Discovering Planet Earth

           When the words ‘scientific discovery’ or ‘scientific exploration’ are mentioned, many people assume that the speaker is talking about space travel. Of course, this would  be an obvious conclusion to jump to. After all, we’ve already figured everything out about our planet, right? Therefore, the next obvious step must be to explore other planets. Wrong. There is much to still be discovered about our beloved planet Earth, and the fact that many people seem to have it ‘all figured out’ is kind of sad.

            Take the oceans, for example. Much of the deepest parts of the oceans remains unexplored, and even the majority of oceanographers and marine biologists are unsure as to what exists down there. The fact is, it is extremely difficult, and potentially dangerous, to send research teams down to the deepest crevices of our world. Much sophisticated technology would be required for such a venture, and a lot of time and money. Nevertheless, the results are breathtaking. Scientists have recently discovered many creatures lurking at the bottom of the ocean that we didn’t even know existed beforehand. Despite the fact that these creatures border on extremely weird, there is something beautiful about their weirdness. For example, polychaetes are a marine class of worms that have recently been discovered by scientists. They are found worldwide, from the White Sea to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. They form such a new class in the animal kingdom that many of the individual species of polychaetes remain to be defined, meaning more study of these animals would be required. I wouldn’t necessarily call worms amazing animals, but one cannot deny the beauty of the images taken of these marine worms. Polychaetes are simply one example of the many different things left to be discovered on Earth.

            I understand that these sort of discoveries are difficult to make and costly to boot. However, I don’t think that they are any less difficult or costly than space travel, and yet we can justify spending time and money in that department. I think it’s very important to explore our own planet, or else we may go on forever not knowing Earth’s true contents. 

Light Pollution

            

           Nowadays, everyone knows about global climate change. Everyone you talk to is aware of relatively what causes it, and everyone has heard what experts speculate will result of the world if global warming continues to manifest itself in our lives and get increasingly worse. However, a lot of people don’t realize what urbanization and overpopulation in major cities has already taken away from us.

            There are many different kinds of pollution; air pollution, water pollution, and light pollution being only a few examples. Light pollution in particular is perhaps one of the least known categories of pollution, as light does not seem to be as poisonous to the planet as carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other pollutants. Light pollution has already impacted our lives in a way that perhaps goes unnoticed by the majority of people, particularly those who have lived their entire lives in a major city: light pollution has taken the stars away from us.

            Light pollution causes us to not be able to view the stars and planets in big cities as well as they can be viewed in less-populated areas. For example, at my parents’ home in the countryside town of Melbourne, I am able to see the stars on any clear night, whereas they are not always so noticeable from my apartment in Lennoxville, and barely perceptible from my best friend’s apartment in Montreal. Light pollution is removing a beautiful part of our universe from our sights, which is really quite a shame. The world naturally has two major parts of a given 24 hour period: day and night. Human beings have made the world so artificially bright that night practically no longer exists, and this lack of darkness basically means that the stars, planets, and constellations are no longer within our views.

            This situation is a problem and will become increasingly problematic for astronomers. With this difficulty to accurately view the stars from cities, where most laboratories are located, there is an increased need for new observatories to be built in more remote areas in order for the field of astronomy to progress at all. If this physical move of observatories from cities to countryside towns does not occur, new astronomical discoveries would be nearly impossible to come by, and theories in this field would remain untested.

            The problem that astronomers are encountering concerning moving their observatories is that this would provide further environmental damage and disturbances to these remote areas. Much of these remote areas are also Native American territory, so both environmental and political issues would ensue if observatories were built in these places. There is therefore only one solution: to cut down light pollution. It may not seem like such a big deal now, what with telescopes like the Hubble and satellite images that are capable of documenting the universe for us, but these technologies are extremely expensive, and there is not likely to be a budget for them much longer. The problem must be addressed and regulated now, otherwise it will only continue to worsen as big cities undergo expansion. People need to get reacquainted with the beauty of the stars, otherwise we may lose their extraordinary images forever, and further generations of human beings may not know what stars look like at all.  

