Hey Everyone!
I love Astronomy and stars and wormholes related things, I just find the Universe a living proof of a Creator.
So, when this student of mine made this presentation, I was thrilled. It´s not exactly Astronomy, but, Brian Cox raises some very interesting points for us to reflect.
The name of this SPETACULAR presentation is "Why we need explorers" by Brian Cox.
This is the essay Tiago wrote about the video
Brian Cox: Why we need the explorers
In the difficult economic times we are living, one of the first victims of the budget cuts on the public spending is science, and, in particular, curiosity science and exploration. But, as we will see, this is a ridiculous thing to do.
First of all, science budget is only about 0.6% of the Gross domestic product in the UK. This percentage is approximately the same in countries like the USA, France and Germany.
As an example of the importance of exploration science, Cox shows a picture of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, taken by Cassini. We can see a faint wisp of smoke in its surface. Scientists found out that these were ice fountains and believe there are liquid water on Enceladus, and hence, a possibility of life. Another strong candidate for life is Jupiter’s moon, Europa, where scientists believe to exist an ocean on the entire its surface. Therefore, the exploration of solar system can bring an answer to one of the most profound questions we can make: are we alone in the universe?
Besides answering these questions, science can bring economical advantages. For instance, the Apollo project was quite expensive, but a study from Chase Econometrics in 1975, showed that for each US$ 1 spent on it, US$ 14 returned to the American economy. Apollo project paid for itself and contributed to engineering, inspired new scientists and so on.
Also, in the turn of the 19th century, studying the light given off from atoms, passing through a prism, scientists were able to discover the atom structure. And then, analyzing the sun’s light, they discovered helium, which is present in the sun. The understanding of the atom structure led to the knowledge of quantum mechanics, which allowed us to create the transistor, for example. So, without that study about light, we wouldn’t have transistors, silicon chips and much of our modern economy.
Quantum mechanics also explain the mechanism of the supernova, an explosion of a star at the end of its life, which is as bright as billions of star. And it is exclusively these explosions that create elements like carbon and oxygen, which are the base of our bodies structure.
To summarize, science can be beautiful, and can reveal astonishing things and the most profound questions to us. The argument that we already know enough about the universe can always be made and have always been made. It could be made in the 1920’s, and we wouldn’t have penicillin, in the 1890’s, and we wouldn’t have the transistor and can be made today.
Tiago Amâncio
quote by Brian Cox about "The Pale Blue Dot":
From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here, that's home, that's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.
