Age

How, exactly, do we age? Why is it that our bodies begin to grow old and die? Why can't our body cells just keep reproducing and keep us young and healthy? Well, after talking with Dad, I came to find out that we have, on a certain chromosome, a set of genes that gets smaller every time the cells split, and as these bits of gene get smaller and smaller, we get older. So, is there a way to either lengthen this gene so that the aging process takes longer? Or could we perhaps come up with a way to keep those genes from splitting during cell reproduction? Either way, it's like searching for the fountain of youth. It's pretty impossible. We know for a fact that when we clone, those little aging genes inside the clone subject cell have already aged, so when the cell is cloned, the subject ages rapidly because of the already aged cell. So, if we are to clone someone, do we use a cell from a fetus? That way the clones are identical? Or do we want to clone EVEN EARLIER? Could we perhaps make 7 different, yet physically identical people? But then again, what mother would want septuplets? Another question is how do our exercise habits affect our aging? Why is it that really obese and unfit people end up dying when they are 50? Could it be that the body is having a hard time maintaining itself, or are their actions making their body cut off more and more of that gene every time the cells split? I'm probably not going to find out any time soon, seeing as I'm not a geneticist. But oh well. We'll find out eventually.

Dark Matter

Dark matter is pretty much THE most complex and difficult to understand thing that I have learned recently. Dark matter, to put it blankly, is not normal matter. There are no protons, neutrons, or electrons. It is an inferred idea because of strange gravitational pulls that have manifested themselves, but not their sources. It was hypothesized to make up for the discrepancies between measurements of the mass of galaxies, cluster galaxies, and the entire universe made through dynamical and general relativistic means, and measurements based on the mass of visible "luminous" matter that these objects contain. According to Friedmann equations,72% of the universe is dark energy, 23% of the mass-energy density of the observable universe is dark matter, and 4.6% makes up the ordinary matter. Thus, 80% of the entire observable universe is dark matter, and only 20% is normal matter. The idea of dark matter was created when a man by the name of Fritz Zwicky observed "missing mass" in the orbital velocities of galaxies in clusters. The difference of dark matter and normal matter is the fact that dark matter is not made up of atoms and such, but rather is made up of neutrinos, axions, and supersymmetrical particles. Scientists have used gravitational lensing to see that light has been bent at places where there wasn't any grouping of visible matter.  There are three kinds of dark matter. Cold, warm, and hot dark matter. Cold dark matter is particles moving at classical velocities. Warm matter is particles moving at relativistic speeds. And hot matter is particles moving at ultrarelativistic speeds. Fritz then went on to try and observe this dark matter at work. He applied the virial theorem to the Coma cluster of galaxies and obtained evidence of unseen mass. Fritz estimated the cluster's total mass based on the motions of galaxies near its edge and compared that to one based on the number of galaxies and total brightness of the cluster. He found that there was about 400 times more estimated mass than was actually visible. And this is where I'm stumped so far, because I'm still trying to figure out the equation of the shape of galaxies which is quite difficult to understand at the moment. So if you want to add anything that I left out besides the fact that dark matter is invisible because it doesn't reflect light, then go ahead and post.

The Facts of Energy

Energy, as we know it, is present in many forms. The most obvious of these forms is lightning, electricity, and static electricity, because these can be felt physically. Other forms are light, radiation, and matter. Matter is the least known of all sources of energy, because frankly, how does it have energy? Well, it's like compacting a lot of oxygen into a block of solid air. Matter is compacted energy, and when fission occurs, the energy is released in exponential forms of explosions, nuclear reactors, and other such technologies. According to E=mc2, energy and matter are interchangeable, and thus, we can use matter as a source of energy. Now, a question that we have been struggling to answer, is this. What happens to matter when it reaches the speed of light? It gains infinitesmal mass, and thus is impossible to attain. But, if we had a source of energy that was made of matter on the ship, when once we reached infinitesmal mass, we could use the infinite mass of the fuel to propell us infinitely. But we would have to burn massive ammounts of fuel just to get up to the speed of light. So if we can't do this, the what can we do with matter and energy? We could create a weapon that fires molecules at people fast enough that it punctures their body, yet only damages what's inside. Or we can use it to map out certain objects in every day life. What if we were able to discover the string theory somehow? The string theory states that there are tiny ammounts of energy vibrating inside every proton, neutron, and electron, and if these vibrating bits of energy existed, then alternate realities DO exist. But since we can't even get a clear photo of an atom, I doubt we'll be getting anything out of that for QUITE some time. But think, that would mean that wormholes could be portals between dimensions, and that black holes are just ways to go from one place to another instantly. But we wouldn't know, because we've never been able to encounter a black hole up close.