cake and eat

Can we have our cake and eat it?

Can we satisfy our need for speed while maintaining a balance with our environment? To determine that we must revisit the origin of our intelligence tens of thousands of years ago (or maybe 4 millions) when the first human ancestors stood upright and freed their hands for tools. And speech, don't forget how important that was for brain development. With speech we were finally able to shed the skin that kept us primitive. We saw the intangibles, the past, the future, innovation, and hence culture.

That was the dawn of our civilization. Once that ship has sailed, there is no stopping it, until, until everything is gone, the sky, the ground, the air, the home, the livable habitats that have given us the necessary protection from the elements and dangers.

The Earth, our planet, is not going away. At least not anytime soon. When our star in the center of our solar system dies, it'll swell and swallow our planet. And until then, even though literally thousands of scenarios can end our existence, none seems as likely as ourselves. We are the scenario now. We can end this in a flash.

This is the crossroad. I know perhaps every generation has thought about this very idea, but we're closer than ever. BECAUSE, there are a record number of us. BECAUSE of our insatiable need for advancement.

Ironic, isn't it? That was what brought us here. That exact collective personality trait enabled us to strive as a species. That's why this is the crossroad.

We can't measure how beings and existence outside of our knowledge and power can and may end us. We can, however, wise up and deal with our desire to have more and better every time the clock ticks.

In 100 years, we'll either prove ourselves to be the parasites who do NOT deserve to occupy this beautiful pale blue dot; or we'll come through as a species and have found a way to curb our enthusiasm. We can have our cake and eat it?

13.7 billion years in 10 min

Cosmos makes me sad

Watching the late great astronomer Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage always makes me incredibly incredibly sad.

Is it because of the choice of music?
Is it because of Sagan's unique mannerism?
Is it because he is no longer with us?
Is it because of the vastness of the cosmos?
Is it because we drag our collective feet?

Introduction

The entire series can be viewed on youtube here

Pale Blue Dot

Japan's SELENE crashes onto Moon

SELENE (Selenological and Engineering Explorer), better known in Japan by its nickname Kaguya (かぐや^?), is the second Japanese lunar orbiter spacecraft.^[1] Produced by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science and NASDA (both organizations that are now part of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA), the spacecraft was launched September 14, 2007. After successfully orbiting the moon for 1 year and 8 months, the main orbiter's operation finished by the controlled collision to the lunar surface on 18:25 June 10, 2009 (UTC).^[2]

wikipedia

W5: Pillars of Star Creation

Credit: Lori Allen, Xavier Koenig (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) et al., JPL-Caltech, NASA

Explanation: How do stars form? A study of star forming region W5 by the orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope provides clear clues by recording that massive stars near the center of empty cavities are older than stars near the edges. A likely reason for this is that the older stars in the center are actually triggering the formation of the younger edge stars. The triggered star formation occurs when hot outflowing gas compresses cooler gas into knots dense enough to gravitationally contract into stars. Spectacular pillars, left slowly evaporating from the hot outflowing gas, provide further visual clues. In the above scientifically-colored infrared image, red indicates heated dust, while white and green indicate particularly dense gas clouds. W5 is also known as IC 1848, and together with IC 1805 form a complex region of star formation popularly dubbed the Heart and Soul Nebulas. The above image highlights a part of W5 spanning about 2,000 light years that is rich in star forming pillars. W5 lies about 6,500 light years away toward the constellation of Cassiopeia.

APOD on NASA

why today is an interesting day

On Sept 10th the Large Hadron Collider is tested for its main function- sending protons around a specially designed series of circular tunnels deep under Europe, in velocity nearing the speed of light. It was successful.

Now step two follows in Oct when the actual collision will take place. Despite rumors across the interweb saying it's going to destroy our existence, we'll be just fine. Earth's top scientists are 99.99999999% sure. We'll walk away having a better understanding of the Big Bang. I can't wait!

Take a 360 degree look at the actual tunnel.
LHC official website has so much more.










Large Hadron Collider: Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios

The Big Bang Theory

Best Case: The Large Hadron Colliders' ALICE experiment successfully creates quark-gluon plasma, a substance theorized to have existed just milliseconds after the Big Bang. By generating temperatures more than 100,000 times hotter than the sun, scientists hope to watch as this particle goo cools and expands into the particles that we know. That could help scientists answer why protons and neutrons weigh 100 times more than the quarks they're made of.

