A Better View of the Past

This morning, the Roman Space Telescope was successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  Named for Nancy Grace Roman, the first Chief Astronomer at NASA, it will provide a broader and sharper view of the Universe than the Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990; it will also send back data at a much faster rate.

Whenever we look at the night sky we are looking into the past, when the light we see left the stars or was reflected by planets.  Roman will be capable of viewing the Universe back to a couple of hundred million years after its birth (currently calculated to have been 13.8 billion years ago).  It is also expected to unveil far more planets than previously documented and will significantly expand our understanding of dark matter and dark energy.

All of this data will improve our understanding of the formation and evolution of the Universe, a welcome development for scientists but yet another threat to those who rely on mysticism to explain our existence. 

The Grounding Movement

Down to Earth, a documentary that is currently available on Amazon Prime, summarizes the rise of the Grounding Movement, a theory that many, if not most, human maladies result from our having disconnected from the electro-chemical balance of Planet Earth.  Specifically, our electrical connection with the planet is disrupted by our use of shoes, work gloves, beds and artificial housing, among other modern conveniences of life and, as a result, we are no longer "electrically grounded."

Per this theory, the flow of electrons from the soil into our bodies is important in reducing inflammation, a destructive component of most forms of human disease.  The negatively-charged electrons neutralize free radicals that spawn inflammation and tissue destruction.  Reference is made to the use of soil contact by early human cultures to treat illness and to many personal testimonials from present day society.  A number of controlled medical studies are also cited.

Having trained for and practiced modern medical science, I am naturally skeptical of such simplistic theories.  In addition, I must point out that wild creatures and domestic livestock develop a wide range of diseases despite their constant contact with natural environments.  Nevertheless, I am well aware that we do not fully understand the many mysteries of our Universe and found the presentation to be fascinating.  An open mind is rarely misleading in medicine and a daily, barefoot walk in the grass is certainly more appealing than the regular use of anti-inflammatory drugs.  My thanks to my sister for calling my attention to this thought-provoking documentary. 

Politics & Science II

NASA's latest moon mission was postponed today due to technical difficulties.  As it turns out, Congress had agreed to fund the program but insisted that old parts from the Shuttle Era be used to reduce the cost of the project.  As one might expect, just the opposite result has occurred.

While Congress has the right to fund or defund science programs, they are not qualified to dictate how the programs should be managed.  Indeed, a significant percentage of Congress members are Conservative Christians and that mysticism often conflicts with science, a phenomenon that we have recently observed with regard to abortion rights and science education.

Perhaps it is best that all science programs be funded and managed by the private sector, free from the influence of politics and mysticism.  One might argue whether the value of the moon mission justifies its cost but we cannot allow politicians to meddle with scientific data or methods. 

See also:  Politics & Science from June of 2014

Me and the Metaverse

Anyone who pays even fleeting attention to the modern tech world has heard about the Metaverse.  Nevertheless, though it is the new focus of Facebook (now known as Meta Platforms), no one seems capable of describing the Metaverse in any detail.  As a non-techie, I imagine it to be a digital universe in which humans participate via their cyber images.

Now in my seventies, I will likely miss out on the Metaverse but I am not the least bit disappointed.  Not keen on social media or computer games,  I am far more interested in the real Universe, however poorly we understand its history and ongoing evolution.  While the laws of physics will control the Metaverse as well, I am more fascinated by their role in the physical Universe, including their interaction with chemical and biologic processes.

No doubt, modern technology has been vital to our understanding of the physical Universe but I doubt the Metaverse will contribute to that knowledge.  I'll never know for sure but I'm glad I lived during an era when scientists focused on reality, not virtual reality.  

See also:  Give Me Reality

Watching Metal Birds

As I write this post, I am sitting at Denver International Airport, watching human flying machines takeoff and land.  Within a couple of hours, I will be in the air myself, enjoying the scenery and then the urban lights on my way to Columbia, Missouri.  That stay will be brief, since we plan to drive down to our condo on Longboat Key.

Though I cannot fly a plane, I enjoy views of the Earth from above and certainly appreciate the efficiency of jet travel.  While it cannot match the freedom of avian flight, it is the closest we humans will likely get (except for the use of gliders) and I look forward to every opportunity.

Even the sight of those big birds landing and taking off is inspiring; a British Airways 747 just arrived from London, highlighting the technological progress that our species has made.  Who knows what the future may hold but, during my lifetime, the ability to observe our planet from 30,000 feet is rewarding enough.

See: Meeting Stan Freden

A Wrinkle in Science

Earlier today, I saw Disney's A Wrinkle in Time with my ten year-old grandson.  The story begins by focusing on two physicist parents and their science-oriented children.  When the father disappears into the Universe after discovering a "wrinkle" in the time-space continuum, the children and a friend are induced to search for him.

