Cosmic Visions

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Dino Sex But, Were Afraid To Ask

2010-06-24T00:05:00.000-07:00

Birds do it, bees do it and people do it to. But, how on Earth did dinosaurs do it? Find out today on Cosmic Visions as we explore - Everything you ever wanted to know about dino sex, but where afraid to ask.

You can also see this remarkable video in full screen mode here or right click on the screen and choose full screen view and the advert will disappear.

Paleoworld Dino Sex

The Known Universe – Decoding the Skies

2010-06-23T07:42:00.002-07:00

Today on Cosmic Visions we are going to take a foray into the field of Archaeoastronomy and explore how our ancient forbearers decoded the night sky and built the foundations of civilization. Not with the help of ancient astronauts but through their own perseverance and innate intellect.

Our ancestors' relationship with the heavens led to some of humankind's ancient discoveries and greatest creations. The ancient Greeks discovered Earth was round; the Polynesians used the sun and stars to navigate vast oceans in simple canoes; some think amazing structures like Stonehenge were designed to observe the sky. Now, Known Universe examines mankind's first observations of the cosmos to understand how they put us on the path to modern discovery.

The Known Universe - Decoding the Skies

The Known Universe - Final Frontiers

2010-06-10T13:44:00.000-07:00

Today on Cosmic Visions we present an episode of the National Geographic Channel’s outstanding documentary series “The Known Universe” that deals with two endeavours very dear to our hearts, the exploration and eventual settlement of the new frontiers of sea and space. These are the main goals of the organization we are closely associated with – The League of New Worlds.

The League of the New Worlds, founded in September of 1989, intends to establish a permanent human presence in the oceans. In so doing, we will engineer the habitats, procedures and processes for the space frontier. This formal engineering process is called: Space-Ocean Analogs.

Our all volunteer staff of engineers, ocean and space scientists, scientists, aquanauts, students and others all seek the same goal - to build the new outposts, colonies and cities of the New Worlds.

If you are interested in discovering more about us and our program, please follow the link below. We also invite you to join us in our quest, either as an active volunteer on one of our expeditions or as a contributing member by lending your support to our Oceans 911 funding drive to establish to an intelligent ecological monitoring platform (which now does not exist anywhere) to investigate and understand in detailed scientific terms the full impact of humanity on the ocean environment. The major benefit of this long term project is the preservation of our planet’s most important, largest and most fragile ecosystem. The time has come to kick-start this important endeavour.

In today’s video feature we will see how the exploration of our planet’s last great frontier is closely linked to the exploration of the vast new ocean of space.

More than 70 percent of Earth is covered in water, but we've only explored roughly 5 percent of it. We've roamed even less of our solar system. Now, armed with some of the latest advances in technology, we join scientists on a voyage into the unknown - from the far reaches of space to the extreme depths of our oceans - where new discoveries have experts questioning everything we know about the universe, and ultimately ourselves.

The Known Universe - Final Frontiers

Space Colonies: Living Among the Stars

2010-03-14T00:49:00.000-08:00

"Teetering here on the fulcrum of destiny stands our own bemused species. The future of the universe hinges on what we do next. If we take up the sacred fire, and stride forth into space as the torchbearers of Life, this universe will be aborning. If we carry the green fire-brand from star to star, and ignite around each a conflagration of vitality, we can trigger a Universal metamorphosis. Because of us, the barren dusts of a million billion worlds will coil up into the pulsing magic forms of animate matter. Because of us, landscapes of radiation blasted waste, will be miraculously transmuted: Slag will become soil, grass will sprout, flowers will bloom, and forests will spring up in once sterile places. Ice, hard as iron, will melt and trickle into pools where starfish, anemones, and seashells dwell — a whole frozen universe will thaw and transmogrify, from howling desolation to blossoming paradise. Dust into Life; the very alchemy of God".

Marshall T. Savage, author of The Millennial Project: Colonizing The Galaxy In Eight Easy Steps.

Today on Cosmic Visions we take an exciting voyage into the future and explore the wonderful and exciting possibility of humanity expanding outwards from its planetary abode to make its home amongst the stars.

In “Space Colonies: Living Among the Stars” we examine the scientific basis for the growing belief that humans can and will carry our civilization far from Earth through the eyes of such visionaries as Marshal T. Savage, Robert Zubrin, Christopher McKay, Jim Benson and Gerard K O’Neill.

Space Colonies : Living Among the Stars

Carl Sagan’s Contact

2010-03-14T00:47:00.001-08:00

As we approach the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (S.E.T.I.) as a bona fide branch of legitimate scientific inquiry we cannot help but wonder how "First Contact" will occur and what effect this will have on humanity.

Today we explore this exciting possibility through the vision of Dr. Carl Sagan as outlined in his first and only science fiction novel “Contact” published in 1985 and the film adaptation released twelve years later.

The novel and book both present a unique and wonderful vision of a common science fiction theme about the first meeting between humans and extraterrestrial life. Sagan expands on this theme in his novel and hints at the possibility of an even higher overarching intelligence that existed before the creation of the Cosmos and responsible for bringing into being. Unfortunately in the motion picture this was only touched upon obliquely.

Eleanor "Ellie" Arroway is the director of "Project Argus," in which scores of radio telescopes in New Mexico have been dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).

Before long, the project does, indeed, discover the first confirmed communication from extraterrestrial beings, a repeating series of the first 261 prime numbers (a sequence of prime numbers is a commonly predicted first message from alien intelligence, since mathematics is considered a "universal language," and it is conjectured that algorithms that produce successive prime numbers are sufficiently complicated so as to require intelligence to implement them). Further analysis of the message reveals that two additional messages are embedded in the signal. One of these messages is the detailed instructions of a machine that transports professor Arroway on an incredible odyssey to the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy and a face to face encounter with the intelligent beings that sent the message.

In a kind of postscript, Ellie, acting upon a suggestion by the senders of the Message, works on a program which computes the digits of π to record lengths and in different bases. Very, very far from the decimal point (ten to the twentieth power) and in base 11, it finds that a special pattern does exist when the numbers stop varying randomly and start producing 1s and 0s in a very long string. The string's length is the product of 11 prime numbers. The 1s and 0s when organized as a square of specific dimensions form a rasterized circle.

The extraterrestrials suggest that this is an artist's signature, woven into the very fabric of space. It is another Message, one from the universe's creator. Yet the extraterrestrials are just as ignorant to its meaning as Ellie, as it could be still some sort of a statistical anomaly. They also make reference to older artefacts built from space time itself (namely the wormhole transit system) abandoned by a prior civilization. A line in the book suggests that the image is a foretaste of deeper marvels hidden even further within Pi. This new pursuit becomes analogous to SETI; it is another search for meaningful signals in apparent noise. This idea, among other plot points, was omitted from the film version.

While both the novel and film stand on their own merits one wonders if the film could have attained the same distinction as a cult classic like Stanley Kubrick’s “2001” if this latter theme were worked into the motion picture.

Contact The Motion Picture

The Universe - Alien Galaxies

2010-03-11T00:54:00.000-08:00

Today on Discovery Enterprise we are going to embark on an intergalactic odyssey to visit the hundreds of billions of galaxies that in make up our universe. This is a journey that will take us back to the dawn of time.

The Universe - Alien Galaxies

The Best of Cosmos – Remembering Carl Sagan

2009-12-20T00:05:00.000-08:00

Today on Cosmic Visions we commemorate the memory of Carl Sagan who died an untimely death thirteen years ago today. Carl Sagan, was an astronomer, astrochemist, author, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI). For me personally he will always be remembered and revered as a great teacher who communicated the joys and transcendence of scientific discovery. Carl Sagan’s enduring legacy will always be linked to his ability to convey the wonders of science to the general public and his skill in inspiring the next generation of scientists. Carl Sagan’s name will also be forever linked to the greatest science television series in history – Cosmos.

Sagan made the front cover of Time Magazine (Monday October 20th, 1980) which dubbed him the “Showman of Science.” The cover story, entitled ‘The Cosmic Explainer’ by Frederic Golden contains a very good biographical sketch of Carl and appeared when his landmark documentary Cosmos graced our television screens some thirty years ago.

So in order to commemorate the thirteenth anniversary of his death we are presenting a retrospective of the very best moments and highlights of the highly acclaimed documentary series Cosmos and the A&E Channel’s profile of Carl Sagan which aired shortly after his unfortunate death. It is a very good portrayal of how a kid from Brooklyn made good and became something of a media superstar —“indeed, a supernova of sorts”. So for your perusal “Heeere's Carl, bringing you nothing less than the Cosmos.”

Best of Sagan's Cosmos

Carl Sagan A Biography

One of Carl Sagan's Most Pertinent Messages for Humanity

2009-12-03T09:11:00.000-08:00

"Those worlds in space are as countless as all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the Earth. Each of those worlds is as real as ours. In every one of them, there's a sucsession of incidence, events, occurences which influence its future. Countless worlds, numberless moments, an immensity of space and time. And our small planet, at this moment, here we face a critical branch-point in history. What we do with our world, right now, will propagate down through the centuries and powerfully affect the destiny of our descendants. It is well within our power to destroy our civilization, and perhaps our species as well. If we capitulate to superstition, or greed, or stupidty we can plunge our world into a darkness deeper than time between the collapse of classical civilization and the Italian Renaissaince. But, we are also capable of using our compassion and our intelligence, our technology and our wealth, to make an abundant and meaningful life for every inhabitant of this planet. To enhance enormously our understanding of the Universe, and to carry us to the stars." Carl Sagan explains the immensity of space and time. This clip is from Carl Sagan's Cosmos episode 8, "Journeys in Space and Time."

Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996)

Journey to 10,000 B.C

2009-12-02T00:08:00.000-08:00

Today on Discovery Enterprise we journey to the year 10,000 BC and experience the suspense and heart-pounding action of a woolly mammoth hunt. A single kill could feed the tribe for weeks. As the winters grow curiously colder and longer, this vital source of nourishment becomes even more critical. Experience the land where giant ground sloths, great saber-toothed cats, and camels roamed. Witness their extinctions and live through the cataclysms that we are only now beginning to understand.

Journey to 10,000 B.C.

The Search for Shangri-La

2009-12-01T08:05:00.000-08:00

The dream of an earthly paradise immune to the squalid wickedness of the world and the ravages of time comes to us from the depths of antiquity. One such place was - Shangri-La.

In the novel “Lost Horizon” published in 1933, James Hilton takes us on an odyssey to the earthly paradise Shangri-La hidden in a valley somewhere in the Himalayas between Tibet and India. Of all of James Hilton’s works this was always my most favourite.

But, is the legend of Shangri-La rooted in some, very real, earthly reality? Did such a place really exist? Today on Discovery Enterprise we are going on an epic voyage in search of the real Shangri-La with renowned BBC journalist Michael Wood in his awe inspiring documentary series “In Search of Myths and Heroes.”

We are also going to teleport ourselves to Shangri-La through the power of cinematic magic and the vision of legendary film director Frank Capra in his film masterpiece that brought James Hilton’s novel Lost Horizon to life on the silver screen.

So join us dear readers and let us take you on a magical voyage away from the dreary drudgery and cares of your everyday life to the far away and carefree world of Shangri-La. May you like, our hero Conway, find your own very real Shangri-La.

In Search of Myths and Heroes – The Search for Shangri-La

Frank Capara's famous motion picture classic - Lost Horizon (1937)

My Pet Dinosaur

2009-11-29T00:05:00.000-08:00

What if the Cretaceous-Tertiary impact that ended the reign of the Dinosaurs never occurred? Would these magnificent creatures, which could only be described by superlatives, still be walking the Earth? Would these creatures have gone on to evolve intelligence and perhaps a technological civilization? It is perhaps the greatest question concerning an alternative evolutionary history of life on Earth. Today on Discovery Enterprise we explore this alternative evolutionary history with the BBC Horizon documentary – My Pet Dinosaur.

It's a palaeontologist's dream: the chance to live in a world where dinosaurs are not something to be dug out of the ground but are living among us. It may sound far-fetched but dinosaurs were actually rather unlucky. The meteorite impact that doomed them to extinction was an event with a probability of millions to one. What if the meteorite had missed?

Had dinosaurs survived, the world today would be very different. If humans managed to survive alongside them (very unlikely), we wouldn't have the company of most, if not all, of the mammals with which we are familiar today. Giraffes, elephants and other mammals wouldn't have had space to evolve.

Would we be hunting Hadrosaurs instead of elk? Or farming Protoceratops instead of pigs? Would dinosaurs be kept as pets? And could the brighter dinosaurs have evolved into something humanoid?

My Pet Dinosaur

Einstein and Eddington: The Story of General Relativity

2009-11-28T00:05:00.001-08:00

Today on Cosmic Visions we proudly present the BBC docudrama “Einstein and Eddington” This is the story about Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, his relationship with Arthur Stanley Eddington and the introduction of this theory to the world, against the backdrop of the Great War.

During the 1920s and 30s Eddington gave innumerable lectures, interviews, and radio broadcasts on relativity (in addition to his textbook Mathematical Theory of Relativity), and later, quantum mechanics. Many of these were gathered into books, including The Nature of the Physical World and New Pathways in Science. His skillful use of literary allusions and humor helped make these famously difficult subjects quite accessible.

To obtain various works by (and about) Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, which are very difficult to obtain elsewhere go here.

If for some reason this wonderful movie does not appear below you can watch it directly by clicking on the title below:

Einstein and Eddington: The Story of General Relativity

The High Road to the Moon

2009-11-26T00:05:00.000-08:00

Neil Armstrong’s one small step for [a] man was the culmination of the greatest scientific, technological and cultural advance in human history. It was indeed a giant leap for mankind. It proved, beyond any question of doubt, that humankind had taken the first evolutionary stride in becoming a multi-planetary species. While history will bear witness that July 20th, 1969 marked a technological and political victory for the United States, in its Cold War race to beat the Soviet Union to the moon, in point of fact it was also an international triumph. The tireless effort of numerous scientists, engineers and visionaries from many lands had finally come to fruition. Thirty years before this pivotal event, a group of far-sighted Brits known as the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) set forth the guidelines for such a lunar voyage.

The British Interplanetary Society (BIS) was founded in 1933 by Mr. P.E. Cleator in the city of Liverpool. As noted by writer David H. Szondy it “was blessed with a fortuitous mixture of circumstances. On the one hand it boasted a membership of highly intelligent individuals with active imaginations. And on the other, English law prohibited civilian rocket experiments, which probably saved several bank accounts and quite a few limbs.” In 1937 it was decided to begin a study of a Lunar landing mission, in order to prove that such missions were possible.” The results of that study were subsequently published in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society of January and July 1939.

It used as its base line, the most advanced rocket technology known in Britain at the time - powdered rockets. Later in 1947 the Moonship was redesigned when German advances with liquid fuelled rockets, during the Second World War, came to light. Never the less, the original 1939 study pushed the technological envelope of what could possibly be envisaged with solid propellant. There lies the innovative beauty of this study. The rocket they designed was unprecedented in its size. It was the solid fuelled equivalent of the mighty Saturn V. Their design called for a rocket which was 100 feet tall by 20 feet in diameter and weighed more than 1,000 tonnes. Its propulsion system was comprised of six booster stages consisting of 2,490 solid fuelled rockets arranged in cellular honeycombs.

This enormous rocket was to be launched from a floating platform with the rocket itself place inside a partially submerged caisson on a high-altitude lake near the equator. Two locations considered were Lake Titicaca and Lake Victoria. The one tonne spacecraft crowning it consisted of a pressurised cabin reminiscent of the Apollo command module. Its mission was to deliver a crew of three to the lunar surface. The landing gear was very similar to that eventually used in the Apollo Lunar Module thirty years later. And, because the effects of weightlessness were unknown at the time, the BIS lunar ship was to be rotated around its major axis to create artificial gravity.

In order to compensate for the ships rotation they designed an optical instrument for navigational purposes known as the Coelostat. Its function was to provide a stationary view of the heavens from within the ship.

When the mission was completed the spaceship was to re-enter the earth's atmosphere and use a parachute for final descent.

One of the greatest what ifs of history is, weather or not the mission as originally conceived, could have been completed successfully. Could Great Britain have been the first to the moon? British science fiction writers Stephen Baxter and Simon Bradshaw have written such a story entitled “First to the Moon” and is one of series of stories being conceived about a possible British space program if history had only unfolded differently. The only other story written so far is “Prospero One”.

The remarkable story behind this mission is told in wonderful book entitled “The High Road to the Moon”. It contains the collected pictures of R.A. Smith with text by Bob Parkinson. Originally published in 1979, it is now available from the British Interplanetary Society on CD.

Yet, Britain never became an active participant in the space race. It wasn't because of a major lack of technical know how but, a major lack of political will as outlined in the book "A Vertical Empire: The History of the UK Rocket and Space Programme, 1950-1971" by C.N. Hill.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND THANKS:

Many of the pictures used in this article are to be credited to Mark Wade, and his very informative website Encyclopedia Astronautica and the late R.A. Smith of the British Interplanetary Society.

Finally, I would like to dedicate this article to the original BIS Moonship design team led by J Happian Edwards and which included: H Bramhill (draftsman), Arthur C Clarke (astronomer), A V Cleaver (aircraft engineer), M K Hanson (mathematician), Arthur Hanser (chemist), S Klemantski (biologist), HE Ross (electrical engineer), and R A Smith (turbine engineer). Their pioneering work eventually paved the way for the voyages of Apollo.

Author’s Note: My own personal blog site “Cosmic Visions” has lain fallow as of late and I felt it was appropriate to make good use of it by posting some of the articles I wrote in the past for the Discovery Enterprise Blog site. I wrote this article back in July 2007 to commemorate the thirty eighth anniversary of the first manned Moon Landing by the crew of Apollo 11. The picture of the British Interplanetary Moonship on the lunar surface was provided through the kind generosity of space artist David A. Hardy. Be sure to visit the new video page featuring stunning videos of David A. Hardy in action as he paints his cosmic masterpieces.

Double Helix the DNA Years

2009-11-25T00:05:00.002-08:00

Today on Cosmic Visions we proudly present the documentary series "Double Helix the DNA Years” which is a fascinating and exciting chronicle of the search for the secret of heredity.

Double Helix the DNA Years

Darwin's Struggle - The Evolution of the Origin of Species

2009-11-24T00:05:00.000-08:00

It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent on each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around us. These laws, taken in the largest sense, being Growth with Reproduction; Inheritance which is almost implied by reproduction; Variability from the indirect and direct action of the external conditions of life, and from use and disuse; a Ratio of Increase so high as to lead to a Struggle for Life, and as a consequence to Natural Selection, entailing Divergence of Character and the Extinction of less-improved forms. Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.

--Charles Darwin, On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. [1st edition] published November 24, 1859

Today on Cosmic Visions we commemorate the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s landmark book “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life” with the wonderful BBC documentary “Darwin's Struggle - The Evolution of the Origin of Species.”

