The ocean is the home of many different fish, sea mammals, and other oceanic organisms, but what about humans? There are many jobs that pertain to the ocean that humans have, and therefore the ocean allows them to pay for their home. If you think about it that way the ocean serves as the basis of many humans own homes. Without the ocean many humans would be out of work and without a home. You can find a job that involves the ocean in just about any subject or background. From the infamous life of a whale/dolphin trainer, to the not so glorious life of a fisherman the ocean serves as a beacon of life in more ways than one.
Marine Biologists
One occupation that involves the ocean extensively is a Marine Biologist. Marine Biologists are not always just whale or dolphin trainers like most people think. They actually are anyone who studies, protects, manages, or observes marine organisms. Many Marine Biologists are responsible for exploring and discovering new organisms of the not very known deep sea. They research the behavioral patterns of sea creatures and study what the animal eats and does in their environment. Very few Marine Biologists actually become dolphin or whale trainers, the likelihood of becoming one is like becoming a rock star.
Environmental Enforcement Officer
The ocean of course is shared by all the continents of the earth, and therefore needs to be kept clean and unpolluted to ensure the safety of every continent. To make sure this happens the career as an Environmental Enforcement Officer was created. Their job is to find ways to protect the ocean from pollution. They do this by finding and correcting sources of pollution, and finding new ways to prevent oceanic pollution from happening. These people aren't as involved with the wildlife as other careers, they are kind of an underground career dealing with the ocean that doesn't recieve much glory.
It seems to me that the ocean is a very important role in many humans lives as well as in sea creatures lives. There are a whole abundance of different jobs that you can choose from. Just in Marine Biology alone there are tons of different and creative jobs. Marine Biology has so many different opportunities for employment that no matter what you're interested in you could probably find a job doing it in Marine Biology. I think that being a whale or dolphin trainer would be one of the coolest jobs, but not many people get that chance.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The Beginnings of the Universe
Everyone wonders at least once in their lifetime where they came from and where the world that they live in came from. Well, there are several theories as to how the universe came about, and the most heard of is the “Big Bang Theory”. According to this theory the world is not infinite. There was a definite beginning and will be a definite end. The beginning started with a huge explosion that extended the universe into what it is today. It is not known what existed before this explosion, but is thought that the explosion contained all the energy in the universe. The name "Big Bang" was given to this theory by Fred Hoyle in 1964. He tried to make fun of the theory by calling it this but the name stuck.
Of course there is a lot of controversy surrounding this theory and the many others that describe the creation of the universe. Theists believe that this theory defies God and the belief that God created life and the universe. Since the Big Bang theory accredits the beginnings of life and the universe to an explosion, many theists do not agree or believe in this theory. The Big Bang theory also supports the belief of Darwinism which also goes against the bible. The Big Bang theory and Darwinism are generally atheistic views on the beginnings of life and the universe. Although there are many who believe in a God and believe in one of these theories, the lines of belief and science tend to cross when talking about this subject.
There are many other theories about the origin of the universe and many of them do include a belief in God. The Steady State theory is a theory that supports the Big Bang theory, it states that matter is constantly being created. This supports the Big Bang theory because it explains why there was a "big bang". Matter was constantly being created and then Bang!(well more like after much growth) A universe was created. Before the Big Bang theory was created many believed that we lived in an infinite universe without a beginning or ending. This theory was thrown out with the new discoveries that led to the Big Bang theory.
Man will continually search for reason and explanation of the unknown, but sometimes I feel like we look to far than we need to. Many people are fine with not knowing the truth behind everything. Many believe that some questions should remain unanswered. Our quickly advancing technology is giving us the materials to find these answers, but should we? The origin of the universe is such a touchy subject to many, especially since you have the question of religion on the line. I don't think humans will ever be able to truly understand the origins of life, and really why should we?
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Solar Systems and Galaxies
Solar systems and galaxies, you can't really have one without the other. Galaxies are huge systems of stars and other interstellar material. We happen to live in the Milky Way Galaxy, which is a spiral galaxy. A spiral galaxy is a type of galaxy that has a spiral structure and a halo like component also. In the group of galaxies that the Milky Way belongs to it is the second largest galaxy to the Andromeda Galaxy. There are many galaxies all around ours that contain many different solar systems that we are currently unable to explore.
