"There isn't a great deal that goes on...when they have a mind to." I liked this quote because it tells me about astronomers' determination to discover new things about our world. It reminds me not only of their determination, but of human determination and will in general. We humans are very unique beings. Yes, we may be the only ones that are self-destructive (relatively) and destroy our own environment, etc., but we also have very good things, and our determination is one of them. Many say that the ingredients for evolution are mistakes, of course, and knowledge. I don't know if others have added this before, but I'd say determination, and the wish to go past the limits that others have set are also ideal ingredients, because when you set your mind to accomplish something and try hard to do so, no matter how long it takes, you end up completing your goal.
"Tombaugh could see at once that the new planet was...any big news story in that easily excited age." It was very interesting to discover the origins of planet Pluto, and how people kept debating whether one or the other's ideas were preposterous and mere fiction. It's curious how nobody yet knows how big Pluto is, or what it's made of, etc., when the beginning of the chapter just said that astronomers can find anything they're determined to find. Are they not determined to find out more information about Pluto?
"The difficulty is that many of them...are about four billion miles away." What does this mean? What's wrong with Plutinos being too dark, and their albedo, or reflection? I couldn't understand this.
How would a manned mission to Mars tear the crew's DNA to tatters? I mean, I understand it would be by the high-energy solar particles, but how would these particles affect the body, mainly the DNA's structure, so this would happen? I'd really like to know these details.
I'm glad that there's a good probability of other thinking beings existing in the universe. I wonder if we'll ever get to make contact with them, or something.
For chapter two, I read the sentence of how supernova work. "The core of a neutron star...would be a huge amount of energy left over--enough to make the biggest bang in the universe." Could the universe end or be majorly altered because of this? Why can a supernova occur "only once every two or three centuries"? What would happen if the process sped up or delayed?
I like Evans' quote, "There is actually...one of those rare areas where the absence of evidence is evidence." I think it's very powerful, and it applies to many things. 'The absence of evidence is evidence.' It's like the saying "no news is good news."
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Lost in the Cosmos- Intro & Chapt. 1
"Whatever else it may be, at the level of chemistry life is curiously mundane...nothing you wouldn't find in any ordinary drugstore" This quote reminded me of the show called FullMetal Alchemist. It's very similar to what the protagonist, Edward Elric, said. I believe that life is much more than just elements. We are not just elements piled together to form a living being. There's a spirit and mind within us that can't be created by men. We are formed in ways that the detached scientific procedures can explain, but there's also the spiritual matter to us, and that is something science has failed to explain with the passion that it should have. Scientists don't actually believe in the spiritual part of life because it's not something that they cannot prove or confirm, just a theory and hypothesis to them. According to scientists, "seeing is believing." Apparently they've managed to see and prove that all the discoveries they've made of this Earth and universe are true to confirm that they are real.
"But there is no space, no darkness...And so, from nothing, our universe begins." What struck me about this chapter was the complexity of our universe's creation. It's so fascinating, I can't begin to fully understand it. As I read the article, I too became interested in how our universe came to be, and was impressed at how quickly and spontanously it happened, both the universe and our very existence. I'm grateful such events happened the way they did.
Also, I think the author is right when he said that science books hide the actual, interesting facts behind all the complex vocabulary and procedures explained in a difficult way that we can't fully comprehend, which is why we end up avoiding science. It makes me wonder why most science books do that. Is that something they actually need to do? Omit the real facts of the universe's creation, and whatnot? Maybe if they did elaborate on the details, thousands of questions would emerge, questions that would eventually lead them to the explanation of how the world is going to end, and, if possibly, the universe, too.
Maybe scientists and the authors of those books know more about what's happening to our planet than they actually let on. Maybe they know exactly how the world is going to end, and when. But of course, this would panick people more than they already are, so they have decided to keep such things a secret, all for the nation's sake. Is that the reason for such secrecy? Is there more to it than just the end of planet Earth, like, say, the end of the universe? Maybe not ALL of the universe, because it's basically infinite, but perhaps there would be alterations that would keep life from ever existing for a really, really long time. Maybe such alterations will lead the universe to reset itself, and start all over. Because, like the author said, all species have to get used to changes in the environment where they live, changes that occur over and over again.
Maybe the universe has grown used to radical changes and will have one eventually, it just isn't telling us. Or maybe it already did, it's the people that discovered this that don't want to tell us the truth.
I don't think we'll ever know for certain, but all those questions arose in my mind as I read the chapter. I wish there was an honest answer for these questions, to know for certain if there's any hope for life (as we know it) once this planet, and everything that we know, is over.
"But there is no space, no darkness...And so, from nothing, our universe begins." What struck me about this chapter was the complexity of our universe's creation. It's so fascinating, I can't begin to fully understand it. As I read the article, I too became interested in how our universe came to be, and was impressed at how quickly and spontanously it happened, both the universe and our very existence. I'm grateful such events happened the way they did.
Also, I think the author is right when he said that science books hide the actual, interesting facts behind all the complex vocabulary and procedures explained in a difficult way that we can't fully comprehend, which is why we end up avoiding science. It makes me wonder why most science books do that. Is that something they actually need to do? Omit the real facts of the universe's creation, and whatnot? Maybe if they did elaborate on the details, thousands of questions would emerge, questions that would eventually lead them to the explanation of how the world is going to end, and, if possibly, the universe, too.
Maybe scientists and the authors of those books know more about what's happening to our planet than they actually let on. Maybe they know exactly how the world is going to end, and when. But of course, this would panick people more than they already are, so they have decided to keep such things a secret, all for the nation's sake. Is that the reason for such secrecy? Is there more to it than just the end of planet Earth, like, say, the end of the universe? Maybe not ALL of the universe, because it's basically infinite, but perhaps there would be alterations that would keep life from ever existing for a really, really long time. Maybe such alterations will lead the universe to reset itself, and start all over. Because, like the author said, all species have to get used to changes in the environment where they live, changes that occur over and over again.
Maybe the universe has grown used to radical changes and will have one eventually, it just isn't telling us. Or maybe it already did, it's the people that discovered this that don't want to tell us the truth.
I don't think we'll ever know for certain, but all those questions arose in my mind as I read the chapter. I wish there was an honest answer for these questions, to know for certain if there's any hope for life (as we know it) once this planet, and everything that we know, is over.
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