The Greatest Story Ever Told -- So Far: Why Are We Here? (A Book By Lawrence M. Krauss)

The Greatest Story Ever Told -- So Far: Why Are We Here? is an upcoming non-fiction book by Lawrence M. Krauss, a Canadian-American cosmologist and theoretical physicist. The book is scheduled to be published by Atria Books on March 21, 2017. The book is an off-shoot of a popular talk of a very similar title he delivered in various freethought conventions and university events. You can watch Krauss delivering the talk at the 2013 Oklahoma Freethought Convention (FREEOK) here [video uploaded by Seth Andrews of The Thinking Atheist channel].

Synopsis
So what is the book all about? Here's en excerpt from the official description for the book: "In a landmark, unprecedented work of scientific history, Krauss leads us to the furthest reaches of space and time, to scales so small they are invisible to microscopes, to the birth and rebirth of light, and into the natural forces that govern our existence. His unique blend of rigorous research and engaging storytelling invites us into the lives and minds of the remarkable, creative scientists who have helped to unravel the unexpected fabric of reality—with reason rather than superstition and dogma. 

Krauss has himself been an active participant in this effort, and he knows many of them well. The Greatest Story challenges us to re-envision ourselves and our place within the universe, as it appears that “God” does play dice with the universe. In the incisive style of his scintillating essays for The New Yorker, Krauss celebrates the greatest intellectual adventure ever undertaken—to understand why we are here in a universe where fact is stranger than fiction."

Praise from Advance Reviews
The book has garnered praise from the likes of Elizabeth Kolbert, Penn Jillette, Martin Rees, Noam Chomsky, Walter Gilbert, and Frank Wilczek. Kolbert called the book "accessible, illuminating, and surprising". Jillette called it a "great book". Chomsky described reading the book as a "an exhilarating experience". And last but not the least, Wilczek describes the book as "intellectually serious and authoritative".

"A Homeric tale of science, history, and philosophy revealing how we learned so much about the universe and its tiniest parts." - Sheldon Glashow, Nobel Laureate, 1979 in Physics

Other books written or co-authored by Lawrence M. Krauss:
1. The Fifth Essence: The Search for the Dark Matter in the Universe (1989) - Krauss delves into what dark matter is and the role it plays in our mission to understand the universe and all of its workings.
2. Fear of Physics: A Guide for the Perplexed (1994) - This is an easy-to-read primer on the wonders of physics. Krauss offers answers in the form of anecdotes and examples to very common research questions relating to theoretical physics.
3. The Physics of Star Trek (1996) - Krauss wrote this book because he believed that he can get people to be interested in physics by using Star Trek as the subject material to discuss topics like warp drive, inertial dampers, teleportation, wormholes, pure energy beings, light speed, and time travel. As a bonus, the book also features an interesting foreword by the one and only Stephen Hawking.
4. Beyond Star Trek: Physics from Alien Invasions to the End of Time (1998) - This is an expansion of the ideas and concepts that Krauss delved into in his previous book, The Physics of Star Trek.
5. Quintessence: The Search for Missing Mass in the Universe (2000) - This is an updated version of of Krauss's 1989 book The Fifth Essence.
6. Atom: An Odyssey from the Big Bang to Life on Earth...and Beyond (2001) - Krauss explains in layman's terms the history of the universe starting from the formation of oxygen atoms that became the primary atoms in the Big Bang.
7. Hiding in the Mirror: The Mysterious Allure of Extra Dimensions, from Plato to String Theory and Beyond (2005) - Krauss delves into the scientific and cultural aspects of extra dimensions. He explores topics like string theory, life in other dimensions, and black holes.
8. Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science (2011) - This work which was given the Book of the Year award in 2011 by Physics World is Krauss's tribute to Richard Feynman, one of the most influential scientists that the world has ever known. The book contains a lot of intriguing anecdotes and insights about the celebrated scientist.
9. A Universe from Nothing (2012) - Although this book was widely panned by philosophers and physicists, it's undoubtedly Krauss's most popular book. The book is an expansion of material from a lecture Krauss wrote. A Universe from Nothing features an afterword by Richard Dawkins. The late Christopher Hitchens was supposed to write the foreword but he was too ill to write the text on time.

