In my last post, I listed four questions from a video about Astronomy. I am going to begin to pose answers to these questions, starting with the last one, then working up.
Is there life beyond earth? If you want a simple answer: no.
If you're saying, 'but that's no fun!' then let's explore this a little more...
I was going to show you a video of space pictures with some guy talking about a ton of ideas about life beyond the earth, but I was falling asleep watching it and couldn't get through the whole thing, so I chose a different one. (If you want to watch it, I have it posted on my YouTube Channel.)
So here is an astronomer being interviewed who has some more questions to throw at you.
Hmm.. interesting.. I like this guy. ;)
What do you think? I might have to come back at some point to answer his questions.
Monday, April 15
Friday, April 12
Astronomy
Today's video is an introductory video someone made about an Astronomy course.
I think this is really cool, and it poses some interesting questions at the end (paraphrasing):
1. How did the Universe begin?
2. Is there an end to the universe?
3. What are black holes?
4. Is there other life out there?
Even though they made their questions so that they would have a rhyming fashion, I actually think these are interesting topics to start looking at. So for the next few weeks, we are going to tackle these. I'll share my thoughts on the subject and then you can give your own thoughts below!
I think this is really cool, and it poses some interesting questions at the end (paraphrasing):
1. How did the Universe begin?
2. Is there an end to the universe?
3. What are black holes?
4. Is there other life out there?
Even though they made their questions so that they would have a rhyming fashion, I actually think these are interesting topics to start looking at. So for the next few weeks, we are going to tackle these. I'll share my thoughts on the subject and then you can give your own thoughts below!
Wednesday, April 10
Multi-Verse
Lots of people love to fantasize about parallel universes, and I think they're kind of cool. Minute physics just posted a video about these 'universes' and the current theories that exist out there. I think they're kind of fascinating, and pretty cool to think about.
My question is the same asked in the video: which theory do you think is most likely true? Do you think there are any 'other universes' at all?
My question is the same asked in the video: which theory do you think is most likely true? Do you think there are any 'other universes' at all?
Monday, April 8
Evidence
Today, I am featuring a short clip from some scientist about the past 12-21-2012 experience that many freaked out over. Obviously we are all still here today, so why am I sharing this?
Well, I would like to encourage us to try and learn more about the subjects we make claims over. I know people who make ridiculously large claims about things that they don't know more about other than, "I briefly heard them say something like that on the news." Just so you know, Judge Judy does not accept hearsay!
I really like the quote he used:
"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan
I support this full on, that if we are to make any claim at all, we need to be able to back it up sufficiently. If we can't, then we need to start figuring out how. Since I am still young though, I won't judge anyone who can't yet, but I will criticize anyone who refuses to try. For instance, many Christians are known for making huge claims about their religion. The only problem with this is that most refuse to look into why they believe these things and say, "Because God made it so." I have a problem with that. If I am going to make a claim, I want to at least start figuring out why, and if I can't find compelling proof or even evidence, then it must be rejected.
The important thing to note is in this quote from the Sherlock Holmes books: "..when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
Not that we blindly trust random things, but that we narrow it down to the truth, based on what we know is not. If we can't eliminate something, we can't be certain, and we should admit that there is room for further investigation, as a good scientist would.
Well, I would like to encourage us to try and learn more about the subjects we make claims over. I know people who make ridiculously large claims about things that they don't know more about other than, "I briefly heard them say something like that on the news." Just so you know, Judge Judy does not accept hearsay!
I really like the quote he used:
"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan
I support this full on, that if we are to make any claim at all, we need to be able to back it up sufficiently. If we can't, then we need to start figuring out how. Since I am still young though, I won't judge anyone who can't yet, but I will criticize anyone who refuses to try. For instance, many Christians are known for making huge claims about their religion. The only problem with this is that most refuse to look into why they believe these things and say, "Because God made it so." I have a problem with that. If I am going to make a claim, I want to at least start figuring out why, and if I can't find compelling proof or even evidence, then it must be rejected.
The important thing to note is in this quote from the Sherlock Holmes books: "..when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
Not that we blindly trust random things, but that we narrow it down to the truth, based on what we know is not. If we can't eliminate something, we can't be certain, and we should admit that there is room for further investigation, as a good scientist would.
Saturday, April 6
Subconscious
The idea of subconsciousness is a very interesting, and disturbing thought. That's why many people are drawn to things such as hypnosis.
(There is a part 1 and a part 3, but I find this one the most fascinating and believable.)
As a child, I never believed hypnosis actually worked until I began to understand that we have a subconscious. In fact, I thought it was just some trick someone invented and made up for a book or to fool people. But hypnosis is a real thing in which the operator get into a persons subconsciousness and speaks commands or tries to reach hidden information. It's almost like sleep talking, when someone has a full conversation with you at night but in the morning remembers none of it.
