Post by auntym on Mar 12, 2018 12:53:51 GMT -6
midnightinthedesert.com/10-questions-science-cant-answer-yet/
10 Questions That Science Can’t Answer Yet
by Nathan Chandler / www.howstuffworks.com/about-author.htm#chandler
Posted on July 23, 2017 in Science
The cause of the Black Death once eluded scientific minds, but now that we’ve got that figured out, perhaps some of these other questions can get answers.
When the Black Death ran rampant through cities in the Middle Ages, no one knew exactly how or why the awful disease spread. After many generations, we figured out that rat fleas and bacteria were to blame. It was a watershed moment for the power of science.
Centuries later, science continues to investigate difficult, bewildering questions every day. Yet even with brilliant minds converging via a worldwide computer network, we still don’t have all of the answers. In fact, some people might argue that we’re just now learning to ask the truly big questions.
What happens to us after we die? How did so much life appear on our planet when others seem devoid of any species at all? Who, if anyone, pulls the strings of our universe? Is it some all-powerful god in control or are there physical and mathematical principles driving the engine of our existence?
Sometimes, after centuries of missteps, we humans finally stumble into real answers to real questions, such as why diseases spread. Other times, we’re left grasping into the darkness of our own igannance and wondering what any of it really means. In some cases, these questions are so difficult that even our children’s children will probably still be struggling for answers. But humanity will keep trying.
10
Why do we dream?
Typically, you dream during the rapid-eye movement portion of the sleep cycle, but researchers don't know why you dream in the first place. Andresr/Getty Images
During your latest shut-eye adventures, you chopped the head off of a six-legged rabbit while wearing a neon pink bonnet and screaming, "Gesundheit" at the top of your lungs. You aren't sure whether that dream means something, unless it's that perhaps you consumed too many hallucinogens during college, or merely ate some bad carrots yesterday.
Scientists and sleep experts know when people normally dream. Typically, you dream during the rapid-eye movement(REM) portion of the sleep cycle. You can see when a person (or even your cat or dog) is experiencing REM sleep because their eyes zip to and fro and their bodies may twitch and jerk, too. The brain's electrical patterns are very active in this phase, just like when you're awake.
But researchers don't really know WHY you dream. It may be a way of reflecting on or releasing the stress of everyday life, or even an unconscious way of helping you unravel challenging experiences. It could be a way that your mind protects itself from threatens and dangers.
It could be a biochemical way for your brain to sort, file or store short- or long-term information. Perhaps dreams are a way to reconcile your past and present experiences to prepare and steel you for the future.
Regardless of their purpose, dreams are a cornerstone of the human experience. They entertain and haunt us and serve as reminders that our inner world is just as deep and strange as the exterior world all around us.
9
How can we eliminate cancer?
Scientists doubt we'll ever have a cure for every type of cancer, but perspective and treatment for cancers is evolving. Mark Kostich/Getty Images
Cancer is a common human terror. Each year, more than half a million people die from various cancers in the United States alone. Its familiarity, however, does not make it any less frightening.
Cancer takes many forms and affects many parts of the body, but the hallmark of these diseases is uncontrollable cell replication. Tumors expand and spread, ruining bodies and causing death.
The growth happens due to DNA damage. DNA, of course, provides instructions for all bodily functions, including cell growth. That damage may happen because of certain lifestyle factors, such as sun exposure, tobacco smoking or exposure to carcinogenic chemicals.
By some estimates, more than a third of cancers could be prevented by avoiding cancer-causing habits. However, life choices are only part of the equation. Other factors play a role, too. Many people inherit defective DNA from their parents and have a predisposition for developing certain types of cancer, even if they live totally healthy lives.
The myriad variables and unique genetic makeup of humans make some scientists doubt that we'll ever have a cure for every type of cancer. There are just too many environmental assaults and minute bodily malfunctions for any one magic bullet to attack.
The good news is that our perspective and treatment for cancers is evolving. Each year, we understand new aspects of the disease. Therapies keep improving, lessening suffering and adding quality of life. So although we may never fully defeat cancer, we'll keep beating it back, making our lives better, and diagnoses less terrifying.
8
What happens when you die?
The subject of the afterlife — or lack thereof — is one of the oldest quandries troubling humankind. Muchlis Akbar/EyeEm/Getty Images
Everyone on the planet would like a better idea of what happens to them after they die. And hey, there are billions of people who already know the answer to that question. Unfortunately, they can't tell us about it because, well, they're all dead.
