21 NOV 2017 by ideonexus

 The Increasing Chemical Complexity of the Cosmos

The ancient origins of stars, planets and life may be viewed as a sequence of emergent events, each of which added to the chemical complexity of the cosmos. Stars, which formed from the primordial hydrogen of the Big Bang, underwent nucleosynthesis to produce all the elements of the Periodic Table. Those elements were dispersed during supernova events and provided the raw materials for planets and all their mineralogical diversity. Chemical evolution on Earth (and perhaps countless other plan...
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31 MAY 2015 by ideonexus

 Flatland Science: Dimensions

What and where is Flatland? A Square gives us several interesting answers, many of th contradictory. We know that it’s flat, big (but how big?), and very thin, the most important question of all is “how thin?” A lot depends on the answer… A Square himself eliminates the version that’s easiest for three-dimensional readers to understand; a world that’s thin – maybe only a few atoms thick - but nevertheless has some physical height. It would have some sort of solid or semi-solid ...
Folksonomies: science fiction otherness
Folksonomies: science fiction otherness
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19 DEC 2013 by ideonexus

 Accelerating Knowledge

The rate at which man has been storing up useful knowledge about himself and the universe has been spiraling upward for 10,000 years. The rate took a sharp upward leap with the invention of writing, but even so it remained painfully slow over centuries of time. The next great leap forward in knowledge—acquisition did not occur until the invention of movable type in the fifteenth century by Gutenberg and others. Prior to 1500, by the most optimistic estimates, Europe was producing books at a...
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Toffler describes and quantifies the increasing production of information in human civilization and its implications.

29 MAR 2012 by ideonexus

 The Delicate Balance of the Forces of the Universe

the universe would be a vastly different place if the properties of the matter and force particles were even moderately changed. For example, the existence of the stable nuclei forming the hundred or so elements of the periodic table hinges delicately on the ratio between the strengths of the strong and electromagnetic forces. The protons crammed together in atomic nuclei all repel one another electromagnetically; the strong force acting among their constituent quarks, thankfully, overcomes t...
Folksonomies: nature physics forces balance
Folksonomies: nature physics forces balance
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If they were slightly different, the Universe wouldn't look the way it does.

13 DEC 2011 by ideonexus

 Carbon VS Silicon Life

Though one might imagine "living" organisms such as intelligent computers produced from other elements, such as silicon, it is doubtful that life could have spontaneously evolved in the absence of carbon. The reasons for that are technical but have to do with the unique manner in which carbon bonds with other elements. Carbon dioxide, for example, is gaseous at room temperature, and biologically very useful. Since silicon is the element directly below carbon on the periodic table, it has simi...
Folksonomies: life alien life xenobiology
Folksonomies: life alien life xenobiology
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While we can imagine living computers, it is hard to imagine silicon life spontaneously forming in the universe.

29 MAR 2011 by ideonexus

 Requirements for a Science Bible

Creating a permanent record of our civilization may not be as difficult as we imagine. What we need is a primer on science, clearly written and unambiguous in its meaning—a primer for anyone interested in the state of the Earth and how to survive and live well on it. One that would serve also as a primary school science text. It would be the scientific equivalent of the Bible. It would contain practical information such as how to light a fire, and things to wonder about when it was lit. It ...
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What are some of the most basic and important things that would need to go into a completely introductory book on Science?

24 FEB 2011 by ideonexus

 Science Doesn't Concern Itself With What Doesn't Exist

Science doesn’t concern itself with the non-existence of something. The periodic table of imaginary things would be too big for a classroom- infinitely big in fact, and rather pointless. It’s not trying to prove the non-existence of anything supernatural. All it knows is there is no scientific proof of anything supernatural so far. When someone presents a jar of God it will test it. If it finds some evidence of “godness” it will follow the evidence till it knows everything it can. Th...
Folksonomies: science atheism
Folksonomies: science atheism
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Ricky Gervais describing why science only concerns itself with discovering truth, not what should be done with that truth.