[VIDEO] The four astronaut crew of Artemis II aboard their Orion capsule Integrity will break the distance record set by Apollo 13. They will be the furthest distance from Earth any human beings have been, a record set by the ill-fated crew of Apollo 13 that suffered a castrophic failure that cancelled an attempt to land on the moon.
Hope you enjoy, even if you only watch the replay. At the time I wrote this the crew was about 27 minutes before they reach the far side of the moon, where they will lose contact with the Earth for about 40 minutes.
Now I want to pop Apollo 13 the movie into the old VCR....err get with the times I can stream it now!
I know politics have been the focus of this blog as of late, however, sometimes it's OK to delve into science. Lately space or the universe has been a topic of interest for me.
Somehow I missed the pivot from going to Mars to them talking about Black Holes.
Black Holes seem terrifying if you get caught in one, especially when you reach a point where escape isn't possible then you get the spaghettification effect. You get stretched out, I imagine that as painful, however, we're not going to find out about that anytime soon.
Though of course if Dr. Tyson tells it we might be fine at a certain distance it's not like it'll just suck everything in. And it's interesting how he talks about Black Holes - one can be created if a star wants to explode, however, gravity keeps that from happening.
And also Mars. Elon Musk wants to go to Mars, he's talked about it. Of course what's the economic incentive? Trillions of dollars to make this a reality?
And how did we wind up on the moon by 1969, well more of a geopolitical incentive. Certainly the United States of America had to show the technical superiority to our superpower rivals the Soviet Union. The U.S. has rivals of course in the current world, but there's no Soviet Union - Russia still hasn't matched the power and influence of the superpower it ultimately replaced.
However as the title postulates, "We'll never go to Mars", I hope we do in my lifetime. Besides I just missed the Apollo missions of the late 1960s to earlyer 70s that did land on the moon.
Voyager 1 was launched on Sept 5, 1977 and is currently still sending data back to Earth even in what is called interstellar space. It is the further man-made object away from Earth.
Voyager 1 is further away from Earth than its sister probe Voyager 2 (launched August 20, 1977) and also Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 (currently derelict in space though also far away from Earth).
Both of the Voyager probes have golden records which I have linked to on this blog in the past. They were designed to be found by any extraterrestrial species that may run across these probes. The records are like time capsules and who knows they may well outlast human civilizations.
Of course here's the deal. While Voyager 1 at least has left the heliopause which is the boundary between the solar wind of our Sun and the plasma of other stars in our galaxy. So whatever instruments the probes still have and certainly whatever energy it has remaining has been used to collect data outside of our solar system.
Beyond the heliopause is a region known as the Oort cloud and Voyager 1 is expected to reach that area of space in about 300 years. Of course a lot can happen in that time, to Earth especially. And as a huge science fiction fan, I would expect that humanity could beat Voyager 1 to the Oort cloud well before that.
And it would take about 30,000 years to for the probe to pass through it. Again, it's possible that we may beat that probe through that area of space. That is unless "warp drive" - a future faster than light propulsion system actually being studied by physicists - becomes a reality and bridges the vast distances within our galaxy.
As far as any extraterrestrial visitors. Who knows? Perhaps the idea of a UFO - and thus alien visitors - are a reality. And it's also possible that any other advanced lifeforms like ourselves - humanity - might not have yet figured out how to bridge the vast distances in our galaxy as of yet. Who knows if as long as the Voyagers remain out there if they will encounter any other life forms.
[VIDEO] The real title of this video is how was the moon created?
While the science isn't exactly settled on this question, what this video argues is that the moon was created after a collision between Earth and an hypothetical ancient planet known as Theia. Really fascinating to know what we found out about the composition of the moon once we collected samples of moon rocks from the Apollo missions.
[VIDEO] I'm going through this now taking both DNA tests for MyHeritage & Ancestry. Hopefully next month I may well know what my admixture is. Admixture is basically what your DNA says about your ethnicity if you're descended from African, European, etc.
