One reason my generation thought we were so modern was that movies from the 50's and even early 60's were in black and white and had a very different take on morality than we did. Taken together those two factors made the Leave It To Beaver/Father Knows Best era feel like an alien world compared to the Laugh In/ Apocalypse Now era. People who grew up in the talkies era must have felt something similar about those silent jerky times just before they came of age. But the morality didn't change drastically for them as it did for us. Hippie generation looking back the 50's.
The twenties were pretty wild, what with women drinking, smoking, rolling down their stockings, and rouging their knees. WWI threw much of a generation into a life of abandoment just as Vietnam did its generation. WWII was different and so was the generation that came out of it.
See the oldest human ever found in Egypt in stunning new facial approximation Using photogrammetry, researchers created two facial approximations of an ancient man who lived 30,000 years ago in what is now Egypt. In 1980, archaeologists unearthed the man's skeletal remains at Nazlet Khater 2, an archaeological site in Egypt's Nile Valley. Anthropological analysis revealed that the man was between 17 and 29 years old when he died, stood approximately 5 feet, 3 inches (160 centimeters) tall and was of African ancestry. The skeleton is the oldest example of Homo sapiens remains found in Egypt and one of the oldest in the world, according to a study published March 22.
Well ... there are about 200 different types of cancer. The one thing they all have in common is uncontrollable cell replication, cells that use up the body's resources but do not provide any useful function to the body. So, all these different cancers, and they can be caused by different things, like mistakes in cell division, or carcinogenic substances from the environment changing DNA. So, to cure all these cancers, the medical community would have to find a way to reverse all the various genetic changes that could lead to cancer. It's a tall order. Cancer cells differ from normal cells in many ways. For instance, cancer cells: grow in the absence of signals telling them to grow. Normal cells only grow when they receive such signals. ignore signals that normally tell cells to stop dividing or to die (a process known as programmed cell death, or apoptosis). invade into nearby areas and spread to other areas of the body. Normal cells stop growing when they encounter other cells, and most normal cells do not move around the body. tell blood vessels to grow toward tumors. These blood vessels supply tumors with oxygen and nutrients and remove waste products from tumors. hide from the immune system. The immune system normally eliminates damaged or abnormal cells. trick the immune system into helping cancer cells stay alive and grow. For instance, some cancer cells convince immune cells to protect the tumor instead of attacking it. accumulate multiple changes in their chromosomes, such as duplications and deletions of chromosome parts. Some cancer cells have double the normal number of chromosomes. rely on different kinds of nutrients than normal cells. In addition, some cancer cells make energy from nutrients in a different way than most normal cells. This lets cancer cells grow more quickly. What Is Cancer?
Seems like most everything we send to Mars exceeds expectations. https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/14/world/ingenuity-mars-helicopter-50th-flight-scn/index.html
Interesting article. Thanks for sharing. Very exciting results. So weird to think about lakebeds on Mars. And that this little chopper was built using off-the-shelf smartphone processors and cameras!
Thanks for sharing this fantastic article. Mankind does bad things and good things, this is a good thing - learning about the solar system by flying a remotely controlled helicopter. All for the price of a nuclear submarine. Once Mars ran with water, but it lost its atmosphere and the water evaporated or got sealed as ground-ice at the poles - a lesson in climate control?
This was my first in about 1995. I also carried a pager so the boss could page me to turn it on because the battery was only good for about six hours, less if you made calls.
Now and then, a news story hits your philosophical sweet spot. My overall take on 'climate change' is that it exists, but doesn't matter. If humanity has a destiny, it has to be something other than squatting on this ball of dirt until the sun explodes, and if we have to destroy Earth in order to get somewhere else, so be it. Anyway, it looks like our ride might be here: https://phys.org/news/2023-04-solar-interplanetary.html
Looks like fascinating stuff! I have to dash off to swimming now but will have a thorough read of it when I get back.
I've read On the Origin of Species, and am not optimistic. Mobility is one factor in the successful adaptation of a species and we have filled every habitable space on this planet. Our numbers are putting a strain on the environment to support further growth unless we can spread. I don't see us leaving this planet in numbers adequate to insure the survival of our species. I oppose trashing it, but am becoming resigned to it.
We need some break through in technology to address this issue. Cheap lift out of the gravity well, would allow us to move much of our manufacturing into orbit, along with the portion of of population to support that manufacturing. The technologies needed for asteroid mining, would also have a huge impact on the environment by eliminating the need to do that on Earth. Material science is the other area we need to advance dramatically. Cheap lift capability could be solved with a space elevator, but we do not have a material that could serve as the cable. We currently do not have a material that wouldn't collapse under its own weight. We need people taking a long view of these issues. unlike our politicians who look for short term fixes, that are popular with votes and will get the reelected.
“The universe is a pretty big place. If it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space.” ― Carl Sagan, Contact
Isaac Newton was into the occult and predicting the apocalypse. Based upon his understanding of the Bible, he referenced 2060 as the year that Christ would return and establish a global kingdom of peace: Prop. 1. The 2300 prophetick days did not commence before the rise of the little horn of the He Goat. 2 Those day [sic] did not commence a[f]ter the destruction of Jerusalem & ye Temple by the Romans A.[D.] 70. 3 The time times & half a time did not commence before the year 800 in wch the Popes supremacy commenced 4 They did not commence after the re[ig]ne of Gregory the 7th. 1084 5 The 1290 days did not commence b[e]fore the year 842. 6 They did not commence after the reigne of Pope Greg. 7th. 1084 7 The diffence [sic] between the 1290 & 1335 days are a parts of the seven weeks. Therefore the 2300 years do not end before ye year 2132 nor after 2370. The time times & half time do n[o]t end before 2060 nor after [2344] The 1290 days do not [end] before 2090 nor after [2374]. Why Isaac Newton Predicted The World Would End In 2060
More conventional take: this is the only Garden of Eden yet discovered, so maybe we should take care of it?
