S C I E N C E

[CharmQuark]

I love Brian Cox..........What Time is it gotta watch the other ones now will do this tonight

[Tau]

"What time is it" is a great video. (Thanks to Brian probably.)
At the end of part 3 we see Brian in a whole new way!
Funny and strange (but not at his most beautiful, I think).

[CharmQuark]

oooooooooo i liked that one

[Stephen]

Does it change anything regarding the cosmic rays argument?
http://news.discovery.com/space/voyager ... fluff.html

[Shadowdraxx]

Cosmic rays originating from outside the solar system continuously bombard our atmosphere, but the quantity of these high-energy particles that rain down are influenced by the amount our heliosphere is deformed. The greater the pressure, the smaller the heliosphere becomes, and the more cosmic rays enter the inner solar system.

[Stephen]

Yes I read that, but the point is - does the number of cosmic rays influencing our solar system is smaller than previously thought?

[Anitusar]

I do not see how this should change the argument. The number of cosmic rays was measured here on earth. That this number could be higher outside the heliosphere would, if anything, only strenghten the argument, if i read this article correct.

[josch222]

Yes I read that, but the point is - does the number of cosmic rays influencing our solar system is smaller than previously thought?

Why do you think so?
We only know about cosmic rays because we "see" them in our atmosphere.
If the heliosphere shields some of them, it only means that there are more of
them around outside of our solar system. As far as I know we have no data
for the space outside (the only data through direct measurement may come
from the Voyager probes, but I don't know if they have instruments on board
for that measurements, probably not for the real high energy particles).
So how can the amount of cosmic rays hitting the earth suddenly be
"less than previously thought" when this amount was measured on earth?
The only conclusion can be that outside of the heliosphere there may be more
of them, depending on the shielding effect of the heliosphere.

Given the facts that we exist, and life on earth exists for a pretty long time,
our solar system and the whole universe is around for a very long time
and all the known catastrophic cosmic scenarios are really very rare
compared to the number of stars out there, can only lead to a simple
conclusion: Matter is pretty stable. Before any cosmic or accelerator event
destroys our habitat, we will have done it millions of years before with our
lifestyle or wars or some other stupidity and the lack of acting responsible in
the long run.
"Magnetic holes", "vacuum bubbles", MBHs have never been observed but
you can observe oil wells running dry, climate change and a whole bunch of
stupid politicians (and lots of people who vote for them) .
So there are a lot of real things to worry about, I think we dont need additional,
virtual problems.

Why do you waste your time with searching for every little hint that seems
to support one of the doomsday scenarios?
Even if they where realistic wouldn't it be more useful to do spend your remaining
time making yourself and the people around you a bit more happy?
Try to distract yourself from thinking about scenarios that you would have no
chance of preventing anyways. Go for a walk outside, look how amazing
nature is, how all fits together and what time was necessary for that to evolve.
It is even possible that cosmic rays played a major role in the evolution, but
surely did cosmic catastrophes like supernovae: they generated all the heavy
elements life is made of.
Maybe you then get a feeling how unlikely it is that it will be destroyed by some
lame particle collisions.

[Stephen]

I guess you're right - I worry too much. I just thought that maybe it could somehow indicate that the sun and white dwarfs who are surrounded by a shield would be somehow immune to cosmic rays hitting them.

[CharmQuark]

Awsome vid

[CharmQuark]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[spencer]

Brian Cox - What really goes on at the Large Hadron Collider


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6uKZWnJLCM

[CharmQuark]

Bill Bailey talking about the LHC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8dvz4GdYog

[March_Hare]

Hope you don't mind me adding a few of my own here. If you do just tell me and I'll repost in another thread.

Every morning just after arriving at work and switching on my comp I go to APOD for some inspiration. Real work can only happen after visiting that page.

Five Years on Mars
There is a NatGeo documentary in several parts on YouTube with the same title but since it won't play beyond the first 2 minutes for me I am not listing it here.

The Largest Black Holes in the Universe
Guy's voice irritates me totally but it has nice animations and afaik all facts presented are correct.

[March_Hare]

I am saddened by the Spirit no longer being able to move, I had high hopes for it to be able to get out of the sand trap.

Aye... let's hope they can manoeuver it about enough to align the solar panels sort of appropriately for the winter or Spirit may not survive...