I would very much recommend taking the DNA test through Ancestry. I feel as if they have a much better website to build out your family tree and hopefully make the right connects with distant relatives. MyHeritage is OK, I might recommend that because you take a cotton swab sample as opposed to spitting in a tube with Ancestry. Both companies are offering autosomal DNA which basically looks at the DNA inherited from both your father & mother.
For this the subject of this video Jabari Walker who also runs the YouTube channel From Nothing - you may have seen a video from him on this blog recently - takes five different DNA tests. Ancestry, MyHeritage, FamilyTreeDNA, LivingDNA, and African Ancestry.
African Ancestry is most expensive and what is good about them is through the use of Y-chromosome testing & X-Chromosome (mitochondrial) testing they are able to identify which African ethnicity from which you are descended. Of course what they have to be sure of is that your distant ancestor is in fact African because it is possible your earliest male or female ancestor could be European for example.
However, if you want those results through your paternal line - basically your father and his father and so-on or your maternal line - your mother and her mother and so-on there are far more inexpensive options for that. However, they may not necessarily point to a specific African ethnicity.
As for my own DNA tests I plan to release my own video about that in the near future.
[VIDEO] I enjoy PBS Eons on YouTube. They really take a look at the natural and evolutionary history of Earth. How did the many species of life we know - and of course humanity itself - evolve on this third rock from the sun?
In this most recent edition now we look at the fourth rock from the sun. The red planet we know as Mars which is our next door neighbor. The next great voyage of mankind will be to make the long trek to Mars.
I know in history astronomers observed bodies of water, rivers, channels, etc and now that we're able to send space probes to take a look at one of our next door neighbors we find out that there is no bodies of water on Mars. We see polar icecaps at the poles, see a desolate planet.
We wonder if there was ever life on Mars? We wonder why did Mars become such a desolate planet when there is evidence that there were bodies of water on that planet as exists on Earth. This is a fascinating look at the ongoing research and data collection on the fourth planet.
[VIDEO] How about a Daily Dose of Internet today? How about scientists using the extinct wooly mammoth DNA to create a meatball? How about a student pilot accidently opening up the plane door during flight? How about a remote car finding and purchasing pet food?
Back here in Chicago, there will be a runoff election to determine who the next mayor of Chicago will be. That's important information if you haven't voted or otherwise missed early voting which ends today.
[VIDEO] Today's video starts off with a homeowner using their own security system to transmit a message to police officer who are at the door. Hmm I don't thin this was in America, perhaps it was Australia is a neat trick. However, hopefully there isn't anything going on at home when you do offer police on the scene that message.
Of course other things that hopefully either entertains you or informs you. There is a quick video of shrimp going into a diver's mouth, however, they're just lucky they haven't been friend before they go into mine. LOL
[VIDEO] We are Homo Sapiens (or perhaps a few years ago scientific sources would refer to us as Homo Sapiens Sapiens). Thousands of years ago us as Homo Sapiens weren't the only Homo species on the planet. As you see here there from PBS Eons were Neanderthals in Europe and the Middle East and we also had the Denisovans in southeast Asia.
We learn that these species of Homo - basically bipedal or we walk on two feet - intermingled and mated. Certain groups of humans carry DNA from Neanderthals and certain groups of humans carry DNA from Denisovans. Neanderthals and Denisovan DNA enabled the progeny of matings with humans to carry with them beneficial biological adaptations within their particular environments.
I find the study of the evolutionary history of Human Beings very fascinating. How many millions of years of evolution created us? Better yet created all of the living things that live on this planet?
Let's make a long story short the theory is Humans evolved from primates more specifically from apes. Our closet primate relative is a chimpanzee and we share 99% of our DNA with them. It's amazing how we evolved from whatever species from which both chimpanzees and Humans descended and we've seen what Humans are capable of.
We are largely able to be stewards of our environment or even attempt to control or create our environment. We are a most remarkable species and yet thousands of years ago we had some competition. Now we ask the question what happened to the Neanderthals and the Denisovans.
BTW, we just discovered the Denisovans and sadly their fossil records are incomplete. We have fragments of bones here and there. However we don't have a full fossil to tell scientists their skeletal structure. We have plenty of fossils of Neanderthals, and scientists are studying them all the time!
