The End of Science?

Are we done with discovering all those profound mysteries of Science/Universe which are there to be discovered? Is it true that advanced applications of already known concepts of pure science is the only thing left to be explored further by man? If you believe John Horgan, answer to the questions above is a disturbing yes . “The End of Science” was written by John Horgan in 1996 and the crux of that book was that there is nothing profound left to be discovered by humanity in terms of pure sciences and that all progress in the future will just be application of existing key concepts of physical and biological sciences.

Recently, he wrote an article in the Search magazine where he raised these points again and defended his book further by arguing that his critics have been proved wrong till now, more than ten years after the book was published. He backs up his analysis with convincing arguments which are hard to put down. I cannot deny his arguments but I wonder about the time factor. I mean It’s true that in the last half a century or so, we havent discovered as profound concepts as electromagnetism or quantum mechanics or DNA based genetics or atomic theory of matter, but, not achieving any profound breakthroughs in the last 50-75 years should not mean much in humungous span of hundreds of thousands of years since man has existed ( If you consider the age of universe, then these 50-100 years look even more insignificant). Isn’t it?

I sincerely hope that Horgan is proved wrong in the future because I’m not very enthusiastic about our existing knowledge. If that’s the most what we are ever going to know in terms of profound theories of universe, it will be very discouraging news for me; I mean, all this existing knowledge and theories havent really gotten us anywhere yet!

Here is the link for that article:

http://www.searchmagazine.org/Archives/full-horgan.html

Where Are They? Why I hope the search for extraterrestrial life finds nothing.

The article below is one of the best articles I have read in recent times, and one of the best article/book I ever read on possibility of life beyond earth. The author, Nick Bostrom, is the director of the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford. The article was published in Technology Review ( published by MIT) last week. I am completely dumbfounded by this article and the perspective provided by the author. It makes so much sense.!!!

I have reproduced the long article here because registration is required to read directly from the website . Let me warn you that it will take some time and effort to understand the article. I have to read it atleast twice (especially the first half) before I got the gist of the article ( Agree that Iam not a great reader myself, but I also teach reading comprehension!! ). The point is, read it only if you are a serious student of this subject..glancing it over wont help much! Time estimated to read and fully understand it : 40-60 minutes or even more ( but it’s worth it).

Where Are They? Why I hope the search for extraterrestrial life finds nothing

People got very excited in 2004 when NASA’s rover Opportunity discovered evidence that Mars had once been wet. Where there is water, there may be life. After more than 40 years of human exploration, culminating in the ongoing Mars Exploration Rover mission, scientists are planning still more missions to study the planet. The ­Phoenix, an interagency scientific probe led by the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona, is scheduled to land in late May on Mars’s frigid northern arctic, where it will search for soils and ice that might be suitable for microbial life (see “Mission to Mars,” November/December 2007). The next decade might see a Mars Sample Return mission, which would use robotic systems to collect samples of Martian rocks, soils, and atmosphere and return them to Earth. We could then analyze the samples to see if they contain any traces of life, whether extinct or still active.

Such a discovery would be of tremendous scientific significance. What could be more fascinating than discovering life that had evolved entirely independently of life here on Earth? Many people would also find it heartening to learn that we are not entirely alone in this vast, cold cosmos.

But I hope that our Mars probes discover nothing. It would be good news if we find Mars to be sterile. Dead rocks and lifeless sands would lift my spirit.

UFO’s and Aliens

 Safespace is a documentary about UFO’s and real life encounters with Extra terrestrial beings. After watching this documentary, it’s hard to believe that UFO’s are just a figment of our imagination. With 150 million witnesses and 20,000 documented cases since 1947, UFO’s seem like the biggest secret of human race.

My synopsis of the documentary:

1. With so many different sightings and encounters experienced by pilots, researchers & regular people from all parts of the world, it seems simply stupid to further deny their existence; The evidence is overwhelming.

Life on Mars

Ever since man invented telescope, he is obsessed with finding evidence of life elsewhere. I remember as a school kid I was obsessed with Astronomy and wanted to become an Astronomer. Later, more baser desires took over and that explorer in me took a back seat. But, I always remained interested in that world outside our earth. Even now, it’s hard to believe for me that we are the only living beings in this entire Universe; It just doesn’t seem right….I know we dont have any concrete scientific evidence yet, but still…..

Since Mars is similar to Earth in many ways, it’s the most studied and analyzed planet to find evidence of life. Every now and then, there is a speculation about it. The most recent one is about this picture of a woman like figure on Mars taken by Nasa spacecraft Spirit

Although, as always, NASA scientists have dismissed it as an unsual shape of rock formed by bizarre Martian winds; Some scientists/researchers however disagree.

Whether or not there is/was any life in Mars is ofcourse very debatable, but Iam pretty convinced that there is much more to Mars than what we know from proved scientific evidence.

Because the Martian atmospheric pressure is so low and the temperatures are so extreme, it is not possible for liquid water to exist on the planet today. If any water managed to make its way to the surface, it would immediately boil away, or vaporize. However, scientists believe that was not always the case. Photographs of Mars have clearly shown deep gullies, channels, long twisting valleys, and other surface indentations that are likely the remains of ancient riverbeds, ponds, lakes, or even vast oceans. After analyzing evidence gathered by spacecraft, scientists are now certain that water was once abundant on Mars.

Even though Mars is barren and desertlike today, the knowledge that water once ran freely across the planet opens up an intriguing possibility: that some form of life once existed there. Robert Zubrin explains why he is one of the scientists who subscribes to that theory:

“All creatures great and small surviving in extreme environments have one thing in common: their environment includes a source of water, however meager. The fact that Mars shows a remarkable amount of evidence of both surface and subsurface water in its distant past argues for the possibility of life in the past or perhaps even now in an unexpected “Garden of Eden.” “

For years there has been controversy over the famous ” mars rock” discovered in Antarctica which came from Mars and showed some evidence of past microbial life which existed in mars 4 billion years ago.

So, there was water in Mars in the past..we also have some vague evidence regarding microbial life in the past. Now combine all this with the fact that Mars is older than earth. What do we get???

Isnt it possible that life existed in Mars at one point of time and then it came full circle ( probably they destroyed themselves after a nuclear war over water !!!) or may be what happened was that a very large asteroid hit it & the impact was so catastrophic that it destroyed everything. And then, may be the asteroid , after the impact, broke up into 2 large pieces and bounced out into space again becoming the so called 2 moons of Mars. According to the scientists, it is about the same time when life came to Earth. Bingo!!!

So, probably those microorganisms were the only survivors which could eventually reach Earth and start the whole cycle of life again; Can Mars provide us with a peep into our past and alter our future???

The bottom line is, dig deeper into Mars!!!!

Here is a very nice article if you wanna read more about it.