Hideyuki Nakayama's glass globe doorknob was made in 2010. It was conceived to refract the scene on the other side of the door in its depths without using cameras, giving a preview of the next room before turning the knob
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— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) December 5, 2023
Read the comments. They are fantastic.
According to an index developed in 2015, Earth is not the most habitable planet found yet.
Kepler-442b, a rocky near-Earth-sized exoplanet that is 1206 light-years away from Earth, has a rating of 0.836. On the other hand, Earth has a rating of 0.829.
The paper introducing the… pic.twitter.com/A98Z4pyb24
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) November 30, 2023
Want to help us find asteroids? A new @DoNASAScience project lets you do that from anywhere in the world. Help scientists go through images to identify which specks of light are real space rocks and which are false detections: https://t.co/srTvXgtiQ1 pic.twitter.com/59RyMQ0wiL
— NASA (@NASA) May 18, 2023
Some thoughts about the theory of relativity…
Electricity moves differently in a vacuum or with altered gravity. Does that mean that time is different or does it mean that how we measure time is different?
You could make the argument that a person on Earth shows a different time than someone in space simply because electricity works differently in space but the same measurement of time has passed for both individuals.
The only thing that changes is “how” I measure the time difference. That is why I believe the theory of relativity is incorrect.
If electricity moves at the speed of light and electricity moves differently in a void does that question what the speed of light actually is? To me, that means the speed of light is variable. Or, the way you are measuring is changing.
To me, if I travel away from the Earth at the speed of light and then return, I will have aged exactly the same as if I had stayed on Earth. Time may have been measured differently in space but my constant of measure is the Earth.
It is a theory that is extremely clear to me for some reason. I’ve always said that you cannot arm chair quarterback the universe from your chair on Earth.
I think the theory of relativity will be debunked when we start seriously traveling among the stars.
Today’s random thought is about Dark Matter.
As I was sitting here at my desk thinking about all of the things that we are so close to achieving as far as space exploration, I had a wandering thought.
Actually, it was more like a question.
Why do we waste so much time trying to understand something that we made up to explain something that really doesn’t need explaining?
There is air. There is space.
Can we move it along, please?
There are infinitely many more things out there that need to be analyzed, probed, and then probed again.
We are wasting so much precious time on something that may or may not exist. Some people will devote their whole lives to this and to me, that is such a waste. A waste of someone’s life.
I personally believe that if it wasn’t for all of these “side projects” we would probably already have a colony on the moon and also on Mars.
Can you imagine what the world would be like if all of the scientists were focused on achieving one goal. The could all have their roles to play but what if they were all driven towards a common goal?
Wouldn’t that be cool?
Interesting article this morning about a simulation that shows how long the Earth has before we are no longer able to breath on it.
To find that tipping point, the researchers created a simulation of Earth that factored in variables that described the climate as well as geological and biological processes, and most importantly, the activity of the sun. The researchers then ran their simulation to see how the Earth fared far into the future.
The most important take away here is that they are pointing to the sun as being the cause of the loss of oxygen and less towards global warming.
The simulation showed that as the sun grew hotter, 1 billion years from now, releasing more energy, carbon dioxide levels in Earth’s atmosphere will begin to drop due to the gas absorbing the heat and breaking down. The ozone layer would also be burned away. Then, as carbon dioxide levels fall, plant life will begin to suffer, resulting in reduced production of oxygen. Over a period of just 10,000, years, CO2 levels will drop so much that plant life would go extinct. Without plant life, land- and sea-dwelling creatures would soon go extinct, as well, due to the lack of a breathable atmosphere. Meanwhile, the simulation also showed increasing levels of methane entering the atmosphere, speeding the demise of creatures needing oxygen to breathe. The result, according to the simulation, would be a planet without life, save for tiny anaerobic creatures such as bacteria—conditions very similar to Earth prior to the evolution of plants and animals.
100% agree with this. This is one of the rare times that you’ll see scientists factor in the sun to determine environmental issues. Something we have absolutely no control over.
I think that any scientist working on the climate has preconceived notions. We may call that an agenda but I don’t think I’d go quite that far.
Climate warming or Global Warming is a dynamic issue for two reasons.
The planet’s weather system is dynamic. That means that it may be warm during the 1970s in summer time but much colder in the 2000s. What most reports leave out is the fact that while some place in the world is getting warmer there is also a place that is getting much colder. One pole is losing ice. Well, the other pole is gaining it.
Water levels rising is temporary and wouldn’t be the first time.