Worst Case: Scientists inadvertently make a micro black hole, and the earth is quickly erased from existence. Just kidding: scientists at CERN and elsewhere have ruled out the possibility that the LHC will create any kind of doomsday scenario. The black holes that the LHC could theoretically create don't even have enough energy to light up a light bulb. On the other hand, the U.K.'s Astronomer Royal put the odds of destroying the world at 1 in 50 million (which puts it in the realm of possibilities but still not as likely as hitting the lottery).

What does the Universe expand into?

I was reading reddit and came across this comment to the question above.

the growth is uniform?

In general. There are local areas where galaxies are gravitationally bound, but the expansion of spacetime means other groups become increasingly more distant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_expansion_of_space

the growth can be measured?

This is the most solid area of the cosmological science. We've known about the expansion since the 20s, and despite its unintuitiveness, discovered that the rate of expansion is increasing.

there is no central point from which the expansion is happening?

There are no privileged frames of reference. Within our 3-dimensional experience, there is no center. Every point is expanding away from the others equally.

But 4-dimensionally, you can view the instant of the big bang as the point in spacetime from which everything expands. As we move along the axis of time, the spacial dimensions all increase.

Alternately, if you view our universe as the surface of a hypersphere, the center of that sphere can be viewed as the central point; however it is "outside" the space we occupy.

The Bad Astronomer attempts an explanation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw5W3CszeAI

that still indicates that the balloon is expanding IN something... know what I mean?

Not really; that's where the analogy breaks down. Space and time are both metrics internal to the Universe. They only make sense in reference to things within space and time. You can have no "space outside space" or "time before time".

The Big Bang wasn't an explosion of matter into an already-existing expanse of space. Space and time themselves emerge from that singular point, along with all the matter and energy in the universe.

If the universe exists at its origin point as a singularity, then that is how it exists relative to anything "outside". Everything else happens "inside" and has no bearing on what occurs "outside". One model is that our universe is one of an infinite number of "bubble universes" that simply pop into existence as a consequence of quantum vacuum fluctuations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaotic_inflation_theory
http://www.lifesci.sussex.ac.uk/home/John_Gribbin/cosmo.htm

Here's a few links that may address your question better than I can:

http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=274
http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=651
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/011021a.html
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=according-to-the-big-bang-1999-10-21&catID=3

http://reddit.com/info/6iz44/comments/c03z5jd

YADS

YADS - yet another doomsday scenario

Our solar system wades through the Milky Way not unlike mother Earth orbits the Sun. Every so often we come to a dense section of the spiral disc where comets and other space debris hurl towards us ten times more frequently. Is it time the dinosaurs went distinct again?

Scientists at the Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology built a computer model of our solar system’s movement and found that it “bounces” up and down through the plane of the galaxy. As we pass through the densest part of the plane, gravitational forces from the surrounding giant gas and dust clouds dislodge comets from their paths. The comets plunge into the solar system, some of them colliding with the earth.

The Cardiff team found that we pass through the galactic plane every 35 to 40 million years, increasing the chances of a comet collision tenfold. Evidence from craters on Earth also suggests we suffer more collisions approximately 36 million years. Professor William Napier, of the Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology, said: “It’s a beautiful match between what we see on the ground and what is expected from the galactic record.” Cardiff University

Cat's Eye Hubble Remix

Credit & Copyright: Vicent Peris(OAUV / PTeam), MAST, STScI, AURA, NASA

Explanation:

Staring across interstellar space, the alluring Cat's Eye Nebula lies three thousand light-years from Earth. One of the most famous planetary nebulae in the sky, the Cat's Eye (NGC 6543) is over half a light-year across and represents a final, brief yet glorious phase in the life of a sun-like star. This nebula's dying central star may have produced the simple, outer pattern of dusty concentric shells by shrugging off outer layers in a series of regular convulsions. But the formation of the beautiful, more complex inner structures is not well understood. Here, Hubble Space Telescope archival image data has been reprocessed to create another look the cosmic cat's eye. Compared to well-known Hubble pictures, the alternative processing strives to sharpen and improve the visiblility of details in light and dark areas of the nebula and also applies a more complex color palette. Of course, gazing into the Cat's Eye, astronomers may well be seeing the fate of our Sun, destined to enter its own planetary nebula phase of evolution ... in about 5 billion years.