Hypnosis is very useful to doctors though. It can be used to better understand the human mind, how it responds to stimuli during unconsciousness. Hypnosis is also used for relaxation, and may be able to be used to fix minor mental disorders, such as someone's irrational fear of puppies. All of this though must be used carefully, since one is dealing with the subconscious mind, but it is very interesting to watch.
So here is an interesting video of David Tennant on Trick or Treat reading someone's mind. It's quite obviously not fake because they try to be honest about it, even though he is a famous actor.
The interesting thing about this video is that instead of manipulating him to do something, he reaches into the future and actually predicts it. I hope you can enjoy the craziness of the subconscious mind!
(There is a part 1 and a part 3, but I find this one the most fascinating and believable.)
Thursday, March 28
Mind Blowing
It's been a week, whoops! Well, I have never been good at keeping up with things. We have had a crazy past two weeks, so I hope you'd forgive me.
Anyways, cool edited video! Its really interesting to watch, so here's the link to watch it.
CLICK HERE! :D IT'S COOL!
What do you consider "Mind Blowing"? Someone thought that video was, but I find other things mind blowing like how math actually makes sense when you get to Calculus, and how science works at its basic building blocks. In this video, I can take a few guesses as to how the put together all the parts to make it look so realistic, but I still think it's really cool! I guess I'm just weird like that. (:
Anyways, cool edited video! Its really interesting to watch, so here's the link to watch it.
CLICK HERE! :D IT'S COOL!
What do you consider "Mind Blowing"? Someone thought that video was, but I find other things mind blowing like how math actually makes sense when you get to Calculus, and how science works at its basic building blocks. In this video, I can take a few guesses as to how the put together all the parts to make it look so realistic, but I still think it's really cool! I guess I'm just weird like that. (:
Monday, March 18
Adventures in Thought
Well, I didn't have time to think on this much, but here is a clip of some interesting thoughts for today's entry:
Sunday, March 17
Nerves
Today, I was torn between two topics to post about. Because it is St. Patrick's Day, and almost everyone I saw was wearing green, I could not stop thinking, "Green is not a creative color." If you don't know about this quote, it comes from an extremely creepy video called "Don't Hug Me I'm Scared" by This Is It. I would not suggest watching it if you have a problem with guts and organs, but it was made as a metaphor for an interesting topic. If you decide to watch it, please look up the meaning afterward, and tell me what you think! (Warning: This might scar you for life.)
Instead, I decided to explain how nerves work, since I have a test on this in Anatomy tomorrow. It actually is quite interesting when you get deep down to the basic building blocks of a person. Nerves revolves around a series of chemical and electrical pulses that set off each other, as a chain reaction traveling to your brain and back. It's really complicated how it all fits together, but it's pretty cool if you can understand it.
First off, everything built in the nerves is made of atoms, which are called ions, because they have an off-balanced number of protons (+) and electrons (-). Because of how the nerves try to balance this out, the insides of nerves have a slight negative charge. When that charge balance becomes positive, it "depolarizes" to return to it's regular state. Okay, get this, if charges are because of electron imbalance, then the electrons shift from atom to atom to 're-balance' everything. What do you get when electrons start moving or jumping from atom to atom like that? Electricity! So cool, right?
It gets a little more complicated after that, with different ions being allowed to enter through channels that open and closed based on electrical changes or chemical receptors, but in it's essence, it is really beautiful. The chemical changes set off the electrical changes (because they mess with that balance), and the electrical changes mess with the permeability* of the membrane to allow more chemicals in or out, again, domino affect.
Who knew that the body actually worked in such a logical way? It makes sense, because it has produced such amazing creatures as ourselves, but who knew that we had such a fascinating system inside of us. There are over seven trillion of these nerves in our body, working with each other in this fashion to complete every single task in your body. On top of that, when we are born, we have at that point all of the nerves we will need in our life time. Isn't that amazing? You are a fascinating creature!
Em's Definitions:
Protons - Tiny positively charged particles (or bundles of energy, as some call them) that make up half of an atom's nucleus, along with neutrons, which have no charge.
Electrons - Tinier negatively charged particles that shoot wildly around the atom's nucleus in a 'cloud'.
Permeability - When a membrane allows water or substances in and out through it. Compare running water over paper to plastic wrap. Yeah the paper is more "permeable."
Instead, I decided to explain how nerves work, since I have a test on this in Anatomy tomorrow. It actually is quite interesting when you get deep down to the basic building blocks of a person. Nerves revolves around a series of chemical and electrical pulses that set off each other, as a chain reaction traveling to your brain and back. It's really complicated how it all fits together, but it's pretty cool if you can understand it.
First off, everything built in the nerves is made of atoms, which are called ions, because they have an off-balanced number of protons (+) and electrons (-). Because of how the nerves try to balance this out, the insides of nerves have a slight negative charge. When that charge balance becomes positive, it "depolarizes" to return to it's regular state. Okay, get this, if charges are because of electron imbalance, then the electrons shift from atom to atom to 're-balance' everything. What do you get when electrons start moving or jumping from atom to atom like that? Electricity! So cool, right?