This stunning documentary tells the little-known story of how Darwin came to write his great masterpiece.

On the Origin of Species, is a book which explains the wonderful variety of life as emerging out of death and the struggle of existence by means of a process he called Natural Selection.

Natural selection is the processes by which heritable traits that make it more likely for an organism to survive and successfully reproduce to become more common in a population over successive generations. It is a key mechanism of evolution.

In the twenty years he took to develop this brilliant idea into a revolutionary book, Darwin went through a personal struggle every bit as turbulent as that of the natural world he observed. Fortunately, he left us an extraordinary record of his brilliant insights, observations of nature, and touching expressions of love and affection for those around him.

Darwin also wrote frank accounts of family tragedies, physical illnesses and moments of self-doubt, as he laboured towards publication of the book that would change the way we see the world. The story is told with the benefit of Darwin's secret notes and correspondence, enhanced by natural history filming, powerful imagery from the time and contributions from leading contemporary biographers and scientists.

Author's Note: The complete works of Charles Darwin, including the first edition of On the Origin of Species, are available online for your reading pleasure.

Darwin's Struggle - The Evolution of the Origin of Species

The Voyage of Charles Darwin Episodes Two and Three

2009-11-22T00:05:00.000-08:00

Tuesday November 24th, 2009 marks the hundred fiftieth anniversary of Charles Darwin’s publication of his master work “On the Origin of Species”. Today on Cosmic Visions we continue our commemoration of the bicentennial of Charles Darwin’s birth and his life and achievements by joining him on his historic five year voyage aboard the HMS Beagle with the second and third installments of the wonderful television series “The Voyage of Charles Darwin” produced by the BBC in 1978.

The Voyage of Charles Darwin - Episode 2

Watch The Voyage of Charles Darwin (Episode 2) in Educational | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

The Voyage of Charles Darwin - Episode 3

Watch The Voyage of Charles Darwin (Episode 3) in Educational | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

The Voyage of Charles Darwin - Episode 1

2009-11-21T02:54:00.000-08:00

Tuesday November 24th, 2009 marks the hundred fiftieth anniversary of Charles Darwin’s publication of his master work “On the Origin of Species”. Today on Cosmic Visions we continue our year long celebration of the life and achievements of Charles Darwin by joining him on his historic five year voyage aboard the HMS Beagle in this wonderful television series produced by the BBC in 1978.

Darwin’s five year voyage aboard the HMS Beagle was an odyssey through time as well as space for it led Darwin to discover the principle mechanism that has shaped and sculpted every life form that has graced our world across the eons of life’s existence on our planet.

The Voyage of Charles Darwin - Episode 1

Watch The Voyage of Charles Darwin (Episode 1) in Educational | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

The Real Neanderthal Man

2009-11-06T00:05:00.000-08:00

Today on Cosmic visions we will take a journey through time and visit Europe during the last ice age and encounter a remarkable group of people.

Some forty two thousand years ago, the only living humans in Europe made clothes, educated their young, made tools. But they were not us. Now twenty first century science can reveal exactly how they lived, the dangers they faced and the communities they made in the Neander valley of Germany.

In 1856, two workers found sixteen bones in a limestone quarry in the Neander Valley, east of Düsseldorf. It was originally thought the bones belonged to a cave bear, but they were subsequently found to be the remains of an early human quite distinct and different from our own species.

Now more than one hundred and fifty years after their discovery these bones along with recently discovered bone fragments associated with the original fossil finds reveal some remarkable details concerning the life of this individual.

And, with the aid of DNA samples recovered from the original fossils we are beginning to build a genetic library that will shed light on how closely related the Neanderthal species was to our own. This genetic research poses another outstanding possibility. Could we one day resurrect this individual and his contemporaries by cloning them?

These and other recent discoveries paint a totally different and more humane portrait concerning this man and his contemporaries. A portrait that highlights some remarkable facts concerning Neanderthal man’s tool manufacturing technology, his social organization and his spiritual beliefs.

What Darwin Didn't Know

2009-10-03T00:05:00.000-07:00

A hundred and fifty years ago Charles Darwin published his master work on the origin of species. His explanation of the why there is so much diversity of life on Earth was so seductive, and so simple that it seems obvious today.

Anyone who is serious about science takes evolution for granted. But it's extraordinary that we do, because Darwin's theory was riddled with holes. It contained, as he freely admitted, much speculation and yet he had no doubt that future generations would complete his work and demonstrate the essential truth of his vision, and for a hundred and fifty years that is what scientist have been doing.

Now as we approach the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s seminal work “On the Origin of Species” on 24th November, 1859, twenty-first century science is providing the evidence to fill the holes in Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. The evolution of life on Earth is no longer a matter of speculation but a well supported fact.

What Darwin Didn't Know

Evolution - What about GOD?

2009-08-26T00:05:00.000-07:00

Of all species, we alone attempt to explain who we are and how we came to be. This final show explores the struggle between science and religion. Through the personal stories of students and teachers, it offers the view that they are compatible.

Today join us on Cosmic Visions as we continue our year long celebration of the life and work of Charles Darwin and explore the conflict between Science and Faith with the last installment of the landmark PBS television series “Evolution” – What about God?

Evolution - What about GOD?

Evolution - The Mind’s Big Bang

2009-06-03T00:05:00.000-07:00

How and when the human mind emerged is the most profound question facing science today. The appearance of human sentience has transformed the landscape of our planet and has propelled evolution into realms which transcend the very limitations of genetics. What forces contributed to this breakthrough? Where might the power of the human mind and intellect ultimately lead humanity?

The human mind has allowed the human species to transcend its physical limitations and has made humankind pioneers of a whole new form of evolution which is distinctly non-biological. This new realm of evolution is Cultural Evolution. It is this new dominion of evolution that has made us the most dominant life form on this planet and has set us on a trajectory that will one day take us out amongst the stars. What then? How will the human intellect continue to evolve amyst the starry ferment?

Today join us Cosmic Visions as we continue our year long celebration of the life and work of Charles Darwin and explore the origins of the human mind and human consciousness with the sixth installment of the landmark PBS television series “Evolution” – The Mind’s Big Bang.

Evolution - The Mind’s Big Bang

Evolution - The Sexual Revolution

2009-05-29T00:05:00.000-07:00

The sexual revolution did not begin in the 1960s with flower power or with the slogan “make love and not war”. The vanguard of the sexual revolution weren’t the hippies who “wore flowers in their hair” that Scott McKenzie immortalized in his generational anthem, "San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)". Rather sex can trace its humble beginnings to the true pioneers of the Sexual Revolution - the cyanobacteria and other eukaryotes at the dawn of evolutionary history.

The advent of sex may not have begun with the first micro orgasm but, it was no less earth moving.

With advent of sexual reproduction, some one and half billion years ago, life on Earth took a major evolutionary leap. Until then evolution was agonizingly slow. Before life stumbled on sex as a reproductive strategy new varieties of organisms could only arise from the accumulation of random mutations - the selection of a few typographical errors, letter by letter, in life’s genetic code. With the invention of sex, two organisms could now exchange whole paragraphs, pages and books of their DNA code, and thus evolution could proceed at a faster pace.

In evolutionary terms, sex is more important than life itself. Sex fuels evolutionary change by adding variation to the gene pool. The powerful urge to pass our genes on to the next generation has likely changed the face of human culture in ways we are only now beginning to fully understand.

Today on Cosmic Visions we continue our year long celebration of the life and work of the naturalist Charles Darwin and the epic story of life on Earth with the fifth installment of the landmark PBS television series “Evolution” – Why Sex.

Evolution – Why Sex

Evolution - red in tooth and claw

2009-04-14T00:05:00.000-07:00

Today on Cosmic Visions we continue our year long celebration of the life and work of the naturalist Charles Darwin with the fourth episode of the landmark PBS television series “Evolution” - Evolutionary Arms Race.

When we consider the evolutionary history of life on Earth, the following famous adage comes to mind:

“Nature, red in tooth and claw”

I always wondered if it was indeed Charles Darwin himself who penned this famous phrase. A little research through the pages of Wikipedia and The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, 3rd edition provided the answer.

Man...
Who trusted God was love indeed
And love Creation's final law --
Tho' Nature, red in tooth and claw
With ravine, shrieked against his creed.
--Alfred, Lord Tennyson

These words were penned by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson in his poem “In Memoriam A.H.H.” and this quote comes from a group of cantos entitled, "In Memorium A.H.H." (1850). This quote comes from canto LVI, and the entire work written over a period of 17 years and completed in 1849. It is a requiem for the poet's Cambridge friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly of a cerebral haemorrhage in Vienna in 1833, but it is also much more. It can be seen as reflective of Victorian society at the time, and the poem discusses many of the issues that were beginning to be questioned. It is the work in which Tennyson reaches his highest musical peaks and his poetic experience comes full circle. It is regarded as one of the greatest poems of the 19th century.

The original title of the poem was "The Way of the Soul", and this might give an idea of how the poem is an account of all Tennyson's thoughts and feelings as he copes with his grief over such a long period - including wrestling with the big scientific-philosophical questions of his day. It is perhaps because of this that the poem is still popular with and of interest to modern readers. Owing to its length and its arguable breadth of focus, the poem might not be thought an elegy or a dirge in the strictest formal sense.