Kirk Cameron And Ray Comfort Still Spewing Their Lies, Misrepresentations, And Scientific Ignorance

A reconstruction of Lucy on exhibit at the 

National Museum of Natural History in

the United States. Image credit: Mpinedag. 

Running out of new material to throw against evolutionists, Christian evangelists Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort had to dig up and rehash a decade old video segment from their television show Way of the Master. But here's the problem - the segment is rife with lies, misrepresentations and sheer ignorance.

The five-minute video which is a clip from an episode of the Way of the Master that first aired in 2005 (or 2006) had Comfort and Cameron trying to debunk the theory of evolution by arguing that no transitional fossils have been found to prove that modern man evolved from ape-like ancestors. Comfort re-uploaded the clip on the YouTube channel for Living Waters, the Christian ministry started by Comfort.

Of course, the scientific community disagrees. Many transitional fossils have been found. These may not number to the thousands that creationists like Comfort and Cameron would want to see but they pretty much support the evolutionary theory.

The God that Comfort and Cameron believes in forbids lying but the two evangelists lied several times during their attempt to take down evolution. They made their biggest lies when they grossly misrepresented facts and the scientific community's stance on Lucy, the Nebraska Man, the Piltdown Man and the Neanderthal Man. An article on the Iron Chariots website did a great job in discussing all these lies and misrepresentations. I highly suggest that you read it.

What's so damning about the re-uploading of the video on YouTube is that Comfort hasn't learned anything from the tons of blogs and websites that pointed out the lies and misrepresentations in the clip. In the video, Cameron says that "nearly all experts agree that Lucy is just the skeleton of a three foot tall chimpanzee". What experts are Cameron referring to? This is just a blatant lie. Anyway, below is the video, the comments section of which is rife with Christians gobbling up the lies of the two evangelists.

In His New Book, Cognitive Scientist Julien Musolino Taps Into Science To Expose The Soul Fallacy

Are you a believer in the concept of souls? Are you dismissive of the concept? Or are you among those who sit on the fence still trying to figure out which side you should lean on? Whichever side you currently find yourself in, there's a just-published book by cognitive scientist and Rutgers University professor Julien Musolino that may be of great interest to you.

The book's complete title is The Soul Fallacy: What Science Shows We Gain From Letting Go Of Our Soul Beliefs. In nearly three hundred pages, professor Musolino builds up on his argument that the soul does not exist and that we can reap an abundance of benefits if we are to let go of our belief in it.

Musolino understandably relies purely on science and reason to discuss the topic at hand. Many religious people who will read the book will most likely find Musolino as arrogant and even condescending. To unbelievers, agnostics, and skeptics, however, the book can be a great source of inspiration and further understanding of the soul concept - its origins, why it exists, and why millions of people still cling to it.

The author draws from a lot of scientific fields to prop up his contentions. Making use of ideas from biology, neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and other physical sciences, Musolino strikes the subject in the heart over and over again. The book can be repetitive at times to the point of being boring but it's necessary to drive the book's points across.

The Soul Fallacy also contains a Foreword penned by the late Victor J. Stenger. This alone makes the book a worthy purchase. Stenger who died in August last year is a staunch defender of critical thinking, good reasoning, and skepticism. He is an accomplished physicist, science educator, and philosopher. He built quite a following through his numerous books and articles in various publications. Among his most well-known works is the excellent book God: The Failed Hypothesis.

You can read a short excerpt of The Soul Fallacy on the Friendly Atheist blog here. You can also watch an hour-long interview of Musolino talking about his book on YouTube here. A short biography of the author can be found at the Rutgers University website here.

Bill Nye The Science Guy Explains The Theory Of Evolution Using Emoji

The usage of emoji continues to rise as more and more people get connected to the internet to communicate and interact with other people. First gaining widespread use in Japan, emoji is now spreading all over the world. Basically ideograms and stylized smileys, emoji have jumped from Japanese electronic messages to global usage through phones like iPhone, Android and Windows Phone. They're also widely used in a lot of emailing services and social media sites.

