It is said that life on Earth may have come from life bearing asteroids. Nevertheless, this idea still does not explain the true origin of life, elsewhere or not. Some scientists believe that the powerful action of lightning could have taken part in the rearranging of lifeless particles to turn them into organic molecules, leading to; life.

After NASA's recent reporting of findings of water on Mars (more),the likeliness of living cells on Mars jumped considerably. If there is life on Mars, itcan be studied to better understand the conditions, requirements and origins of life. For now, until it is better studied that is, we are stuck with the only known example of life: life on Earth.

Scientific or not, one thing is for certain. However it originated, and however diverse, life certainly adds purpose to this otherwise lonely and seemingly infinite ocean of planets, stars, comets and empty space.

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Extraterrestrial Life
« A radio telescope searches for signs of ET

Life on other planets is less of a question of if , and more a question of where. To say that life is unique to Earth would be self-centered (as a species). Humans once believed that the Earth was the center of the universe, after having been proven wrong, they thought it was the center of the galaxy. Therefore, all previous theories that placed Earth and humans in a unique position of the universe, have proven wrong. In fact, it was estimated that there are 10²³ planets in the universe exactly like Earth. Even if there were only 10⁶ planets exactly like earth, that still almost ensures that all of those one million planets in the universe harbor life.

One of the myths which surround the topic of aliens, particularly in science fiction, is whether they are good or evil. Unlike most science fiction films and literature such as Aliens, ID4, Starship Troopers, ect.. depict aliens as being evil. This is the least likely of scenarios. First of all, humans, our only example of intelligent life, are generally good oriented. We by no means, have a collective goal to take over the universe. Second, any advanced species with such a violent nature should certainly have self-destructed through wars and confrontations using their technologically advanced weapons. And third, assuming that aliens are bad, even without the other factors would be an extremely pessimistic way of looking at such an amazing phenomena of nature: life.

If there is alien life, why don't we know about it yet? Well first of all, because of the extreme distances. The nearest star to the sun, Alpha Centauri, is at a distance of 4.4 light years from Earth. This means that traveling at the "absolute" speed of light (which wecan't even come close to...yet), it would take almost 4 and a half years to reach Earth from the nearest star. Life support on a spaceship for a single human over the course of one year is hard enough to attain. Even so, using faster radio waves can also be used to detect intelligent life. Shifting through returned data however, is a long, complex process. If there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, then it is simply a question of where and when will we find it. Or even more likely, ifthe life is more intelligent than us; when will they find us.

In about 1970, scientists estimated the mass of galaxies, by the light they emit, and the total amount of gravity they should have. Only their estimates showed that they should have had more mass, thirteen times more mass in order to be held together. In From there, scientists included that there must be more matter to hold galaxies together but it's invisible, so they named it dark matter. Dark because it can't be seen nor measured. In the eyes of human science,it is also dark as in mysterious. Scientists know very little about whatever it is that's holding the galaxies together except that it's probably there. The composition of dark matter is completely unknown.

It was suggested that dark matter could be neutrino's. These tiny subatomic particles are so small that they can't be easily contained. A sealed glass container will easily hold any gas. Neutrino's placed in the same glass container will easily escape. Now scientists are trying to study the properties of neutrino's in deep abandoned mines where some ofthe neutrino's can be trapped. Other subatomic particles such as axions, gravitinos, photinos, and heavy leptons have been suggested as being what may compose dark matter. There are however, strong but complicated reasons why these do not explain the concept of dark matter. Put simply an imbalance of the fundamental forces of the universe.

Black holes were one of the other suggestions for the composition of dark matter. Large quantities of mass originating from a single point in space. Starved black holes, ones which no longer have matter to be fed into it, are still there, but the swirling tornado of matter and radiation can no longer be seen and even light which we can use to detect distant objects cannot escape a black hole. Possibly, there is a super massive black hole at the core of each galaxy. Still, the orbits of stars in the milky way indicate that dark matter is much more evenly dispersed, discrediting this theory as well.

Today, scientists are almost sure that there must be some type of dark matter or phenomena creating gravity. What, or how it works is still very skeptical.
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Gravity
« The spiral galaxy M83 is one of the billions of galaxies held together by gravity.
We all know that when we jump up, we come down. As Isaac Newton discovered with the falling of an apple, there is a force which pulls everything near it towards the ground at 9.81 m/s squared. It's also what keeps the moon in orbit around the Earth, and the Earth around the sun. In fact, it's what's holding our entire galaxy, and universe together. It is assumed that all matter has an attraction force on all other matter. The greater the mass, the greater the force.

It seems that gravity not only takes its toll on matter, but also on space and time. In other words, gravity can actually bend or distort space and time. In 1967, scientists developed the atomic clock using the cesium-155 atom. It is so precise it can measure time to the nearest nanosecond, and virtually never lose or gain second. Yet every 8 months or so, the 168 of them in the world will be 1 about one second off where the time should be, and must be adjusted accordingly. This can be explained by the distortion of time created by the Earths gravity and rotation around the sun.