In writing the poem, Tennyson was influenced by the ideas of evolution presented in Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation which had been published in 1844, and had caused a storm of controversy about the theological implications of impersonal nature functioning without direct divine intervention. The fundamentalist idea of unquestioning belief in revealed truth taken from a literal interpretation of the Bible was already in conflict with the findings of science, and Tennyson expressed the difficulties evolution raised for faith in "the truths that never can be proved".

Are God and Nature then at strife,
That Nature lends such evil dreams?
So careful of the type she seems,
So careless of the single life;
That I, considering everywhere
Her secret meaning in her deeds,
And finding that of fifty seeds
She often brings but one to bear,
I falter where I firmly trod,
And falling with my weight of cares
Upon the great world's altar-stairs
That slope thro' darkness up to God,
I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope,
And gather dust and chaff, and call
To what I feel is Lord of all,
And faintly trust the larger hope.

This poem was published before Charles Darwin made his theory public in 1859. However, the phrase "Nature, red in tooth and claw" in canto 56 quickly was adopted by others as a phrase that evokes the process of natural selection. It was and is used by both those opposed to and in favour of the theory of evolution.

“Nature, red in tooth and claw”

This famous quote has come to symbolise the very essence of the evolutionary struggle as outlined by Darwin’s theory of evolution by means of Natural Selection. But, is that all evolution is? Is it just an unending struggle for survival? How about cooperation? Does this play a role in evolution? Has the entire biosphere of our planet evolved into a super-organism as James Edward Lovelock outlined in his GAIA hypothesis?

Both survival of the fittest and cooperation are essential interactions between and within species and are both amongst the most powerful evolutionary forces on Earth, and understanding them may be a key to our own survival. Which aspect of our own human innate nature, raw competition or cooperation, prevails may determine our planet’s and our own long term future.

Evolution - Evolutionary Arms Race

Evolution - Extinction

2009-04-12T00:05:00.000-07:00

Today on Cosmic Visions we continue our year long celebration of the life and work of the naturalist Charles Darwin with the third episode of the landmark PBS television series “Evolution” - Extinction.

Far more life forms have existed on Earth than grace the skies, oceans and land masses of our beautiful blue and green planet in our current epoch. Ninety-nine percent of all the creatures that have ever existed have gone extinct. What does fate have in store for the human species? What are our own evolutionary prospects?

As Carl Sagan wrote in his monumental book "Cosmos":

"The fossil record speaks to us unambiguously of creatures that once were present in enormous numbers and that have now vanished utterly.* Far more species have become extinct in the history of the Earth than exist today; they are the terminated experiments of evolution".

Natural selection has shaped and sculpted an incredible life form that appears to be able to adapt to life in every conceivable ecological niche. A life form that is on the verge in directing the course of its own evolutionary future and that of the other life forms that share this planet with us. And, that life form is us – Homo sapiens.

We are the pioneers of a whole new form of evolution which is distinctly non-biological. This new realm of evolution is Cultural Evolution. It is this new dominion of evolution that has made us the most dominant life form on this planet and has set us on a trajectory that will one day take us out amongst the stars or lead to our own demise.

Five mass extinctions have occurred since life began on Earth. Are humans causing the next mass extinction? And what does evolutionary theory predict for the world we will leave to our descendants?

We will explore these and further questions in future editions of Discovery-Enterprise.

Evolution - Extinction

Arthur C Clarke:The Man Who Saw The Future

2009-03-19T05:05:00.000-07:00

It was one year ago today that Arthur C. Clarke went on his final odyssey into the infinite. Today on Cosmic Visions we would like to pay homage to the Man who inspired three generations of men and women to pursue careers in science and space with his visionary writings.

Sir Arthur was and will always remain the…….

The Man Who Saw the Future

Referred to as a genius, this one man think tank is considered the ultimate futurist by his devoted fans. How is it that Clarke's views of the future, as described in his many novels, have often become very present realities, such as videophones, laptop computers, E-mail, the space shuttle and cloning? One thing is for sure, Arthur C. Clarke is one of the most celebrated science fiction authors of our time. His novels 2001: A Space Odyssey and most recently 3001: The Final Odyssey, as well as more than 60 other titles have inspired generations of people, propelling us into the future, setting our minds free to explore.

You can purchase this wonderful documentary from AMAZON.COM

And, for your viewing pleasure and in order to honour Clarke’s contributions to the genre of science fiction we have:

The Martians and Us -From Apes to Aliens Episode 1.

A series about the history of British science fiction. This edition looks at our relationship with aliens, from Wells' invading Martians to the Daleks, via 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Midwich Cuckoos, and the Mekon. It also explores the genre's preoccupation with the big questions of evolution, and includes interviews with Arthur C Clarke, Brian Aldiss, Doris Lessing and Steve Jones.

Evolution - Great Transformations

2009-03-15T00:05:00.000-07:00

Today on Cosmic Visions we continue our year long celebration of the life and work of the naturalist Charles Darwin with the second episode of the landmark PBS television series “Evolution” - Great Transformations.

What underlies the incredible diversity of life on Earth? How have complex life forms evolved? The journey from water to land, the return of land mammals to the sea and the emergence of humans all suggest that creatures past and present are members of a single tree of life.

Evolution - Great Transformations

Charles Darwin and his Dangerous Idea

2009-02-12T00:05:00.000-08:00

Today marks the bicentennial of Charles Darwin’s birth. In order to mark the occasion of Darwin’s birth on 12th February, 1809 and the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s publication of “On the Origin of Species” on 24th November, 1859 today we are going to take a closer look at Darwin's idea on the origin of species. Some have even labelled Darwin's Theory of evolution by Natural Selection a "Dangerous Idea”.

Today’s video offering takes a closer look at this ''dangerous idea'' and explores why it matters more today than ever. Does it explain the past history and predict the future of life on Earth? Can it explain how life may have arisen on Earth and perhaps elsewhere in the Cosmos? This documentary interweaves the drama of Darwin's life with current documentary sequences, introducing the key concepts behind Darwin’s Theory of evolution.

Evolution - Darwin’s Dangerous Idea

The Secrets of the Star Disk

2009-01-06T12:36:00.000-08:00

This is the extraordinary story of how a small metal disc is rewriting the epic saga of how civilisation first came to Europe, 3600 years ago.

When grave robbers ransacked a Bronze Age tomb in Germany, they had no idea that they had unearthed the find of a lifetime. But they knew that it was worth selling. It was a small bronze disc of exquisite design. So they contacted the archaeologist Harald Meller, offering to sell it to him for £300,000.

Meller went deep into the criminal underworld and, after a police sting, he got his disc. It depicted the sun, the moon and the stars. This suggested an understanding of the heavens greater than that of the first great civilisations, like Egypt.
Could it possibly be real?

After exhaustive tests, the disc was declared genuine. Then a team of crack scientists pieced together what it meant. What emerged is a true marvel.

Life in Darwin’s Universe

2009-01-03T13:13:00.000-08:00

In order to kick off a year of celebration to commemorate the bicentennial of Charles Darwin’s birth on 12th February, 1809 and the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s publication of “On the Origin of Species” on 24th November, 1859 today on Cosmic Visions we are going to explore the possibility of life elsewhere in the Cosmos.

Whatever form life takes on elsewhere in the cosmos we can be reasonably certain that the same inexorable laws of evolution through natural selection that shaped life on Earth will shape it elsewhere. Natural selection has given rise to an incredible diversity of life on this planet. Over the past four billion years, this has resulted in a plethora of living organisms each adapted and specialize to occupy a particular ecological niche and eventually the emergence of new species. If life exists elsewhere we can very well expect it to reflect and perhaps surpass the almost inconceivable variety of life on our world.

Yet when studying the wonderful history of life on our planet we are faced with a spectacular conundrum. Natural selection has shaped and sculpted an incredible life form that appears to be able to adapt to life in every conceivable ecological niche. A life form that is on the verge in directing the course of its own evolutionary future and also of creating life forms that will transcend biology in silico. And, that life form is us – Homo sapiens. We are the pioneers of a whole new form of evolution which is distinctly non-biological. This new realm of evolution is Cultural Evolution. It is this new dominion of evolution that has made us the most dominant life form on this planet and has set us on a trajectory that will one day take us out amongst the stars. Will we one day encounter other such life forms or their living machines out amongst the starry ferment?

It is indeed very conceivable that the first intelligent life forms that we will encounter will be living machines capable of self replication and also transcending Darwinian evolution. These living machines may very well continue to evolve in the most non-Darwinian of ways via Lamarckian evolution.

"...Self-reproducing probes or robots, free from such restraints [Darwinian evolution], could advance by Lamarckian evolution. That is, they could pass on directly any acquired abilities and desired improvements to the next generation, and evolve rapidly capabilities beyond the reach of biological beings."
- Edward Ashpole, The Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence

Then the future struggle for existence may indeed be between the biological and non-biological entities played out on a galactic scale. We will explore these questions in a later series of articles. In the meantime enjoy today’s video offering as we explore the possibility of life in Darwin’s Universe.

The Universe - Alien Faces

They roam the planetary surface, fly underwater and soar through the heavens. But this is no wildlife safari on planet Earth; this is an expedition of astronomical proportions. When the human race discovers it is not alone, what will our cosmic brothers and sisters look like? To answer this question leading astronomers and Astrobiologists have applied the principals of evolution and physics to five types of alien worlds likely to be found in the cosmos. These are the creatures that could be out there. Prepare to take an intergalactic safari and peer directly into the eyes of alien faces.

