A big part of science is asking the right questions. We've been looking for signs of life elsewhere in the universe, but how do we know we'd be able to detect them even if life is out there? One way to answer that question is to send a probe far into space...
...and see if it detects signs of life on the one place we know for certain it exists in the universe—Earth! That was one of the goals of the Venus Express mission. Launched in late 2005, it was sent millions of miles away to study Venus. But while it was there, astronomers...
... turned it towards Earth to see if it could detect signs of habitability on our own planet. It detected certain molecules associated with life in Earth's atmosphere, but the problem is, Venus shows the same signs and it's not habitable. Astronomers hope to fine-tune...
...their observations to detect more definitive signs, like that of photosynthesis—the process of converting starlight to chemical energy for plants and other organisms—on Earth and apply that to the search for life on planets outside our solar system. Pretty clever!
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
A friend of mine's daughter is really getting into physics, so I recommended my top five favorite physics YouTube channels to her. I figured y'all would probably enjoy these, too.
Feel free to recommend your own fave physics channels if you've got any.
#1 Fermilab
This is the channel for Fermilab, the accelerator lab in Chicago. The host of many of their videos is theoretical physicist Don Lincoln. I love his style. He's chill, down-to-earth, and explains things in a very easy-to-understand way. The videos are all pretty short, so if you're looking to dip your toes into physics topics, this is your channel.
#2 Sabine Hossenfelder
Sabine is a theoretical physicist who explains difficult physics concepts in a way almost anyone can understand. She always chooses interesting topics, and has lately been branching out from physics to cover all kinds of other scientific topics. I appreciate her rational, balanced approach to contentious issues.
#3 Dr. Paul M. Sutter
Paul is a theoretical cosmologist who covers topics in astrophysics and physics. He just seems like someone I'd like to hang out with talking about theories of gravity and quantum limits. Like the others in this list, he's really good at making difficult topics understandable. His videos tend to be a bit longer, so if you're looking for a chill physicist to vibe with for 20 or 30 minutes, he's your guy.
We have an apparatus to investigate the natural world, called science.
If there's another realm to reality, separate but interacting with the natural world, science is not equipped to investigate it as it does the natural world.
You can't demand that it needs to. Here's why.
Let's use an analogy. Astronomers use filters to observe the universe at different wavelengths (colors) of light. If I put a blue or green filter on a telescope, blue or green light is all it can see. You can get a lot of useful data that way, like in this image.
Astronomers use filters to pick out details of that stand out at different colors. This is because different elements and chemical compounds radiate or absorb light at different wavelengths (colors) of light. We know from experience there's a different reality at each color.
Existence is far more strange and fascinating than you realize.
Modern life is almost designed to beat our innate sense of wonder out of us.
Take a moment to appreciate just how odd and wonderful it is that the world can be described by mathematics.
As physicist Eugene Wigner points out, there's no reason this must be. He wrote a paper called "The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences," and I urge you all to read it.
Second, if you read Michael Heiser, you see that the Bible acknowledges a whole pantheon of other gods. I believe these other gods exist. But they are lesser, contingent beings, not deserving of our worship or obedience.
Everyone has a "god" – something that sits on the throne of their heart.
If it's God, it will go well for you.
If it's not, it will eat you alive.
Your "god" could be money, fame, looks, work, politics, even something ostensibly wholesome, like fitness or helping people.
But no matter how important, how "good" you think your god is, if it's not God – the ground of existence, the wellspring of life, goodness, and love – you're serving something lesser, and it will consume you.
Christians, don't think this doesn't apply to you. If you're constantly stressed, miserable, anxious, ill-at-ease, frequently in conflict with others, then check to see if you have an idol.
fyi, I'm not exempt from this. I'm constantly pushing idols off the throne of my heart.
Science doesn't disprove God. Anyone who says otherwise is lying.
There is nothing in established, well-supported science that contradicts the existence of God. Nothing.
There isn't even anything in speculative "science" that contradicts God.
The best speculations that anti-theists come up with merely make God redundant, but those usually involve infinite regress or static eternal models, both of which have serious problems. It's very difficult to come up with plausible scenarios that don't have an ultimate cause.
It almost all comes down to problems with pain, morality, pride. If you could somehow remove all of the emotional baggage that comes with the idea of God, an intelligent Ultimate Cause would be seen as the most probable explanation for the world by every intellectual...