Our solar system is composed of the sun, nine planets (Well actually eight now because Pluto is not a planet anymore.), and many stars and moons. All the planets in our solar system orbit in an elliptical pattern, although some are more circular than others. We know that there are other galaxies besides our in space, but whether or not there are other solar systems has not been proven. Scientists are finding new evidence that they feel almost certainly has proven the existance of other solar systems. New discoveries like 51 Pegasi, 70 Virginis and 47 Ursae Majoris have forced many to believe that there are other solar systems orbiting a star. Advances in technology is the only way we could ever find out for sure, because as of right now we are limited to how far from "home" the earth we can travel in space.
I personally feel that space is such a weird and interesting topic. There really is so little that we actually know for sure beyond the clouds of our atmosphere. I feel that we all tend to forget how small and insignificant our world is compared to that of space. We are just one planet, in one solar system, of one galaxy, of thousands of other galaxies in space. When stated like that our lives seem pretty insignificant. The fun question associated with this topic is whether or not aliens truly exist. Which when you look at our solar system and how many other galaxies and solar systems there are, if each have one planet with life in them there must be billions of "aliens" we don't know about.
Our solar system is composed of the sun, nine planets (Well actually eight now because Pluto is not a planet anymore.), and many stars and moons. All the planets in our solar system orbit in an elliptical pattern, although some are more circular than others. We know that there are other galaxies besides our in space, but whether or not there are other solar systems has not been proven. Scientists are finding new evidence that they feel almost certainly has proven the existance of other solar systems. New discoveries like 51 Pegasi, 70 Virginis and 47 Ursae Majoris have forced many to believe that there are other solar systems orbiting a star. Advances in technology is the only way we could ever find out for sure, because as of right now we are limited to how far from "home" the earth we can travel in space.
I personally feel that space is such a weird and interesting topic. There really is so little that we actually know for sure beyond the clouds of our atmosphere. I feel that we all tend to forget how small and insignificant our world is compared to that of space. We are just one planet, in one solar system, of one galaxy, of thousands of other galaxies in space. When stated like that our lives seem pretty insignificant. The fun question associated with this topic is whether or not aliens truly exist. Which when you look at our solar system and how many other galaxies and solar systems there are, if each have one planet with life in them there must be billions of "aliens" we don't know about.
Friday, April 4, 2008
**Stars**
We all take for granted the beautiful stars that sprinkle the sky at night. Most of us don't know how they are made, what they're made of, or even the names of some familiar stars. Hopefully everyone knows of at least one important star, the sun. The sun is primarily made up of helium and hydrogen, and some 2% contains metals. It is the largest component of our solar system, and has a surface temperature of about 5800K. The sun's core is of very high temperature and pressure, it is also extremely dense.
Stars go through many stages through out their lifetime, which include a Red Giant and White Dwarf stage. A star is considered a red giant when the core temperature raises very quickly and immensly, causing the star to inflate like a balloon making it much larger. This usually occurs near the end of a stars lifetime. Helium is burned in the inner core of the star, and causes the star to expand. The white dwarf state of a star occurs when the star has used up most of it's nuclear fuel. When this happens only the core of the star is left, this core has an extremely high temperature.
Another strange topic in our solar system are black holes. When most of us think of black holes we automatically imagine a man and spaceship eating hole of death, but this isn't true. A simpler and less SciFi explanation of a black hole is the evolutionary endpoint of a star. Black holes occur when supermassive stars, even larger than the sun, create a supernova explosion. Because of the lack of gravity the star collapses into itself causing a black hole. The black hole does not have sucking power to engulf the universe like in movies, so you don't have to worry about the earth being swallowed up by a black hole.
It seems that the solar system, and all the components of it, all interelate and depend on each other immensly. The life and death of a star has impact on neighboring planets and stars. I was surprised to learn that black holes do not suck other planets into them. Hollywood once again has spread myths about science that are not true. I'm curious about what would happen if the sun turned into a black hole. Would human life be able to survive? Could we come up with a way to live without the sun?