Exploring Space - The Quest for Life

This film takes a great comprehensive look at space travel, life on other planets, and the origins of life on Earth. It does a great job of exploring such topics as Pasteur's experiments with wine barrels, the origins of life on earth, recent discoveries of life in expected places on earth, dust from comets, Jupiter's moon Europa, human's endurance in space, terraforming prospects on Mars, the requirements of a mission to Mars. It's strength is the effective way it illustrates very complicated concepts using great interviews, interesting comparisons, and good visual effects. Unlike other documentaries of this type, this one goes into greater depth with various concepts and ideas.

Let There be Light….

2009-01-01T09:59:00.000-08:00

In the Beginning, in a burst of pure radiant energy, light came into being and in that brief instant of creation the Universe came into existence some fourteen billion years ago. Within the first three minutes of the big bang pure energy condensed into matter. From this matter stars and galaxies came forth and through the process of nuclear fusion, heavy elements were forged in the hearts of distant and massive suns. It is the existence of these elements that make the existence of living things a possibility. We owe are very existence to that very instance when the laws of physics through accident or design (depending on your philosophical and religious proclivities dear reader) declared, eons ago –“Let there be Light”.

The study of the fundamental nature of light has been a central theme throughout the Intellectual History of humanity. Answering the question – “what is light?” has been a major preoccupation of all major areas of human endeavour be it Religion, Philosophy or Art. The quest to understand and decipher the mystery of radiance gave rise to modern science. In fact, the twin pillars of modern science – Relativity and Quantum Mechanics owe their development to solving the mystery of the true nature of light. And, it is through the analysis of starlight that humanity has begun to understand its place in the Cosmos. So my dear readers, in the earnest hope that this New Year and the years to follow, will always be radiant with the promise of hope and good fortune for each and everyone of you I would like to offer you the following documentary for your viewing pleasure: Simon Schaffer's fantastic four part documentary "Light Fantastic" that was produced for BBC 4. In the episodes that follow science historian Simon Schaffer takes on a voyage of discovery through time to follow humankind’s quest for enlightenment to discover the true nature of light.

1. Let There be Light

Greek and Arab scholars and later Europeans such as Descartes and Newton all tried to understand light to gain a better understanding of God. Episode one shows how much of modern science's origins came from the desire to penetrate the divine nature of light.

2. The Light of Reason

The second programme explores the link between the development of practical tools that manipulate light and the emergence of new ideas. For example, Galileo's observation that the sun did not go around the earth, was made with a telescope that had been invented for Venetian soldiers and traders.

3. The Stuff of Light

Episode three charts the discovery of the true nature of light and its impact on the modern world. All of today's technologies - electricity, mobile communications and our ability to illuminate the world 24 hours a day - stem from unravelling the mystery of light.

4. Light, The Universe and Everything

In the final programme Simon Schaffer finds that as more people were able to manipulate light, the more puzzling and tricky it became. This led to investigations into the strange relationship between light, the eye and the mind, and the development of new technology such as photography and cinema.

The Year Ahead

2009-01-01T07:20:00.000-08:00

The New Year ahead of us promises to be an exciting one for those of us on Discovery Enterprise and the associated blog sites Cosmic Visions and Far Future Calling. This New Year of 2009 AD promises to be one of many New Beginnings in the exciting world of Discovery, Exploration and Science.

Many of our devoted readers know that we at Discovery Enterprise are closely associated with the Atlantica Expeditions - First Undersea Colony Project. At this very moment the Atlantica Expeditions Team is assembling the New Worlds Explorer (NWE) and it will be nearing completion this weekend. The New Worlds Explorer, designed by Dennis Chamberland, is designed as a companion habitat and engineering model to the Leviathan Habitat, scheduled for construction soon. Both habitats will be used to support underwater crews on the longest manned underwater mission in history in 2010. The New Worlds Explorer is scheduled for deployment in 2009. As for other news – it looks like the submarine Dan Scott Taylor II will be delivered in January! It looks like it is going to be a busy and eventful year as the Atlantica Expedition crew embarks on its quest to commence humankind's exploration and settlement of the last great frontier on Earth - the Undersea World of Aquatica.

The year 2009 also marks the celebration of four major anniversaries connected to the History of Science and Exploration. 2009 marks the bicentennial of Charles Darwin’s birth on 12th February, 1809 and the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s publication of “On the Origin of Species” on 24th November, 1859. The year 2009 will also mark the 400th anniversary of the use of the telescope to view the heavens by Galileo Galilei and the publication of Johannes Kepler's Astronomia Nova in which he presented his three laws of planetary motion. In connection with these events the year 2009 has been declared the International Year of Astronomy.

Moreover, it will also commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1st landing by human beings on the moon's surface on July 20th, 1969. This year will also see the launching of the Kepler Mission on March 6th, 2009 an astronomical satellite currently being developed by NASA to search for Earth-like planets orbiting other stars. It will observe the brightness of over 100,000 stars over 3.5 years to detect periodical transits of a star by its planets.

And on July 11th, 2009 will see the test launch of the Ares I-X which will be a suborbital test flight in of the Ares I spacecraft. This will be the first major step, in NASA’s ambitious plans to return to the Moon, with the eventual goal of establishing a permanent human presence there. So stay with us dear readers and join us on new voyages of exploration and discovery during the exciting year ahead.

Tales from the Cosmic Crypt

2008-10-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

Author’s note: This article has been in the works in some form or other for nearly a year. Recently while searching the Internet for an illustration to grace this piece I came across a wonderful painting by the London based Welsh artist Leighton Johns. On a whim I used the ever dependable and very indispensable image search feature on Google and typed the words “The Cosmic Grim Reaper” and stumbled upon Mr. Johns’ wonderful blog site. This illustration almost inspired me to change the title of this essay to “The Cosmic Grim Reaper”. I encourage my readers to visit Leighton Johns’ blog spot and view other wonderful examples of his work.

As I begin setting my fingers to the keyboard to begin writing this article I have just returned from a children’s Halloween party organized by my family and some dear friends. Following a time honoured family tradition, the oldest members of our tribe have the malicious pleasure of regaling the youngest and most impressionable members of our clan with tales of the ghosts, demons, witches and warlocks that inhabit the dark corners, alleys, and byways of our little country village.

We humans have a special place in our hearts for tales of terror associated with the unseen and supernatural forces that lurk in the darkest recesses of our collective imagination. This is an affinity that is cross cultural and transgenerational.

During the course of the telling of these time worn tales my mind couldn’t help but wander over recent tales that humans have waived for themselves before and after the dawn of the space age concerning the terrors that lurk in the depths of cosmic night. Here is a collection of tales from the darkest recesses of the cosmic crypt. The cosmic grim reaper lies in wait; scythe in hand, in some dark corner of the universe ever ready to bestow some dark faith upon us.

The Doomsday Comet

No one would have believed in the early years of the twenty-first century that our world faced many dangers and terrors from the very depths of the cosmic night. Lurking in the fridge depths of our solar system was a mountain of ice and rock that just happened to be careening our way on an appointment with destiny ready to reset our planet’s evolutionary clock. It is remarkable from the perspective of a dispassionate extraterrestrial how a species that prides itself on its technological and scientific prowess can go about its humdrum petty concerns and totally ignore the threats that have shaped and torn worlds apart since the dawn of creation. When the super comet finally appeared on the outer fringes of our solar system on December 12, 2012 the human species found itself powerless and impotent to ward off this existential threat because it lacked the rocket delivery systems to deliver a nuclear device to divert this juggernaut heading our way.

On October 24th, 2007 and on the Halloween Night of October 31st, 2007 the Discovery Channel (Europe) aired the two hour docudrama ‘Super Comet: After the Impact’. This documentary essentially transfers the events of the Cretaceous Extinction Level Event (E.L.E), that occurred sixty-five million years ago and lead to the demise of the dinosaurs, to the twenty first century.

Super Comet: After the Impact

'Super Comet' recreates the fatal disaster that wiped the dinosaurs off the face off the Earth, only it's not the dinosaurs that are living on planet Earth - it's us.

This remarkable programme gives viewers a chance to see the real effects a 'Super Comet' would have after impact on planet Earth if it were to happen in today's world. What would happen to the human race and the planet itself is told through the dramas of people's lives as well as fascinating interviews with top scientists.

This is a dramatic, sci-fi fuelled programme not to be missed!

The DVD of this documentary is currently available from Amazon.com.

Imagine a world cloaked in complete darkness. Food and water supplies disappear; tsunamis and fires rage, and scorching temperatures plummet to an Ice Age cold within months. Many scientists believe these cataclysmic environmental changes wiped out the dinosaurs after a gigantic asteroid struck the planet millions of years ago...and some say humans could be the next species to face extinction. SUPER COMET: AFTER THE IMPACT dares to bring the unthinkable to life in a fascinating look at how humans could adapt to a new world plagued by devastation on a global scale. You'll be riveted as you watch this unfolding of ultimate destruction that also celebrates the will of our species to survive despite incredible odds.

Yet, given enough warning time we currently have the propulsion technologies to deal with rouge asteroids and are not entirely powerless in the wake of Doomsday Comets. As Duncan Steel pointed out, in his article in The Guardian of January 12, 2005, concerning NASA’s Deep Impact Mission to Temple 1, “blasting a comet with a lump of copper heralds a new dawn in astronomy - and may save us from extinction”.

What of our parent star the Sun. the giver of life? What existential threats can it hurl our way?

Solar Super Flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and the Perfect Solar Super Storm

December 12, 2012 a combination of events conspire to create the perfect solar super storm. Within a matter of hours our entire global technological civilization collapses. The world’s entire electrical power and communications grid is disrupted beyond immediate repair. Satellites fall from the sky and in space there are no astronauts left onboard the evacuated International Space Station to observe the night side of our planet as one by one the lights of our cities go out and are plunged into darkness as a massive blackout sweeps the globe.

