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Science Thread


Nigel

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14 hours ago, tonyh29 said:

Watching a TV show about m87 , a black hole that is as big as 6.5 billion suns and punching  out some form of “jet “that is ripping a hole 100 ,000 light years wide  , ( about the size of a galaxy )causing carnage throughout the universe … then they went into some other jet that is 1,000,000 light years wide that carved out a cosmic void 15 times the size of the Milky Way

it’s fascinating but making my head hurt and I understand pretty much none of it 

As this is the science thread, I should point out that the mass is 6.5 billion suns, not the size.

:mrgreen:

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1 minute ago, limpid said:

As this is the science thread, I should point out that the mass is 6.5 billion suns, not the size.

:mrgreen:

I shall amend my original statement from  I understand pretty much none of it  to 

I understand none of it  

:) 

 

 

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2 hours ago, tonyh29 said:

this series (9) is 11 episodes long ,  don't think the episodes are linked in regards to subject matter ... 

i just jumped in at the last episode as it sounded the most interesting   , they referenced photos from 2020 so its pretty up to date ...

mentioned Hawkins "soft hair " theory with regards to black holes , that was a new one to me .. was the last paper he ever published apparently 

I got it via Sky but  I think its on Amazon prime  and Apple Tv as well if you have either of them 

Great stuff, looks like they finally got round to a new series. sounds perfect!

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6 hours ago, limpid said:

As this is the science thread, I should point out that the mass is 6.5 billion suns, not the size.

:mrgreen:

The size is proportional to the mass, however. Btw, imaging of the ~4 million solar mass black hole at the heart of our very own Milky Way should be released in the next few months. It is 1000 times smaller than that in M87 (distance ~50 Mly), but about 1000 times closer (distance ~ 25kly).

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16 hours ago, chrisp65 said:

I think we had a bit of a flare / geostorm here a little while ago.

The sky light up at the same time as the power went off.

Lasted about a second, but very impressive.

There was a fairly big coronal mass ejection a couple of weeks ago. Probably an alien invasion though.

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21 minutes ago, limpid said:

There was a fairly big coronal mass ejection a couple of weeks ago. Probably an alien invasion though.

I believe the chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one.

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On 20/09/2021 at 20:33, A'Villan said:

Thoughts?

May be an image of text that says 'mohamad safa @mhdksafa If you are not a scientist, and you disagree with scientists about science, it's actually not a disagreement. You're just wrong. Science is not truth. Science is finding the truth. When science changes its opinion, it didn't lie to you. It learned more. 6:13AM 2021-08-26 Twitter for iPhone'

Sorry to drag up an old post, but the quote is a classic example of any good thing being 'science' and any bad thing being 'anti-science', which is allegedly a synonym for 'wrong'. 

'If you are not a scientist, and you disagree with scientists about science' suggests there are clear boundaries around what is 'science' and what isn't, but it's not obvious that there are. It would certainly be stupid for me to argue with a specialist about their specialism, because of course I would likely be wrong in ways I didn't even understand, but a lot of people have spent a lot of time standing on their 'science' qualifications when saying what to do about coronavirus, and I can and frequently do completely disagree with them about the relative balance of transmission reduction versus freedom of association and movement. For that, I am not just using scientific knowledge about the virus, but some historical perspective and an ethical framework, as of course are they. Also, 'science' cannot 'change its opinion', people change their opinions, and people are subject to a well-known array of cognitive biases and personal and social incentives that can and do affect scientific work. 

Science, and the scientific method, are massively important. They are the source of huge amounts of knowledge and joy and the bettering of our lives. But they do not have a monopoly on 'finding the truth'. 

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1 hour ago, HanoiVillan said:

Sorry to drag up an old post, but the quote is a classic example of any good thing being 'science' and any bad thing being 'anti-science', which is allegedly a synonym for 'wrong'. 

'If you are not a scientist, and you disagree with scientists about science' suggests there are clear boundaries around what is 'science' and what isn't, but it's not obvious that there are. It would certainly be stupid for me to argue with a specialist about their specialism, because of course I would likely be wrong in ways I didn't even understand, but a lot of people have spent a lot of time standing on their 'science' qualifications when saying what to do about coronavirus, and I can and frequently do completely disagree with them about the relative balance of transmission reduction versus freedom of association and movement. For that, I am not just using scientific knowledge about the virus, but some historical perspective and an ethical framework, as of course are they. Also, 'science' cannot 'change its opinion', people change their opinions, and people are subject to a well-known array of cognitive biases and personal and social incentives that can and do affect scientific work. 

Science, and the scientific method, are massively important. They are the source of huge amounts of knowledge and joy and the bettering of our lives. But they do not have a monopoly on 'finding the truth'. 

A large part of the issue is the use and abuse of the word science. 

Physics/Chem/Biology and math are all topics where hard data can be gathered and theories can be tested, with a statistical comparison of the data to the models with "all" sources of error known & unknown accounted for. 

