science – Page 4 – The View from a Drawbridge

“Are you incapable of complexity?”

I read a fascinating book recently, Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder. It’s about, among other things, Dr. Paul Farmer and his amazing work in Haiti to help stem the tide of Tuberculosis. As you can imagine, as a man of science it could sometimes be hard for him to be able to allow for local customs and superstitions.

At one point, while he was wrestling with the concept that people can maintain two disparate philosophies simultaneously, a very wise woman said to him, “Are you incapable of complexity?” That’s really profound. I totally get it.

There are people in this world who struggle with the thought that there could be shades of gray. Everything has to be wrong or right. Black or white. True or False. These are the type of people who think that if you believe in the theory of evolution, then you cannot be the least bit spiritual. You HAVE to be a full-blown, unwavering atheist.

These people never understand me at all. I am completely capable of accommodating science and spirituality. Granted, I don’t rigidly adhere to all things that were written thousands of years ago before science really took a foothold. But I’ve seen too many unexplainable and awe-inspiring things to believe that science can answer every single question. I believe that the universe is too beautiful to simply be defined by mathematical equations. And I believe that the fact that we are such complex creatures that we are able to come up with and adhere to the scientific method is pretty darned amazing in and of itself.

I think the wisest, most admirable people are the ones who are open minded. They are the ones who can believe in proof and yet still have faith. They are willing to concede that not everything is known, but they’re capable of questioning and exploring and learning. They can be flexible. They do not hide in a comfort zone. They embrace a diversity of thought. Yup. That’s my tribe.

Acyrlic-Paintings — Okay, so this has very little to do with the subject at hand. I just found it on Amazon.com art, and I liked it. See how complex I can be?

On the Brink of Monumental Change

I have always been fascinated with that split second in time when one’s life becomes completely different. Everyone has experienced this. The death or birth of a loved one. A job offer that changes your career path and/or drastically improves your financial situation. A medical diagnosis. An epiphany. A marriage proposal, a divorce request, an acceptance or a rejection letter. A tragedy or a triumph.

Most of the time these exact moments are unanticipated, but after the fact you can look at them and realize that that was the point when your path veered off in a different direction. The sharp, tiny little pivotal point.

If there were a way to study and measure those points, would we find that they possess an increased amount of psychic or spiritual or kinetic energy on a subatomic level? I’m sure there’s an adrenaline surge. No doubt the heart rate increases. One is definitely spurred to take action, or is left stunned and unable to function.

I’m convinced that in those moments, there’s something there that wasn’t there before. I’ve felt it. Some would posit that it is the presence of God. Others might call it fate or chance or dumb luck. I have no idea, but I think that those answers are too easy. They are what we resort to when we can’t adequately explain things.

I just wonder if there’s an actual, physical… something that happens. I wonder if we’ll ever be scientifically sophisticated enough to find out. And if we do, will we be able to accept what we discover? Because as it stands now, I believe that that moment of being on the brink of monumental change is where science and religion intersect, and that, perhaps, is the most powerful moment in life.

It’s Not the Situation, but How You Cope With It.

A friend recently posted this on Facebook:

I had never really thought of this! But it’s true. A potato definitely copes with boiling water differently than an egg does. This is the case with many things:

The sun will melt ice but harden clay.
If you drop a turtle into a pond it will swim away, but if you do the same thing to a tortoise, it will most likely sink and drown.
White reflects light, black absorbs it.
Fruit rots but wine made from fruit ages.
Tourists admire what residents take for granted.

It’s all a matter of perspective and attitude (and, yes, science, I suppose, but don’t mess up my analogy). You can be a victim or a survivor. You can strive or quit. You can give up hope or persevere. You always have choices.

So, as my friend Carole says, “Onward and upward, into the future!”

You Do the Math

Was math invented or discovered? This question is by no means original with me. (Very few thoughts are.) But this is a topic I find endlessly fascinating.

Think about it. Pythagoras came up with his theorem, Euclid proved that there were an infinite number of primes, and Einstein informed us that E=mc squared, but all of these things are really descriptions of events that had been occurring in the universe all along. One can find countless articles about how Fibonacci numbers and the Golden Ratio appear in nature.

It is often postulated that the best way to communicate with aliens from outer space would be through math. What more evidence does one need that math is considered universal? It isn’t as if different cultures have different mathematical beliefs.

As a fractal artist (my work can be found here), I’m extremely conscious of how often fractals occur naturally. Broccoli, sunflowers, tree branches, blood vessels… they’re everywhere. Math is everywhere.

Is this evidence of a higher power or a grand plan? Or is math simply the scientific language we use to understand the world around us? If so, I probably should have paid more attention in Algebra class.

[Image credit: hqscreen.com]

Life is for Learning

Someone said to me recently, “Life is for learning.” Very true, my friend. The common thread that flows through every life experience is the opportunity to increase your knowledge, should you choose to accept it.