The Sun has bathed this planet with its eternal light and warmth for some 4.6 billion years and has provided life on earth with the energy to go about its terrestrial business. But, every now and then the Sun shows its full fury in the form of Solar Flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs).

A Solar flare is a sudden eruption of hydrogen gas on the surface of the sun, usually associated with sunspots and accompanied by a burst of ultraviolet radiation that is often followed by a magnetic disturbance.
A Coronal Mass ejection is an ejection of material from the solar corona. The ejected material is a plasma consisting primarily of electrons and protons (in addition to small quantities of heavier elements such as helium, oxygen, and iron), plus the entrained coronal magnetic field.

If these two events occur together you have the makings for the perfect solar storm. Just such a thing happened on September 1st, 1859.

What happened in 1859 was a combination of several events that occurred on the Sun at the same time. If they took place separately they would be somewhat notable events. But together they caused the most potent disruption of Earth's ionosphere in recorded history. "What they generated was the perfect space storm," says Bruce Tsurutani, a plasma physicist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Recent evidence points to the possibility that this event, the most powerful super solarflare ever observed, was responsible for depleting away our ozone layer at levels greater than chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

This breakdown caused global atmospheric ozone levels to drop by 5%. In comparison, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other chemicals have depleted the levels by about 3% in recent years.

However, unlike CFCs and other ozone-depleting chemicals, which can persist in the atmosphere for some time, the flare-induced ozone thinning probably lasted for just four years, the researchers report. That is because the nitrogen oxides that cause the depletion eventually rain down with water or ice. Indeed, it was this acid rain that was eventually recorded in the ice cores.

This solar storm also had a severe effect on the newest global communications technology of the Victorian Age - the telegraph.

Within hours, telegraph wires in both the United States and Europe spontaneously shorted out, causing numerous fires, while the Northern Lights, solar-induced phenomena more closely associated with regions near Earth's North Pole, were documented as far south as Rome, Havana and Hawaii, with similar effects at the South Pole.

In September 1859, a super-duper-extra-large-special of solar flares occurred, sending a super mass of particles towards the earth (93 million miles away) in record time (17 hours, 40 minutes).

The earth’s magnetic field was overwhelmed, causing extremely bright aurora and disruptions of electrical systems.

Back in 1859 the invention of the telegraph was only 15 years old and society’s electrical framework was just starting out.

“During the aurora of September 2, 1859,” wrote American researcher Elias Loomis (1811-1889), “the currents of electricity on the telegraph wires were so steady and powerful that, on several lines, the operators succeeded in using them for telegraphic purposes as a substitute for the battery.” For a time, messages were transmitted solely on auroral currents.

That’s right - no batteries.

Today if a solar storm of that magnitude occurred it would have a far greater impact on our global civilization which has become highly dependent on electrical technology.

Back in 1859 the invention of the telegraph was only 15 years old and society's electrical framework was truly in its infancy. A 1994 solar storm caused major malfunctions to two communications satellites, disrupting newspaper, network television and nationwide radio service throughout Canada. Other storms have affected systems ranging from cell phone service and TV signals to GPS systems and electrical power grids. In March 1989, a solar storm much less intense than the perfect space storm of 1859 caused the Hydro-Quebec (Canada) power grid to go down for over nine hours, and the resulting damages and loss in revenue were estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

In our age the perfect solar storm could result in the total breakdown of the global power and communications grid:

“An 11-year epoch of increasingly severe solar storms that could fry power grids, disrupt cell-phone calls, knock satellites back to Earth, endanger astronauts in space, and force commercial airliners to change their routes to protect their radio communications and to avoid deadly solar radiation ........"

This is yet one more nightmarish scenario that has kept me up many a night. Just imagine the sudden collapse of our global technological civilization to levels reminiscent of the eightieth or nineteenth centuries. Within a matter of hours the technological comforts and marvels of our age can be reduced to mere junk.

And, we face dangers from distant suns as well.

Gamma Ray Bursts

It was on December 12, 2012 that that our space base telescopes flashed the warning message back to our ground stations on Earth of a sudden peck in the flux of gamma radiation that emanated from a star designated WR 104 in the direction of the constellation of Sagittarius at the astronomical coordinates Right ascension 18h 02m 04.07s and Declination -23° 37′ 41.2″. For a fraction of a second a bright tiny flash appeared in the day lit hemisphere of Earth, In that brief instant our planet and its biosphere were sentenced to death and the chemistry of our life giving atmosphere began its alteration and the blue skies of planet began to change colour to a dark sickening brown reminiscent of the pea soup smog that choked nineteenth century London.

The distant stars may have been responsible for Extinction Level Event (E.L.E) in the Earth’s past and in the future. Scientists believe gamma ray bursts were responsible for a mass extinction 450 million years ago in the late Ordovician period, which wiped out sixty per cent of life and cooled the planet.

Gamma ray bursts are the most luminous electromagnetic events occurring in the universe since the Big Bang.

They are flashes of gamma rays emanating from seemingly random places in deep space at random times. The duration of a gamma-ray burst is typically a few seconds, but can range from a few milliseconds to several minutes, and the initial burst is usually followed by a longer-lived "afterglow" emitting at longer wavelengths (X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, infrared, and radio). Gamma-ray bursts are detected by orbiting satellites about two to three times per week, but the number of GRBs that could be observed from Earth is about three times this and is currently limited by the efficiency of the instruments.

Most observed GRBs appear to be collimated emissions caused by the collapse of the core of a rapidly spinning, massive star into a black hole. All known GRBs originate from outside our own galaxy; though a related class of phenomena, SGR flares, are associated with Galactic magnetars. The sources of most GRBs are billions of light years away. The gamma rays strip away the ozone layer and generate chemical smog, producing a widespread chill that grips the Earth. An expected electromagnetic pulse will zap all of our electronics.

It was reported earlier this year that our planet currently lies in the line of sight of such a star designated WR-104, a mere 8,000 light years away in the constellation of Sagittarius, roughly a quarter of the way to the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy

How will humankind and the entire biosphere hold up in the face of such a global catastrophe and how can we hope to defend ourselves in the face of such a devastating danger?

Alien Invasion

Excerpt from the Encyclopaedia Galactica:

A fundamental lesson learned by all emerging technological civilizations is: NEVER ADVERTISE THE FACT OF YOUR EXISTENCE!

In recent months a number of articles have appeared in the popular press and elsewhere concerning the dangers of initiating first contact with any extraterrestrial civilizations that may share the galaxy with us.

Yet of even greater concern to me are alien invaders that we cannot see with the naked eye.

On December 12, 2012 reports stated flooding the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) at their Headquarters in DeKalb County, Georgia from all over the major urban centres of the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa of a new virulent strain of flu that caused its victims to suffer from violent convulsions and massive haemorrhaging of the lungs within twelve hours of contracting this sickness. By Christmas Day the human species was on brink of extinction.

Human have faced the danger of pandemics since the dawn of its existence. From the black death of the 14th century to the Spanish flu of 1918 to the SARS epidemic of the twenty first century. Diseases devastated entire societies. Now health officials fear that we may be on a verge of another epidemic and one scientist believes that the culprit my come from outer space and we my have no defence against these extra terrestrial diseases. The result could be catastrophic to our species and life on Earth in general.

But, the existential dangers humanity faces are not just emanating from deep space and the immediate solar neighbourhood. Our dear mother Earth may have nasty surprises in store for us as well. We face the dangers of super volcanism, and natural climatic change. And, we humans pose perhaps the greatest danger to ourselves. Our propensities of fouling our own nest and large scale aggression may lead to global conflicts waged with the fatal fruits of our own highly vaulted ingenuity.

So allow me to close this article by wishing you all dear readers a very chilling and sleepless Halloween Night and offer the following treats for your delightful fright.

Lasts Days on Earth

Mega Disaster - Alien Infection

Watch Alien Infection in Educational | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Super Comet After The Impact

The Perfect Disaster - Solar Storm

Mega Disasters - Gamma Ray Burst

DEEP SEA UFOS: UNIDENTIFIED SUBMERGED OBJECTS (USOS)

2008-08-08T06:10:00.000-07:00

The seas and oceans of our planet have since time immemorial have been a familiar but mysterious and alien territory for much of human history. Many myths and legends have appeared from age to age to explain many strange and unfamiliar sightings. Seafarers across the ages and from all cultures have spun tales of sea monsters and mermaids.

Well our epoch is no different. I was recently introduced to a very thought provoking modern day mystery from the depths of Aquatica - Unidentified Submerged Objects (USOs).

Jules Verne's famous scientific romance “Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea” opens with an unidentified submerged object moving at great speed terrorizing the sea lanes and many speculating that the strange object was sea monster attacking passenger and cargo ships. The rest of the story you all know.

In James Cameon’s motion picture “The Abyss” an American nuclear attack submarine encounters an unidentified submerged object moving at fantastic speed just prior to its destruction.

Well it appears fiction has caught up with reality or so the producers of the History Channel's The UFO Files will have us believe in one of the latest instalments of the program I had the pleasure of viewing a couple of days ago – Deep Sea UFOs: Unidentified Submerged Objects (USOs).

Are these strange and rapidly moving objects the creation of extraterrestrial beings that have colonized our oceans? Are these objects the creation of intelligent terrestrial aliens who have evolved separately in the seas millions of years ago and share this planet with us? Are the descendents of the mythical continent of Atlantis flourishing beneath the waves? Or has a latter day Captain Nemo beat the rest of humanity to the punch and colonized Aquatica, the vast planetary ocean which girdles our world, ahead of us.

