Science
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- Morning_star0
'Who gives a fuck, seriously?'
You, quite evidently.
- hotroddy0
I think the best way to make sense of it is mathematically. It lies beyond our everyday sense and deals with space, mass and time.
- ukit20
This is a pretty good analogy:
"It's all about mass and fabric. Every single atom (and most of the sub-atomic particles that make up atoms) has mass. And by mass I mean (grossly oversimplified) the amount of "stuff" in a particle.
When a particle has lots of mass, it actually warps the "fabric" of space around it. To illustrate this, picture a freshly made bed. The sheets are tight around the mattress. That's the "fabric of space". Now, scatter a few marbles on it. If you look closely, you see that each marble dents the fabric a little bit. If you marbles are close to each other, the dent in the fabric that each makes combine and the marbles touch.
Now imagine placing a bowling ball on the bed as well. Bowling balls have a lot of "stuff" in them, so the dent it makes is much bigger! It's so big that a number of marbles are affected by the dent in the fabric, and they slide down the slope towards the bowling ball. (you can't see it, but the bowling ball slides a tiny bit towards the marbles as well)
That's basically what gravity is. Only instead of a 2-dimensional bed, it's a three dimensional bed, it pulls in every direction, not just across a plane."
- utopian0
Knowledge = Power!
http://listverse.com
- uan0
Experiment Reveals the Quantum Secret to Superconductivity
While the detection of a quantum critical point does not definitively answer that question, “this has really clarified the situation,” said Subir Sachdev, a leading condensed-matter theorist at Harvard University. The finding knocks several proposals for the electron-pairing glue in cuprates out of the running. “There are now two prominent candidates for what’s happening,” Sachdev said.
- inteliboy0
Do about it? Do about Science? What needs to be done? I'm going to absolutely nothing.
- Morning_star0
Despite persistent reports of such experiences, as well as a growing body of experimental evidence, the notion that the mind might have extended properties is considered by some to be scientifically implausible. EM (Extended Mind) seems to violate core assumptions of the neurosciences as well as physical laws about the structure of space and time.
The apparent violation of existing theories has led many to assume that EM experiences are best explained as coincidence, illusion or delusion.
However, as previous concepts about the nature of space, time and causality shifted with the development of general relativity and quantum mechanics, ideas about the properties and capacities of consciousness have also begun to shift. These shifts are now accelerating because of rising evidence that basic characteristics of living systems (e.g., magnetoreception and photosynthesis) are mediated by quantum effects.
This radically challenges previous assumptions about the plausibility of EM.
- utopian0
Hubble finds supernova star system linked to potential 'zombie star'
SUPERNOVA 2012Z IN SPIRAL GALAXY NGC 1309. The inset panel is a pair of Hubble Space Telescope images of the spiral galaxy NGC 1309 that were taken before and after the appearance of Supernova 2012Z, in the outskirts of the galaxy. The white X-shaped feature at the top of the image of the galaxy marks the location of the supernova. The inset panel from 2013 shows the supernova; archival Hubble data from 2005 and 2006 show the progenitor system for the supernova, thought to be a binary system containing a helium star transferring material to a white dwarf that exploded. The stellar blast is a member of a unique class of supernova called Type Iax. These supernovae are less energetic, and hence fainter, on average, than their well-known cousins, Type Ia supernovae, which also originate from exploding white dwarfs in binary systems.
- Morning_star0
That article admits that there is something happening in the data that is anomalous and warrants further investigation. He quite fairly criticises Radin for overreaching in his conclusions. That doesn't make the results invalid.
Yet again you ignore the evidence and concentrate on the people, why? You generalise about everything based on second hand opinions, readily admitting to putting your faith in, what is essentially, hearsay. You 'believe' you understand what the truth is, you don't 'know'. How is that any difference to a belief in a religion.
- GeorgesIV0
oooh and
1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.:P
- ukit20
"That article admits that there is something happening in the data"
Not really. The author said they couldn't tell and that Radin's exaggerations and distortions of the data made it impossible to determine. I think he was trying to be fair and open minded rather than pointing at any particular piece of data that convinced him.
And yes I get the idea that you shouldn't be too dogmatic but when you have something that throws everything else you know about the world into question there should be some really good evidence backing it up. As the article says, if yogis can really levitate and become invisible, why aren't there hundreds of YouTube videos showing that? For something its backers claim is so obvious, they sure have a hard time demonstrating it.
- Morning_star0
In reply to ukit2:
"They don't assume a single explanation for this...some think it's because there's an unknown type of matter and energy that we are not currently able to detect."
and how is this scenario any different to the one explaining the phenomena measured by the ESP experiments? 'Something' is making the results of these experiments deviate from chance or expectation. What that 'something' is, is up for debate, like Dark Matter.
---------------"With these tests you are talking about on the other hand, they are looking at statistical anomalies, like someone guessing a number more than the statistical average, and assuming a completely unjustified explanation, that people have psychic powers."
The experiments are designed specifically to detect the influence of the mind on material objects at a distance. Why then is the conclusion unjustified? It's not. These aren't a band of hippies in a yurt in California taking psychodelics and chanting 'ohm'. These are intelligent academics with labs who understand scientific method and all the pitfalls and hurdles associated with this type of experiment. I've heard a debate between Radins team and a number of skeptics who questioned them about their Scientific Method, Experiment Design and Control Management and they couldn't fault them. So the claim that there are 'known flaws with this kind of experiment' is so generic and inaccurate it's less than worthless.
---------------"No one has ever explained why we should think that people have psychic powers, other than it being a long-standing religious/mystical belief. It's no more plausible an explanation than saying that JEsus came down from heaven and implanted the thoughts in their brain."
Really? You're seriously suggesting that paranormal phenomena were invented as a way of supporting/explaining/experienci... religious and mystical belief. Could you explain a little more?
- inteliboy0
Sorry yea you're right. Had it dog eared. I'll try to remember to avoid this thread, though will no doubt forget, and complain again.
- ukit20
This is pretty cool...shows the benefits of stem cell technology that we might all rely on someday :)
http://time.com/3340766/stem-cel…
Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Japan surgically transplanted a sheet of retinal pigment cells into the eye of a 70-year old woman on Friday.
The cells are the first induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, given to a human patient. They were made by Masayo Takahashi, who grew them from the patient’s own skin cells, which were treated with four genetic factors to revert back to an embryonic-like state. Takahashi then soaked the cells with the appropriate growth factors and other compounds so they developed into retinal pigment cells.
The patient was losing her sight due to macular degeneration, because her retinal pigment endothelial cells were damaged by an overgrowth of blood vessels. Replacing them with a new population of cells can restore her sight.
- set0
This is well worth a watch...