The unguided processes of nature quite often lead to an illusion of design – assembled products that seem to be perfectly suited for their environments and that give a certain sense of being deliberately calibrated. There is a reason why this illusion arises, and that is due to the process of natural selection, which so […]
Read more "The Illusion of Design"The ultimate goal of the scientific method is to falsify the closest approximations to reality. There are no absolute truths in science because all theories are liable to perpetual refinement and revision. In science, plausibility is established not by proving things true but in fact, but by demonstrating that they have not yet been shown […]
Read more "How do we know what is true?"In science, negative results, all too often, never see the light of day. Indeed, that is quite a problem because biasing results towards positive findings means missing out on a potential information source that could have otherwise been obtained through the negative findings. Such a case is often the result of a drive to squeeze […]
Read more "Failure in Science: The Story of William Perkin"Advancements in science have undoubtedly always been a driver for financial gain. But despite science’s primordial role in catapulting countries into economic preeminence, science has not had its fair share of spending. Most countries tend to spend 1-3 % of their GDP on R&D, the majority of which is constituted by private non-federal contributions. This is indeed […]
Read more "Why do we spend very little on science?"A classic problem in computational mathematics is known as the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). Suppose a traveling salesman wishes to visit a predetermined N number of cities. Each city is represented as a vertex of a given graph and each two vertices are joined by an edge. The traveling salesman must find the most efficient, cost-limiting […]
Read more "The Conundrum of the Traveling Salesman"Last Sunday on May 22nd, Mars reached its opposition, an astronomical phenomenon which happens every 2 years. Since the orbit of Mars is located outside the orbit of Earth, the Earth, Mars, and the Sun periodically occur in a straight line leading to opposition of Mars, wherewith it lies on the opposite side of the […]
Read more "Mars Closest to Earth in a Decade"Mark your calendars! An astronomical phenomenon of great significance will occur this Monday on May 9th. Mercury will cross the sun for the first time since 2006. The transit of Mercury occurs when Mercury passes between the sun and the Earth (inferior conjunction), since of course Mercury is closer to the sun than we are. […]
Read more "Transit of Mercury On May 9th"It is that time of year again where those “once in a lifetime” kind of astronomy hoaxes begin circulating on social media and wow an uninformed crowd. Here’s a hoax which I came across today purporting that Saturn will appear closer to Earth than the moon to offer an spectacular sight. Anyone with a basic understanding […]
Read more "Yet Another Facebook Hoax"I have started reading Proof of Heaven by author Eben Alexander. The first thing that caught my attention about this book was how absurd the title is. The author paints an anecdotal recollection of subjective experience as proof. Yet, personal recollections are not proof of anything. They are based upon firsthand accounts, the validity of which […]
Read more "Proof of Heaven Book Is Not Proof of Heaven"“What a delightful irony it will be if the real age of sail has yet to dawn – not only on the oceans of Earth, but also in the far wider seas of space” This is how Arthur C. Clarke envisioned the future of interstellar exploration in the great anthology of essays, poems, and essays […]
Read more "A Sail Through the Cosmos"
The BLOG of the cosmos 