Stars go through many stages through out their lifetime, which include a Red Giant and White Dwarf stage. A star is considered a red giant when the core temperature raises very quickly and immensly, causing the star to inflate like a balloon making it much larger. This usually occurs near the end of a stars lifetime. Helium is burned in the inner core of the star, and causes the star to expand. The white dwarf state of a star occurs when the star has used up most of it's nuclear fuel. When this happens only the core of the star is left, this core has an extremely high temperature.
Another strange topic in our solar system are black holes. When most of us think of black holes we automatically imagine a man and spaceship eating hole of death, but this isn't true. A simpler and less SciFi explanation of a black hole is the evolutionary endpoint of a star. Black holes occur when supermassive stars, even larger than the sun, create a supernova explosion. Because of the lack of gravity the star collapses into itself causing a black hole. The black hole does not have sucking power to engulf the universe like in movies, so you don't have to worry about the earth being swallowed up by a black hole.
It seems that the solar system, and all the components of it, all interelate and depend on each other immensly. The life and death of a star has impact on neighboring planets and stars. I was surprised to learn that black holes do not suck other planets into them. Hollywood once again has spread myths about science that are not true. I'm curious about what would happen if the sun turned into a black hole. Would human life be able to survive? Could we come up with a way to live without the sun?
Monday, March 10, 2008
Science and Pseudoscience
Science and pseudoscience are two subjects that continually clash and collide with each other. Many people try to use science to explain pseudoscience, when really there isn't any scientific evidence behind pseudoscience. Subjects such as palm reading, horoscopes, and other psychic capabilities try to prove that there is substantial scientific evidence behind their predictions but there is not. Many people are falling for this "false science" and therefore the masters of psuedoscience are able to use their "abilities" to make money. The psychics, palm readers, and horoscopes are big money makers today. Many people rely on and spend a lot of money on psychic advice and horoscopes. It seems to me the main thing is always be skeptical about what you are told and what you read.
Science uses experimentation and methodology to explain and prove why or how something happens. Behind any theory or law there is scientific evidence to back it up. This scientific evidence must be documented and anyone must be able to recreate the experiment and obtain the same results. The goal behind science is always to have a better understanding of the universe and the beings in it. In science there is always something new to discover and scientific knowledge is constantly expanding. With psuedoscience this is not true. The goals that drive psuedoscience are usually cultural, idealogical, or commercial, and this field has not grown or expanded since it was first instituted.
I think that science and psuedoscience walk on a very thin line between each other. It is easy for people to claim that psuedoscience is science because they are so close to each other. We all are faced with psuedoscience and must learn how to identify it. I have just heard about a man that claims he is pregnant on the news, and it's in debat whether this is real science or psuedoscience. It turns out that he is truly pregnant, but he was born a woman and had a sex change later in life. So technically in this case it's a little bit of psuedoscience with science because someone actually born male cannot bare a child, but with today's technology someone technically a male can have a child. What do you think about that?
Science uses experimentation and methodology to explain and prove why or how something happens. Behind any theory or law there is scientific evidence to back it up. This scientific evidence must be documented and anyone must be able to recreate the experiment and obtain the same results. The goal behind science is always to have a better understanding of the universe and the beings in it. In science there is always something new to discover and scientific knowledge is constantly expanding. With psuedoscience this is not true. The goals that drive psuedoscience are usually cultural, idealogical, or commercial, and this field has not grown or expanded since it was first instituted.
I think that science and psuedoscience walk on a very thin line between each other. It is easy for people to claim that psuedoscience is science because they are so close to each other. We all are faced with psuedoscience and must learn how to identify it. I have just heard about a man that claims he is pregnant on the news, and it's in debat whether this is real science or psuedoscience. It turns out that he is truly pregnant, but he was born a woman and had a sex change later in life. So technically in this case it's a little bit of psuedoscience with science because someone actually born male cannot bare a child, but with today's technology someone technically a male can have a child. What do you think about that?
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