From this point on, the story takes on a moralistic tone, with emphasis on the struggle between "light and darkness" and on the universal power of love.  In other words, there is a shift from science to human mysticism.

While the film offers valuable lessons for children, especially related to self-esteem and one's relationship with friends and family, it seemed to ridicule the value of science that is devoid of humanistic qualities.  Rather than pointing out our relative insignificance in this vast Universe, the story, with its Disneyesque ending, implies that natural forces can be altered or diminished by human behavior.  Once again, mysticism conquers science, rescuing believers from the cruel, godless Universe. 

Stephen Hawking's Legacy

Stephen Hawking, the renowned cosmologist and theoretical physicist, died yesterday at the age of 76.  Diagnosed with ALS in 1963, when he was 21, he was advised that he had but two years to live.  So much for predicting the course of human disease.

Determined to receive his Doctorate, Hawking carried on with the support of his first wife, eventually overcoming the loss of both his mobility and his speech.  Nevertheless, his courageous perseverance and remarkable intelligence led to discoveries about the nature of our Universe and its origin (especially black holes), furthering the work of Einstein and others.

Despite his physical limitations, Stephen Hawking relied on modern technology to communicate with colleagues and to educate the general public.  In the course of doing so, he retained a strict devotion to the scientific method, refusing to condone mysticism in any form.  In the end, he exceeded all expectations.   See also: A Tribute to Stephen Hawking

In Support of Science

On this Earth Day, hundreds of marches across the globe demonstrated support for the scientific method, an investigative process that has led to the technologic evolution of human civilization and has greatly expanded our understanding of natural ecosystems, natural laws and the Universe itself.

Prompted by anti-science rhetoric within the Trump Administration, especially as it pertains to the science of climate change, the demonstrations were but the latest salvo in the long war between proponents of mysticism (and their industrial co-conspirators) and the scientific community.  While scientific progress relies on evidence-based facts, the enemies of science attempt to undermine this data when it threatens their religious beliefs, political agenda or corporate profits.

Science has both improved the lives of humans and unleashed industrial processes that threaten the health of our environment; we cannot accept the benefits without also acknowledging the consequences.  Unfortunately, many humans are selective in their approach to science, hailing the accomplishments of modern health care and technology while denying the legitimacy of climate science, ignoring the effects of industrial pollution or shunning the implications of astrophysics.  But the scientific method is universal and it is our only path to uncovering truth.

The Unseen

On a visit to the Great Lakes Science Center, in Cleveland, we watched an Omni-Max production of National Geographic's Mysteries of the Unseen, which focused on phenomena that we humans cannot observe without the aid of technology.  In addition to radiation that has wavelengths outside the range of our vision (i.e. ultraviolet, infrared and beyond), the film reviewed a wide range of natural creatures, structures and processes that are too small, too fast or too slow for us to observe (e.g. bacteria, lightning, the blooming of flowers) without microscopes or specialized cameras.

Indeed, the range of our vision is but a small fraction of the entire spectrum of radiation and the natural world that we observe is but a small proportion of the life forms and biologic processes that comprise the ecosystems of Planet Earth.  In other words, those ecosystems are far more complex than our superficial observations might lead us to believe.

The more we study the Universe and the more advanced our technology becomes, the more we realize the limitations of our knowledge and how much occurs beyond the range of our senses.  Ironically, those most willing to place faith in an unseen deity are often those least accepting of discoveries that modern technology has enabled.  After all, unseen complexity threatens their simplified view of life.

A Tribute to Stephen Hawking

Yesterday, my wife and I saw The Theory of Everything, the story of Steven Hawking's rise from a socially awkward graduate student to an international celebrity and pioneering genius in the field of theoretical physics.  His accomplishments, of course, unfolded despite the ravages of ALS that eventually confined him to a wheelchair and necessitated the use of a computerized voice machine; though initially advised that he had two years to live, Steven Hawking continues to lend his intellect and insight at the age of seventy-two.

While some reviewers have criticized the movie for its simplified treatment of Hawking's theories on time, black holes and the origin of the Universe, I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend the film; it effectively blended the roles that love, intelligence and perseverance played in his development as a physicist and as a human being.  It also highlighted Hawking's view that mysticism has no place in science while relating his conviction that the search for truth in the Universe does not diminish the value and potential contribution of each human life.

Though few are blessed with Hawking's intellect, we can all insist on intellectual honesty as we face the challenges of our lives and the mysteries of our vast Universe.  Mysticism need not taint the purity of love nor derail our science-based search for truth.