The subject of the afterlife — or lack thereof — is one of the oldest questions troubling humankind. Will we all float off into eternal bliss? Will the evil among us be *bleep* to the pits of Hell? Will our consciousness merely vanish once our bodies have expired? Or will we all be reincarnated as angry hippos or fluffy cats?
Scientist do understand the beginning stages of death. They know how the human body begins shutting down. Like store employees turning of the lights at a megastore after closing hours, your body's cells begin to blink off, one by one, until your heart and brain cease activity.
What happens after your brain clicks off, though, is still a complete mystery. Many people who have gone through near-death experiences and then come back to life speak about tunnels of light or flashbacks to life occurrences or conversations with loved ones who've passed away. All of those experiences could have biological origins, perhaps spurred by lack of oxygen or wild biochemical fluctuations.
Of the many questions we face about our existence, this is one that may never, ever be answered. Instead, we'll all be left yearning for wondering, searching for sort of meaning in the death.
7
Are we alone in the universe?
There could be as many as 40 billion habitable planets in our galaxy alone. Estate of Stephen Laurence Strathdee/Getty Images
Some may think we're the only intelligent lifeforms in the universe. If that's the case, the universe is unimaginably lonely. Other researchers say there's almost no way that Earth is the only headquarters for life — there could be as many as 40 billion habitable planets just in our galaxy. That's an awful lot of potential for alien life.
There are some necessary requirements for life to arise. Not only does a planet need the right mix of elements and conditions, there also has to be a spark that gives rise to living creatures. Then, of course, those creatures have to somehow evolve into beings with intelligence.
Even to modern human science, the simplest of our planet's lifeforms are still an extremely complex stew of chemical reactions and cells. We don't really understand how they emerge, evolve and survive in an incredibly diverse range of environmental conditions. That makes finding, identifying and communicating with alien beings much more complicated.
In spite of those challenges, researchers at NASA think we may find traces of life in next couple of decades. More powerful telescopes could be one key to finding it.
Or it could be that life here is just a statistical aberration, an accident of the weirdest kind. Maybe this odd swamp of a planet really is a jewel of the universe, unduplicated and unlike any place else, anywhere.
Yet we know that water and similar gases and elements exist on many other planets. If we keep looking and happen to find even a shred of evidence, such as fossilized remains or tiny bacteria, it seems more likely that somewhere across the stars that another species is also looking to the heavens and pondering potential neighbors somewhere in the universe, too.
CONTINUE READING: science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/scientific-experiments/10-questions-science-cant-answer-yet.htm
10 Questions That Science Can’t Answer Yet
by Nathan Chandler / www.howstuffworks.com/about-author.htm#chandler
Posted on July 23, 2017 in Science
The cause of the Black Death once eluded scientific minds, but now that we’ve got that figured out, perhaps some of these other questions can get answers.
When the Black Death ran rampant through cities in the Middle Ages, no one knew exactly how or why the awful disease spread. After many generations, we figured out that rat fleas and bacteria were to blame. It was a watershed moment for the power of science.
Centuries later, science continues to investigate difficult, bewildering questions every day. Yet even with brilliant minds converging via a worldwide computer network, we still don’t have all of the answers. In fact, some people might argue that we’re just now learning to ask the truly big questions.
What happens to us after we die? How did so much life appear on our planet when others seem devoid of any species at all? Who, if anyone, pulls the strings of our universe? Is it some all-powerful god in control or are there physical and mathematical principles driving the engine of our existence?
Sometimes, after centuries of missteps, we humans finally stumble into real answers to real questions, such as why diseases spread. Other times, we’re left grasping into the darkness of our own igannance and wondering what any of it really means. In some cases, these questions are so difficult that even our children’s children will probably still be struggling for answers. But humanity will keep trying.
10
Why do we dream?
Typically, you dream during the rapid-eye movement portion of the sleep cycle, but researchers don't know why you dream in the first place. Andresr/Getty Images
During your latest shut-eye adventures, you chopped the head off of a six-legged rabbit while wearing a neon pink bonnet and screaming, "Gesundheit" at the top of your lungs. You aren't sure whether that dream means something, unless it's that perhaps you consumed too many hallucinogens during college, or merely ate some bad carrots yesterday.
Scientists and sleep experts know when people normally dream. Typically, you dream during the rapid-eye movement(REM) portion of the sleep cycle. You can see when a person (or even your cat or dog) is experiencing REM sleep because their eyes zip to and fro and their bodies may twitch and jerk, too. The brain's electrical patterns are very active in this phase, just like when you're awake.
But researchers don't really know WHY you dream. It may be a way of reflecting on or releasing the stress of everyday life, or even an unconscious way of helping you unravel challenging experiences. It could be a way that your mind protects itself from threatens and dangers.
