She blinded me with science!

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I'm sorry, but this had to be posted at some point.


Einstein vs Stephen Hawking

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See, now I feel bad, because I think Sarah wanted to have an actual intelligent conversation, and I immediately dragged it down to "stupid" and it's stuck there now.

I'll throw this little tidbit out there:

I don't think Carl Sagan was an actual scientist. I think he was a very good student and teacher of science, but what he was really good at was presentation.

I'm actually a physics student too, planning to go into theoretical physics in my master's. My love for astrophysics was pretty much what brought me into this, and I'll see if next year I can score myself an internship at my uni's astrophysics lab.

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You are become Vengeance, ravager of cunts.

I had wanted to study physics when I was in middle school, but ended up being more interested in the more practical CS in high school, and finally settling on a more versatile engineering degree in undergraduate university.

Still, I've always thought that astrophysics was incredibly interesting, especially when I saw how elegantly it all works. I always had a thing for math, and seeing physics work so cleanly on a scale that my mind can't full comprehend was a cool feeling. I think for that reason one of my favorite scientists was Maxwell for the incredible amount of vision that he had, and since it was his work that allowed Einstein and others to make the discoveries that they did.

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Molecular biology student right here. But I do have some passing interest in astrophysics. However I like that in studing it you find out that life is stranger than fiction. The visble universe is less than10% of the universe, 25% is dark matter (I love how astro physics give these things names, it seems less pompus than the biology names but if you know a little Latin and Greek it's the same shit) and 75% is dark energy. So named I guess because we know shit about them. Like in the dark ages people knew jack shit.

Just like you astro physic guys like looking on the universe biologists do that too in that biology is a complex system within living things and how they use the laws of physics to arrange things to their needs. Like for example how do we use food to get energy, we use enzymes to break the covalent bonds which have that good source of energy, we also can cut some bonds to make ions which drive bio-electricity where our nerves fire from.

I like science. I always liked genetics but I dislike biology so, whatever.

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I was never much interested in science, but I got decent grades in it (A- or better). I do like biology, though.

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I'm terrible at science. The only science I know anything about is sound acoustics, and even then that's only for music.

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astrophysics ftw.

i rocked science in elementary & high school, but still chose economics as my college (you can't do anything meaningful with any science college here)
loved chemistry aswell, organic chem was a bit of pain in the ass though. as for biology, genetics & selective breeding as direct proof that evolution can and does happen were two of my most favorite parts of it.

i dislike newton, for his view of gravity was too simplistic. he did make a huge step forward at his time, but compared to what we know now, he was simply wrong in a few things.
favourite scientist? probably hawking, perhaps even michio kaku.

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"Today Hellscream shall learn the lesson that Thrall failed to teach him...
Stormwind will never fall!"

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"Noble countrymen, evil is upon us. Darkness has befallen our shores. Rise and slay thy enemies… strike, strike so others shall live. The meek shall not fade into the night… live my brethren, live." - King Terenas Menethil II

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I'm trying to build a Zeppelin in my backyard. Then I'm going to make it legal.

http://www.faa.gov/aircraft/air_cert...rt/experiment/

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...what just happened?

I literally grew up on physics (low and high energy, astro, and quantum were my favorites) and bio (epidemiology especially). The only reason I didn't go into physics was my epic failure at math, and bio is really just applied chemistry at the levels where you're apt to make money.

I still get random urges to surf wikipedia for physics, bio, and other science facts though. Well that and I have pocket notebooks filled with random invention/engineering ideas alongside psych theories (another field that's just applied biochemistry at the level of real research).

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Rationalizing the irrational since 2005.

Has anyone ever read about afterlife research? I'm not sure if the existence of an afterlife is to be readily believed just yet, but so much evidence that points to the possible existence of an afterlife is really amazing.

http://www.nderf.org/

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"A few nights back some guy threw a ball and told me to fetch. In response, I did the same, but with his head. Needless to say, he didn't have a witty comeback." - Sniffy Pete

My main concern regarding an afterlife is that it's possible that it's shit, like if you go to hell.

I'd rather cease to exist than face the possibility of being in pain or torment for eternity, especially when you consider that Hell is probably a word that refers to the awareness of nonexistance.

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"Noble countrymen, evil is upon us. Darkness has befallen our shores. Rise and slay thy enemies… strike, strike so others shall live. The meek shall not fade into the night… live my brethren, live." - King Terenas Menethil II

Most near-death experiences can be easily explained, chemicals getting sent to your brains to stop you from the pain or your body 'shortcircuiting'. The reason why many people see it as the same things is probably because it's an image that was put into your mind of how it should look like. Similarly, if you let someone imagine an alien, you'll probably get something along the lines of little green men or atleast something that still looks pretty human.

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I recall seeing something about that on National Geographic. Basically it comes down to a dying brain and is actually very similar to REM sleep. So you more or less are dreaming that near death experience and if it wasn't just near death and you died it would just end. Of course a lot of people who have NED then attribute it to something more.

Thank God for Science.

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Evolutionary biology, zoology, and paleontology. I'm particularly interested in phylogenetics and systematics. But I am strictly a layman with a lifelong interest in these fields.

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Actually if you read enough research into near-death experiences, that's not exactly the case. Certain near-death experiences occur even while the person is literally dead for a while before coming back to life, especially when the brain dies for a short time. In fact, here's an article about it:

http://near-death.com/experiences/evidence01.html

Right now the battle between believers and skeptics of the afterlife has been at a stalemate. Not many know for sure quite yet if an afterlife really exists but the evidence that points to the possibility of one shouldn't be entirely dismissed outright.

I suppose that's why you said most as well Reyson. I would say yes most NDE's can be easily explained, but there are others that doctors have yet to truly understand. I think the chemical you're talking about is DMT, a drug which induces hallucinogens in the brain when dying or near-death. I do believe there's a good documentary about that I'll fetch it.

http://thespiritmolecule.com/

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"A few nights back some guy threw a ball and told me to fetch. In response, I did the same, but with his head. Needless to say, he didn't have a witty comeback." - Sniffy Pete