But what makes this puzzling force? How is it that the universe is so conveniently held together by gravity? It is very difficult to study because it seems to be only noticeable in large masses such as planets and suns. For now, it would be simplest to say, that it is simply natures way of keeping matter together.
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Black Holes
« An artists rendition of a massive black hole seen from a nearby planet.
Scattered in the realms of the universe are the strange phenomena called black holes. What scientists do believe is that they do exist. And that they are the results of a collapsed star which is compressed into the space of a single point about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. Because of the large amounts of gravity (as explained above), the collapsed star sucks everything into it and compresses it as well. The more it eats, the bigger it gets, the more it sucks in, and nothing can escape it, not even light.

What we don't know is much about what happens after matter enters this hungry giant. Since nothing can escape it, we cannot get any feedback from anything that has entered it, not even light, which makes them truly black. They are possibly the real version of the science-fiction worm holes which can instantaneously transport you to another dimension or another point in time and space. Time especially, is distorted by gravity, black holes certainly don't lack it. But most likely, it leaves the universe. Or at least our universe, for nothing can escape. So whatever prey enters it will no longer have any contact with our universe wherever, or whenever it is. (top)
Space
« an astronaut tests a gas propelled jet pack untethered in space.
Nothingness, emptiness, blank. These are all words which can describe 99% of the universe: space. It is an absence of matter, a vacuum. Except in most cases when we hear the word vacuum, we usually think of something that will 'suck'. This is not really the case, it is the nearby gases that are responsible for this deception. Gas molecules have a tendency to move into a area of lower concentration (spread itself out). In doing so, they pull other forms of matter along with it. This is what creates the "vacuum" effect. A planets atmosphere however, cancels out the affect of this law with it's powerful gravity.

But how large is space? Is it infinite? The idea of something physical or in this case, nothing being infinite seems unlikely. Yet if space does come to an end then what happens when/if you were able to reach it? Would you be bounded in by a field through which no matter could pass? Or perhaps instantaneously transported somewhere else in the galaxy. Or to another galaxy. The truth is, nobody really knows. This is one of the questions which baffles us most. At one point in man's time, we once thought that the Earth was infinitely large. Perhaps in the future, our current uncertainties about space will seem just as ridiculous. For a true scientist, the curiosities about the universe can only be satisfied, when he finds the boundaries of the universe. (top)

Time
« Albert Einstein, the scientist who developed the Theory of Relativity and solved many other puzzles.

In earlier times (relative to the existence of humans), man developed ways of measuring time on Earth, such as the sundial.
Then followed the calendar. The Myans had one of the most accurate calendars of their time. We now have what we call the Gregorian Calendar. It is very actuate for measuring Earth time, only about 1/4 of a day too slow each year.

This all works well, until Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity came along. Standing still, all still seems constant, but according to Einstein's theory, time passes more quickly, the faster you are moving. If you have two twin sisters and one goes offin a spaceship, the faster the one in the spaceship moves, the slower she, and everything moving with her, will age. Not in the perception of the person in space of course. Since time for the twin in space also moves more slowly, everything seems to be happening like normal. Her brain cells will be processing information at a speed relative to everything else moving at her speed, so all seems normal. However, when she returns to Earth, she will actually be younger than her twin sister.

This means that time, once almost definitely thought to be constant, is more variable than we initially assumed, making time much harder to understand. And what makes time? When the "Big Bang" occurred and started our universe, time is also said to have started (from time zero). Even if time did start before the "Big Bang", we would have absolutely no way of measuring it. For what we call time is dependent on space, matter and the universe. If a tree falls in the heart of the jungle and nobody hears it, does it still make a sound? Similarly, if time occurs, but nobody, or nothing is there to pass it, no matter to change in it; does time still pass? And in another Universe does time pass much more quickly, or slowly than in ours? Is time travel possible? Even to really theorize about these questions would require us to understand time. Since we can measure and track time, it gives us the illusion that we understand it, when we certainly don't. We do know that time isn't matter, yet it exists everywhere in the known universe. It's not energy, or at least not remotely similar to any other known forms of energy. It has no volume yet isn't space. It's one riddle that seemingly can't be deciphered. Still, many of the mysteries of time have yet to be discovered....Until then, see ya.

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The implications of this theory are huge. Where everything was once thought to be completely unpredictable can now, at least theoretically, be predicted. Weather patterns are a very good example of this principle. The weather was previously thought of as completely unpredictable. Now with computer and more and more advanced ways of decomplexifying weather patterns, we are now able to predict it with more accuracy then ever before. We still have a long way to go, but perhaps understanding that everything is essentially a pattern waiting to be discovered may one day lead to brilliant new ways of dispelling the "disorders" of the universe.

The Sierpinski triangle, pictured above, is a triangle created from "random" choices with a simple set of rules (the universe operates under a simple set of rules too: The laws of Physics!). You take a triangle (preferably, but not necissarily a equilateral triangle), and randomly place a dot on any midpoiont of two verticies of the triangle, then you randomly choose a vertex and place another dot on the midpoint of the immaginary line between the original dot, and the randomly chosen vertex. Your newly placed dot becomes your new "original" dot and the process is itterated towards infinity. You will notice a two dimentional picture of the triangle pictured above. To try a program (provided by Kent Carter) which will create the triangle click here.

"Out of clutter, find simplicity, from discord, find harmony" - Albert Einstein

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