The ability to absorb information– what a gift! Even if it’s just your basic, “Maybe I should never stick my hand in a fire again,” it is more valuable than gold. On a fundamental level it is how we survive. Even plants know to turn toward the sun. As we grow more sophisticated, it helps us strive to become our highest self.

There are people out there who take a hostile stance when it comes to knowledge. They try to make intellectual a dirty word. They don’t want you to think, or worse, they prefer to tell you what to think.

In the spiritual realm, these include those religious groups that strongly discourage you from questioning anything. They give you a very clear cut set of beliefs, and they expect you to strictly adhere to their dogma. Your compliance will make you one of the chosen ones. Any deviation relegates you to an eternity of suffering of one form or another. To these people I say that we were given a brain, so I assume we were expected to use it.

In politics, ignorance seems to be the default position these days, but especially avoid those parties that want to keep you in a state of fear. Fear makes you easy to manipulate. But the more you know about something, the less you fear it. So it is in their best interest to get you to turn away from knowledge. They especially hate science. Heaven forfend we believe the results of reasoned research! That might mean we have to do something! Much easier to bury our heads in the sand and maintain the status quo. (The status quo that they want to maintain, anyway.)

In relationships, the most toxic ones are those where your partner expects you to shut up and do what you’re told. They are the men who want to keep the little woman at home, and the women, too, who rule with an iron fist. Also avoid those people who are so comfortable in their routines that if a loved one wants to take up a new interest, they strongly discourage it. A truly loving individual will not only delight when you spread your wings, but he or she will help you to fly.

Grab every opportunity to learn. Value education, but also take something away from every experience you have, even the negative ones. They, too, have something to teach you. Every person who crosses your path is a teacher as well. Actively pursue knowledge. Be a sponge. Read everything you can get your hands on. Exercise your curiosity. Stick your head below the surface, but don’t leave it in the sand.

Seek. Inquire. Delve. Share. Expand. Take advantage of this gift we have been given, and question any person or group that attempts to discourage you from doing so. Knowledge really is power.

[Image credit: fikapdx.com]

Spirituality vs. Science

Sometimes I think I’m the only person on the planet who thinks that science and spirituality do not have to be mutually exclusive. For example, why do so many people think that if you believe in the theory of evolution, you cannot also believe in a higher power? I happen to think evolution is brilliant. Not only does it solve a whole host of natural problems, but it also occurs over millennia, thus requiring a patience that we mere mortals could never hope to duplicate.

I also think the big bang is a highly spiritual thing. I love the fact that it took something so cataclysmic to eventually lead to us and the air we breathe. And stem cell research? Phenomenal. That we evolved brains sophisticated enough to even know that stems cells exist is a source of constant fascination for me.

I honestly believe that the mistake we make is in thinking that religion is confined to books that were written back in a time when science wasn’t particularly advanced. I don’t think spirituality can be boxed in like that, and I think it undergoes an evolution of its own. I think that if we think we have it all figured out, and that we have to rigidly adhere to a set of religious rules from centuries ago, that we are according ourselves entirely too much power, and underestimating the ability of a sentient creator to change. Something that can’t change may as well be a rock.

I think spirituality exists in the unknown bits, the space between the things that are smaller than the quantum particles, the things we couldn’t possibly write about because we don’t know and probably never will.

We call the things that we can explain science. But there will always be things which we cannot explain. And I find that oddly comforting, too.

[Image credit: Wellcomecollection.org]

Laika, First Creature to Orbit the Earth

When I was a little girl I learned about Laika, the dog the Russians put into space on this date in 1957, seven years before I was born. All I really heard about her was that she died up there, and I imagined her little doggy skeleton, still in the spaceship, going round and round the earth for all eternity. It really upset me. It still upsets me.

Little did I know there was even more to be upset about. For starters, those scientists never intended that she would survive. And her training was horrendous. To get her used to the idea of the confines of the capsule, they put her into smaller and smaller cages for as much as 20 days. Due to the stress she stopped urinating and defecating, and she became increasingly sick. She was also placed in centrifuges and in machines that mimicked the sound of the launch.

But all that “training” didn’t fully prepare her for the reality of it, apparently, because during the flight her heartbeat more than doubled and her respiration increased to 4 times its normal rate.

I often wonder about the type of scientists who were capable of such cruelty. They clearly became attached to her. They said she was quiet and charming. One of the scientists took her home to play with his children just before the launch. He wanted to do something nice for her, because he knew she was going to die. And someone kissed her just before closing the door of the craft. And yet they still sent her to her doom.

They kissed her, after putting her in a harness in a capsule so small she couldn’t turn around, attaching her surgically to cables, and fitting her with a urine bag.

For many years it was said that she died of oxygen deprivation about 6 days after launch. And the Russians tried to claim that they euthanized her with poison food. But in 2002 the truth came out. She barely lasted 6 hours. The temperature in the capsule went up to 104 degrees, and she died from the heat.

But the young me needn’t have worried about her skeleton. A little over 5 months after launch, Sputnik 2 burned up during its re-entry into the atmosphere.

Poor Laika. Rest in peace.

Tag: science

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