Bill Nye, the American science educator and author more well-known for his nickname The Science Guy has teamed up with the technology company General Electric to create what they call an Emoji Table of Experiments. In the table of experiments, you can find several science tutorials like igniting lead, needle in a balloon, bubbles & dry ice, and so much more. Check out the tutorials here.

In the following video brought to you by Mashable, Nye explains the basic concepts of the theory of evolution using emoji. He explains how every living thing on earth evolved from simple molecules over millions of years to their current form.

Bill Nye has recently written a book which was published last November by the St. Martin's Press. Called Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation, the book was inspired by Nye's controversial debate with Young Earth Creationist (YEC) Ken Ham in February of this year.

Squid Quickly Changes Its Color From Red To White As A Defense Mechanism (Video)

When people are asked to name living organisms that can change their colors and appearance to either blend with their surroundings or turn off predators, most people would mention the chameleon. Not many people are aware that there are organisms in the depths of the ocean that can equal if not surpass the color-changing abilities of the chameleon. One of such organisms is the squid.

Squids and other cephalopods like octopuses and cuttlefishes are capable of changing their skin colors in the blink of an eye. Turning from red to white or white to red can take just a few seconds. They often do this as a defense tactic. By matching their skin tones with their surroundings, they can render themselves invisible from possible predators. In the absence of predators and other threats, they can change their colors to simply stand out.

This remarkable transformation is because of the presence of what's called chromatophores in the skins of cephalopods. These are thousands of color-changing cells. A marine biologist named Michael Bok was able to capture in video what these cells look like under a microscope and how they change colors.

The crew of the ocean exploration ship Nautilus was also able to capture on video a squid quickly changing from red to white then white to red. Approached by equipment from the exploration vessel, the squid turns white to adapt to the surroundings. As the vessel moved away, the squid returned to its red color.

Bill Nye Says Pope Francis' Comments On Evolution And The Big Bang Are Helpful

Bill Nye, the American science educator who is equally known by his nickname "The Science Guy", recently appeared on the television show CBS This Morning to talk about and promote his just-released book Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation, a book inspired by his controversial debate with creationist Ken Ham last February at the Creation Museum in Kentucky.

In the show, Nye reiterated his position that the future of the world will be much brighter if the young people of today are constantly educated about the trappings of science. He also stated that the downside to debating creationists like Ken Ham is that it somehow "energizes their base".

When one of the show's hosts asked Nye's thoughts on Pope Francis' recent proclamations that the concepts of evolution and the big bang theory are real, Nye answered that these are "helpful". The Catholic Church's acceptance of the evolutionary theory is not new. Christian apologists who embrace the scientific theory often refer to it as "theistic evolution".


Nye was also asked to reveal what his favorite scientific fact is. Nye's answer: "My favorite scientific fact is that we are made of this stuff of exploded stars. We are made of star dust. And so therefore, we are at least one of the ways that the universe knows itself."

Sounds familiar? Yes, because the astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has been saying the same thing. That is if you are familiar with Tyson's work. A couple of years ago, Tyson was asked by a reader of the Time magazine the question, "What is the most astounding fact that you can share with us about the universe?"

Tyson's answer? Listen to it below. It's fascinating.

So What Are Neil deGrasse Tyson's Thoughts On Christopher Nolan's Space Saga Interstellar?

Without a doubt, Interstellar is one of the most anticipated films from Hollywood to hit the big screen this year. This is not at all surprising given the facts that it was directed by a highly-respected filmmaker (Christopher Nolan) and it starred some of the biggest names in Tinseltown (Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, Casey Affleck).

Since being released during the first week of November, the response to the film is mostly positive. As of this writing, the film is enjoying a 73% rating from both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.

Among the most common concerns by viewers about the film revolves around the accuracies (and inaccuracies) of the science portrayed in the movie. What did Interstellar get right (or wrong) about science?

Who could best answer these concerns than scientists themselves. This is why the well-known astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson recently appeared on the television show CBS This Morning to talk about the science explored in the movie.

Always articulate and bubbling with enthusiasm, Tyson engaged the show's hosts on wormholes, the mathematics behind wormholes, the difference between a wormhole and a black hole, tidal waves in outer space, and meteorites.