Unfortunately, you also have the other "sciences" (social, economic, political etc.) who have little ability to do the above and who love using and abusing the scientific language. This is all before our beloved political and 4th estate clowns get involved.

E.g., see the epidemiology farce led by the good Dr. Ferguson with hardly an error or uncertainty in sight. There are many more examples of a study with poorly constrained uncertainties being taken as gospel by the political/talking their own book class... from all sides.

 

 

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On 02/11/2021 at 01:28, HanoiVillan said:

Sorry to drag up an old post, but the quote is a classic example of any good thing being 'science' and any bad thing being 'anti-science', which is allegedly a synonym for 'wrong'. 

'If you are not a scientist, and you disagree with scientists about science' suggests there are clear boundaries around what is 'science' and what isn't, but it's not obvious that there are. It would certainly be stupid for me to argue with a specialist about their specialism, because of course I would likely be wrong in ways I didn't even understand, but a lot of people have spent a lot of time standing on their 'science' qualifications when saying what to do about coronavirus, and I can and frequently do completely disagree with them about the relative balance of transmission reduction versus freedom of association and movement. For that, I am not just using scientific knowledge about the virus, but some historical perspective and an ethical framework, as of course are they. Also, 'science' cannot 'change its opinion', people change their opinions, and people are subject to a well-known array of cognitive biases and personal and social incentives that can and do affect scientific work. 

Science, and the scientific method, are massively important. They are the source of huge amounts of knowledge and joy and the bettering of our lives. But they do not have a monopoly on 'finding the truth'. 

I appreciate the thought and contribution to the discussion. And while the gesture of apology for dragging up an old post is nice for anyone who feels that any dialogue should be addressed in a prompt or timely manner, I'm certainly not swinging the gavel because your input is welcome and food for thought in my book. 

"To punish me for my contempt for authority, fate made me an authority myself." - Albert Einstein. 

To ignore an idea that is rooted deeply in truth and insight on account of an established authority not having recognised it already is backwards and serves none. 

I've a full day ahead but will endeavour to share further when I can. Thanks for the post @HanoiVillan.

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7 hours ago, A'Villan said:

To ignore an idea that is rooted deeply in truth and insight on account of an established authority not having recognised it already is backwards and serves none. 

Please give examples. 

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2 hours ago, mjmooney said:

Please give examples. 

Is the right question, but there are examples - saturated fats being one. By that I mean that for donkeys years it was assessed by established authority that saturated fats are "bad" in terms of human health and should be avoided and low fat diets were better for the heart and arteries and stuff. Even when evidence that this was nonsense was presented the medical and food industry and government establishment continued with advice around how low fat alternatives were good and food with saturated fats was "bad".

It's a long time since I read about all the background and so on, but it's always stuck with me as a failing. Not so much of science, because science gathered the evidence and presented it, but the scientific process was not followed to the end, because when new evidence is gained, the scientific process should re-evaluate previously held conclusions...but in this case the people involved did not see that process through to the end.

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Finally!

Quote

NASA astronauts make tacos onboard the ISS with green chile harvested in space

SPACE TACOS: FAJITA BEEF, REHYDRATED TOMATOES, ARTICHOKES AND HATCH CHILE HARVESTED IN SPACE

NASA astronauts on the ISS indulged in a taco feast after harvesting their first crop of chile peppers. ‘after the harvest, we got to taste red and green chile,’ tweeted NASA astronaut meghan mcarthur. ‘then we filled out surveys (got to have the data!) finally, I made my best space tacos yer: fajita beef, rehydrated tomatoes and artichokes, and HATCH CHILE.’

the peppers are part of NASA’s plant habitat-04 — one of the most challenging station plant experiments to date. the experiment began in summer this year, when astronauts cultivated chile peppers aboard the ISS for the first time. following four months of growing, the peppers were ready to be harvested: some were eaten and others were sent back to earth for analysis. 

https://www.designboom.com/technology/space-tacos-nasa-astronauts-grow-chile-11-05-2021/

Actually really cool.

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On 03/11/2021 at 19:11, mjmooney said:

Please give examples. 

You asked politely, and I always appreciate your input whether we share views or not, however I need to clarify.

You are unsure and question as to whether an authority has ever denied an idea that may offer greater insight and truth on account of the authority not having recognised it before?

History and society is riddled with it. Knowingly or unknowingly. To lead astray or innocently enough.

I'm not sure what your stance or thoughts are, and I won't assume, as you only posed that I provide an instance where this has occurred. I want to share that my father is a trusting soul, he's always saying my way of seeing things is overly cynical. Sometimes I wonder why he likes Bob Dylan to this day and more so Frank Zappa. He forgets why he was ever anti establishment in the first place and views those years of his life as unbecoming and pastimes that could have been better spent. Even though we survive through the struggle that made us, we still look at ourselves through the eyes of people that hate us. 

I took the scenic route to your request and I can only hope it was worth saying.

The eugenics movement. There you go.

That kind of mentality and mindset is still so heavily entrenched in our society, and our society is supposedly the best we have to offer. 

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