Asteroid 2007 TU24 Passes the Earth

Asteroid 2007 TU24 Passes the Earth

Credit:
Green Bank Radio Telescope,
Arecibo Radio Telescope

Explanation:
Asteroid 2007 TU24 passed by the Earth yesterday, posing no danger. The space rock, estimated to be about 250 meters across, coasted by just outside the orbit of Earth's Moon. The passing was not very unusual -- small rocks strike Earth daily, and in 2003 a rock the size of a bus passed inside the orbit of the Moon, being detected only after passing. TU24 was notable partly because it was so large. Were TU24 to have struck land, it might have caused a magnitude seven earthquake and left a city-sized crater. A perhaps larger danger would have occurred were TU24 to have struck the ocean and raised a large tsunami. This radar image was taken two days ago. The Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico broadcast radar that was reflected by the asteroid and then recorded by the Byrd Radio Telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia. The resulting image shows TU24 to have an oblong and irregular shape. TU24 was discovered only three months ago, indicating that other potentially hazardous asteroids might lurk in our Solar System currently undetected. Objects like TU24 are hard to detect because they are so faint and move so fast. Humanity's ability to scan the sky to detect, catalog, and analyze such objects has increased notably in recent years.

nasa.gov

in go(o)d company

Prof. Carl Sagan (1934 - 1996),
Prof. Stephen Hawking (1942 - ),
and Arthur C. Clarke (1917 - )
sit down together in this 1988 interview discussing the then-known universe. Not too much is different scientifically - we've learned a lot more but the big picture remains unchanged. Today Sagan is no longer with us. Clarke has one foot in the grave. Hawking is the one that looks half decent. Who would have thought?

I admire and respect these brilliant men, their vision and achievements on science and their effects on our way of perceiving the future. We need to have their equals in this generation.

GOD, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING ELSE
download your video torrent there


A clip on youtube from the video:

Aurora, Stars, Meteor, Lake, Alaska

Explanation: Sometimes, after your eyes adapt to the dark, a spectacular sky appears. In this case, a picturesque lake lies in front of you, beautiful green aurora flap high above you, brilliant stars shine far in the distance, and, for a brief moment, a bright meteor streaks by. This digitally fused breathtaking panorama was captured late last month across one of the Chena Lakes in North Pole, Alaska, USA, and includes the Pleiades open cluster of stars on the image right. The shot is unusual not only for the many wonders it has aptured simultaneously, but because lakes this far north tend to freeze and become non-reflecting before a sky this dark can be photographed.

Nasa astronomy

The Colorful Clouds of Rho Ophiuchi

Explanation:
The many spectacular colors of the Rho Ophiuchi (oh'-fee-yu-kee) clouds highlight the many processes that occur there. The blue regions shine primarily by reflected light. Blue light from the star Rho Ophiuchi and nearby stars reflects more efficiently off this portion of the nebula than red light. The Earth's daytime sky appears blue for the same reason. The red and yellow regions shine primarily because of emission from the nebula's atomic and molecular gas. Light from nearby blue stars - more energetic than the bright star Antares - knocks electrons away from the gas, which then shines when the electrons recombine with the gas. The dark regions are caused by dust grains - orn in young stellar atmospheres - which effectively block light emitted behind them. The Rho Ophiuchi star clouds, well in front of the globular cluster M4 visible above on far lower left, are even more colorful than humans can see - the clouds emits light in every wavelength and from the radio to the gamma-ray.

The Trifid Nebula in Stars and Dust

Explanation:
Unspeakable beauty and unimaginable bedlam can be found together in the Trifid Nebula Also known as M20, this photogenic nebula is visible with good binoculars towards the constellation of Sagittarius. The energetic processes of star formation create not only the colors but the chaos. The red-glowing gas results from high-energy starlight striking interstellar hydrogen gas. The dark dust filaments that lace M20 were created in the atmospheres of cool giant stars and in the debris from supernovae explosions. Which bright young stars light up the blue reflection nebula is still being investigated. The light from M20 we see today left perhaps 3000 years ago, although the exact distance remains unknown. Light takes about 50 years to cross M20.