When asked by one of the hosts if Interstellar gets his thumbs up or thumbs down, the celebrated scientist preferred to not answer the question directly but it's quite clear from the interview that he did appreciate it in one way or another.


Prior to appearing on CBS This Morning, Tyson went on his Twitter account to review Interstellar. He had positive things to say about some of the science shown in the film like achieving zero gravity in space, Einstein's Curvature of Space, and Einstein's Relativity of Time. In one of his tweets hashtagged #Interstellar, Tyson tweeted, "In Interstellar: Experience Einstein's Curvature of Space as no other feature film has shown." Read more of Tyson's Interstellar tweets here.

It's also worth mentioning here that Tyson referred to the 1997 film Contact as a science-fiction film that has stuck with him for a long time. This was after he was asked by one of the hosts if he can name one good science-fiction film. Contact was directed by Robert Zemeckis and was based on a novel of the same name by Carl Sagan. It also starred Matthew McConaughey.

New Book By Biologist Douglas J. Emlen Delves Deep Into Why Animals Evolved And Developed Extreme Weaponry

Why does some beetles have long and heavy horns? What's up with narwhals and their nasty tusks? Why did the now-extinct saber-toothed tiger develop long canine teeth? These are just a few of the dozens of important questions that evolutionary biologist Douglas J. Emlen set out to provide answers for in his new book titled Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle.

Evolutionary biology is a very complex topic but thanks to Emlen's writing style that is both clear and engaging, you can learn a lot about it without having to go through exhaustive scientific jargon. In short, Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle can be palatable to readers who usually don't thumb through science-based books. Emlen also keeps things interesting by narrating stories of his excursions into forests, jungles, and savannahs where he studied animal weaponry for years.

Another unique feature of the book is the way Emlen constantly makes parallels between the weaponry that animals developed and the weapons that we humans created. For instance, Emlen points out a similarity between beetles battling and hardened knights trying to bludgeon each other in medieval Europe. In essence, Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle is not merely a biology book, it's also a history book on how mankind evolved with regards to developing defense mechanisms like weapons of mass destruction. 

Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle is published by Henry Holt and Co. It's available on hardcover and it's 288 pages long. The author is a professor at the University of Montana. Accompanying Emlem's text in the book are illustrations by David J. Tuss.

Photo by Gustavo F. Duran.

Listen to author Emlen talk about the process through which he came up with the book below. If by any chance you can't view or listen to the SoundCloud file, you can read the full transcript of the audio that follows it.

"I'm a biologist, I study beetles. I know this is an odd qualification for authoring a book on the world's biggest weapons but it's more relevant than you might think. Many beetles wield spectacular weapons. In some dung beetles for example, horns can be longer than the rest of the male beetle making way more than a third of its body weight. That would be like you and me producing another leg and wearing it around on our heads.

Rhinoceros beetles have pitchfork horns that jut forward from their faces like spatulas and stag beetles have mandibles or mouth parts that are so big the males have to waddle instead of walk. What's not to love? These are magnificent creatures. These are among the most extraordinary animals ever described. And each of these beetles produces weapons that are so big they look absurd like they should tip over or trip or collapse under the weight.

Why are their weapons so big? Is there such a thing as too big? These are the kinds of questions that I set out to answer and these are the animals that I studied. As a scientist I wanted to understand the biology of these extraordinary weapons. I've watched these beetles for long hours in tropical forests. I've dug them out from African Serengeti dirt with armed rangers sitting perched over my back on the tops of cars with rifles to protect me and watch out for lions or cape buffalo. I've reared thousands of these beetles in my laboratory. I even started a study of their genes and the developmental pathways that orchestrate their growth.

But still the answer to the riddle of these weapons was left hanging. So after twenty years traveling the globe in search for answers, I chose to step back and try a completely different approach. To look beyond the beetles. For this search, I went to libraries instead of rain forests, to dusty museum floors, to internet search engines, and I pored through hundred years of literature to glean all that was known about weapons in all animals living and extinct. I was especially interested in the extreme weapons, the biggest of the big, the Boone and Crockett champions of the animal world.

