Buy Magazine to Support the Causes

For the last few months, I've been going through the magazine sections of my local stores and been pleasantly surprised by the selection of science based magazines still available for purchase.

It's no secret that magazines are not as relevant in the digital age however I still find value in buying them when considering the following:

• It helps support the cause while also helping spread the message.
• The, sometime complex, material is simplified for easy reading/understanding.
• Most articles include references that may be useful to someone who wants more information on the subject.
• Information usually comes from trusted/reputable sources.
• More likely to contain the biggest, most interesting, information (as its more likely to sell).

Additionally, there's a sense of "I bought it so I have to read it" that we don't typically get from simply doing research online.

One of the major issues today is that people don't read enough. I know many people that would rather spend their afternoon browsing social media than to pick up anything to read let alone a magazine.

In these troubling times, with Americans pulling back on education in all its forms, supporting science base publication is as important as ever.

Why is Pseudoscience still Around?

“Science arouses a soaring sense of wonder. But so does pseudoscience. Sparse and poor popularizations of science abandon ecological niches that pseudoscience promptly fills. If it were widely understood that claims to knowledge require adequate evidence before they can be accepted, there would be no room for pseudoscience. But a kind of Gresham’s Law prevails in popular culture by which bad science drives out good.”
-Carl Sagan 

Years ago I met a woman who was training to be a "faith healer". When I inquired about it, she told me that she was attending classes out of a master faith healer's home, for a fee of course, and it was "really working" for her.
While I didn't ask her this I'm sure she also had extensive knowledge of astrology, card reading, rock energy or all other matter of pseudoscience.

What is a Scientist?

A scientist is a person who conducts research to increase knowledge in the natural sciences. They use evidence and research to form hypotheses, test them, and share their findings.

“…it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring. Which attitude is better geared for our long-term survival? Which gives us more leverage on our future? And if our naïve self-confidence is a little undermined in the process, is that altogether such a loss? Is there not cause to welcome it as a maturing and character-building experience?”

-Carl Sagan

To some, it's difficult to make the distinction between science and pseudoscience simply because the mass media is filled with the later. Today, there's a lot more shows about "Aliens have built the pyramids" than Carl Sagan talking about why going faster than the speed of light is impossible without breaking the math currently related to it.

“Pseudoscience is easier to contrive than science, because distracting confrontations with reality—where we cannot control the outcome of the comparison—are more readily avoided.”

-Carl Sagan

A great book on the subject is "The Deamon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark" by Carl Sagan (available here).

Perception and Reality

It has been said that humans aren’t perfect. This is especially true in the world of perception as our sensory organs only perceive a fraction of reality and the brain is interpreting the rest. This interpretation could, of course, be wrong since it isn’t entirely based in reality - filling in the blanks does mean that the blanks could be filed incorrectly.

Both our brain and sensory organs have limited capabilities that would need to be upgraded to process more of the reality that surrounds us. It’s something that is likely not going to happen naturally but there could be a future where technology is used for bodily upgrades. Even today, technology is used to provide data with a precision not possible by simply using the means available via our bodies.

Somehow, humanity has learned to navigate through these uncertainties but it does beg the question of how much are we missing out on? What would be the possibilities if our brain could perceive reality more accurately? How often have we been wrong simply because we don’t have the correct/complete picture of an event? 

Multiply these uncertainties by the amount of years humanity has been around and by how many people has ever lived and the result, for better or worse, is our present moment.

“There’s no truth. There is only perception.” 

-Gustave Flaubert

We’re very trusting of our views on reality but that’s only because we don’t know how much of it is wrong. We’re only now beginning to understand our limitations and it’s only a question of time before we find ways to improve our perception of the world.

Why Immortality?

We are living with an awareness of ourselves and the limitation of life. Biologically speaking, the ultimate goal is immortality – to reach a point where death is a choice. What other end is there for a biological specie of intellect?
Extending life indefinitely cannot be a characteristic unique to our specie. There must be a point, for any biological specie of intellect (with limited lifespan), where efforts are made towards extending life as much as possible.

