the "Big Bang" theory 'work,' to posit that 95% of the matter in the Universe is UNKNOWN...something. Makes me wonder about the "Big Bang" theory.
For instance, I've yet to see any analysis (that I can understand--I'm no physicist) of black holes permeating the Universe (one supermassive black hole in almost every galaxy, plus zillions of small ones here and there)--which are also INFERRED from the effects of gravity--vs. "dark matter" and "dark energy." WHAT is the relationship?
Supermassive black holes are said to contain the mass equivalents of millions, and even billions, of suns! These super-compacted masses are contained in relatively small areas and exert HUGE influences on the galaxies that surround them. What has this to do with "dark matter" (gravitational flow inward) or "dark energy" (some kind of flow outward)?
And, on the human front, you gotta wonder: Are "dark matter" and "dark energy" WITHIN us? We are made of "star stuff," as Carl Sagan put it. And, since "star stuff" (visible matter) is now INFERRED to be only 5% of the "stuff" in the Universe, what else are we made of?
I have not seen either of these two questions addressed in any science article--and I've read many--and I've been looking for answers to these two questions: What about black holes (re: dark matter, dark energy)? And, what do "dark matter/energy" have to do with life forms (and with consciousness)?
Anyway, my current conclusion is that fundamental science (physics, astrophysics, cosmology) is in a state of extreme flux, way beyond the chaotic state of human understanding in the Galileo/Copernican era. Scientists DON'T KNOW what is going on with NINETY-FIVE PERCENT of the "stuff" in the Universe.
They can INFER. They have theories. But they really, really don't know. The main reason for this bafflement (and exponential growth of inferences and theories) is the sheer massive quantity of information about the Universe (both macrocosmic and microcosmic) that has flooded the human data-cloud over the last, oh, half century, and especially the last few decades, driven by technological breakthroughs and human curiosity (and genius).
Galileo (by looking through his telescope) discovered four bodies orbiting Jupiter, and this triggered a science revolution that is still rippling through humanity.
Current scientists have viewed entire galaxies that are billions of light years away, near the beginning of the Universe (in the "Big Bang" theory). Hubble and other telescopes are revealing simply astonishing images of the visible and infrared and x-ray matter in the Universe. We have a picture, now, of the entire Universe clumped in neuron-like, glittering filaments edging great bubbles of near-nothingness. In addition, scientists have discovered over a thousand planets orbiting suns other than our own, just in a small segment of the Milky Way galaxy near us. They have probed, photographed up close and studied numerous water-bearing moons and other objects in our solar system, plus up-close study of the planets themselves. On the microscopic level, they have viewed the paths of quarks (the constituents of atoms) and the Higgs boson (particle that confers mass on other particles--the so-called "God particle" .
These are staggering accomplishments. And the information load is truly massive, and is only going to grow exponentially. This is a revolution--actually, a "super-massive" revolution. (And I haven't even touched on the increasing probability of our discovery of other lifeforms in our solar system, and even outside of our solar system, in the next few decades, nor DNA studies and experiments revolutionizing biology and medicine, and revolutions in other fields.) What is this macrocosmic and microcosmic mega-revolution in science going to lead to?
In physics and astrophysics, what were once bizarre theories, such as String Theory (multiple universes), are being taken very seriously--necessarily, because our understanding of the Universe is in very great flux. We have yet to unify the physical laws of very small and very large masses. We have yet to figure out how the quantum world--where the location of a thing depends on the observer, and where even the definition of a "thing" is, at best, fuzzy, and other mind-boggling reports--with the universe that meets our senses (the solid world) and "makes sense."
One thing we MUST do--and must teach our children--is to question, question, question even the most sacrosanct theories (and inferences). For instance, when a scientist says they have "discovered" 'dark matter,' understand that they have NOT "discovered" anything; they have INFERRED it from what they CAN see (5% of the Universe, according to this inference/theory). Science popularizers (including Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson, wonderful as they were and are) tend to present these VERY in-flux findings as "givens." I think the sum total of modern science is that nothing is "given."
Maybe that will be the continuing ripple of this mega-revolution in the human knowledge-cloud: Nothing is "given."
yuiyoshida
(41,831 posts)Space is a dangerous place, but some day I fully believe we may get our act together, and build a fleet of ships that will be able to sustain a crew and have the power to go great distances in space.
There was a story about how someone wanted to build the Star Ship enterprise that would actually work. I don't think the technology is there yet, but it was a sweet idea, imagine taking it on a trip to Jupiter and back.
Peace Patriot
(24,010 posts)yuiyoshida
(41,831 posts)Response to yuiyoshida (Original post)
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yuiyoshida
(41,831 posts)nt.