Photo of beetle by Jacinta Valero via Flickr.

It turns out, there are all sorts of fantastic weapons in surprising places. So we've all seen the antlers on deer or elk but huge weapons crop up in all kinds of species from tiny little New Guinean flies to earwigs, ants, wasps, New Zealand crickets, walruses and crabs. These are the stories that I set out to tell in this book weaving together for the first time the narratives of nature's heavily-armed creatures but in the process of weaving together their histories, it became clear that there was another species that belong in the mix, and that was humans. The more I saw common threads, themes uniting the stories of these diverse animal species, the more convinced I became that these threads apply to our own species too.

And in the end, my book about animal weapons evolved into a book about extreme weapons everywhere. I started poring deeper and deeper into the literature surrounding our past, searching for the environments and circumstances in which our most extravagant weapons evolved. And to my amazement, these circumstances were the same. I realized I can't tell one story without telling the other. Back and forth I went as the biology of animal weaponry and our weapons fused inextricably woven into a single tale.

So this is a book about extreme weapons. What happened then is that a journey that began with biology became the story of all weapons as readers collide between beetles and battleship crabs and the Cold War. What lessons can we glean from these animals around us? And where does this insight leave us today in a post-Cold War world filled with the deadliest weapons of all time, nuclear, biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction. The answer surprised me and I'm guessing it will surprise you too."

Filipino Christian Evangelist Eli Soriano Claims That The Bible Is Scientific And Evolution Is Impossible

Eliseo Soriano, the Christian evangelist who is currently the presiding minister of the Christian organization Members Church of God International, has written an article titled Possibilities and Impossibilities in the Bible: Time-Bound and Foreordained which was published on his official website. The gist of Soriano's article is his claim that the Christian Bible is scientific. To try to drive his point deeper, Soriano shared his article on his Facebook and Twitter accounts with the hashtag #TheBiblicalScience. He also encouraged his thousands of social media followers to spread the article with the same hashtag. The message that the Ang Dating Daan host is trying to impart is loud and clear - the Bible is supported by science or the Bible withstands the scrutiny of science.

Unfortunately, Soriano's claim is a claim that has no teeth. In his article, Soriano defended the Genesis account of creation wherein God created light before he created the sun and the moon. Science tells us that light on earth is provided by the sun during the day and reflected by the moon from the sun during the night. How can there be light on earth when its source (the sun and the moon) haven't been created yet. The account in Genesis is akin to saying a manufacturer manufactured light before manufacturing the flashlight. It just doesn't make sense and Soriano sort of admits this quandary by writing that the Genesis account is "very easily dismissed by the enemies of the Bible as something stupid and unscientific!"

So what is Soriano's supporting evidence to the Genesis creation account which suggests that light on earth can exist without the sun and the moon? Soriano tried to support this with a list of possibilities and impossibilities. Listed among the possibilities is "The appearance of light from utter darkness." So Soriano basically just repeated what the book of Genesis said. It boils down to the reasoning that it was recorded on the Bible therefore it's true and infallible. Soriano has got to do better than this if he wants atheists and agnostics to get back to the Christian fold.

In the same article, Soriano also bashed almost the entirety of the scientific community with his list of impossibilities. Soriano says that the universe is not expanding. This is an insult to astronomers and astrophysicists whose extensive researches and studies provide evidence that the universe is indeed expanding.

Soriano says that it's impossible "to produce humans from animals". This is obviously a jab at the theory of evolution but it only shows that Soriano still doesn't understand even the basics of evolution. He's still clinging to the misconception that evolution entails a monkey-to-man process. Needless to say, this jab is an insult to biology, evolutionary biology in particular and a plethora of other related sciences.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Soriano also says that it's impossible "for the universe not to be in perfect order". Unfortunately, Soriano didn't tell us what he meant by "perfect order". As far as we know, the universe is a pot of explosions and collisions. Stars are exploding. Galaxies are colliding. Meteors are crashing into planets. This is not order at all.

In conclusion, what Soriano wrote in his most recent article boils down to this - the Bible is scientific, real science is not. This is of course preposterous. If evolution will ever be disproved, it will be in a laboratory by scientists, not in a blog post by a Christian evangelist.

Jaime Licauco Claims That His Telepathy Courses Generate Positive Results 60% Of The Time

In his most recent article for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Jaime Licauco tackled telepathy. The gist of the whole piece is that telepathy is real and that it has been proven through experiments in laboratories. Licauco dropped two names in the article - the astronaut Edgar Mitchell and the self-proclaimed psychic Uri Geller. According to Licauco, these two individuals have demonstrated in the past that telepathy is real.

However, the boldest claim in the article goes to Licauco's proclamation that he has been teaching telepathy courses for several decades and that around 60% of the results from the experiments he did in said courses are positive. This is Licauco saying that his courses prove telepathy 60% of the time. There is of course no way of verifying if Licauco is telling the truth. But if Licauco has such a very high success rate in his experiments, why won't he take James Randi's One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge? This way, he'll prove once and for all that telepathy is real. The fact that he hasn't taken the challenge says a lot about what he can and cannot actually do.

First of all, there is no scientific evidence that telepathy is real. There's zero evidence supporting it. It's only real in modern fiction and science fiction. The superhero Aquaman has it. But no real man has ever displayed it satisfactorily. 

Let's go back to the two names that Licauco dropped in his article - Edgar Mitchell and Uri Geller. Mitchell's purported ESP experiment is rife with lies and misleading data. It has been debunked several times and the people who support it has been caught lying and manipulating information numerous times.

Aquaman is the only man known to have displayed telepathic abilities. Unfortunately, he's a fictional character.

As to Uri Geller, he has also been debunked several times, most popularly by James Randi. Geller is not a psychic. He is but a talented magician who has been trying to pass off his magic tricks as paranormal abilities.

It's still mind-boggling why the Philippine Daily Inquirer continues to serve as a mouthpiece for such pseudoscientific beliefs. What's dangerous is that Licauco drops still unproven information in his articles as if they are facts. We need real science being talked about in our national newspapers, not these nonsense.

The Brain's Flight Or Fight Reponse To Immediate Danger Put To The Test In A National Geographic Experiment

When we find ourselves in instant danger, our instincts instructs us to either flee or fight. This flight or fight response is put to the test in an experiment on show on the National Geographic Channel. A man painted and dressed to look like a statue of the devil was placed in the middle of a public place. Passersby are instinctively drawn to it, wanting to touch it and took pictures with it. With the unsuspecting people in close proximity, the statue comes alive to try and scare them off. Most people respond with flight.

The experiment was part of the show Brain Games on the National Geographic Channel. Hosted by Jason Silva, the show discusses and explores the various components of the human brain and how it works.

A Magnetic Levitation Device That Actually Works

The term levitation is something we most often find in futuristic science fiction novels and movies. This is why so many people still think that levitation is still a thing in the future. Nothing is farther from the truth. There are already products that have emerged which use high technology to levitate things. Like this product developed by Crealev, a levitation design company based in the Netherlands.

Crealev calls the magnetic levitation device CLM 2. It's composed of two main parts: the base module and the carrier which floats in the air. The device is powered by electricity and it can carry loads that weigh up to 10 kilograms.

Audio Illusions: Just Your Ears Playing Tricks On You

What you hear is not always the truth. This is why you can't fully trust your ears because they can sometimes play tricks on you. These are called audio illusions. An episode of the AsapSCIENCE YouTube channel demonstrated three of the most common of these audio illusions - the McGurk Effect, the Tritone Paradox, and the Shepard Tone Illusion.

McGurk Effect - This is named after Harry McGurk who along with John MacDonald wrote a paper in 1976  titled Hearing Lips and Seeing Voices which first described the illusion. It's a perceptual phenomenon caused by the interaction between what you hear and what you see. Basically, the sound being made is similar but what you hear differs when the visual presentation of the source of the sound is altered. Here's a more in-depth demonstration of the McGurk Effect:

Tritone Paradox - First reported in 1986 by Diana Deutsch (a perceptual and cognitive psychologist), this auditory illusion is produced when a pair of Shepard tones separated by an interval of a tritone are sequentially played. People may hear the scales as either ascending or descending.

