Another generation...

Life on Earth has survived for millions of years and undergone genetic changes because of evolutionary processes that coincided with climate conditions. Even when the Siberian traps and out pouring of volcanic gases occurred 250 million years ago or with the Deccan traps 65 million years ago, plant life and animal life continued.

Humanity may try to geoengineer the planet and in the process may find beneficial aspect to continue on several other planets in this solar system, especially Mars or Venus.

Yet, the philosophical question and aspect would be "Why should humanity have dominion over the Earth?" when the reality is that humanity is part of the Earth. Over the last 700 years many species have gone extinct because of human settlement and human population that has needed the space for their own living. In the next 100 years many of the larger species of animals will become extinct in the wild with only genetic material frozen and stored.

The Earth cannot support the current population of 6.7 Billion individuals indefinitely, even with proper allocation of resources of food and water. How can humanity expect that the Earth is going to support 9.1 Billion individuals in the next 50 years with a life-span of those individuals at 70 years? With the aspect of raising the poverty levels of the people in every Nation on the planet, over that 120 year time frame is unrealistic?

Cutting down the forests to "Pave Paradise and Put up a Parking Lot" is going to leave the world very impoverished. Well see what the next 50 years brings upon the Earth.

(Initially posted on Cosmic Log). JMW

NGC 6210 Nebula

Hubble took a deep look at NGC 6210, which is 6,500 light years away, in the constellation of Hercules

At the heart of NGC 6210 is a star slightly less massive than our sun that is in the last fitful stage of its life cycle. The star's death spasms have kicked off multiple shells of material with different degrees of symmetry, giving the NGC 6210 nebula its odd, bulbous shape.

The new Hubble image shows the inner region of the planetary nebula in unprecedented detail, where the central star is surrounded by a thin, bluish bubble that reveals a delicate filamentary structure. The glowing bubble appears to be intertwined with an asymmetric, reddish gas formation where holes, filaments and pillars are clearly visible.

Planetary nebulas are shells of gas and dust expelled by stars near the end of their lives. They are typically seen around stars comparable or smaller in size than the sun. Planetary nebulas are not related to planets as their name suggests, but instead earned the moniker because they resembled giant planets when viewed through early telescopes.

A star's life ends when it runs out of fuel for its thermonuclear engine. The estimated lifetime for a sun-like star is about 10 billion years.

What's left behind is a tiny, but very hot, star remnant known as a white dwarf. The white dwarf inside NGC 6210, which is visible in the center of the Hubble image, will cool down and fade very slowly.

According to stellar evolution theory, our own sun will experience a similar fate in approximately 5 billion years.

How long does the 'cooling down and fade slowly away" last? Is it 10,000 years or 1/2 a billion years?

What happens to the existing solar system around such a star, are the planets obliterated? Do they continue to orbit a common baricenter?

Do the planets gain substantial mass because of all the ejected stellar material that forms the nebula? Would a Jupiter size world in such a nebula gain enough mass to become a star out of the ashes to the prior star?

Small Worlds seem so large.

Ever wonder what Earth looks like from Mars? With all the various people and nations, species extinction, arguments over global warming, rising sea level, inner city crime, country lacking things to do and a multitude of other issues, when looked at from afar Earth is a small world.

The picture came from a undocumented web resource on the web.

Existentialism....

....and a "Birthday Party".

On the existential view, to understand what a human being is it is not enough to know all the truths that natural science—including the science of psychology—could tell us. The dualist who holds that human beings are composed of independent substances—“mind” and “body”—is no better off in this regard than is the physicalist, who holds that human existence can be adequately explained in terms of the fundamental physical constituents of the universe. Existentialism does not deny the validity of the basic categories of physics, biology,psychology, and the other sciences (categories such as matter,causality, force, function, organism, development, motivation, and soon). It claims only that human beings cannot be fully understood in terms of them. Nor can such an understanding be gained by supplementing our scientific picture with a moral one. Categories of moral theory such as intention, blame,responsibility, character, duty, virtue, and the like do capture important aspects of the human condition, but neither moral thinking (governed by the norms of the good and the right) nor scientific thinking (governed by the norm of truth)suffices.