If nothing else this episode of the UFO Files proved to be very entertaining. And the alien submarines were awe inspiring. The special effects and graphic designs really caught my attention. And, who would have thought pseudo-science could be so instructive and educational?

There was a segment in the show that discussed a Magnetic Hydrodynamic (MHD) propulsion which I found fascinating.

The program even mentioned the possibility of using bubbles and turbulence to minimize pressure on the hull. Some research along these lines is being discussed in connection to the application of carbon nanotubes in the design of advanced submarines.

Whatever your thoughts on USOs this episode of the UFO Files is worth watching. Like many of these so called mysteries much of what was covered in the program is just too good to be true. Just as in the case of UFOs many of these so called Unidentified Submerged Objects (USOs may just be misidentified objects and all the stories surrounding them are the modern equivalent of a tall tale. But, nonetheless I found this programme very intriguing.

The link below to Google Video will take you to the full 45 minute program.

DEEP SEA UFOS: UNIDENTIFIED SUBMERGED OBJECTS (USOs)

And, if by any chance anyone of our dear readers has had an authentic USO story to tell please share it.

As many of our dear readers who frequent the pages of Discovery Enterprise well know Ralph Buttigieg, Dennis Chamberland and I are currently involved in the Atlantica expeditions First Undersea Colony Project. Who knows? We may indeed find out when we take our first forays into the deep and take up residency there that we are not alone in Aquatica.

Let’s just hope that they (whoever they may be) will welcome us as new citizens of this vast uncharted realm.

Below is the program in its entirety hosted on YouTube along with a follow up program detailing an expedition to follow up these claims.

FREEMAN DYSON - ET IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM

2008-08-02T04:23:00.000-07:00

Physicist Freeman Dyson needs no introduction; his name is synonymous with cutting edge science, space exploration and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).

Dyson worked on Project Orion from 1957 to 1961, which proposed the possibility of space-flight using nuclear pulse propulsion. A prototype was demonstrated using conventional explosives, but after the signing of the partial nuclear test ban treaty which banned the testing of nuclear weapons other than underground, Project Orion was terminated.

Today on Cosmic Visions I have posted the TED talk filmed in February 2003 and posted in early July featuring Dyson. In this wonderful video Freeman Dyson suggests that we start looking for life on the moons of Jupiter and out past Neptune, in the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud. He talks about what such life would be like and how we might find it.

One of the themes of covered in this talk was also the premise of a very exciting and thought provoking hard science fiction short story by Mike Combs entitled "Eyes, Shining Back from the Dark". The following article “The Reenchantment of the Solar System: A Proposed Search for Local ET’s” by Dr. Gregory Matloff also looks at the fascinating and frightening possibility that spacefaring extraterrestrial civilizations have already begun colonizing our own back yard.

The Flag of Aquatica

2008-07-31T05:53:00.000-07:00

Aquatica represents all the undersea and underwater regions of the world, primarily consisting of the single planetary ocean that encircles the globe. This is the flag of that region that will soon be occupied permanently by a human population of Aquaticans.

The blue background represents the three dimensional blue void that will soon be filled with human dwellings, cities and the foundation of a new human empire. The sphere represents the blue ocean planet of the earth of which a vast majority is overlain by Aquatica. The green wave in the center represents the life of the ocean in all of its astonishing complexity and variations – including its human inhabitants. The green wave overlies the globe because knowledge of this living world comprises the most important aspect of why we will move there to stay – to understand, to protect and to recover from centuries of human abuse. As stewards of this - the most vital region of the planet - we come here to make it as pristine, beautiful and robust as it was in the beginning.

Nylon flags and patches will be available in the Expeditions Store in August 2008.

The Search for Extra-solar Planetary Systems

2008-05-11T13:17:00.000-07:00

Had Carl Sagan been alive today he would have been extremely thrilled with the fact that new extra solar planetary systems are being discovered almost on a weekly basis. New planets mean more potential abodes for life and perhaps consciousness elsewhere in the Milky Way Galaxy and beyond.

Today on Cosmic Visions I will be posting five videos concerning the search for extra-solar planetary systems and the concomitant search for life and sentience throughout the Cosmos. Also as our space missions to the outer solar system have revealed there are over a hundred other exotic worlds in our solar system that hold the promise of life - the moons of Jupiter, Saturn Uranus and Neptune, each a world in its own right. So join me on the most exciting odyssey made possible by the science of our age as we explore a plethora of Alien Worlds and Moons and embark on an Alien Safari.

Finally we look at the latest tool to be deployed in the search for worlds very much like our own- NASA’s NASA Kepler mission, scheduled to launch in February 2009. Also take the opportunity to become part of this great adventure and have your name placed on board the spacecraft that discovers the first known Earth-like planet beyond our solar system.

The Universe - Alien Planets

The Universe - Alien Moons

The Universe Astrobiology

The Kepler Mission

Space Mysteries - Alien Safari

Human Evolution at the Crossroads

2008-05-11T07:19:00.000-07:00

New on Far Future Calling - Humans v2.0 :Human Evolution at the Cross Roads.

Will the human species take the course of its own future evolution into its own hands as a result of advances in genetic engineering and the merging of the human mind with advanced computer technologies?

Check out my most recent article on the Far Future Calling Blogspot.

Aquatica and Beyond

2008-03-30T03:59:00.000-07:00

This is a short article I wrote for the Discovery Enterprise blogspot on December 31st, 2007. In the light of my most recent article concerning the future exploration and colonization of the Ocean Planets of the Milky Way Galaxy I thought it only appropriate to post it here as well.

Very dear to our hearts on Discovery-Enterprise is the exploration of the undersea world and its eventual colonization. We also dream of humankind’s eventual expansion into the realm of outer space. Central to that dream is the eventual discovery of other Ocean Worlds within our solar system and elsewhere in the Milky Way Galaxy.

No other documentary in recent years epitomizes that dream than the 2005 IMAX documentary ‘Aliens of the Deep’ directed and produced by fellow Atlantica Expeditions crew member James Cameron.

Join us on a voyage of discovery on Earth in our very own Ocean World Aquatica and beyond in search of other life bearing Ocean Planets.

Exploring and Colonizing the Ocean Worlds of the Milky Way Galaxy

2008-03-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

Ever since the early 1980s there has been a great deal of speculation on the possibility of life on Jupiter's moon Europa when it was first deduced that a vast ocean may lie under its icy crust. Here is a wonderful short animated film entitled ‘Europa “Life”’ I found on VeohTV earlier today depicting a fantastic voyage to Europa by an expeditionary space probe and the strange yet somehow familiar and beautiful life forms that we may one day encounter on this enigmatic moon which is in the deepest sense a world on to itself .

Europa "Life"

When viewing this magnificent short animated film I was immediately reminded that humans may one day venture forth to explore and colonize this world. Currently the League of New Worlds is developing the very technologies that will make this possible.

The League of New Worlds is developing the technologies required to explore and one day settle our planet’s own water world –Aquatica.

Aquatica is the Earth’s own planetary ocean. A world integral yet separate from our own. The League of New Worlds is actively engaged in a project that seeks to explore and eventual colonize our planets last great frontier.

As of today, the dream of permanently settling Aquatica has begun, with the immediate, global commitment to long term, intelligent ocean monitoring and the sustainable development of its vast wealth. We also seek to venture there to teach every culture innovative and powerful systems of thought, carved from a profound visionary philosophy – to preserve and protect this vast ocean realm. It is a philosophy vital to our long term survival on this planet and out in the vast frontier of outer space.

The League of New Worlds is currently developing technologies required for us to live in Aquatica and that will help us create a Zero Waste culture where every waste is viewed as a recoverable resource. A philosophy our civilization must embrace to ensure our long term survival on this world and where ever else humankind hopes to settle in the future.

We seek to utilise and not exploit the wealth of the sea and eventually hope to settle there without despoiling it. The very term utilise implies responsible, sustainable and intelligent use of the vast untapped renewable energy, biological and mineral wealth that Aquatica has to offer humankind.

The Atlantica Expeditions seeks to create an intelligent ecological monitoring platform (which now does not exist anywhere) to investigate and understand in detailed scientific terms the full impact of humanity on the ocean environment. The major benefit of this long term project is the preservation of our planet’s most important, largest and most fragile ecosystem.

The league is also developing innovative regenerative life support technologies that will make it possible to live and work in this vast undersea realm. The lessons learned here will ensure humankind’s long term survival on our home world and eventually pave the way for humanity’s next major evolutionary step – the colonization of space and perhaps one day, the other ocean worlds that may exist in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Until that day dawns we must actively work towards protecting and preserving the only planetary home we know – the Earth. So please make it a point to visit our website and find out more about the Atlantica Expeditions.

Also enjoy the wonderful vision of tomorrow outlined in this inspiring video presentation that outlines our vision. A vision developed by fellow blogger and director of the League of New Worlds - Dennis Chamberland.

The Atlantica Expeditions

I have also posted this episode from the BBC television series ‘Hyperspace - Finding New Planets to Live on’, hosted by Sam Neil.

Hyperspace: Finding New Planets to Live on

Online Videos by Veoh.com

The Exploration of Space by Arthur C. Clarke

2008-03-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite books that came from the pen of Arthur C. Clarke is the "The Exploration of Space" published in 1951. Many of Clarke's predictions about spaceflight as outlined in this book have come true as the video clip recently produced by Apogee Books shows so remarkably well.

