The subtitle for this blog is sci fi for the working guy. I try to take the most recent news about science and talk about it so the guys at work can relate to it. Let’s face it, few people follow news about super colliders or new discoveries in space. While they are interested in sports, politics or union matters, I follow science. They explain what a two point conversion is to me, and I try to explain why we only see one side of the moon.
Here’s three stories to think about.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20110406/sc_livescience/45billionyearoldantarcticmeteoriteyieldsnewmineral
Wassonite is a newly discovered mineral found in a meteorite. Composed of sulfur and titanium, this rare mineral has never been found in nature on the planet until now, and this sample came from space. Why haven’t we found this before? We have lots of sulfur and titanium, so why is this mineral so unique? We are learning so much from meteorites. They were formed in the violent creation of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago. Nothing on earth has been able to recreate the same mineral naturally. I can see some science fiction writer imagining Wassonite mines on some asteroid in quadrant 5-c.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110406/sc_afp/scienceusphysics_20110406155429
The CERN Large Hadron Collider in Europe has been looking for the same kind of bump in the data that this site has encountered. These two facilities, among many others look for the smallest parts of what we call real.
When I went to high school the atom was made of neutrons and protons, orbited by electrons. Now Quantum mechanics involve such a diverse group of particles, one can’t keep up. The proof of this one particle, this force of nature, is important enough that many countries spend billions to build the massive underground labs to conduct these experiments. What will the future be like once the scientist learn to control the Higgs-boson.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110329/ts_yblog_thelookout/for-12-year-old-astrophysics-prodigy-
Watch for this guy. Diagnosed with autism, he is one with mathematics and is questioning some of Einstein’s equations. Many with autism display an ability to do things we call miraculous. Isn’t it possible that they can see areas of reality that we who are “normal” can not. Is it possible that they are the chosen ones. More fodder for the science fiction writer.
Things are going to change fast in the realm of science, will the human species adapt fast enough to comprehend the data at the speed it is becoming available?