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Today, would have been my father's 97th birthday. His physical body past away, nearly 22 years ago in November of 1988. I try to focus on all the good memories and then go for a walk, thankful for the day, and even go and buy a piece of birthday cake. Well, I figure 1/2 of my genes came from him and since he cannot eat a piece of cake.......and that spiritually he's at the table...I'll eat the cake and that way we've shared the day and the cake.

Plus, I get three birthdays parties a year, with two birthdays existentialism. 1/2 of a cake to celebrate them and a entire cake on my birthday.

So, I turn the emptness into something good and enjoyable, a positive. It is better than going to a grave and standing alone in a field for 15 minutes.

I celebrate my Mom's birthday this way too, and then my birthday as well where they are invited.

The rest of the year, when occassionally they cross my toughts. I think of Dad out mowing the yard or Mom working in the garden and canning; somewhere out in West Virginia, in that place called Appalachia (Almost Heaven). As well as thoughts about my Aunts or Uncles or even Grandparents.

Those individuals were part of my life, just because "they are not here physically" their memory is a part of my life.

So, Happy Birthday Dad!

Gliese 581g and a Purple Sky.

What would the sky or even a sunset on Gliese 581g look like, considering a Red dwarf star with a surface temperature of 3700 F?

Purple and the clouds would create a Purple Haze or mist, with rain falling in a purple darkened sky.

Seriously, no joke.

The sunset would be that region between the light side and the dark side of the tidally locked planet with the sun overhead, just if one was wondering or asking the question "Wait, how can there be a sunset or twilight region on a tidally locked planet?"

Scientific Debates...

Is there a planet, is there not a planet, is there a planet, is there not a planet, pulling petals off the Daisy.

Daisey, Daisey...the artificial HAL 2000 intelligent computer system in Space 2001.

Image Credit: NASA, Lynette Cook.

In a recent article, there is arguments that the Planet Gliese 581g does not exist.

At this point in time, why not call it "Daisy World", pardon the pun.

Yet, this type of disagreement is part of the scientific process and the validation of data or discoveries that are made. As a comparison, Darwin's concepts and ideas upon evolution and change with species, were first laughed and scoffed at. Alfred Wallace, independently of Charles Darwin, noticed a similar occurrence and gradual changes of species that resided in Southeast Asia.

Vogt is standing by the data collection and analysis that the team of researchers analyzed. As a professional scientist would do so. Give him the professional respect, for him standing by the data. Just because another team with a different data set or observation cannot claim that they can find "proof" of a planetary object, they are equally entitled to make that statement and professionalism of respect.

Basically, it boils down to further observations and further collection of data is needed to prove or disprove the claim by both independent teams. This can and does occur within the scientific community; logically or illogically as it may seem to those not trained in scientific discoveries, debates, and approaches.

If subsequent observations overtime indicate the presence of a planet, then Vogt's discovery will stand, because it is being validated and verified to having mutual agreement within the scientific community.

If subsequent observations overtime indicate there is not a planetary object within the habitable zone, then Vogt's proclamation of the discovery will have been proven false.

The star is 20 light years away and the technology just borders upon finding and Earth-size planet in the "Goldilocks Zone". Eleven years of data, while sizable probably indicates greater than 90% there is a planet. Volt indicates that the data is 99% accurate. Yet, shouldn't further observations and refinements in technology occur with sharper and more detailed observation and images? Yes, they should occur to dispel any margin of error within the data and even conjectures.

With all due respect of science, the process of scientific enquiry and thinking, at least have the respect for the science involved in the process of discoveries. Even criticism is a process of science, but criticism of which team is "The Best" is reducing science and the scientific process down to the absurd.

This discovery of a planet in the "Goldilocks's Zone" around Gliese 581 cold be debated for 20 or the next 150 years. There are going to be individuals who say "There is a planet there and it has approximately 3 to 5 Earth mass with a ratio size of 1.3 to 1.5 Earth-size" and there are going to individuals who say the opposite or "There is not a planetary object, because the data and observations do not support the claim".