The Rosetta Mission & Climate Change

Today, ten years after its launch and at the end of a 4 billion mile journey, the Rosetta spacecraft successfully landed its Philae probe on a comet.  The latter was traveling at 85,000 miles per hour and the rendezvous occurred 311 million miles from Planet Earth.  Scientists hope to learn more about the birth of our solar system from data collected on the comet's surface.

This stunning achievement is the culmination of a project that began long before liftoff and, of course, owes its success to the knowledge that we humans have accumulated over more than five centuries.  Few would deny that this feat is just the latest in a long history of monumental scientific achievements, all of which have drawn from our understanding of the laws of nature.

Yet, many who applaud the success of the Rosetta mission remain unwilling to accept the scientific evidence of global warming.  Whether motivated by religion, politics or personal interests, they choose to ignore (if not ridicule) science when it threatens their belief system or their economic welfare.  While the new knowledge gained from the surface of a comet will help to clarify the nature of our planet's origin, opposition to the science of climate change will undermine efforts to understand its future.

Sudden Entropy

Physics was never my strong suite but I seem to remember that entropy refers to disorder in the Universe (and to the natural tendency of that disorder to increase).  Two days ago, while crossing the Great Plains, a large insect splattered on my windshield, leaving a yellow smear just below the visor.

Within a millisecond, chemicals that had comprised an organism capable of flight, sight, digestion and reproduction were now a lifeless film, rapidly drying in the sun and wind and soon to join the free organic and inorganic compounds that are distributed in our air, soil and water.  One day, perhaps next week or thousands of years from now, they may contribute to the structure and function of other living organisms (bacterial, vegetative, human or otherwise).

Indeed, life resists entropy, producing order from chaos.  Protected by a cellular membrane (or by a multicellular "skin") from the external environment and governed by genes, the chemicals of life produce the specialized structures and metabolic processes that ensure survival, foster growth and enable reproduction.  At death, whether the process is gradual or sudden, that protection is lost and the relentless march toward disorder continues.

Booming Ice

After more than a week of warm days and cold nights, the Colorado Piedmont lakes have been especially noisy.  The sharp pops, high-pitched whines and mellow, kettle drum sounds are produced by the surface ice as it contracts, expands and vibrates.  As one might expect, the symphony is most pronounced during the morning and evening hours, when the ambient temperature is most rapidly changing.

Anyone who has used ice-cube trays or forgot to retrieve a can of soda from the freezer knows that water expands when it freezes.  In fact, it increases in volume by 9%, exerting tremendous pressure on its container.  Affected by other factors as well, including currents, water depth, the age of the ice, snow cover and fish activity, lake ice is often in a state of flux, characterized by fractures, compression, scraping, heaving and splintering, among other pressure induced phenomena.  The various noises are the result of pressure release, producing a sudden thunder clap or sending more subtle vibrations through the ice sheets.  While this "booming" does not necessarily portend danger for those who ski, hunt or fish on the ice, it certainly makes most of us wary, especially after an extended period of mild weather.

In many ways, the physics of lake ice mimics that of plate tectonics.  While the latter is driven by the opening and closing of oceans (induced by heat transfer within the mantle), the rearrangement of lake ice occurs in response to the freeze-thaw cycle.  In both cases, solidified segments (crust or ice) are subjected to rifting, compression and lateral friction, producing zones of uplift, thinning, faulting and overthrust.  And though the process of plate tectonics is far more gradual than the gyrations of lake ice, the periods of pressure augmentation far exceed the brief but dramatic rupture events (booming and earthquakes).

Messing with Space-Time

Getting prepared for work this morning, I noticed that my favorite college football roundup was not on ESPN and, when I arrived at the hospital, the access door was locked, forcing me to buzz the security guard.  It was not until I turned on my computer that the explanation for these unexpected events became clear: it was only 5:15 in the morning.  Busy at work this week, I had been shielded from the semi-annual deluge of warnings about the seasonal time change, leading to this cascade of disorientation.  Indeed, this blog post is a product of that ignorance.

It is now clear that we have "fallen back" to standard or daylight savings time (I frankly can't remember which) and will remain there until we spring forward sometime in March or April.  Apparently designed to reduce energy consumption, this human decree has never made much sense to me; after all, we will now be turning on the lights earlier in the evening.  Then there are those regions of the country, including the State of Arizona, that do not adhere to the time change, shifting time zones through the course of a year and confusing travellers in the process.