It gets a little more complicated after that, with different ions being allowed to enter through channels that open and closed based on electrical changes or chemical receptors, but in it's essence, it is really beautiful. The chemical changes set off the electrical changes (because they mess with that balance), and the electrical changes mess with the permeability* of the membrane to allow more chemicals in or out, again, domino affect. Who knew that the body actually worked in such a logical way? It makes sense, because it has produced such amazing creatures as ourselves, but who knew that we had such a fascinating system inside of us. There are over seven trillion of these nerves in our body, working with each other in this fashion to complete every single task in your body. On top of that, when we are born, we have at that point all of the nerves we will need in our life time. Isn't that amazing? You are a fascinating creature!
Em's Definitions:
Protons - Tiny positively charged particles (or bundles of energy, as some call them) that make up half of an atom's nucleus, along with neutrons, which have no charge.
Electrons - Tinier negatively charged particles that shoot wildly around the atom's nucleus in a 'cloud'.
Permeability - When a membrane allows water or substances in and out through it. Compare running water over paper to plastic wrap. Yeah the paper is more "permeable."
Saturday, March 16
Trending
Today I have been thinking about why I am interested in watching things, or as some would like to call it, "fangirling."
First of all, I honestly don't think that I am as bad as some people, because there are some crazy folk out there with posters covering their walls and cannot control how much they talk about their fandom, etc. But I am not like that.
I realized though, that unlike some of my friends who may be considered "hipsters" (because they "liked them first!"), I actually find interest in things only after someone tells me about them. I didn't realize how often I did this until this past summer when I became interested in the British TV Series, "Doctor Who." My cousin actually introduced this to me, and I admired how much he was enjoying all of the bits of this show, so I began to watch and enjoy it as well. I'll admit, I don't know as much as other people do, since quite honestly I only watch it when he comes back from college or when I am free for an hour on Amazon Prime, but I do consider myself a slight "Whovian."
This is where I get to today's interesting theory.
Typically, as you can see, humans tend to take interest in the same things our friends are interested in. If someone sounds really excited about a subject, other people will be more willing to hear what they are so excited about and take a chance to find out for themselves if it is enjoyable. The same goes for the opposite. Someone announces in class, "This book is boring," and no matter how much you enjoy the book, it is quite the challenge to overcome that feeling that this book is going to be really boring when you read it.
This is where 'trending' happens, and why it is important to be careful how you talk about things. Think about it: when you or someone else throws out a negative or positive comment on a new topic, watch how it shapes the way people around them treat that topic.
Maybe this is just me, or it could be for the "follower"-type personalities, but it could be true for everyone else at some point too.
Interesting thought: Is it really possible to remain above the influence?
 |
| "Its crazy how much my gut opinion of a movie/song is swayed by what other people say, regardless of how I felt coming out of the theater." |
First of all, I honestly don't think that I am as bad as some people, because there are some crazy folk out there with posters covering their walls and cannot control how much they talk about their fandom, etc. But I am not like that.
I realized though, that unlike some of my friends who may be considered "hipsters" (because they "liked them first!"), I actually find interest in things only after someone tells me about them. I didn't realize how often I did this until this past summer when I became interested in the British TV Series, "Doctor Who." My cousin actually introduced this to me, and I admired how much he was enjoying all of the bits of this show, so I began to watch and enjoy it as well. I'll admit, I don't know as much as other people do, since quite honestly I only watch it when he comes back from college or when I am free for an hour on Amazon Prime, but I do consider myself a slight "Whovian."
Typically, as you can see, humans tend to take interest in the same things our friends are interested in. If someone sounds really excited about a subject, other people will be more willing to hear what they are so excited about and take a chance to find out for themselves if it is enjoyable. The same goes for the opposite. Someone announces in class, "This book is boring," and no matter how much you enjoy the book, it is quite the challenge to overcome that feeling that this book is going to be really boring when you read it.
This is where 'trending' happens, and why it is important to be careful how you talk about things. Think about it: when you or someone else throws out a negative or positive comment on a new topic, watch how it shapes the way people around them treat that topic.
Maybe this is just me, or it could be for the "follower"-type personalities, but it could be true for everyone else at some point too.
Interesting thought: Is it really possible to remain above the influence?
Let's Think
Hello readers! My name is Em, and I am a thinker.
I don't know near enough about this world to be sure about everything, but I think it is going to be fun to explore it through discovery and reasoning. Please feel free to express your thoughts on the subjects!
Expand! Imagine! Anything is accepted, just keep it clean; I want us to explore logical thinking, and be as open as I can about the universe.
[ The important thing to note is that nothing that I state is proven facts or anything, it is only theories based on the limited knowledge we have of our world. If you don't agree, that's cool, I might be wrong. But hey, we're all friends here, so please do try to get along. I would love to learn more, so if you have an accurate link that explains more to me, please share it! ]
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