This is science.

Vogt has made a claim based upon the observations of his team members and the data collected.

"I stand by our data and analysis," Vogt, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said in an e-mail interview with SPACE.com."I feel confident that we have accurately and honestly reported our uncertainties and done a thorough and responsible job extracting what information this data set has tooffer. I feel confident that anyone independently analyzing this data set will come to the same conclusions."

Vogt added that he looks forward to reading the other team's results when they're published in a peer-reviewed journal. He's not necessarily expectingGliese581g to be yanked off the list of extrasolar planets, though.

"In 15 years of exoplanet hunting, with over hundreds of planets detected by our team, we have yet to publish a single false claim, retraction orer ratum," Vogt said. "We are doing our level best to keep it that way."

In the process of validation of the planet by various teams and making further observations, then the next phase would consist of the question to habitability; Vogt indicates it does exist in the "Goldilocks Zone". Yet, Venus or Mar's are in the fringes of the habitable zone in this solar system.

Intelligent Life, Advanced Civilizations might just be very Rare in the Galaxy.

Humans have for thousands of years looked upward and into the night sky, for their God's exist up in the Heavens and the very Gods are responsible for the planets, moons, and even Stars that one can see. When Zeus, Jupiter, and Ra were dethroned and cast into the shadows of human history and the monotheistism became common, the mysteries of the world began to fade with the enlightenment of the scientific discoveries and thoughts upon evolution began to occur, astrobiology was born as a discipline.

As discipline, astrobiology considers the aspect that life occurs on planetary systems and even neighboring planets. Yet, even with the plausibility that life may reside on Mars, methogenetic bacteria that contribute methane gas to the atmosphere, we still do not have verifiable proof. No micro-organism or bacteria has been collected, analyzed, or even genome sequenced and compared with terrestrial organisms and bacteria from the Earth. One could argue the aspect of panspermia, or the transfer of biological and bacterial organisms from one habitable planet to another; did life arise on Mars and then transfer to Earth or vise versa? Or that microbial bacteria life exist out in space and via asteroids and comets arrive to the planets and then begin a long evolutionary path of diversification that leads to unique species. Did that occur on Venus, Mars, or even the moon Europa? The Earth is a virtual bacterial garden with life existing in the Polar regions to the Tropical forests and then to the depths of the oceans and even 2 miles below the surface in the gold mines in Africa.

Like it or not, even every human that walks around is covered in bacteria. Even taking a hot shower will not destroy some of the various species of bacteria that live on the skins surface. Bacterial life has existed with humanity for over 125,000 years and even for several million years as our species developed from the hominid ancestors of 3.5 million years ago.

How did life begin on Earth, 4.3 or 3.7 Billion years ago? What was the chemical process that lead to the formation of the peptides that eventually became incorporated into the DNA sequences of life? There are a thousand questions and many of them have been answered, but further questions remain unknown.

Does intelligent life exist out there in the night sky? Can we talk and communicate with a Alien Species? If they happen to exist, do they look like us and should we call them "Vulcan's or Klingons"? Awe, a good old Klingon Opera or a Romulan Opera would suffice with some of that Andorran Blue Brandy as the respected Dr. Hawking plays a hand of poker with Lt. Data and Lt. Worf.

Yet, we should take a look at the infamous Drake Equation and consider that "Humanity" is the only one that has arose to even question the possibility of life else where. In 1962, Frank Drake devised the equation to give meaning upon the possibility of Aliens existing somewhere out in the depth of Space on a habitable planet, thus is the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence life, SETI. One can google "Drake Equation" or even Wikipedia the actual equation. The summation of which is that we only really know of one species; humanity, that exists and has become technologically capable of venturing out into space or even send their broadcasting signals out into the depth of space.

But does Intelligent life exist? Well, that is the ultimate goal of SETI to discover.

