Emergence: By Cosmos Or By Life?

In the most general sort of way, as one makes progress from simplicity to complexity, more and more properties seem to emerge, sometimes seeming out of thin air. This is also oft noted as a bottom-up development of the complexity hierarchy or where the whole becomes more than the sum of its collective parts. One termite can't accomplish very much; ten termites just a little; but a colony of termites can build mighty termite mounds and destroy buildings. One brick doesn't do very much, but a million can build all manner of interesting and useful constructions. One electron and one neutron and one proton can't do very much either, but a million of each can produce all of the elements we know of in the Periodic Table and all of the compounds we know as well.

Red Dwarfs May Be Unfit Parent Stars

Red dwarf stars are the smallest true stars dancing around in our Galaxy, as well as the most abundant. Because of their small size--by star standards, that is--they can "live" for trillions of years on the hydrogen-burning main-sequence, and the Universe itself is "only" about 13.8 billion years old. For these reasons, many astronomers have suggested that most of the exoplanets in our Milky Way Galaxy circle "tiny" red dwarf stars--making these planetary systems prime targets in the hunt for life on other, distant worlds. However, a team of astronomers announced in June 2014 that life in the Universe may be rarer than previously believed, because their study found that harsh space weather might tear the atmosphere off any rocky world circling within a red dwarf's life-friendly habitable zone. The team of astronomers announced their discovery during a press conference at the 2014 summer meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) held in Boston, Massachusetts.

Closer To Truth: Aliens

There is an ongoing PBS TV series (also several books and also a website) called "Closer To Truth". It is hosted by neuroscientist Robert Lawrence Kuhn. He's featured in one-on-one interviews and panel discussions with the cream of the cream of today's cosmologists, physicists, philosophers, theologians, psychologists, etc. on all of the Big Questions surrounding a trilogy of broad topics - Cosmos; Consciousness; God. The trilogy collectively dealt with reality, space and time, mind and consciousness, aliens, theology and on and on and on. Here are a few of my comments on one of the general topics covered - alien life.

Aliens: Would Intelligent Aliens Undermine God?

 

This has nothing to do with whether or not God actually exists (He doesn't IMHO), but rather the effect that the discovery of ET and especially ETI (extraterrestrial intelligence) would have on the True Believers in a supernatural deity - and for sake of brevity, let's restrict God here to the God of the Old and the New Testaments.

Exoplanet Duo Orbits A Nearby Ancient Kapteyn's Star

Alien worlds are exoplanets that circle stars beyond our Sun. For a generation now, planet-hunting astronomers have been spotting these very remote worlds, and have found that while some bear an almost eerie resemblance to the eight familiar major planets that dwell in our own Solar System, others are so bizarre that they are unlike anything astronomers ever dreamed of seeing.

In June 2014, an international team of astronomers reported their discovery of a delightful duo of planets circling a nearby and very ancient star known as Kapteyn's Star. One of these newly discovered planets circles within its parent star's habitable zone, which is that "just right" Goldilocks distance for water to exist on its surface in its life-sustaining liquid state. Where there is liquid water, the possibility--though not the promise--of life exists as well. The study has been accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Named for the Dutch astronomer Jacobus Kapteyn, who discovered it towards the close of the 19th century, Kapteyn's Star is very speedy. In fact, it is the second fastest-moving star in the sky, and is a denizen of the our Milky Way's galactic halo, which is an extended cloud of stars that circle our Galaxy in extremely elliptical orbits. Kapteyn's Star is a red dwarf sporting only one-third the mass of our Sun, and it can be observed in the southern constellation of Pictor with only an amateur 'scope.

Kepler 10c Earthlike Planet Enormous Rocky Alien World

The first discovery of an alien world circling a Sun-like star beyond our own Solar System occurred back in 1995, and it was an amazing find--a massive gas-giant, Jupiter-like planet hugging its parent star in a fast, close, roasting orbit. Prior to this historic discovery, astronomers did not think that such immense gaseous worlds could exist so close to the searing-heat of their glaring, seething, roiling parent-stars--and that all gas-giant planets must dwell in the colder, outer regions of their planetary systems, just like Jupiter does in our Sun's own family.

 After two decades of one surprising exoplanet discovery after another, planet hunting astronomers have learned that when it comes to the discovery of alien worlds, they should definitely expect the unexpected. In June 2014, a team of astronomers announced their amazing discovery of a rocky world weighing-in at 17 times more than our Earth--and this hefty planet is also twice Earth's diameter.

The planet, dubbed Kepler-10c, has presented quite a challenge to planet formation theorists in their attempts to explain how such a weighty, rocky world could have formed.

10 Untruths Made In Science and The New Breakthrough Scientific Paradigm

Indeed science has made extraordinary contributions, transformed society with its humanitarian knowledge. Its universal acceptance and influence continues unprecedentedly. However, for hundreds of years the scientific culture has been dogmatically stuck on a number of untruths.

The extent to which the scientific culture is stuck on these untruths has never been more noticeable than today: Hardened dogmas and their limitations has put science in a situation where age-old problems are not getting solved by the current scientific paradigm. For example, major scientific problems not really getting solved such as those related to medicine; incurable diseases like cancer, heart disease and aging illnesses...

It's clear to me that as long as science remains stuck on old ideas now found to be untrue they will never solve these major problems. To solve these problems science must be willing to move beyond the confines of materialism and reductionism: Another area where these untruths stem from is the application of science with all its limitations and delusional beliefs used to line the pockets of greedy corporations.

The Hungry Star That Can't Stop Snacking

When a small star like our Sun has finally begun to use up its necessary supply of hydrogen fuel, it first swells up to hideous proportions to become what is known as a Red Giant star. This very bloated, red-hued relic of what was once a small, sparkling Sun-like star balloons in size to the point that--if it is circled by inner, unfortunate planets--it will engulf them with its extended, searing-hot outer gaseous layers, thus consuming them. In June 2014, a team of astronomers announced at the summer meeting of the American Astronomical Society, held in Boston, Massachusetts, that they had spotted an especially hungry Red Giant star that was about to snack on not only one, but two, doomed planets!

The two tragic worlds, dubbed Kepler-56b and Kepler-56c are destined to be swallowed by their greedy parent star in a "short" time--by cosmic standards, that is. Both planets will perish in about 130 million and 155 million years, respectively.

"As far as we know, this is the first time two known exoplanets in a single system have a predicted 'time of death,'" study lead author Dr. Gongjie Li told the press on June 2, 2014. Dr. Li is of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.