Archive for the ‘Thought Provokers from Guest Bloggers’ Category

Liquid Found on Saturn’s Moon

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

The liquid found on Saturn’s moon, Titan represents one of the most thrilling and challenging discoveries in a hundred years, since besides Earth, this is the only other solar body with open lakes on the surface in the system. The lake-like formations contain liquid hydrocarbons, most probably ethane according to NASA press release. In the many close flybys around Saturn and its moons, Cassini probe took a large number of pictures of these planetary system. According to theories there could be large oceans of methane, ethane and various other hydrocarbons; the speculation of crude oil components was confirmed by the dark color of the substance revealed on Titan. Nevertheless, the liquid form was not 100% sure until a probe reached the surface of Titan in January 2005.

The depth of these pools or lakes of liquid found on Saturn’s satellite could be a few or hundreds of feet deep. Infrared scanning by Cassini spacecraft allowed an approximation of the features. However, the main issue remains as whether this planet can support life or not. Liquid found on Saturn’s other moon, Enceladus, seems to be water springing from high pressure geysers fueled by reservoirs just below the cold planet surface. Could such scientific evidence begin a new era in the planetary exploration programs? Though life is difficult to imagine in the unfavorable weather of this cold world, just a few feet under the soil of Enceladus, all the discoveries indicate that life is more than possible.

This is the reason why the liquid found on Saturn’s Enceladus set the course for new investigations for life in the solar system. Plus, the other prerequisite for life existence on Enceladus, organic materials, is also met: there is methane, ethane, carbon dioxide and several others. Finally, in the hot areas closer to core, deep down in Saturn’s center, the temperature could also create a favorable environment for the evolution of life forms.

The liquid found on Saturn’s moons makes the most exciting discovery in the last twenty five years, since volcanic activity was identified on one of Jupiter’s satellites. Though the source of the water geysers could not be spotted by the camera of the spacecraft the water and ice sprays were very visible in the sunlight, in the polar region of Enceladus. An identical alternation of hot and icy patterns specific to commets is present in this Enceladus combination of hot water and icy particles. Then, there must be liquid water under the surface!

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Choosing the Right Microscope for Children

Saturday, June 27th, 2009

Microscopes have different purposes and are no longer only for use in the science laboratory at the local senior high school. The world of the microscope nowadays offers folks the option to look at objects, such as fossils encased in rocks that are over six hundred million years old. The scopes of today are not like those of the past. Picking out the right types of microscopes for an individual can be a problem unless you know what they need and what they should definitely keep away from when looking at purchasing a magnifying instrument.

Microscopes for those who are hobbyists are the simple light microscope of their highschool days. These are relatively inexpensive, and the majority have a simple light source built into the device. You can look at simple items that are mainly transparent, including cells and bacterium, with this sort of microscope. However, if you want to see solid objects, like a coin, then this is not the right scope for you. On the other hand, if you buy pre-loaded microscope slides, then a light microscope is the ideal device for looking at them.

Two other types of magnifying instruments available are the transmission electron microscope and the laser confocal microscope. You will not find either type in a school laboratory or somebody’s home though, since they are both made solely for use by scientists and researchers. The electron scopes utilize a vacuum to view the microscope images, and they can be very expensive to operate. Used principally in the scientific and industrial world, a confocal microscope makes use of lasers in order to see incredible fluorescence images that can be displayed on a computer. These are also very expensive, but they provide a scientist with the option to view items that have not been seen for millions of years. Additional types of scopes include the atomic force microscope, the compound microscope and the inverted microscope.

The world of microscopes has come a long way since the start. People have progressed from making use of thick pieces of glass to magnify items, to integrating lasers to help them to see into worlds that have for millions of years been nonexistent. These devices can be used to help you focus on becoming more involved in the world around you while also having the potential to help a youngster to become the next Pasteur. Irrespective of what type of scope you decide to invest in, the main thing to remember is that science is the key to unlocking some of the secrets of the world and that can only provide knowledge in a world that is sometimes too chaotic.

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What is the Chinese Calendar?

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

Many people do not understand exactly what Chinese calendars really are, but to be honest, it is very close to the Western calendar, it has just been in place for longer. 2600 B.C is when the first Chinese calendar was introduced and it is the biggest chronological calendar on the books to date. Emperor Huang Ti was the person that discovered the cycle of the zodiac which the Chinese Lunar calendar centers itself around, basically, the moon cycle is what this particular calendar goes by.

There are a surprising number of similarities between the Chinese and Western, Gregorian calendars. However the differences are more important. The Western calendar focuses on months more than years. However, with the Lunar calendar, one year in every twelve has the name of a particular animal. This is due to a legend wherein Buddha summoned all the animals of the world to bid him farewell before he left earth. Only twelve showed up. As a reward for their kindness, Buddha named a year after each animal, in order of appearance.

As you can clearly see, there is a strong link between the Animal zodiac and the calendar. Not only do the animals factor into the naming of the years, but they are also important to the people who were born in one of their years. The Chinese believe that the animal under which you were born is very important. Each animal lends certain personality traits and influences.