[VIDEO] Among other videos let's start with the first one. Seeing photosynthesis in real time. We get to watch what we learn in science in real time very briefly in this video. Of course we also have to see an ape use a nail clipper and some other things that hopefully made your day. :)
[VIDEO] I know the basic story of the five Great Lakes. Basically were formed in an ice age once glaciers retreated to far more colder areas of North America. Chicago is right next to one of them Lake Michigan and of course there is Superior, Ontario, Erie & Huron. A large interconnected group of freshwater lakes.
So this program which aired on the History Channel in 2008. Ah I really miss when History actually had programming like this although I was a fan of Pawn Stars.
[VIDEO] Late last year I shared a video about the Voyager project that sent two space probes out of the solar system with a virtually indestructible phonograph record which is a bit of an archive of humanity as recorded for that time. A number of pictures of our planet and various pictures of people and various pictures of life on our planet in addition to the various sounds such as music our languages or even direct messages from some of planet's leaders were placed on those records.
Canadian YouTuber McCullough explores various attempts made my NASA to reach any potential extra-terrestrial species about our planet and the inhabitants. His final shot it was never about the aliens, this was about the human need to communicate about ourselves and perhaps even a hint of immortality.
WHo knows if the Voyager probes will ever be seen by alien life. Who knows if the message transmitted by the Arecibo observatory will ever be received by any alien species as it takes about 25,000 to reach the M-13/Messier 13 cluster.
[VIDEO] Want to see a "stretchy head"? Want to see cotton candy dissolve in water (that's such a waste)? Want to see what happens when you put your hand in "hot ice"? Check out this latest edition of Daily Dose of Internet.
[VIDEO] The Voyager program consisted of two probes who in the last decade have finally reached interstellar space. The probe Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977 which was 16 days before Voyager 1 on September 5, 1977. Both probes contain a golden record which you see analyzed in the above video.
It's amazing what the team that created this time capsule of our planet and civilization. It's designed to last at least a billion years and contains data such as audio and 116 pictures. The audio are sounds of our world of human voices, animals, weather, and samples of human music. Also contains a message from then President Jimmy Carter - he was POTUS when these probes were launched from Earth in 1977. There is also a message from then United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim.
As one member of the team that created this golden record Jon Lomberg stated this project was about dreaming big. That they did and what they did with the technology they had at the time - unless you're into vinyl records you won't find those in many homes today. They used phonograph technology to hold this amount of data for any extraterrestrials (or aliens).
[VIDEO] The first video involves creating a tornado at home. Using smoke from a machine and then turning a ceiling fan in reverse to create the cool effect of a tornado. That among other things that I hope makes your day just a bit better.
[VIDEO] In this most recent edition we still two bees working together to open a beverage bottle. We see a dog calm another dog experiencing a seizure. We also see a sheep who's tired of the shepherd dog. We also see a timelapse of a lunar eclipse. And a breathing device that demonstrates the effect of tobacco smoking on your lungs among other things that hopefully makes your day...
It's very interesting how they use the forces of movement of the Earth and the Moon and then of course the propulsion of a rocket engine to help get the spacecraft to where it needs to go. To get that spacecraft onto the surface of Earth's nearest neighbor or if you want satellite.
[VIDEO] We see a cat realizing its owner is pregnant. We see a dog go ziplining. We see a police officer operating a speed radar. At the very end we see a compartment where a flight crew can rest on a long flight. I wonder what kind of plane that is.
[VIDEO] Sitting on this Saturday morning I see that Marques Brownlee has released another season of his YouTube original series Retro Tech. Just got through watching an episode on flying cars/hoverboard and what you see here is an episode on "teleporting".
And think about it, have you seen Star Trek? What you see on that program is teleportation. Basically converting matter into energy and teleporting it elsewhere to reconvert it into matter. That's basically what a "transporter" on the starship Enterprise does.
As a matter of fact, Brownlee has guests look under their chair and they see the focus of the episode. In this case a toy transporter which is actually merchandise from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Just like the episode on flying cars which went from the idea of an aerial personal vehicle to a hoverboard, this goes from actual teleporting to virtual reality. It's really interesting to discuss future technologies and concepts.