Science vs Parapsychology

            In our day and age, the words ‘science’ and ‘supernatural’ are not usually grouped together in the same sentence, or even in the same universe. Science is a field of study and experimentation that deals with a body of facts, things that we know are true, as well as things that are falsifiable and testable. Supernatural, on the other hand, means beyond the natural world, therefore unexplainable. It would appear that science and all things supernatural are indeed very different, since science contains facts that everyone universally knows and agrees with, whereas a person’s supernatural beliefs will be individual to that person, since they can never be fully proven.

            Even though we would tend to think that no link exists between science and the supernatural world, we would be wrong. In the times of some of the world’s most renowned physicists, Isaac Newton, Niels Bohr, Galileo Galilei, Albert Einstein, and James Clerk Maxwell, scientific discoveries were often made while scientists were actually attempting to explore supernatural realms. Similarly, if  scientists proposed a theory that either went against a previous theory made by the Aristotle or went against a viewpoint of the Catholic Church, these people would be tried in the same type of trial as a ‘witch’ would undergo, being burnt at the stake. The supernatural world was one of great interest to people of those time periods (and still is today, to some extent), so a lot of questions were being asked about parapsychology, and the world’s greatest minds were putting their heads together to come up with answers. In the process, a lot of extremely beneficial scientific discoveries were made, such as x-rays and the electron. These two things were ultimately discovered because scientists were looking for ‘radiant matter’. Radiant matter, they claimed, was the dark spaces between the ‘material’ world and the ‘light’ world, between the ‘known’ and the ‘unknown’. Such speculation proved to be the result of overactive imaginations, but the associated research and experimentation was nonetheless fruitful, as it produced a key invention in the x-ray and sparked the discovery of the electron, which ultimately opened hundreds of doors for further research in physics.

            Many more things were invented as a result of a scientist searching for supernatural answers, such as the television, where it was thought the faces of the dead could come forth and communicate with the living. Despite these claims being obviously false, it nevertheless produced an invention that is used by millions of people every day. In short, despite the fact that science and parapsychology appear to be unrelated fields, both can serve as footholds for the other. Science can prove to be a means of potentially answering parapsychological questions, and parapsychology can serve as inspiration for further scientific work. As long as the actual science is not using parapsychology to back up its facts, then a scientist-parapsychologist relationship is beneficial to both fields.  

Space Colonization

Space exploration is definitely one of science’s most spectacular fields. If the 2013 movie Gravity (minus the part where George Clooney dies and Sandra Bullock almost gets stranded in space) wasn’t enough to allow the world to see the unbelievable beauty and serenity of outer space, I don’t know what could. Currently, great minds such as Stephen Hawking have stated that space colonization will become an essential and vital part of life in the future. This statement implies that the future of the human race as we know it does not lie on the planet Earth, rather on another planet or in a man-made space station.

Research into space colonization strikes me as important for a number of reasons. For one thing, the hefty cost of space travel has led big-name agencies such as NASA to rethink their ways. For example, NASA is now attempting to create reusable rockets, which will cut the costs of space travel by 95%. This situation does not only reap economical benefits, but also environmental benefits, as using reusable rockets means less debris on Earth and in space.

Speaking of the environment, space colonization may turn out to be vital in the near future if global warming continues. Right now, human beings appear to be the main cause of global climate change, and are certainly the main cause of pollution on the planet. Our materialism, over-consumption, and overall lack of regard for the planet’s well-being says a lot about our plans for future life on Earth, or lack thereof. If we continue to destroy the only known planet with a breathable atmosphere for humans, we may lose all life as we know it. Space colonization would then become the only solution. However, scientists have admitted that that kind of technology is far from being ready, and is in the mere speculation period. It is therefore of vital importance that we maintain life on this planet, and the only way to do this is to become more environmentally friendly. If every person did one environmentally friendly thing a day, such as take public transit, limit shower time to five minutes, or recycle, we could see a great improvement in global climate change. It will take a huge group effort, but I believe it is possible.

