No, it’s not another giant meteor scare. Dr. Richard J. Gott, using a philosophical and scientific principle called the Copernican Principle, predicts how much longer things can last; presidents’ tenures, dogs lives, and the human species. Our future? Anywhere from 5100 years to 7.8 million. And he makes this prediction with 95% accuracy. To beat that range, he believes we will need to colonize another world (potentially Mars) in the next 46 years, and he uses the Fermi Paradox to back up this assertion. I don’t know about you, but I think 7.8 million years would be woefully inadequate.
Tag Archives: science
A Future For Organic Farming
Organic farming is not just the way forward for wealthy suburbanites. A new study of studies estimates that if all world agriculture shifted to organic farming techniques the world would produce at the low end 2,641 calories per person per day, and at the high end 4,381. The current world agricultural output, including synthetic factory farming techniques, is estimated at 2,786 calories. Even more interesting is the fact that in developing countries small-scale, organic techniques may produce food more efficiently than synthetic alternatives. [kurzweil ai] [photo by Frankie Roberto]
Astronomers spot a wet ‘hot Jupiter’
This story is everywhere today, but my preferred source for the real unsensationalised science behind astronomy headlines is Centauri Dreams, which explains that, while there is indeed water in the atmosphere of exoplanet HD 189733b, it’s almost certainly not in the liquid form that we are used to finding it in. The good news is that it suggests water-abundant star systems are not a rarity – so maybe one day we’ll find a planet more like our own.
Lego lifeforms – the progress of synthetic biology
Biotech is really hitting its stride as far as rapid progress – and grabbing headlines – is concerned. New Scientist takes a look at the work of Craig Venter – the tycoon who recently attempted to patent a ‘minimal genome’ – who claims his team have passed an important milestone in the journey towards creating entirely synthetic bacteria … and at his competitors, who believe that Venter’s
project isn’t creating genuine synthetic life at all.
Strange sources for marvellous medicines
We humans use some pretty odd things as medicines – penicillin is a form of fruit mold, after all. But sometimes the origins and other uses of a substance get in the way of objective scientific study of its effects – the marijuana debate being a prime example. That said, mold and resinous plants are fairly innocuous when compared to the
original source of a new weight-loss drug for diabetics – gila monster saliva.