A huge portion of the overall population of the world are Chinese. That leaves many people following the Chinese calendar and celebrating the Chinese New Year. However, Chinese people do not follow the calendar entirely. They use the Gregorian calendar as well. The Lunar calendar is used only for planning the festivals celebrated by the Chinese, such as the new year.

Because the Chinese calendar also operates around the phases of the moon and the longitude of the sun, modern science has had an effect on it. It does so every year in fact. It is ever changing, which is extremely intriguing in and of itself.

Let us consider the phases of the moon first. They are extremely important. Under the Chinese calendar, the coming of the new moon means that a new month is starting. Conversely, the sun’s longitude helps to determine important periods of time - the Principal Terms.

In closing, as mentioned, each year corresponds to an animal. 2009 is the year of the Ox. The year of the Ox occurs every twelve years. The same can be said for the Dog, Rat, Snake, et cetera.

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What are the Education Requirements For a Forensic Anthropologist?

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

You have seen them on your favorite Bones or CSI TV show. They are the crime scene investigators who study bones derived from a crime scene. They are the forensic anthropologists. Have you ever wondered what a forensic anthropologist does and what the educational requirements are to become one?

If you have a knack for the biological sciences, anthropology, archaeology, and history, then the field of forensic anthropology may be the career choice for you. It will be part of your job to help medical examiners or coroners with the gathering and identifying of human remains. You must know how to determine biological profiles such as age, sex, race, height, etc. of skeletal remains. You must determine the cause of trauma to the skeleton. You may have to visit the burial site, help dig it up, and scrutinize soft tissue or skeletal remains with the intent of identifying the dead person and helping to ascertain the approximate time and cause of death.

It takes a great deal of education to prepare to become a forensic anthropologist. You need a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, biology, anatomy, physiology, or anthropology, and a graduate-level degree in anthropology or human biology. Then you need a PhD and a minimum of three years of experience in forensic anthropology before applying to the board to become board certified.

You can still work in this field even if you do not have the required education. However, many forensic laboratory employers will favor your application if you have a doctoral level degree. Once you get a job as a forensic anthropologist, you will work at big universities as a consultant to medical examiners and courts.

Experts such as forensic anthropologists use their varied educational background to help solve a crime. Their efforts help bring an offender to justice and bring closure to the families of the victims.

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Is Telepathic Communication Really Natural?

Sunday, April 26th, 2009

Posted by: Guest Blogger: Thought Provokers

Oftentimes the results of  telepathic experiments are very intriguing. For something like telepathy to be considered by scientists to be a scientific fact, it has to be possible to measure it, the results must be consistent, and the results must be repeatable. However, when it comes to telepathy the results are not always repeatable or consistent. While science then declares telepathy as unprovable or unsubstantiated, others point out that perhaps they just haven’t invented the proper tests yet, since we still do not know or understand why some people may be telepathic.

Science has not disproven the existence of telepathic people. But is it possible to communicate without using any of our normal five senses? Just by thought alone? We would have to find means to test and measure it. Science and technology have already done this in the high tech way. Consider radio waves. True, we cannot see them, touch them, taste, hear or smell them, but we all know that they most certainly do exist.

Could it be possible that ‘thought waves’  exist - signals electrically or magnetically generated  by the brain?  Telepathic studies have been based on trying to find these thought waves. Explaining this in terms for the average person might be a little difficult, but stay with us.

The conventional wisdom in science is that human thought is ‘merely ‘ the result of a mass of biochemical neurons transferring electro-chemical impulses between different synapses. Indeed, this has led some to conclude that consciousness is merely an ‘illusion’. But, there is electrical current that gets generated—and as small as it is, it’s consistently and repeatedly measurable. Like all electrical currents, there is a proportional magnetic field that goes along with it. And the brain has tens of thousands of synapses activated at any given second.

So, now we are talking bio-electric and bio-magnetic fields - and we know very well that electrical and magnetic fields enable ‘mystical ‘ communications, for example, your cell phone. But, within these electrical and magnetic brain waves, is there content or mere static? Is it possible to be trained to control these waves? Does something like meditation actually operate by shaping thought waves into meaningful communication?

There is also skepticism because of the weakness of the brain ’s electromagnetic field. The common, ubiquitous electromagnetic fields of modern devices like televisions, computers, stereo systems, refrigerators, microwave ovens are all much greater than the brain’s; therefore they may possibly interfere with the brain waves.

It might however be possible to give  brains a boost. It seems that in times of extremely high emotional states, which might be brought on by a sense that one’s life is in danger for instance, more neural synapses than usual fire simultaneously, temporarily spiking the brain’s bio-magnetic and bio-electrical intensity.

And in fact, parapsychologists have documented short instances of telepathic communication in these moments. One of the most well-known examples is when a mother knows that her child is hurt or in jeopardy even though she is miles away and there has been no direct communication made between them. So, is this an example of brainwave boosting? Do blood-ties matter? Is it all just coincidence (mothers always worry about their children anyway, for instance)?

The jury of mainstream science is out on telepathy for now, and the general attitude is one of doubt. However, this may be slowly changing, and there are more researchers all the time who become convinced that telepathy is a real ability and that all it takes is the right training for just about anyone to become telepathic.

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