I have already posted a small brief tribute to Arthur C. Clarke on the Discovery Enterprise blog spot and spent most of today commemorating his memory tracking videos on You Tube that have been posted to celebrate his memory. The one featured above is my most favourite.

What We Still Don't Know

2008-03-15T23:26:00.000-07:00

I am continuously amazed not so much by what science has thought us about ourselves and our place in the universe but, by what we don't know. There remain many pertinent questions at the frontiers of science. Nearly two years ago back in July, 2005 the magazine Science of the American Association for the Advancement of Science devoted a special issue to those very questions.

What Is the Universe Made Of?, What Is the Biological Basis of Consciousness?, Are We Alone in the Universe?, How and Where Did Life on Earth Arise?, Do Deeper Principles Underlie Quantum Uncertainty and Nonlocality? and many, many more.

Here is an interesting documentary about things we still do not know hosted by Britain’s Astronomer Royal Martin Rees. We live within the grandest of mysteries. The realm we call -The Universe. Many questions still remain about the nature and our place in this mysterious cosmos and it is going be tremendous fun trying to find answers to them.

95 Worlds and Counting

2008-02-28T13:52:00.000-08:00

Take an exciting voyage to some of the most exotic worlds in our solar system - the moons of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn Uranus and Neptune, each a world in its own right in this exciting documentary first aired on the Discovery channel in the year 2000.

Cosmos Episode 4: "Heaven and Hell"

2008-02-03T09:56:00.000-08:00

Today I decided to post the entire fourth episode of Carl Sagan's landmark television series Cosmos: "Heaven and Hell". In fact of the all the thirteen episodes this has to rank as one of my most favourites. It was from this episode that I learned about the eyewitness account of a lunar impact seen by Canterbury monks on June 18, 1178 that some researchers believe resulted in the formation of crater Giordano Bruno. This event was recorded in the chronicle of Gervase. Another topic covered in this episode was Tunguska explosion of June 30, 1908. Some researches such as Bill Napier and Victor Clube have linked these two events together as being a byproduct of the Beta Taurid meteor shower; both events coincided with a peak in that shower. I will be covering this topic in a series of articles in commemoration of the upcoming centennial of the Tunguska explosion.

Some researchers have linked the Beta Taurid meteor shower to the collapse of late Bronze Age civilizations and some feel that lurking in its wake are more potential disasters to come. Imagine a Tunguska sized fireball exploding over New York City. The video segment below outlines just such a scenario very vividly.

In Search of Extraterrestrial Civilizations (Alien Hunters)

2008-01-03T00:21:00.000-08:00

In today's posting we take a historical perspective concerning the endeavour to find other minds elsewhere in the Cosmos. Man has long speculated about the existence of intelligent life beyond the bounds of Earth. But with the advent of modern astronomy toward the end of the 19th century, old myths were transformed into compelling new theories about alien civilizations. Alien Hunters documents the history of our search for extra-terrestrial life, explaining the technologies used, introducing the pioneers and revealing the most promising discoveries. Experts like Steven J. Dick, Historian of Science at the U.S. Naval Observatory, talk about bizarre 19th century plans to attract alien attention by creating giant canals of flame in the Sahara or enormous earthworks in Siberia. Frank Drake, President of SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence), provides a modern perspective. And examine mysterious signals from outer space that cannot be satisfactorily explained by any natural phenomenon. It's an inside look at the most ambitious outreach program ever - the search for alien intelligence.

Another great source of information concerning the history of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is writer David H. Szondy's exciting and wonderful website Tales of Future Past (Life On Other Worlds).

Here are five video clips from this exciting program that aired on The History Channel.

Postscript: Through the kind assistance of Ed Minchau (of Space Video of the Day and Space Feeds Fame) I was able to revise this posting and fit all five video clips into one frame. Thanks very much Ed. Your robot guy and Space feeds site still provide are a tremendous source of inspiration to me. Thanks for the many wonderful videos you posted in the past. Please continue your wonderful work.

The Cosmic Explainer

2007-12-31T00:09:00.000-08:00

Carl Sagan’s enduring legacy will always be linked to his ability to convey the wonders of science to the general public and his skill to inspire a new generation of scientists. In Fact, Sagan made the front cover of Time Magazine (Monday October 20th, 1980) which dubbed him the “Showman of Science.” The cover story, entitled ‘The Cosmic Explainer’ by Frederic Golden contains a very good biographical sketch of Carl and appeared when his landmark documentary Cosmos graced our television screens some twenty seven years ago.

Another good source of biographical information was given in the A&E biography documentary that appeared shortly after his untimely death on December 20th, 1996. It is a very good portrayal of how a kid from Brooklyn made good and became something of a media superstar —“indeed, a supernova of sorts”. So for your perusal “Heeere's Carl, bringing you nothing less than the universe.”

Carl Sagan - A Biography

Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot -Episode 1: "Wanderers"

2007-12-27T03:58:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned earlier this week, December 20th, 2007 marked the eleventh anniversary of the untimely passing of the American astronomer and popularizer of science Dr. Carl Sagan. Cosmos was the landmark documentary for which he will be long remembered.

Had he lived I am sure he would have gone on to produced and host several more documentaries. Back in July I mentioned a video project entitled ‘Pale Blue Dot -Episode 1: Wanderers’ which provides us with a glimpse of one such production.

Please allow me to reiterate what I said back in July: "it is a fantastic documentary worthy of PBS and a moving and fitting tribute to Carl Sagan. PALE BLUE DOT episode 1 was just as good as any PBS production I have seen thus far." This production is the brainchild of Lang Kasranov. Lang, you are an inspiration to us all.

Well here it is for all to see. Over the coming weeks I plan to post several such videos as part of an Internet wide tribute to the greatest science popularizers of all time: Carl Edward Sagan.

A higher resolution version video of this wonderful production can be seen in its entirety at Pale Blue Dot website.

The Gift of 'Cosmos'

2007-12-27T03:54:00.000-08:00

Hello One and All,
In keeping with this Festive and Holiday Season and in commemoration of the 11th Anniversary of Carl Sagan's untimely passing I would like to give each and everyone of you the Gift of 'Cosmos'. This landmark Television Series is available Online from GUBA Free Video to view and enjoy once again for free. Background information concerning this landmark television series can be found on wikipedia.

The following video clip shows Carl Sagan’s introduction of the Cosmic Calendar in the first episode of Cosmos: The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean.

Cosmos: A Personal Voyage through Time and Space

2007-12-27T03:41:00.000-08:00

Cosmos, the very word evokes the entirety of all existence and a sense of wonder. “The cosmos is all there is, all there ever was, and all there ever will be”. These opening lines of Carl Sagan’s book and landmark television series introduced us to the concept of science as a spiritual enterprise - the quest to understand who we are and where we stand in the vast scheme of the universe.

We live between two great gulfs within the very fabric of the cosmos- the immensity of space and an eternity of time. Yet, through the miracle of special effects and a starship of the imagination, Carl Sagan went boldly forth where few had gone before and took us with him on a personal voyage of discovery through those very gulfs. It was a voyage that traversed the galaxies and the vast ocean of time and space. This epic voyage began from the very shores of our planet out into the cosmic ocean. It was a journey that was also a homecoming to lay claim to our cosmic inheritance into the very realm from which we can trace our beginnings.

The science of our age has revealed to us a universe some fifteen billion years old, where the very matter of the cosmos came to life on our island Earth four billion years ago, and star stuff started contemplating the stars with the emergence of intelligence and civilization fifty thousand years ago. With civilization came science and through much trial and error we finally live in an epoch where the tools and methods of science allow us to make it a spiritual quest where we can, more than any previous generation, hope to answer the seven mystical questions of our age:

How did the Cosmos come into being and how will it end?

What is space?

What is time?

What is gravity?

What are the fundamental nature of matter and energy?

How did matter emerge into life and consciousness?

Do we share the cosmos with other creatures that seek to
answer these questions and others that our imagination and intelligence have not even begun to contemplate?

Carl Sagan’s Cosmos was for many of us the first epic voyage of exploration where we sort answers to these questions outside the realm of comic books, science fiction, or Star Trek.

Cosmos presented the whole of the scientific enterprise as a very human pursuit. For a very long time we have looked at science as something outside the realm of everyday human concern. We glorify art, literature, and music. But, look at science as a separate endeavor outside the human norm. In fact we should expand the definition of the humanities to encompass science. Science can trace its origins to its metaphysical beginnings in ancient Ionia. The wellsprings of some of our deepest questions were once the chief concerns of religion and philosophy. Yet, science, with a capital “S” is a human endeavor that resonates with our deepest yearnings to understand the reason and purpose of our existence. To quote Carl Sagan “Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality”. Science has its own poetry and psalms that glorify the wonders of the cosmos. Science uses its own language to write sonatas of praise to the numinous, the language of discovery known as mathematics.

Cosmos was also a major source of inspiration for many teenagers to pursue a career in science, and for me personally, a career as a science teacher. Often as I prepare my lesson plans or a public presentation, I can hear Sagan whispering to me “can’t you make it more interesting”? or “where is the poetry to evoke awe and wonder”? We need to inject that sense of wonder and awe back into our teaching. The discoveries of science and the language of discovery mathematics should be presented with the same spirit as Cosmos presented the wonders of creation to the general public. Our classrooms must become the starships of the imagination that transcend space and time to inspire a new generation of scientists and engineers to take us on new voyages of discovery.

The following video clip shows the opening introduction of the first episode of Cosmos: The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean.