Science

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) begins its separation from Space Shuttle Discovery following its release on mission STS-82. / NASA

Humanity has invented conflict, war and Religion. But not all achievements of society are bad. Quite the contrary, some of them are so magnificent they can actually restore your faith in Humanity and make you feel special to be a member of the Human family.

LHC tunnel / Photograph Copyright CERN / Maximilien Brice © 2009-2017 CERN (License: CC-BY-SA-4.0)

Just as a wonderful piece of music or transcendental work of poetry, Science can also be an endless source of inspiration and wonder. Just think about the vastness of Deep Space, or the minuscule of quanta, and try not to be inspired. Imagine the expanding universe, the galaxies running away from us, at an ever-increasing speed and try not to feel amazed. You are a part of Human species, the only species known so far that is able to understand these facts about the Universe we live in.

Making sure to avoid any confusion about what "scientific theory" in context of evolution means, Richard Dawkins in The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution wrote:

Evolution is a fact. Beyond reasonable doubt, beyond serious doubt, beyond sane, informed, intelligent doubt, beyond doubt evolution is a fact.

- Richard Dawkins

Currently thinking about Nutritionism. I know almost nothing about it, but yet, it doesn't sound right to me. Just think about how many times have you heard "eat this and you will be healthy", only to hear that same advice declared bullshit in the very next study?

Sometimes I feel the world really needs a reminder that it has problems, so I'm going to spell out a few of them here. Generally it helps if you have problems spelled out, as humans tend to forget what things are important and just focus on the newest, shiniest phones and apps. Even as a developer, I must admit that apps are not going to change the world. Not really. Not in any REALLY, I mean REALLY important way.

OK, this was a gross generalization, as our precious phones and apps all help us to lead better and more comfortable lives in some way. You can connect with your long-lost friends. You can send messages to people more cheaply. Of course, sometimes these wonders of technology will save somebody's life. This is all great. But I sometimes feel that humanity in general has lost sight of the fact that there are REAL, bigger problems in the world.

Here's a few facts I learned (or better said - picked-up) during my long-time fascination with the Universe. I am not an expert in any of this, but I like to acquire information. I also like to share with others what I learned. So, here goes ...

1. Universe is big. Really BIG.

To start thinking about the size of the Universe we don't need to immediately start thinking about billions of light-years to have an idea that Universe is really big. For the start, it's enough to think only about the distance between us and the star that is closest to the Earth.

The closest star to the Earth (outside the Sun) is Proxima Centauri, at 4.22 light-years distance. So, how much is a light-year?

I'm not a scientist and I don't claim to understand a lot about this apparently HUGE scientific discovery, but I don't think this should stop me in sharing some videos I watched and articles I read. After all, here I'm assuming the role of a mere messenger, a messenger that was always fascinated by space and science. I also believe that every scientific discovery is a sign of mankind's progress towards a better future.

Gravitational waves are "ripples" in spacetime which behave like waves when you throw a stone in water, going outwards from the source. Now for the first time this effect has been observed on Earth.