Science Tidbits #7

[RJDiogenes]

I imagine it will get rapidly better over time. I think the major hurdle for them to overcome will be actually scanning the scrolls.

[scottydog]

Check out this article arguing that math has an observer problem!

[Lupine]

Heady subject and I had to do some Googling to try and grasp it. But if I'm understanding the argument correctly he's basically saying that same thing Quantum Mechanics have been saying: that reality is basically unknowable. And for that I have the same problems with it. Namely that it ultimately makes everything, the totality of existence, anthropocentric.
Assuming I'm even getting this. I am just a hillbilly.

[RJDiogenes]

I think the idea is that you can't fully describe a system from inside the system. Also, no matter what, you've got to make some assumptions-- you can't derive everything without falling into circular reasoning. It also relates to thoughts I've had about whether our particular system of math is best for describing the universe, or if there's something better.

I highly recommend this book-- although I take no responsibility for any brain damage that you may suffer.

[Lupine]

Boyajian's Star got a lot of attention a few years ago due to a suspected Dyson Sphere, but it turns out there's another star out there that is potentially even weirder and again there might be aliens involved.
Now to be fair, and the video points this out, it likely- even almost certainly- it's not aliens. For one thing Przybylski’s Star is rather young- 1.5 billion years- so any advanced civilization would have had to evolve in record time. Far far faster than Earth did. Still the presence of elements like plutonium which don't occur naturally under normal conditions is really strange.

[RJDiogenes]

Oh, yeah, I've read about this, although he goes into a lot more detail than I've seen. Of course, it's most probably not aliens, but it's one of the more compelling and intriguing discoveries I've seen. They would have to be fantastically advanced, despite the age of the star-- but life on Earth reached its current level of sophistication soon after migrating to land, so there's not necessarily anything forbidding an intelligent species from evolving right off the bat. But are they trying to attract attention or are they just dumping their trash in there-- or was it some kind of catastrophe? We gotta find out what kind of planets they've got out there!

[Lupine]

It's such an odd mix of elements as well. Some have half-lives so short that dumping them into a star for disposal would be pointless. But those same short half-lives would also mean they're being synthesized right then and there somehow.
I wonder if the core of the star is spinning much faster than the outer layers making a kind of natural particle accelerator. Or perhaps the star was struck by some fast moving debris of some sort.

[RJDiogenes]

It's such an odd mix of elements as well. Some have half-lives so short that dumping them into a star for disposal would be pointless. But those same short half-lives would also mean they're being synthesized right then and there somehow.

That's true.

I wonder if the core of the star is spinning much faster than the outer layers making a kind of natural particle accelerator. Or perhaps the star was struck by some fast moving debris of some sort.

I've also heard ideas about some stars having primordial Black Holes in their core, or a Dark Matter core. Maybe this is what something like that looks like.

[Lupine]

And meanwhile America finally landed on the Moon again!

[RJDiogenes]

Yes! I was sure it was going to be another failure when they didn't get a signal, so it was quite a relief when they started receiving something. There's a press conference in about an hour, according to my NASA news app, so hopefully we'll get more good news about its condition and maybe even some pictures.

I thought it was fantastic how they were able to repurpose the experimental laser device to replace the malfunctioning altimeter or whatever it was. That was the NASA equivalent of reversing the polarity.

[RJDiogenes]

Looks like Ody tripped and fell down when he landed, but is mostly operational so far. It's very weird that the last two lunar landings came down topsy turvy, but continued to be functional to some degree.

Listening to these guys go through the details of what was happening is fascinating. The complexity and flexibility of these technologies is remarkable.

[Lupine]

The lander does seem to have designed a little top-heavy. Though it is amazing that it's still functioning.

[RJDiogenes]

It's nice to know that they're building them so hardy. It will be amazing if they meet all of the mission goals, which definitely seems possible.

[Lupine]

Another debunking of the idea that ancient people couldn't see blue (or at least the Greeks).
Hint: they actually did have words for "blue"

[RJDiogenes]

I've seen that Why Files episode listed, but I haven't watched it yet. I wonder if he actually says that. He usually presents an idea as if he believes it, then debunks it at the end.