In reality, human time is a mathematical approximation based on the Earth's periods of rotation and revolution and must be adjusted now and then.  Of course, Einstein and others have pointed out that, as a component of space-time, it is not the simple, one-way, linear factor that we prefer to imagine.  Though we use it to govern our daily routine and to measure our progress through life, time is a dimension of the Universe that is altered by other physical forces.  Personally, I find it difficult to understand the scientific ramifications of space-time and much prefer the wise philosophy offered by Chicago: "Does anybody really know what time it is?  Does anybody really care?"

Looking at the Invisible

This week at CERN, the Organization for European Nuclear Research, near Geneva, Switzerland, nuclear physicists may have discovered the Higgs boson, first theorized to exist back in 1964.  Using the Large Hadron Collider, in operation for just two years, they smashed protons together at high velocity and found a particle that had never been observed with past forms of technology.  Based on their initial calculations, it is thought to be a transient manifestation of the cosmic soup that gives mass to the elementary particles.

If confirmed, this discovery will herald a new era in our understanding of the Universe, focusing on the dark energy and dark matter that, combined, make up over 95% of its content.  Indeed, the visible stars, planets, comets, asteroids and interstellar dust make up less than 1% of the Universe, with intergalactic gas accounting for 3.5% or so.  This week, we caught our first glimpse of the dark side and took our first step toward understanding the dark energy that is causing the Universe to expand at an increasing rate.

For most of us, the details of the Higgs boson discovery are difficult to understand.  Those who prefer to concentrate on the simplistic dogma of their chosen religion will dismiss the news as scientific heresay; after all, bosons are not mentioned in the Bible.  But for those hungry to understand the complex nature of our Universe, this discovery promises a new world of adventure.

Zero!

Tonight, for the first time this season, the low temperature is forecast to reach zero F in Columbia. For many Americans, still focused on the Fahrenheit scale, this temperature marks a significant and worrisome barrier, below which we enter a perilous world.

While few would deny that zero degrees F is, indeed, cold, it is, in fact, just another unit above absolute zero, the theoretical point at which atomic movement comes to a halt. The latter sits near minus 460 degrees F; the lowest temperature ever recorded in nature (Antarctica) was minus 128 degrees F, while the highest (in Libya) was near 136 degrees F. Both the universal Celsius scale and the provincial (primarily U.S.) Fahrenheit scale are human devised measurements, based on differing units between the freezing and boiling points of water (0 and 100 degrees for Celsius, 32 and 212 degrees for Fahrenheit). Too often, TV meteorologists comment that it is twice as warm or twice as cold in one city than it is in another; while this may be true on the artificial human scale (e.g. 40 degrees F in Denver, 80 degrees F in Miami), the true measure of heat (above absolute zero) would be 500 vs. 540 Fahrenheit degrees.

So tomorrow morning, as we try to start the car at zero degrees F, we might feel better to know that it is actually 460 degrees above absolute zero!

Meeting Stan Freden

In 1980, as we returned from a ski trip to Utah, my wife and I were bumped from our flight and placed on another. Advised to grab any open seats, we settled next to a middle-aged gentleman who occupied my cherished window spot. Taking off from Salt Lake City, I noticed that he was studying the landscape below and I commented on the spectacular scenery, pointing out the High Uintas to our north. His amiable rapport led me into a dissertation on my conviction that air travel is the perfect way to learn geography and that videos, shot from aircraft, should be used in the classroom.

After patiently listening to my bold remarks, he asked me if I had heard of the Landsat Program (I had) and went on to inform me that he was a nuclear physicist who worked at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and was one of the authors of "Mission to Earth, Landsat Views the World." Better yet, sensing my interest in geology and geography, he offered to send me a copy; it has been a cherished possession ever since.

The Landsat Program, utilizing advanced satellite imaging techniques, has played an important role in both mapping and the study of our natural resources; geologic mapping, oil exploration, hydrology and the monitoring of vegetation patterns (including desertification and deforestation) are but a few of the disciplines that have benefited from the Program. To have met the Chief Landsat Scientist was truly an honor and this fortunate experience was one of those life events that fostered my enthusiasm for the natural sciences. I sincerely thank Dr. Freden for his kindness and his inspiration.

Life in Motion

Sitting on a park bench and reading a book on a calm, spring day, one might relish the peace and stillness. But they would be mistaken.

The bench and its patron are firmly held to the Earth which, itself, is rotating at 1000 miles per hour. At the same time, our planet is hurtling through space at 67,000 miles per hour, on its annual journey around the sun. Not to be out done, our home star is circling the center of the Milky Way Galaxy at 486,000 miles per hour, taking about 225 million years to complete its circuit.

Of course, we Earthlings are oblivious to all of this motion, tied to the planet by the force of gravity. Only the spring breeze, moving through our protective atmospheric envelope, hints at the natural forces that govern our lives.