Eye on Faith

Thursday, December 28, 2017

Alpha Centauri and/or bust!

Curiouser and curiouser... (PD)

In the 20^th century, we reached for the moon. In the 21^st, we’ll be reaching for the stars. Actually, three stars in particular: Centauri A, Centauri B and Proxima Centauri.

NASA aims to reach Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system to our own, by the year 2113. Since this journey would take a minimum of 44 years, the spacecraft would launch in 2069 (100 years after the first moon landing).

Why the keen interest in another star system when we hardly even know our own? Scientists believe that Alpha Centauri “almost certainly” harbors “small Earth-like planets.” Where there are Earth-like planets, there may also be Earth-like life. Curiosity about such is the driving force behind this stellar goal.

Curiosity has been known to kill cats. Hopefully, it will not also kill humanity.

Resources

http://www.mirror.co.uk/science/nasa-plans-mission-alpha-centauri-11726452

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Baba Vanga: 2018 and Beyond

(Public Domain)

Some are making resolutions for 2018; others have already made predictions.

One such other was a Bulgarian mystic named Baba Vanga. Before leaving this world in 1996, she foretold two mighty events that would occur in 2018.

The first was that China would become the world’s number-one superpower. The second was that “a new form of energy” would come from the planet Venus.

If that weren't enough to keep presses rolling, there’s more - so much more. The Sun (along with its “BFF,” the New York Post) reports on these additional Baba Vanga-isms: Melting polar ice caps will cause oceans to rise. Cloning will eradicate disease. Humans will figure out time travel. Immortal people will “talk to God.”

If all this seems a bit much, take it in slowly. Time travel won’t occur until the 23^rd century, and immortality not until the 44^th (at least).

Resources

https://nypost.com/2017/12/26/mystic-who-predicted-isis-9-11-had-two-predictions-for-2018/

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Polyphasic sleep heightens productivity?

Sleep deprived? (Tesla, Public Domain)

If you take short naps rather than long slumbers, you might be a genius. And if you’re not, you might produce even greater amounts of mediocrity.

“Rumor has it” that Nikola Tesla and Leonardo da Vinci each slept only two hours per day. Rather than commit a whole two hours at once, they favored 20-minute “power naps” instead.

Each was indeed a genius, and each certainly produced his share of innovations.Nevertheless, questions arise: Would they have produced even more with an “early to bed, early to rise” type schedule? Would they have lived much longer with more continuous bouts of sleep per day?

If they did produce more per day by power napping, but then lived for far fewer years, would their overall output really have improved? It might take a mathematician like Einstein (who often had 10 hours of sleep per night) to figure this out.

Resources

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/smart-living/if-you-have-this-one-crazy-sleep-habit-you-could-be-a-genius/ar-BBH0Glx?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=BHEA000