10 facts

After too many months of too much work and no spare time, the power is out, and now I have time to blog. Ah, the life of a scientist. We typically have more ideas than time. So for this blog entry, I'm making it quick. I'm just going to list 10 facts and let you figure out what it's about until I get to the end:

• The surface of the Earth is warming, primarily due to increases in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere prompted by human use of fossil fuels.
  
  
• Natural gas is the least expensive means of generating gigawatts of electrical power.
  
  
• Nuclear energy is the safest way to generate gigawatts of electrical power.
  
  
• Last year, side effects from use of coal as a power source killed more people worldwide than terrorism.
  
  
• You and bacterium Treponema pallidum share a common ancestor. That ancestor lived more than 1.7 billion years ago.
  
  
• The sounds emitted by the heartbeat of a human fetus can be detected at 7 weeks.
  
  
• The sounds emitted by the multiple hearts of an earthworm can be detected at 6 weeks.
  
  
• The region of space we call "the universe" was the result of a rapid expansion of space that started between 13.4 and 14.1 billion years ago.
  
  
• The Earth is between 4.39 and 4.69 billion years old.
  
  
• Humans will become extinct.
  

So are you annoyed? I admit it, I did try to go out of my way to find facts that would annoy people. These aren't even controversial facts. I've expanded the error bounds to the 3-sigma level. None of these even approaches the "OJ is guilty" or "tax cuts/increases have a predictable effect on the economy" level of uncertainty. Even though these are facts, many of them are facts that get used or denied for political purposes. And because it's an election year in the U.S.A., we tend to assume that any statement is a political statement. Every fact is a fact with a hidden agenda. And most are beside the point.

Politics are so polarized that even admitting to a fact is assumed to be a capitulation to the entire agenda of a political party. The alternative is denial of the facts, which is not something I'd recommend. Can't we agree on the facts first, and then talk about what, if anything, should be done about them?

The final fact is just there to put it all into perspective.
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@SETIEric

I give up! Why is the earthworm on this list? (Seriously)
And that last one! The finality of it! The horror! The horror!:)
You could have at least sugar-coated it for us... "Unless humanity becomes a race of colonizing spacefarers blah bla blah". But nooooo, you just had to spoil the end of the movie;)

I've heard the earthworm or a another non-human animal used as a foil to the prior one. In the political arena it's supposed to indicate that not every beating heart is of equal value. The earthworm might disagree... ;)
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@SETIEric

I notice the lack of a quantifier on fact #10. Every other fact contains a mathematical statement or relation. Was this intentional?
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According to some physicists there are multiple Universes. This idea is contained also in some Veda books. On Nature of August 23 there is an article whose title is "Sometimes science must give way to religion". It was written by an atheist after visiting the Angkor temples in Cambodia.Read it.
Tullio
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The one hitch in nuclear is what do you do with the waste.
A possible answer to this is phase 4 nuclear. The thorium fuel cycle reactor,wich comes in several flavors and most of the research has been done in the us.
sadly the funding for this was cut to little then none under reagan then clenton.
currently terra power and half a dozen other company's are trying to revive this option,though only india currently has working reactors.
When the next generation of nuclear reactors can burn the waste of the last then you are wright nuclear is safer hands down wonder why it is only happening some were else kinda makes ya think.
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will we find alien life at SETI?

At least we have a choice.
I don't think the worm have much to say about the future.

And when it comes to energy we do have alot of wind on this planet. It blows every other day everywhere.
And we do have alot of sunny days at most places on this planet.

But will we find ET out there.....?
Keep searching and one day...

At least we have a choice.
I don't think the worm have much to say about the future.

And when it comes to energy we do have alot of wind on this planet. It blows every other day everywhere.
And we do have alot of sunny days at most places on this planet.

But will we find ET out there.....?
Keep searching and one day...

At least we have a choice.
I don't think the worm have much to say about the future.

And when it comes to energy we do have alot of wind on this planet. It blows every other day everywhere.
And we do have alot of sunny days at most places on this planet.

But will we find ET out there.....?
Keep searching and one day...

==========================================================================
If you do the number's only tidal wave power and nuclear have the terra watt

capacity to get us through to fusion or other long term prospects.

Tidal power would have to be massive, phase 4 nuclear could burn existing waste.

And don't mock the earth worm, can you eat sand with a little bio waste and pup fertilizer:)

Maybe Eric is saying why do any of us bother to fight and disagree, when we will all be gone one day anyway? In the meantime .....

The UK has just produced its new Energy Bill.

• Home insulation has a minimal effect and a long payback period
  
• Wind, wave, and solar power add minimal percentage input into the energy mix
  
• Coal and oil fired power is not green or renewable
  
• Nuclear power is the most efficient but is it safe
  
• To save power bills, use less and turn the heat down
  

Should we all bother?

At least we have a choice.
I don't think the worm have much to say about the future.

And when it comes to energy we do have alot of wind on this planet. It blows every other day everywhere.
And we do have alot of sunny days at most places on this planet.

But will we find ET out there.....?
Keep searching and one day...

==========================================================================
If you do the number's only tidal wave power and nuclear have the terra watt

capacity to get us through to fusion or other long term prospects.

Tidal power would have to be massive, phase 4 nuclear could burn existing waste.

And don't mock the earth worm, can you eat sand with a little bio waste and pup fertilizer:)