Science Both Light And Dark

Science is a discipline which is most helpful to us, but there is a dark side to science which most of us never think about. It is true that even some of the very helpful discoveries can be used for nefarious deeds. One of the greatest accomplishments of science was splitting the atom. The flip side of that accomplishment was the invention of nuclear weapons, the most dangerous things on the planet. The way things are going, every country will eventually have nuclear weapons and this may also include various terrorists groups. One can hardly say the invention of the nuclear weapon was a boon to society.

Charles Darwin believed he had discovered we were all just descendants of apes. Many agree with this conclusion and many don’t. The disbelievers are composed of the religious and the skeptics who believe there is not enough proof to support that supposition. I for one think if most of science really believed this they wouldn’t disregard findings which don’t fit into the theory. There have been things found all over the world which disprove this theory and yet most scientists will never mention them, because they would be laughed out of their profession. It seems Darwinism is the Holy Grail and those who don’t agree with it are not wanted.
We know the Curiosity rover is on Mars slowly crawling over a small area of the planet. There is a rumor the rover found something of significance in 2012 on the red planet and it is being kept from the public. I have to laugh when I hear things like this, because it is routine to keep anything from the public the scientists and administrators in NASA believe might indicate alien life. According to one person, we could fill several books with photos and facts being withheld about Mars from the public by NASA.

When rudimentary AI (Artificial Intelligence) was first developed scientists thought it was better than bread. They were all congratulating each other with slaps on the back. The same thing happened when the atomic bomb was first developed and see what has happened. Many believe that AI is even more dangerous than nuclear weapons. The reason for this is not only the fact the intelligent machines might be able to be turned against the people who launch them by some sort of computer hack, but also because machines which think for themselves may find they have no use for us. Still we are busy making our war machines more intelligent every day. Will a machine have a problem someday with the concept it is alright to kill the so called enemy, but not others and decide this is wrong and it should kill everyone?

The U.S. has tested a laser which blew a hole in a truck engine from over one mile away. Lockheed Martin is developing the weapon and it will probably be adopted because of the cost comparison of firing it versus a missile. It is estimated the missile cost about $400,000 to fire while the laser costs only 59 cents to shoot. As one can see however it is a short range device and that is one area where improvement is needed.

When archeologists found the first of the screaming mummies they were horrified. After they unwrapped the first one they saw a face looking up at them with its mouth wide open. All sorts or theories came to bear including one which stated the man must have been buried alive and suffered. This was thought to be the reason for his agonized look. This theory didn’t last long as it was found many mummies also had the same open mouth look. The reason turned out to be a simple one. When someone was mummified, if the jaw was not strapped up, it would eventually fall down, opening the mouth. Thus ended the tale of the screaming mummies.

New research has indicated that when athletes perform they may not be performing at their peak efficiency, because of their body clock. They found people break down into different categories as far as their body clocks go. Some perform better in the morning, some at midday to early evening and some are night owls. We might be able to figure out some baseball player’s clocks by watching their performances in both day and night games.

When we talk about life only being able to live under certain ideal conditions, we should know better. There are places in the ocean where there are vents spewing out hot magma and guess what is going on? Bacteria are attaching themselves to it and eating the minerals in it. We also know there is life in some of the coldest places on the planet and life which can exist for millions of years enclosed in rock. Makes you think we could be wrong about some of those planets we decided couldn’t support life, doesn’t it?

Researchers are now saying not only may it be possible to keep cells young, but it may be possible to reverse aging by keeping DNA more stably packed together in our cells. This discovery was announced by the Salk Institute. An international team of scientists led by Juan Carlos Izipsua Belmonte studied the key gene responsible for aging. Will we all get a chance to become younger again or even to remain young? I wouldn’t bet on it. Does anyone believe Washington would allow this to happen? Oh it may happen for some and I think you know who they would be, but there is no way the government wants to keep paying Social Security, Medicaid or Medicare to us. The population increase would also make it much harder to supply food and such.

The world is changing thanks to science and it is getting better for some, but it has also led to problems such as unemployment, because less workers are needed as robotic devices take jobs. We will need a complete revamping of our society and the way we live to enjoy this progress.