Why Immortality?

Of course, immortality isn’t for everyone; Some will say that life is meant to end while others wonder how things will be a thousand years from now and want to partake in all of it. The point is that we should get to choose.

How long does it take for a biological specie to unlock the secrets of immortality?

Science fiction has often toyed with the idea of immortality and, depending on the route we want to take, or the definition of immortality we choose, we may be closer than we think. Keeping in mind that the current estimate of the technological space required to upload a human mind into a computer is 1 Petabyte and there’s already been a successful microchip connected to a human brain... we may be less than a century away from successfully uploading a human mind into a machine – thus reaching, a primitive version of, immortality.
We could also reach immortality by “freezing” ourselves, using cryogenics technology, until such time when better means are available to us.

Our lifespan is currently limited but it may not always be so.

The Universe doesn't care about Humans

A friend of mine once said that he believed the Universe was created for the purpose of human curiosity. In other words, if we weren't here then the Universe would cease to be. He's certainly not the only person to think this way and it's something that I simply can't agree with.

The origin of this belief screams creationism where everything is only 6000 years old. If this were true, that the Universe was only 6000 years old and that humans were only around for that long, then maybe the Universe would of been created solely for us but there's evidence that suggest that the Universe is much older than that.

If we look at our planet's history, you'll find that the Universe is more than 6000 years old and life thrived before the introduction of humans which suggests that the Universe existed prior to our existence, or awareness, of it. 

We we could possibly say, however, is that the Universe only exist to us while we're alive as its the only time that we are aware of it. 

The Universe existed before humans and it will continue to do so after we're all gone.

Universe Simulator!

Ever wanted to explore Deep Space? Now you can with the free Space Engine! This universe simulator is based on real data, when possible, making the experience as accurate as it can possibly be from a computer chair. If you can see it, you can go to it. PC owners ought to try this (did I mention it's free?).

Check the video here for a glimpse of the action:

Links:
Originally found here: http://sploid.gizmodo.com/
Can be downloaded here: en.spaceengine.org/

Water Tricks!

Science is awesome and some of these tricks, done with water, will blow your mind! They're easy enough to try at home - give it a go when you have a chance!

If There Is Life On Mars

"If there is life on Mars that had developed separately form Earth, then that means the big barrier to becoming an interstellar species isn't the life-creating part, but the surviving this technological adolescence part without destroying ourselves." -Yahoo

It's no secret that we want to find life on Mars. There are thousands of sci-fi stories talking about it and we are sending satellites/robots to the red planet to search for it. What if we do find not only traces of bacteria but also remnants of mammals or civilizations?

The next logical questions would be "What happened?" and "Is this what will happen to us if we keep our current destructive nature?" As far as we know, an Earth like planet is rare and to have 2 in the same solar system would mean that we were very fortunate.To have one that developed intelligent life is even rarer.
Perhaps planets, like everything else, are meant to die and the intelligent species on it are supposed to explore space in an attempt to find a new home.

What ever the case may be, it's easy to ponder on the question and be inspired by it. We might never know the answers in our lifetime but future generations likely will. This universe, after all, is there for us to explore. Whether it's to search for a new home or only for knowledge purposes; space travel is our destiny.

Lets Be More Like Elephants?

I was wondering why humans were the only known mammals who developed intelligence since we don't have the biggest brain - Elephants do. It turns out that elephants are more intelligent than I had given them credit for and are also altruistic animals. I came across this from Wikipedia that shows their, sometimes, good side.

"Elephants are thought to be highly altruistic animals that even aid other species, including humans, in distress. In India, an elephant was helping locals lift logs by following a truck and placing the logs in pre-dug holes upon instruction from the mahout (elephant trainer). At a certain hole, the elephant refused to lower the log. The mahout came to investigate the hold-up and noticed a dog sleeping in the hole. The elephant only lowered the log when the dog was gone. When an elephant is hurt, other elephants (even if they are unrelated) aid them.