Credit & Copyright: R. Jay GaBany (Cosmotography.com) NASA

NYC sunset

Explanation:
Today, if it is clear, well placed New Yorkers can go outside at sunset and watch their city act like a modern version of Stonehenge. Manhattan will flood dramatically with sunlight just as the Sun sets precisely on the centerline of every street. Usually, the tall buildings that line the gridded streets of New York City's tallest borough will hide the setting Sun. This effect makes Manhattan a type of modern Stonehenge, although only aligned to about 30 degrees east of north. Were Manhattan's road grid perfectly aligned to east and west, today's effect would occur on the Vernal and Autumnal Equinox, March 21 and September 21, the only two days that the Sun rises and sets due east and west. Pictured above in this horizontally stretched image, the the Sun sets down 34th Street as viewed from Park Avenue. If today's sunset is hidden by clouds do not despair -- the same thing happens twice each year, in late May and mid July. On none of these occasions, however, should you ever look directly at the Sun.

nasa.gov
Credit & Copyright:
Neil deGrasse Tyson (AMNH)

Wisps of the Iris Nebula

Explanation:
Like delicate cosmic petals, these clouds of interstellar dust and gas have blossomed 1,300 light-years away in the fertile star fields of the constellation Cepheus. Sometimes called the Iris Nebula and dutifully cataloged as NGC 7023, this is not the only nebula in the sky to evoke the imagery of flowers. Still, this beautiful digital image shows off the Iris Nebula's range of colors and symmetries in impressive detail. Within the Iris, dusty nebular material surrounds a massive, hot, young star in its formative years. Central filaments of cosmic dust glow with a reddish photoluminescence as some dust grains effectively convert the star's invisible ultraviolet radiation to visible red light. Yet the dominant color of the central nebula is blue, characteristic of dust grains reflecting starlight. Dark, obscuring clouds of dust and cold molecular gas are present on the left of the image, and lead the eye to see other convoluted and fantastic shapes. Infrared observations indicate that this nebula may contain complex carbon molecules known as PAHs. As shown here, the bright blue portion of the Iris Nebula is about six light-years across.

APOD
Thomas V. Davis (tvdavisastropix.com)

Saturn from Below

nasa.gov/apod

Dust and the Helix Nebula

Explanation:
Dust makes this cosmic eye look red. The eerie Spitzer Space Telescope image shows infrared radiation from the well-studied Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) a mere 700 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius. The two light-year diameter shroud of dust and gas around a central white dwarf has long been considered an excellent example of a planetary nebula, representing the final stages in the evolution of a sun-like star. But the Spitzer data show the nebula's central star itself is immersed in a surprisingly bright infrared glow. Models suggest the glow is produced by a dust debris disk. Even though the nebular material was ejected from the star many thousands of years ago, the close-in dust could be generated by collisions in a reservoir of objects analogous to our own solar system's Kuiper Belt or cometary Oort cloud. Formed in the distant planetary system, the comet-like bodies have otherwise survived even the dramatic late stages of the star's evolution.

nasa.gov

Comet Between Fireworks and Lightning

Explanation: Sometimes the sky itself is the best show in town. On January 26, people from Perth, Australia gathered on a local beach to watch a sky light up with delights near and far. Nearby, fireworks exploded as part of Australia Day celebrations. On the far right, lightning from a thunderstorm flashed in the distance. Near the image center, though, seen through clouds, was the most unusual sight of all: Comet McNaught. The photogenic comet was so bright that it even remained visible though the din of Earthly flashes. Comet McNaught continues to move out from the Sun and dim, but should remain visible in southern kies with binoculars through the end of this month. The above image is actually a three photograph panorama digitally processed to reduce red reflections from the exploding firework.

NASA APOD

2 documentaries

Today I saw two really inspiring documentaries.


1) Human 2.0

Meet the scientific prophets who claim we are on the verge of creating a new type of human - a human v2.0.

It's predicted that by 2029 computer intelligence will equal the power of the human brain. Some believe this will revolutionise humanity - we will be able to download our minds to computers extending our lives indefinitely. Others fear this will lead to oblivion by giving rise to destructive ultra intelligent machines.

One thing they all agree on is that the coming of this moment - and whatever it brings - is inevitable.

2) Monster of the Milky Way

Astronomers are closing in on the proof they've sought for years that one of the most destructive objects in the universe—a supermassive black hole—lurks at the center of our own galaxy. Could it flare up and consume our entire galactic neighborhood? Join NOVA on a mind-bending investigation into one of the most bizarre corners of cosmological science: black hole research. From event horizon to singularity, the elusive secrets of supermassive black holes are revealed through stunning computer-generated imagery, including an extraordinary simulation of what it might look like to fall into the belly of such an all-devouring beast.