LGP Science Thread

[columbia]

It's odd how science ultimately must rely on a wee bit of faith.

[count2infinity]

Absolutely does... anyone that claims science can explain everything is deeply mistaken.

[Pucks_and_Pols]

It is not Science's job to explain everything, and it’s not fair to ask it to. Science is a process of thought to understanding certain questions, developing theories to answer those questions, and then testing those theories to determine if they are correct. For over 50 years physicists theorized about the existence of this Higgs-Boson particle, and now they have (nearly) conclusive proof that it does exist in the manner in which they theorized. It is one step further toward understanding this vast and chaotic universe in which we live. But it is hardly an explanation of existence. It is more of just another factor on the pile of stuff that makes up what we perceive as reality.

[Kraftster]

I guess it's a mix of philosophy and science. It's kind of like evolution. I accept evolution, but how did it all start? What cause Earth to form? The big bang? How did the big bang occur? What was the driving force behind it? Law of conservation of matter... matter can't be created nor destroyed, well then where the hell did it come from? Has it just always been and always will be?

Yes. What if it just "always was."

[columbia]

Sewage Plants Struggle To Treat Wastewater Produced By Fracking Operations
http://cen.acs.org/articles/91/web/2013 ... water.html

[stopper40]

http://gizmodo.com/5882725/the-miraculo ... s-of-lives

Gotta love science

[eddysnake]

http://www.counselheal.com/articles/4744/20130405/scientists-create-3-d-printer-build-synthetic-c.htm

In recent years, 3-D printing has been used to construct everything from guns to clothing. Now, researchers may have a more impressive accomplishment under their belts. Researchers from the University of Oxford have created a method for constructing objects that act like human tissue. In the future, the technology may even be harnessed to deliver drugs to individual cells or even to build synthetic tissues to replace damaged human ones.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the 3-D printer creates a lipid bilayer that separates water droplets. Cell membranes have two portions to them: a water-loving outside, perfect for negotiating the large amounts of water found in the body, and a water-phobic inside. That balance allows cells to interact with the world outside their borders, while keeping their contents protected.

Scientists are able to create synthetic versions of the cells by hand. However, the process was long and tedious. That is why the researchers created a machine that used the pipette to do the work for them. Still, they were surprised by the properties that the lipid bilayer developed after the machine performed its task, connecting 35,000 droplets.

[Rylan]

oh now they figure this **** out...

science sucks.

[eddysnake]

oh now they figure this **** out...

science sucks.

should've said something, I would've whipped something up in my garage for you.

[Rylan]

[PensFanInDC]

http://now.msn.com/magic-mushrooms-could-treat-depression-says-research#scptmg

I've said it before, shrooms cured my depression. Back in 2004 I was diagnosed clinically depressed with possible bi-polar disorder. I was on meds but they didn't work so I stopped taking them. A buddy of mine found some shrooms and since they were rare we got enough for a few trips and did so 1-2 times a week for about a month. By the last trip my depression was cured.

[shmenguin]

http://now.msn.com/magic-mushrooms-could-treat-depression-says-research#scptmg

I've said it before, shrooms cured my depression. Back in 2004 I was diagnosed clinically depressed with possible bi-polar disorder. I was on meds but they didn't work so I stopped taking them. A buddy of mine found some shrooms and since they were rare we got enough for a few trips and did so 1-2 times a week for about a month. By the last trip my depression was cured.

as someone who has been diagnosed with OCD (the pet peeves thread makes a little more sense now, no? ), it's frustrating that i'm very limited in what i can legally take for treatment. i'm functional enough, untreated, that i decided a while back to just give up on taking things like prozac or xanax. nasty drugs.

[Pavel Bure]

http://now.msn.com/magic-mushrooms-could-treat-depression-says-research#scptmg

I've said it before, shrooms cured my depression. Back in 2004 I was diagnosed clinically depressed with possible bi-polar disorder. I was on meds but they didn't work so I stopped taking them. A buddy of mine found some shrooms and since they were rare we got enough for a few trips and did so 1-2 times a week for about a month. By the last trip my depression was cured.

There are documented cases of shroom tripping curing depression, alcoholism, bi-polar, etc. but no one seems to be able to explain exactly why.

[PensFanInDC]

I remember the moment vividly. It was very close to the scene in Office Space where Peter gets hypnotized and the hypnotist dies leaving him in a permanent happy state. At first I thought it would go away when the trip was over but I'm still feeling good 9 years later. I remember sitting on my back porch, thinking about life (cause that's some of the deep **** you do on shrooms) and I had this epiphany; It's Whatever. I started to view all of my "problems" as 'It's Whatever'. Yes, this sounds odd, but it's true...

[doublem]

there is also some evidence that says certain drugs can cause mental illness.so let's not going partying in the streets just yet.

[shmenguin]

there is also some evidence that says certain drugs can cause mental illness.so let's not going partying in the streets just yet.

i know you're very sensitive about this stuff, but please read our posts again and see if your "partying in the streets" line still makes sense.

[bh]

NASA Planning on capturing a near Earth asteriod.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/aster ... ative.html

New type of mining?

[DontToewsMeBro]

Absolutely does... anyone that claims science can explain everything is deeply mistaken.

There is no faith involved. I think you are simply approaching the problem with the wrong questions in mind. For all their modern pop-physics nonsense, Hawking and Greene actually approach these very questions quite beautifully--instead of asking why, ask why not? Why is the universe this exact way and not another way? Why do the laws of nature work this way and not another way? Well, if they worked differently we would not be here today to pose such questions. I think science can explain everything, depending on your interpretation of 'everything'. If by everything you mean the machinery of the universe, the modern theoretical foundations of cosmology do not rely on a "creator" to set the universe in motion from the 'moment'* of the singularity.

*time as we know it isn't easily defined in the early quantum state of the universe.

[count2infinity]

well, on your definition of everything, sure. my definition of everything is much different. my definition of explaining everything is that there should be an accurate and firm answer for everything that is ever asked. as a scientists, i know that this is not possible. you need to take some science on a bit of faith. what we "know" now may change in the future. What they "knew" 100, 50, 20, hell even 5 years ago is much much different today than it was then.

[DontToewsMeBro]

well, on your definition of everything, sure. my definition of everything is much different. my definition of explaining everything is that there should be an accurate and firm answer for everything that is ever asked. as a scientists, i know that this is not possible. you need to take some science on a bit of faith. what we "know" now may change in the future. What they "knew" 100, 50, 20, hell even 5 years ago is much much different today than it was then.

As Godel showed, proof and truth are inherently different things. I agree with your last point--physics, or any science, is not based on proof--however that does not mean there can't be a right answer.

[OutofFoil]

NASA Planning on capturing a near Earth asteriod.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/aster ... ative.html

New type of mining?

It's not as far-fetched as one would think.. Definitely not outside the realm of possibility.

[count2infinity]

that does not mean there can't be a right answer.

prove it.

[DontToewsMeBro]

that does not mean there can't be a right answer.

prove it.

do you have no faith?

[Godric]

[DontToewsMeBro]

I prefer Penrose and even Hawking to Tyson, although I think he does a really great job of getting people excited about science, and acts as a bridge between the scientific world and the layperson.

also, Dawkins is an @@@hat.