Continuing the nerd trend that I seem to have going on here…I like space.
By space, I don’t mean that I like to have 3 people-free feet all around me, I mean stars, moon, galaxy, comets, etc. I like to follow NASA and the happenings of what the crap is going on with the space programs around the world and such. I like to think that I have a fair understanding of the Earth, it’s place in the galaxy and how things work. The truth is that I really have no idea about the intricacies of certain things, but I get the big picture. So when I came across this article, I was a bit… scared.
You see, magnetism is something that I don’t really get. I mean, sure magnets stick to my refrigerator, north and south poles and all of that, but I really don’t understand it. I don’t understand why they are attracted to or oppose one another. And then you go and throw solar winds into it and I’m really confused. I suppose I need to wikipedia it and figure it out. The fact that the worlds top experts didn’t see this coming and can’t explain it kind of makes you think that lots of people really don’t understand it, which is fairly nerve-racking if you ask me.
It’s not nerve-racking that we just discovered it. Chances are that this has been happening for a long time and that we simply just figured out that it was happening. What is nerve racking is that this changes a fundamental belief in the scientific community. But you didn’t want all of the scientists in the world slacking off now did you? Time to try and crack this egg.
I suppose though that that is what it’s about. Trying to figure out why things are happening, what things happened, and what things might happen in the future.
There is an excellent book out by Neil deGrasse Tyson called Death by Black Hole if you’re interested in reading a little more on the subject of science and space. Death by Black Hole takes all of the NASA and science mumbo-jumbo and strips it down to layman’s terms. It explores everything from the origins of the universe to, like the title suggests, what it would actually be like to die via black hole. What I like most about the book is that it does what some of the books in its genre seem unable to do. It leaves religion out of it. Science and religion have a long standing feud, one that I just can’t understand. The reasons for this are for another blog, another time, but I really applaud Mr. Tyson for steering clear of religion in his book. The only mention he has of religion at all is in the last chapter he warns against teaching only intelligent design in schools, and it makes plenty of sense.
Pick up Death by Black Hole. Read, enjoy, and look at the stars with a whole new perspective.