My personal feeling on these matters is that as humans, we have a complete misunderstanding of a much bigger picture that scientists simply cannot get their head around.
Why I wrote the article is here.
This story caught my attention for a very specific reason.
Arrogance.
We haven’t seen nor are we able to see anything beyond a mere fraction of the universe. For someone to think that they can “map the universe” is probably one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard.
The scientist clearly has no idea of scope. This is the same situation as “you don’t know what you don’t know.”
We literally have no idea how big the universe actually is because we are severely limited by our ability to view everything from this spinning ball we all inhabit.
You can’t map something you can’t see.
I’m not even sure we can map our own galaxy very accurately. I’m sure mis-applying Einstein’s theory of relativity doesn’t help matters either.
It would be interesting to get a chance to see where we are scientifically 1000 years from now. If we survive as a species that is.
I think the odds are against us. As long as we keep killing each other aliens will probably stay away and we’ll just end up killing ourselves off.
We’re probably not the first civilization that did it and I’m sure we won’t be the last.
I saw an article this morning about a new telescope that is supposed to aid in our understanding of the “Big Bang” theory. You can read it here.
As an official scientific community armchair quarterback, I can honestly wonder to myself out loud “who gives a rat’s ass?” Our focus shouldn’t be on something that you are never going to solve in your lifetime. As a scientist, I think your focus should be on the here and now.
You are never going to understand the origins of something that you are completely removed from. The example I would use is someone who decides that he wants to clear a bunch of land on his farm. Cows are displaced. Will they ever know why? No. No they will not.
Why? You ask. Let’s assume for a moment that the cow has a mind of its own and can think rationally. Some dude in the next state over who happens to own the farm decided one day that he wanted to clear that particular patch of land. Is the reasoning cow ever going to know why he was displaced? Probably not.
The cow isn’t even near the source of information that might tell him why he was moved.
In the case of the “Big Bang” theory, we aren’t anywhere near anything that could help us figure out that level of detail. We would need to collect samples from other regions of the universe and so forth. We can’t do that.
I’m not going to write about the entire theory of relativity but I do want to touch on a concept that I believe Einstein got wrong. The concept is reality versus perception.
If I jump into a rocket ship and I speed away from the Earth at light speed until I reach the edge of the solar system and then I turn around and come back my watch might read that exactly 5 days have passed for me.
According to Einstein, someone on Earth would be older when you return to Earth than you are. Bullshit. Time moves at the same speed for me as it has for the person stuck on Earth. You cannot change that. Einstein would have you believe that it is true but that isn’t what we’re looking at. What Einstein observed was perception. There is a perception that time moves differently than it really does.
If you want to see an excellent example of this, watch any of the Apple screensavers that hover above a city or a landscape where you see something moving below. It is moving so very slowly, isn’t it? Well, not really. The cars are doing anywhere from 30 mph to 60 mph. They just LOOK like they are moving slower but the reality is something different. This is an excellent example of my concept.
This is why I don’t agree with Einstein’s theory. I have always had a hard time figuring out how so many people can believe the same nonsense. The theory itself should make any sane person shake their head.
I’ll add one more thought to this quick article. Have you ever heard the argument about synchronizing watches? You synchronize two watches and send one of them up to the ISS. When you bring them back together, you’ll see that the Earth watch is behind the ISS watch in time.
Does that prove Einstein’s theory?
No. What it proves is something we already know which is that electricity moves differently in microgravity than it does at 1G. This would be the same for a physical mechanical watch. The gearing would move much differently in space than on Earth. Time isn’t changing but our perceptions are.
That is why I don’t agree with his theory. You may not agree and that is ok.
We won’t really have great answers to this for millennia anyway when we can finally get out into space and explore instead of armchair quarterbacking the universe.
I can get behind this one.
Unique prediction of ‘modified gravity’ challenges dark matter theory:
Here is the current theory…
So, dark matter proponents theorize that most of the known universe is actually made of material that doesn’t interact with light, making it invisible and undetectable— but that this material accounts for much of the gravitational pull among galaxies. It has been the prevailing theory for nearly 50 years.
Here is the alternate theory which I happen to believe because I think it is more plausible. I don’t think the answer to an unsolved question is to “make shit up” which is what the dark matter theory is.
Instead of attributing the excess gravitational pull to an unseen, undetectable dark matter, MOND suggests that gravity at low accelerations is stronger than would be predicted by a pure Newtonian understanding.