Night-vision Contact Lenses

Let’s face it, science has produced some extremely cool things. Technology is advancing at an increasingly rapid pace, and there is quite literally no stopping scientists now when it comes to innovation; the sky’s the limit.
Recently, university researchers have began working on a new super-interesting project: night-vision contact lenses. They haven’t managed to obtain a working model yet, but they have begun manipulating the material, graphene, that will eventually form the base of the contact lens that will be capable of seeing infrared images clearly, thereby potentially allowing a person to see in the dark. This kind of invention would be revolutionary, as it would benefit many different professionals who are forced to work at night in dark conditions, such as search and rescue teams, soldiers, and emergency-response teams. They have no choice but to work outside in the dark, so having the ability to see properly would greatly facilitate their job. Night-vision contact lenses, or even night-vision cell phones, would be an amazing invention. The ultimate goal would be to eventually create Terminator-like robot vision for all human beings.
Research like this, however incredible it may seem, still leaves me a bit disappointed in our very materialistic world. Yes, we could indeed benefit from this astonishing technology, but is there not more important things for scientists to be devoting their time to? There are some research fields that desperately need intelligent, innovative, and hard-working thinkers and doers in order to save lives. For example, over half a million people die from cancer every year in the United States alone, mainly because research has not quite come up with a cure to this awful disease. Cancer research is in need of scientists and researchers to help save millions of lives every year, which strikes me as a bit more important than figuring out a way for humans to see in the dark. Yet another life-saving place for scientists to devote time and energy to is ending world hunger, either by coming up with genetically modified crops to grow in all climates or by physically going to third world countries and engineering ways to provide clean water to towns and cities. When you think of it this way, night-vision contact lenses are not quite so important.

Education

Recently, my classmates and I did something that a lot of people around the world were also doing: we applied to universities. Applying to any school is a stressful process, as we are obligated to make decisions about what we would like to spend our lives doing, and that is not always evident. We have spent the last couple of years worrying about our academic standing, and striving to get good grades, and now we have to wonder if that was enough. Suddenly, our sole goal in life is to get into university.

Students worldwide feel this kind of stress during application season every year, especially those applying in competitive programs. Competitive programs are the ones hardest to get into, because people deem them ‘important’ and hope to someday do that particular job for a living. This information is known to registrars, and allows them to increase the prerequisites and raise the minimum grade required to be accepted into the program. But who decides what programs are ‘competitive’? In a sense, no one job is more important than another. It takes all kinds of people to make the world function.

Shannon Rupp, a writer for The Tyree, reasons that perhaps the so-called ‘important fields’ will soon no longer be important. In her article, “Be employable, study philosophy” (http://www.salon.com/2013/07/01/be_employable_study_philosophy_partner/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialflow), she uses journalism as an example. Journalism is a competitive program in colleges and universities alike, because journalism is seen as an important and desirable profession. However, with handheld technologies like smart phones and tablets on the rise, journalists are no longer as sought after. With these technologies, almost anyone can document important things, where ever they go. In the past couple years, many important news companies have drastically cut the number of jobs for journalists needed for their companies. This means that there are many fewer jobs available for journalism students fresh out of school. Rupp argues that it is much more useful to study something less common, therefore in a higher demand, such as philosophy.

Rupp’s opinion applies to the field of science in many ways. For one thing, when one decides they want a career in science, they naturally study some form of science, like biology, chemistry, engineering, medicine, or mathematics. However, it is becoming increasingly evident that other sorts of professionals are needed in the scientific field, such as philosophers and ethicists. This being said, studying philosophy or a philosophy-related field at the present time could potentially guarantee you a job in an entirely different and unexpected field.

