science

Topics and developments in science and medicine, presented by Futurism.

A Certain Uncertainty: The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle Explained
'Uncertainty'—it's not a word that we generally associate with science. Science conjures images of certainty, solid results, and constant improvement by increment. There's a certain irony then, that when we strip nature down to its fundamental limits, there remains an implicit, irremovable, intrinsic uncertainty. No matter how precise our measuring devices and methods become, no matter how clever our scientists, nature has imposed a limit on what we can know. And we are certain of that. That's what the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle describes. And it isn't just a factor in quantum physics. It infiltrates our lives in a number of surprising ways.
By Robert Lea7 years ago in Futurism
The Physics of Solar Sails. How Photons Have Momentum Without Mass.
The Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 project launches from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as part of the US Air Force’s STP-2 mission. It will be carried by a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, enclosed within Prox-1 — a small satellite built by Georgia Tech students.
By Robert Lea7 years ago in Futurism
Life on Other Planets is Virtually Impossible
We’ve all read the books, seen the movies, and heard the stories. Scientists discuss it. NASA releases documentaries. Third parties create documentaries about life on Mars or Io. We’ve heard about Cydonia, the head of the android on the moon, and planet Nibiru. Everyone wants a future where traveling the stars and living on other planets is a real possibility. Unfortunately, it’s a bunch of crap, but what do I know, right?
By Aaron Dennis7 years ago in Futurism
Zipping Through Special Relativity: Reference Frames and Transformations
Even from a modern perspective, it isn't difficult to understand why Einstein's theory of Special Relativity caused such a paradigm shift in physics and science in general. Until its introduction in the 1905 paper, On the electrodynamics of moving bodies, the scientific consensus was that space and time were separate entities—a stage on which the events of the universe played out. Special Relativity would not only unite space and time to a single entity—"Spacetime"—it would also lead to the conclusion that the events of the Universe shape that stage. Spacetime in Space Relativity and later General Relativity was no longer passive, it was a player in the events around it. Einstein proposed that clocks observed to be moving at high speeds would tick more slowly than those at rest.
By Robert Lea7 years ago in Futurism
Why Science Communication?
Science communication contains three types of knowledge transmission: communication between scientists of the same field, communication between scientists of different fields and communication to non-scientists. Many scientists consider the first one to be pretty much achieved through specialist papers and conferences, but I would argue that there is still room for improvement. For starters, papers are like reading through a fragmented story where you have to decipher the way the researcher got from the beginning to the end. Did they have to slay a dragon or break a spell to find the treasure? Good luck finding that out. But I digress; this is not the topic of this post. Today we are interested in the other two types of scientific communication.
By Laura Sotillos Elliott7 years ago in Futurism
Pulse Waves of the Universe
Bioenergy has been something of a mystery ever since people took the first steps towards spirituality. Parapsychologists, researchers of the phenomenon of the brain, when it comes to gifts such as telepathy, or seeing auras, have been researching it since the mid 1900s, and within the past century have been able to prove its existence through tons of newfound technology. However, by proving the existence of such an otherworldly sensation new questions have arrived. Namely, whether aura is just in a positive and negative state, but that it can be in a constant neutral pure moldable state that isn’t strictly tied down by a specific connotation. In either case, the answer is that it can be channeled into all three possibilities, that it has the ability to have a negative charge, a positive charge, or a neutral charge if not something more than a person can fully comprehend.
By Jazlyn W.7 years ago in Futurism
Tackling 'See You Yesterday' at the Goal Line
Well, Spike Lee's production of Stefon Bristol's first film feature, See You Yesterday was released the 17th of May and I still haven't seen it, which is fine. I've seen enough to be hacked off that I will have to go out and lecture at STEM schools to offset the bad and pathetic way that Bristol and his writing accomplice, Fredrica Bailey, portray STEM education, physics and time travel. Why me? Because I actually am a recognized STEM educator and leading expert on time travel science. I've lectured to and tested kids smarter than the two characters in Bristol's fantasy flick, on such subjects as parallel universes, time travel, wormholes, and the nature of time, and I don't like it when people come along and relieve themselves in my field of endeavor—just so they can make a buck. When that happens, there will be repercussions and frankly, I have no second thoughts about making an example out of Spike Lee and his "mentees." As they used to say, "It makes me no never mind..." because I've proven my cred—which is unmatched by pretty much anyone else. That's right. I am that guy.
By Marshall Barnes7 years ago in Futurism
Anti-Matter Interference Patterns
For years the idea of Young's famed double slit experiment has been researched and tested by many physicists, from school students to acclaimed researchers, and it proves light exhibits wave-like behaviour (via diffraction and interference). However, the progression of this experiment was at the very forefront of new physics—Quantum Mechanics. This occurred due to the discovery of the wave-particle duality in which the same experiments were carried out with electrons, showing that they, too, act as a wave in such conditions; yet researchers have put an entirely new ‘spin’ on the idea.
By Jacob Marshall7 years ago in Futurism
Why Do We Dream?
I’m often left baffled, confused, and awestruck by the things that I dream about. Like you, I wondered exactly why we dream. There’s no doubt that dreams have a solid connection with our memory.
By J.Y.L7 years ago in Futurism
Will Humans Ever Be Able to Outrun a Car?
Will humans ever be able to outrun a car? Answering this question will definitely require more physics than logic. One needs to understand how velocity changes with time (acceleration), as well as how to track the acceleration of two or more objects that race simultaneously within a specified distance. In our case, our objects include a human being and a car; once we establish which of the two objects has a higher acceleration, our question will be answered.
By Flora Mayer7 years ago in Futurism
Should You Trust Your Senses?
There’s a famous saying that "seeing is believing," as people will often not believe something until they have seen or experienced it for themselves. It’s almost like when someone says to you, "Don’t touch that, it’s hot!" and you still feel compelled to touch it, just to find out for yourself. Yeah, they weren’t lying. Definitely hot. This need to experience things for ourselves is part of what makes us human, but what if we told you that your senses aren’t always telling you the truth?
By Wonk! Magazine7 years ago in Futurism
The Far Side of the Moon
For people who are interested in space exploration, 2019 is already becoming a historic year. Just a few hours after the new year, the New Horizons probe did a fly by near a far far object named, Ultima Thule. A small and peanut-shaped object inside the Kuiper belt. Officially known as 2014 MU69, Ultima Thule orbits the sun every 298 years at the distance of 6.5 billion km from us. On the first day of January, it became the farthest object in the solar system that has been visited by an earthling spaceship.
By Pouria Nazemi7 years ago in Futurism