In addition, MOND made a bold prediction: the internal motions of an object in the cosmos should not only depend on the mass of the object itself, but also the gravitational pull from all other masses in the universe—called “the external field effect” (EFE).
Milgrom said the findings, if robustly confirmed, would be “the smoking gun proving that galaxies are governed by modified dynamics rather than obeying the laws of Newton and of general relativity.”
The sheer number of cars that pass my house on a daily basis is staggering. Most of them are relatively quiet but a bunch of them are downright loud.
Whether the noise is the engine or the loud music playing in the car the decibel meter gets pegged.
I have a problem with this when that noise makes it into my house. I don’t have single pane glass windows. I have triple pane windows and the noise still gets in. There was a car that passed by this morning with music so loud, you’d swear I was playing it myself inside my house.
NPR and WITF have an article about this very thing.
When I was 16, noisy cars were cool. Now that I am older, noisy cars make me dream of a personal EMP gun that you can aim at a vehicle and well, it dies. Something like this but bigger.
I happen to agree with Germany on this one.
BERLIN — Germany is banning the sale of single-use plastic straws, cotton buds and food containers, bringing it in line with a European Union directive intended to reduce the amount of plastic garbage that pollutes the environment.
The Cabinet agreed Wednesday to end the sale of plastics including single-use cutlery, plates, stirring sticks and balloon holders, as well as polystyrene cups and boxes by July 3, 2021.
Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said the move was part of an effort to move away from “throw-away culture.” Up to 20% of garbage collected in parks and other public places consists of single-use plastic, mainly polystyrene containers.
I’m not sure if it the fact that I am getting older but this kind of thing makes sense to me. We’ve become extremely lazy as a culture and by doing so, we are ruining the planet. Instead of simply washing your utencils, we buy plastic forks and knives and then throw them into the Earth.
I bought a camping tool that acts like fork, spoon, and knife along with a few other uses and I try to use it when I can. I can always do better and I like that Germany is taking this type of thing seriously.
I don’t think the US will be that strict about this type of thing for a long time to come.
Unbelievably saddened by this.
Heartbroken and in shock tonight. We were just talking on the phone. This isn’t real. pic.twitter.com/8zE2afcwSu
— Kari Byron (@KariByron) July 14, 2020
We are heartbroken to hear this sad news about Grant. He was an important part of our Discovery family and a really wonderful man. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family. 💔 https://t.co/5k3GydZCzn
— Discovery (@Discovery) July 14, 2020
The universe lost a great one.
NGC 3576 is a region of glowing gas in our Milky Way galaxy. If you look closely, you can see why it’s called the Statue of Liberty Nebula. The shapes are created by various stages of star formations and death. #IndependenceDay ✨
Photo: @NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory pic.twitter.com/3l6HqGqTho
— Discovery (@Discovery) July 4, 2020
This is a pretty cool article about a subject I most certainly have an opinion on. My idea about this is simple. If alien life can grow to the point that they are traveling among the stars, they have probably gotten to a point where they’ve killed themselves off. I don’t believe we’ll ever see interstellar life that isn’t in fossilized form. By the time we can travel the stars (assuming we haven’t killed ourselves by then) alien civilizations have probably risen and fallen. Use Star Wars as an example. The story takes place a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. I’ll add, and then they all died.
This article isn’t quite as grim as that.
As Berezin explains, this doesn’t necessarily mean a highly developed extra-terrestrial civilisation would consciously wipe out other lifeforms – but perhaps “they simply won’t notice, the same way a construction crew demolishes an anthill to build real estate because they lack incentive to protect it”.
ScienceAlert
From Engadget…
Good news for goths — black somehow just got even blacker. MIT engineers have cooked up a material that’s 10 times blacker than anything else previously reported. Capturing more than 99.96 percent of any incoming light, the material is made of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) grown on chlorine-etched aluminium foil. And it was discovered by accident.
Engadget. Link above.
Great article over at Engadget about truly autonomous aircraft landings and what it could mean for smaller airports that don’t have the equipment of the major players.
Good article about changing the definition of what a kilogram really is.
The kilogram has been defined since 1889 by a shiny piece of platinum-iridium held in Paris. All modern mass measurements are traceable back to it – from micrograms of pharmaceutical medicines to kilos of apples and pears and tonnes of steel or cement.
The problem is, the “international prototype kilogram” doesn’t always weigh the same. Even inside its three glass bell jars, it gets dusty and dirty, and is affected by the atmosphere. Sometimes, it really needs a wash.
via Reuters…