However, intelligent life or life that is comparable to 'as we know it' may actually be rare. Humanity may never actually talk or communicate with another species from another star system, sadly the Vulcan's or the Klingon's might not exist at all. Or even Aliens that "want to come to Earth and ravage the planet for mineral extraction and take all of the fresh water", to paraphrase Dr. Hawking. One might be asking the question "Why" or "What is he talking about"?

What is being talked about is human evolution and then broadening that aspect outward to another solar system, so this is a 'thought concept' with broader aspects upon Alien life. There is a discussion in the article: Ancient Viral Invasion Shaped Human Genome that should be considered when thinking about the possibility of life, or intelligent life, existing else where in the galaxy. The article states and quoting Professor Raymond L. White; "In particular, it was discovered that specific types of viruses that inserted themselves in the human genomes millions of years ago have dramatically changed the gene regulatory network in human stem cells" and "the investigators go further and demonstrate that many of the sites are embedded within a class of DNA sequences called "transposable" elements because of their ability to move to new places in the genome." Furthermore, the author, Professor Raymond L. White, adds to the discussion "Indeed, many think that regulatory changes are at the heart of speciation and may have played a large role in the evolution of humans from their predecessors. This is likely to be a landmark paper in the field", speaking specifically about human genome fields.

Basically, what the article is stating that over millions of years the various virus and bacterial infection that occurred lead to unique changes in the genome structure and the DNA expressions. In this aspect, the various polypeptide chains and expression lead to the development of humans and subsequently our mental capacities as an intelligent species. Unfortunately, the same viral exposure with Chimpanzees and the Pongidae groups did not lead to advance intelligence levels. What we use as a marker for intelligence or how it is gaged and our ability to learn and cognitive perceive our environment and the modification that modern humans do to the Earth, are in fact due to our evolutionary stages and exposure to the various virus and bacteria over millions of years.

Dr. Jane Goodall and the primatologist can see that our closest living relative, the Bonobo or the Chimpanzee has the precursors for eventually evolving into a technological species; they use tools, they recognized themselves, they communicate with other members in their troops or group, they protect their young, and they forage in the forest as marginal and primitive hunter/gathers. Even so, the chimpanzee that exist today would need nearly 3.5 million years of evolutionary development to approach what we have, given that Lucy was one of our ancestors and was capable of bipedal locomotion.

In the last 3.5 million years, there have been over 20 hominidae species that could have further evolved into an intelligent species, they became extinct over the course of time. Even humans, nearly became extinct 75,000 years ago during the Mt. Toba super volcanic eruption that decimated the human population down to a low number of less than 10,000 individuals, creating a bottleneck within the human genome that still shows a lack of diversity within the genome across the entire 6.7 billion individuals on the Earth. Humanity, or the great minds that have existed in our history, came very close to not having existed at all.

Broaden that out to the aspect of Aliens or an intelligent species existing on another planet, for a moment. They too would exist on a planet where virus and bacteria, over millions of years, would have altered the DNA sequences. However, that does not necessary indicate that intelligent life arose on another planet. There probably are Earth-like analogues, worlds where life exists with oceans, trees and animals that migrate across vast distances. Imagine what the Earth would be like without humans, then image another planet without an intelligent species. A world without cities, without highways, shipping industries and everything that is comparable to the hallmarks of an advance civilization.

SETI, will have to update and recalculate variables in the Drake Equation. There is no definitive proof that life exists even on Mars, until human explorers have gone and actually made discovery of the bacterial forms and possibly discovered more advance multicelluar life or sometype of plant species. As to the existance of intelligent life, out there on some planet within 200 or 2000 light years distance, no known signal has been detected that would indicate the possibility of such. If an Alien species were to exists, what is known about the various microbial species or virus species that occur on that planet? Nothing, exists to indicate that possiblity so far.

As far as humanity knows, with all of the science available and with all the variations of religions and philosophical paths...we still gaze up into the night sky. In wonderment of "whats out there"? But intelligent life, maybe very, very, very rare in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Earth is a garden, worms and all.