Cynthia Moss has often seen elephants going out of their way to avoid hurting or killing a human, even when it was difficult for them (such as having to walk backwards to avoid a person). Joyce Poole documented an encounter told to her by Colin Francombe on Kuki Gallman's Laikipia Ranch. A ranch herder was out on his own with camels when he came across a family of elephants. The matriarch charged at him and knocked him over with her trunk, breaking one of his legs. In the evening, when he did not return, a search party was sent in a truck to find him. When the party discovered him, he was being guarded by an elephant. The animal charged the truck, so they shot over her and scared her away. The herdsman later told them that when he could not stand up, the elephant used her trunk to lift him under the shade of a tree. She guarded him for the day and would gently touch him with her trunk."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_cognition

If the above is true then elephants do have a degree of intelligence in them but why hasn't it developed like ours? Some scientist believe that the brain has to a certain size in order for it to develop to the degree of intelligence we have. It's an interesting thought for sure but one that doesn't quite satisfy me...

Why We Tend To Eat More When We're Tired

Food is energy and when we're tired the body thinks it needs more of it in order to gain energy back hence why we have a tendency to be hungrier when we're sleepy. Sleeping is a crucial part in the fat burning process so don't forget to get some sleep!

A Simple way for better Memory

Want to have better memory? Get out of your routine by simply using your opposite hand to brush your teeth, eat, etc...

Doing something out of the ordinary creates new pathways in the brain which can help with memory.
Since the left hand is connected to the right hemisphere of the brain (and vice versa), simply changing hands for your daily activities will force the brain to create new pathways on the opposite side of the brain.

Get some new habits in!

Leaves falling in autumn

Climate change is real and I used to think that once we loose winter, the trees would have leaves all year round which would reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere quicker.

My assumption was based on the fact that trees looses their leaves due to cold temperature but that is not the case. Leaves die out due to the shorter days which mean that even if our winters would be warm, our trees would not have leaves. See below:

"Despite the traditional belief, weather plays no role. The trees possess an inner clock which is triggered by the length of the daylight. The shrinking daylight in autumn activates it, and the trees will lose their leaves even in the warmest falls."
-Softpedia

For more, check out this site:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Why-Do-Leaves-Fall-Off-in-Autumn-45440.shtml

Hypnic Jerk – Feeling of falling when sleeping.

A Hypnic Jerk is “a feeling of falling” we get sometime just before we fall asleep.

"According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine there is a wide range of potential causes, including anxiety,caffeine, stress and strenuous activities in the evening. Another theory often cited as a cause, is an evolutionary trait found in most primates; the brain misinterprets muscle relaxation and onset of sleep as a signal that the sleeper is falling out of a tree, consequently awaking suddenly. The reaction may have a selective value, prompting the sleeper to readjust position to ensure a fall did not occur." -Wikipedia

Now you know.

If you're not Religious then you better be Educated

I do agree that religion provides a simple explanation to things that we don't understand. By saying "God did it" we can dust the problem off and move on to something else.
Science, on the other hand, is trying to understand the problems rather than giving the "God Excuse". However, someone who says "I believe in science" but does not know anything about the problem is not better off than the person who simply said "God did it".

"The important thing is not what you believe in but knowing why you believe what you believe." -Tim Marks

In my head, science and religion are both valid. Science is to understand the universe while religion contain principles worth following in order to live in harmony with others.

The brain activity in digital form

In the 1960s, scientist believed that the thought process of the brain could be easily reproduced using computers but it's only recently that one of the fastest computer in the world was able to accomplish this feat.

It took the Japaneses "K computer" (82,944 processors) super computer 40 minute to duplicate 1 sec of brain activity.

This is getting us a step closer to AI technology.

Source: http://io9.com/this-computer-took-40-minutes-to-simulate-one-second-of-1043288954