In short, students should be more informed about what kinds of jobs are in demand, and what kinds of fields they could work in for any given program of study. Not only would this kind of information benefit the student, but it would also benefit society, as we would not have a surplus of professionals in one field and a lack of professionals in another. School, especially post-secondary school, is extremely expensive, and some students from the United States and other parts of Canada spend a good portion of their working lives paying back their student loans. Their hard-earned money should not be spent in vain in a program that will lead to a field that will not be able to employ them.

Vaccinations

           

           Medicine is a very experimental field of science. Some diseases and ailments have cures that a doctor knows for a fact will help, and other diseases, such as cancer, are so unknown and unpredictable that only experimental treatments that do not work for everyone exist to treat them. These things are widely accepted as normal by society, however certain cases are considered much more controversial.

            Vaccinations are a prime example of medical controversy nowadays. On the one hand, most vaccinations have the potential to prevent a disease from manifesting. On the other hand, vaccinations, in some rare cases, have been known to trigger disabling diseases themselves, such as autism. So it would appear that parents are stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to deciding whether or not they should vaccinate their children; either they do and they risk their child getting a life-changing disease, or they don’t and they risk their child getting a life-changing disease. It is a very difficult decision for parents to make, and their decision should be respected in a ‘to each their own’ type of fashion.

            I personally believe in vaccinations. Knock on wood, I have never contracted a disease for which I have been vaccinated, leading me to believe that they really do work in the majority of people. I understand that they are still a risky business, but odds are they will do more preventing of diseases than causing of diseases. Also, vaccinations rely on a collective group being vaccinated; it’s pointless for one person to be vaccinated if the disease will be spreading through a group of people anyways. The most effective way of preventing disease by today’s standards would be if everyone got vaccinated, unless there is a specific medical reason why they cannot receive a vaccination.

            At the same time, no one should be forced to receive a vaccination or to have their children vaccinated if they don’t want to. Everyone should be free to do as they please. People who are against vaccinations should however take the time to properly research on the subject. Celebrities like Kristin Cavallari and Jenny McCarthy can believe what they want about not vaccinating their children, but hopefully they did their research and asked a trusted physician for advice before making these decisions that could impact their children’s lives forever.

Superstitions

           

           In the past, when technology and the modern conveniences we have today were merely thoughts and dreams in peoples’ minds, a lot of scientific phenomena was lacking proper scientific explanation. Since technology was lacking, people turned to superstition, and sometimes ‘magic’, as an explanation.

            Superstition has an importance in today’s world also, as it is a way to explain the unexplainable. When no pattern is discernible, people tend to, whether consciously or unconsciously, resort to superstition as a means of explanation. This could prove to be problematic, as superstition has no scientific background, and does not adequately reflect probability as some people may believe. For example, just because a batter in baseball performs a certain ‘good luck ritual’ every time he steps up to the plate, does not mean that he will hit a homerun, or that he will even hit the ball at all. The batter does this simply to make himself feel better, to reassure himself. Batting in baseball is such an unpredictable thing, that superstition is a way of comforting a batter.

            This principle applies to superstition as a whole. When we are faced with a difficult or near-impossible feat, superstitions, however improbable they may be, can turn out to be extremely comforting. Just like when people in ancient times used superstition and magic to explain away things they could not empirically prove, superstition can also be used to gain confidence in a situation.

            Our world is one of chaos; sometimes there are simply no observable patterns, only disorder. However, the human organism as a whole prefers order, when everything can be summed up and organized into unique categories; when patterns exist. This is why superstitions are so appealing to some people; superstitions allow people to create patterns where none exist.

            There are two types of people for every situation: there can be believers, and there can be skeptics. Your tendency to believe or be skeptical of something stems from dopamine levels. A higher dopamine level makes you more of a believer, and willing to seek out patterns in areas where they simply do not exist, whereas a low dopamine level would result in skepticism, and the recognition that a pattern does not exist in a particular situation.

