A pit of life and death

Very interesting reading.

Alien UFO abducting a cow?

It does seem in this video, if it’s not a hoax.

This is a pure X-Files case. Fox Mulder used to claim that he, and his sister perhaps, was abducted by the aliens. Nobody believed him. At least the cow has some documented evidence now.

But why a bovine being? Perhaps they’re taking samples from every species and they must have already beamed up some humans. Or they simply want some fresh milk which is hard to get these days.

The infinite power of our brain

The new research is revealing that the universe is like a brain cell. An average human brain has over 100 billion brain cells (neurons). So if one brain cell is like a universe, does it mean an average brain has around 100 billion universes?

Source

Our brain has infinite power; we just don’t know how to tap into that power and use it constructively. Recently I was reading this very interesting article on Wired on how with the help of a software we can improve our capacity to remember things and in the end the author has very rightly remarked:

As a science fiction fan, I had always assumed that when computers supplemented our intelligence, it would be because we outsourced some of our memory to them. We would ask questions, and our machines would give oracular — or supremely practical — replies. Wozniak has discovered a different route. When he entrusts his mental life to a machine, it is not to throw off the burden of thought but to make his mind more swift. Extreme knowledge is not something for which he programs a computer but for which his computer is programming him.

You need to read the article to understand the context. This article re-awakened my desire to make my brain stronger without resorting to gadgets and programs to manage my memory — of late I had been doing that a lot. Remember how many phone numbers we could recall? Now since all the phone numbers are stored there is no need to remember them. Similarly, even for smaller calculations we use calculators and computers. And not that we are preserving the power to utilize it on some other activity.

This is creepy, but cool nonetheless

It is a robotic dog.

Infinite infinitesimality: attosecond

It takes an electron 150 attoseconds to circle the nucleus of an atom (source). How do you measure an attosecond? The comparison, at least to an average person, is astonishing: an attosecond to a second is like a second to the age of the universe. It is 10^-18 of a second (10 divided by 1 followed by 18 zeros).

That is why we are so small in the universe. And so big. It depends on where we are placed. The entire lifetime of the earth is nothing compared to the age of the universe. One rotation of an electron seems nothing compared to our own age, forget about the earth’s age. But science has to think beyond our frontiers of consciousness.

For instance, the link mentioned above says the scientists have been able to photograph an electron. This means the camera captured the image of the electron during those 150 attoseconds. It means it did something in a time span of perhaps less than 1 attosecond. And some of us spend our lives thinking we are the big shots. At this instant I’m feeling so humbled by the age of the universe and the attosecond.

Whenever you have an ego problem, think of the universe, think of the attosecond. An image to give you a better perspective. See the entire gif animation.

The End Of The World

In 1980 I spent a few sleepless nights because someone had said that the world was going to end in that year and it had been predicted in some religious book. I was quite worried and the thought came haunting me every night because I don’t know why that was the only time I remembered the excruciating eventuality, and strangely nobody around me was bothered, I remember. It seems I was the only one who had taken the declaration seriously.

Then there was this Skylab that was supposed to fall on our heads because it had developed some problem. That was too in the early 80s and I was quite young. I worried for my life and the lives of the near and dear ones. Although the faulty satellite could have fallen anywhere in the world (it eventually fell into the ocean) somehow I was sure that the cursed thing would surely land on our block of houses. Among friends we often talked about building protective roofs over the houses but the elders didn’t seem very worried although they did talk about the impending danger.

Then it was supposed to be in 1990. I don’t know if it was a Nostradamus prophecy or what but in that year too the world was supposed to end. I was pretty grown-up by then and had a bag full of problems of my own so the issue just intrigued me but it never actually scared me.

The same kind of excitement was raked up recently when a news channel declared that a meteorite is predicted to hit the earth as early as 2029. They even interviewed a few grim-looking scientists (it seems scientists in India aren’t crazy about keeping clean and shaving regularly) who suggested a few ways of nullifying the approaching rock from the universe. I did some research on the Net and found out — to my great relief — that back in 2004 it had been confirmed that the possibility of the meteorite hitting our planet was remote, and in fact there was no chance of it colliding with the earth and orchestrating an Armageddon scenario.