It could be a biochemical way for your brain to sort, file or store short- or long-term information. Perhaps dreams are a way to reconcile your past and present experiences to prepare and steel you for the future.
Regardless of their purpose, dreams are a cornerstone of the human experience. They entertain and haunt us and serve as reminders that our inner world is just as deep and strange as the exterior world all around us.
9
How can we eliminate cancer?
Scientists doubt we'll ever have a cure for every type of cancer, but perspective and treatment for cancers is evolving. Mark Kostich/Getty Images
Cancer is a common human terror. Each year, more than half a million people die from various cancers in the United States alone. Its familiarity, however, does not make it any less frightening.
Cancer takes many forms and affects many parts of the body, but the hallmark of these diseases is uncontrollable cell replication. Tumors expand and spread, ruining bodies and causing death.
The growth happens due to DNA damage. DNA, of course, provides instructions for all bodily functions, including cell growth. That damage may happen because of certain lifestyle factors, such as sun exposure, tobacco smoking or exposure to carcinogenic chemicals.
By some estimates, more than a third of cancers could be prevented by avoiding cancer-causing habits. However, life choices are only part of the equation. Other factors play a role, too. Many people inherit defective DNA from their parents and have a predisposition for developing certain types of cancer, even if they live totally healthy lives.
The myriad variables and unique genetic makeup of humans make some scientists doubt that we'll ever have a cure for every type of cancer. There are just too many environmental assaults and minute bodily malfunctions for any one magic bullet to attack.
The good news is that our perspective and treatment for cancers is evolving. Each year, we understand new aspects of the disease. Therapies keep improving, lessening suffering and adding quality of life. So although we may never fully defeat cancer, we'll keep beating it back, making our lives better, and diagnoses less terrifying.
8
What happens when you die?
The subject of the afterlife — or lack thereof — is one of the oldest quandries troubling humankind. Muchlis Akbar/EyeEm/Getty Images
Everyone on the planet would like a better idea of what happens to them after they die. And hey, there are billions of people who already know the answer to that question. Unfortunately, they can't tell us about it because, well, they're all dead.
The subject of the afterlife — or lack thereof — is one of the oldest questions troubling humankind. Will we all float off into eternal bliss? Will the evil among us be *bleep* to the pits of Hell? Will our consciousness merely vanish once our bodies have expired? Or will we all be reincarnated as angry hippos or fluffy cats?
Scientist do understand the beginning stages of death. They know how the human body begins shutting down. Like store employees turning of the lights at a megastore after closing hours, your body's cells begin to blink off, one by one, until your heart and brain cease activity.
What happens after your brain clicks off, though, is still a complete mystery. Many people who have gone through near-death experiences and then come back to life speak about tunnels of light or flashbacks to life occurrences or conversations with loved ones who've passed away. All of those experiences could have biological origins, perhaps spurred by lack of oxygen or wild biochemical fluctuations.
Of the many questions we face about our existence, this is one that may never, ever be answered. Instead, we'll all be left yearning for wondering, searching for sort of meaning in the death.
7
Are we alone in the universe?
There could be as many as 40 billion habitable planets in our galaxy alone. Estate of Stephen Laurence Strathdee/Getty Images
Some may think we're the only intelligent lifeforms in the universe. If that's the case, the universe is unimaginably lonely. Other researchers say there's almost no way that Earth is the only headquarters for life — there could be as many as 40 billion habitable planets just in our galaxy. That's an awful lot of potential for alien life.
There are some necessary requirements for life to arise. Not only does a planet need the right mix of elements and conditions, there also has to be a spark that gives rise to living creatures. Then, of course, those creatures have to somehow evolve into beings with intelligence.
Even to modern human science, the simplest of our planet's lifeforms are still an extremely complex stew of chemical reactions and cells. We don't really understand how they emerge, evolve and survive in an incredibly diverse range of environmental conditions. That makes finding, identifying and communicating with alien beings much more complicated.
In spite of those challenges, researchers at NASA think we may find traces of life in next couple of decades. More powerful telescopes could be one key to finding it.
Or it could be that life here is just a statistical aberration, an accident of the weirdest kind. Maybe this odd swamp of a planet really is a jewel of the universe, unduplicated and unlike any place else, anywhere.
Yet we know that water and similar gases and elements exist on many other planets. If we keep looking and happen to find even a shred of evidence, such as fossilized remains or tiny bacteria, it seems more likely that somewhere across the stars that another species is also looking to the heavens and pondering potential neighbors somewhere in the universe, too.
CONTINUE READING: science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/scientific-experiments/10-questions-science-cant-answer-yet.htm