            In the end, superstition and science do not seem to correlate, but they actually do. The amount of superstition you exercise is based on the dopamine levels in your brain, which are observable by doctors and scientists of medicine. Similarly, superstitions are used to organize and order life, which is one of the fundamental needs of human beings. Superstitions do have a basis of science to them, even if the explanations they provide cannot be scientifically justified.

Antibiotics

            Everyone knows that there are ways around the laws and regulations set in place by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA is supposed to regulate what food, drugs, and substances are safe for human consumption, and also to foresee any possible complications or downsides that a new drug may pose.

            Antibiotics are one of the most widely-used drugs to treat a variety of ailments. While they are effective at treating a number of illnesses in humans and animals alike, they have been too widely and frequently distributed. This wide distribution is permitted since antibiotics are FDA approved, therefore there are no limitations to their supply and sale.

            There are many reasons why the quick sale of antibiotics should be diminished, in both animals and humans. Take livestock, for example. I completely understand administering antibiotics to sick animals that are in need of medication. However, this is not the only reason antibiotics are given to domestic creatures. Some farms are administering antibiotics in order to increase and speed growth, as well as to decrease the amount of food needed by the animal in order for it to be healthy. This unnecessary consumption of antibiotics is strictly to save and make more money. The problem with this increased administration of antibiotics for non-medical purposes is that animal cells are growing increasingly immune to antibiotics. This immunity could prove detrimental to livestock as we know it, because some common day ailments can only be treated using antibiotics, meaning that if animals become immune to antibiotics, they could potentially die from these ailments. Another problem is that this immunity could potentially be passed on to humans, either by eating meat from an immune animal, or simply through contact with an immune animal. If humans ever became immune to antibiotics, the entire healthcare system would have to be revolutionized and new medications would have to be invented in order to fight diseases.

            In the end, the usage of antibiotics in livestock needs to be more regulated. The FDA needs to take control of the illegal sale of these drugs, as well as pass new laws regarding when it is acceptable to administer antibiotics and when it is not. If something is not done to prevent antibiotic immunity, the healthcare system as we know it will change for the worse, and we may experience a dark age of disease.

It Takes All Kinds

           It is safe to say that all human beings are unique. Not everyone is going to look the same, not everything will be well-liked by all, and no one is going to be loved by everyone. This is just a universal fact of life, and it is not a theory that will necessarily be denied by anyone.

            This being said, I believe that it takes all kinds of people to make the world go round. Some may believe that scientific geniuses are what keep us alive, and that without them, we wouldn’t be able to function as we do today. In a sense, there is some truth to this statement. If science-minded people had never existed, we would be missing many aspects of life and inventions that exist today. For example, electricity would not exist, so we would live in a constant state of darkness half the time. Travel would be near impossible, because motors and engines would not exist, and also because engineers would not have designed bridges and roads for accessibility. Life expectancy would be much lower, because medicine would not be as advanced as it is now. Life would certainly be much more difficult, and definitely a whole lot different than it is now. Examples like these may be reasons that people believe scientists are more fundamentally important than historians, lawyers, psychologists, teachers, philosophers, or other social science types of professionals.

            However, without other types of people, much of the world’s progress would not have happened. For example, without philosophers, many ideas that scientists have put into action would never have been thought up. Without teachers, knowledge in general could not be passed down, and eventually all knowledge, including scientific knowledge, would cease to exist. Without lawyers, there would be no laws to govern scientific studies and experiments, meaning that all hell could break loose and we would have evil geniuses testing on poor, unsuspecting humans or trying to take over the world.

           It takes many different kinds of minds just to do science in general, therefore it would be very difficult to say which professionals are most important and which could be discarded or forgotten. In short, I believe that each type of profession is absolutely essential in order for the world to function. Just like Professor Andrew Briggs of Oxford University says, it is extremely beneficial for him to have a philosopher in his physics laboratory. The philosopher provides a different outlook, and poses questions that a scientific-minded person might have overlooked, and vice-versa. The relationship is mutually beneficial for all. All kinds of people are needed in order to make the world turn.