Although it is relieving, it doesn’t mean that we are safe from future hits. It has been fully confirmed now that the great dinosaurs were made extinct by a massive hit from the skies. The earth has had its share of apocalypses in the past; we haven’t directly faced them because we are, humans I mean, so new here. Dinosaurs walked upon the surface of the earth for at least 100 million years. We haven’t been here properly for even one million years. I think it is the law of probability that has saved us so far. The universe is full of stray comets, meteorites and inexplicable phenomena that can destroy life here within seconds. It’s just that the universe is infinitely vast and there is lots of space for every kind of object in it, right from atoms to constellations. Another thought, what if the laws of the universe change suddenly and every form of matter disintegrates?

Anyway, beyond a certain degree you cannot control life-and-death.

Human Race Will Split Into Two Different Species

Says this report. I think there is nothing surprising in it because theories of human evolution change as our living-style alters. The report says there will be different species, but there will be no race. Anthropologists often wonder why there aren’t different human species as there are different species in every form of life on earth. For instance there are different types of cats, there are different types of wasps, different types of birds, etc. so why don’t humans have different species? This is quite an interesting question.

Different races evolved due to the isolation of hundreds of thousands of years. Until a few thousand years ago we all lived on different continents, totally cut off from each other. As we started traveling and moving to the other parts of the world we intermixed but the fundamental race features survived. For instance many people in north India have race features of the Europeans, the Orientals, and of course the Asians.

The report says the human species will peak in about 1000 years when we’ll live for 120 years and grow up to 6 to 7 feet tall. Then we’ll start altering drastically, for the worse. Advances in medicine and technology will turn us baby-like in about 10000 years (if we don’t kill ourselves by then or aren’t hit by something from space).

Aside from this, the two species will consist of highly intelligent and strong people and not very intelligent and weak people. This can actually happen because if we depend too much on technology we don’t overcome our weaknesses. For instance, people who cannot calculate more eagerly use the computers or the calculators rather than sharpening their calculation skills. Similarly, people who don’t like to walk use mechanical vehicles more than people who love walking. There are people who use technology for simple tasks and mindless fun and there are people who either develop technologies or put them to better use by doing something more productive. Take for instance the Internet: some people use it to access porn or play online games and some use it to spread awareness regarding various social, political and environmental issues, or at least use it for professional purposes.

I’ve often said that the world is run by only a select few people, and the rest just live like pests. It’s a pure indication of two evolving species.

How Gold is Formed

Did you know the gold you wear around your finger may have traveled — or at least its atoms — a distance of 3 million light years before ending up on earth? This very interesting link tells you how gold is made in the alchemy of supernovae.

Technorati Tags: gold, how gold is made

Sunita Williams returns to earth safely

Everybody must have heaved a sigh of relief when NASA’s space shuttle Atlantis carrying seven astronauts, including Sunita Williams, landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California, especially after all the hiccups. First there were technical problems and then the inclement weather played the spoil sports.

The landing at 12:49 p.m. Pacific time came after NASA had passed up four chances on Thursday and Friday to land at Kennedy Space Center in Florida because of rain and low clouds in the area. [ Space Shuttle Lands in California Desert ]

All this time when Sunita Williams was trying to come back people in India were performing public prayers and performing yagnas for her safety. All news channels were continuously telecasting people in various cities performing various religious or clutish rites. Again, when the news of the safe landing broke people came on the streets to rejoice. It was as if only Sunita Williams was there in the space shuttle. Most of the newspapers today have headings like Sunita Williams returns after record stay in space and Children pray for Sunita didi, and even as far as Sunita signals a new high for women. The Vishwa Gujarati Samaj has decided to felicitate her.

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A great video on global warming

Technorati Tags: global warming