Shepard Tone Illusion - Also often described as a "sonic barber's pole", this auditory illusion is created by the superposition of sine waves separated by octaves. The tone continually descends or ascends in pitch but ultimately seems to get no lower or higher.

Derek Muller (Host Of Veritasium On YouTube) Dissects Some Of The Most Common Misconceptions About The Universe

Does the fact that the universe is expanding faster than the speed of light violate Einstein's special theory of relativity? This is just one of the BIG questions that Derek Muller answers in this overview of the common misconceptions by people about the universe.

The first minute of the video is especially interesting: "There was a time when the universe was expanding so rapidly, the parts of it were moving apart from each other faster than the speed of light. That time is right now. A lot of people make a big deal out of the fact that during inflation, right after our universe burst into existence, the whole universe was expanding faster than light. Now while that is true, it kind of implies that the universe does not normally do that and it does. I mean if you pick two points, far enough apart in our universe, you can always find ones that are moving apart from each other faster than light. That is simply due to all of the expanding space in between. 

So our universe is now and has always been expanding faster than the speed of light. But does this violate Einstein's special theory of relativity that says nothing should be able to move faster than light. Actually no. Relativity says nothing can move through space faster than light but that doesn't stop space itself from expanding however it likes."

A Recap Of 'Your Inner Reptile', Episode Two Of Neil Shubin's 'Your Inner Fish' On PBS

Episode two of Your Inner Fish, the three-part science series on PBS picks up right where the first episode left off.  Host and narrator Neil Shubin (an evolutionary biologist) takes us on a journey that presents evidence for the transition from reptiles to mammals in the evolutionary process.

 About 375 million years ago, a fish-like creature crawled out of the water into land. From this creature evolved amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. A huge achievement in the search for evidence of this process was the discovery of the bones of a creature which was part-reptile and part-mammal. As Shubin puts it, this creature was in "the cusp of the transition from reptile to men." It was a key moment in the evolution of the human body.

 The modern human body carries features that it inherited from ancient reptilian ancestors. These features are in our skin, our hair, our teeth and in our reproductive process. The human teeth contains remnants of our reptilian ancestors. The hair we have is believed to have started developing after the Permian extinction millions of years ago wherein our ancestors had to burrow underground to escape the extreme environmental conditions caused by a catastrophe.

Extensive research by scientists prove that the bones in our ears have evolved from the jaws of our reptilian ancestors. This transition can be observed in the development of the ears in opossums.


The most interesting part of the episode concerns the fact that we humans have a yolk sac in our early development process. This can be seen in the first few weeks of conception (in an 8-week old fetus). This yolk sac gets smaller as the human embryo develops. This sac is a window back in time that reveals our evolutionary history. Here's the interesting part: although the sac is there, it doesn't contain any yolk. It's because it's merely a remnant of our evolution. It's something from a time where our ancestors used to lay eggs.

The amnion, the sac of fluid which cushions the human embryo, is also a gift from our reptilian ancestors. When our ancestors moved out of the water about 375 million years ago, they need to find a way to prevent their eggs from drying out in the new environment. Amphibians solved this problem by simply returning to the water to lay their eggs. Reptiles, on the other hand, came up with a more radical solution. They enclosed their embryos in a sac of fluid and covered them with protective shells. This enabled them to be able to lay their eggs on shore (away from the water).

Humans have egg and yolk genes. The yolk sacs that human embryos have are evidence for this. But these have been rendered dysfunctional by the evolutionary process. Our DNA tells us that we have come from egg-laying animals. We carry the genetic signature of such ancestors.

Morgan Freeman's Voice Is Great But How Does He Sound Like If He's On Helium

Morgan Freeman is one of the best actors of his generation. He also happens to have one of the best voices. He has lent his voice to dozens of documentaries and cartoon characters. He currently narrates and hosts the science documentary Through The Wormhole on the Science channel.

In a promotional video for an upcoming episode of Through The Wormhole, Freeman inhaled helium and then started talking with an altered voice. This of course can be easily explained by science. Craig Montgomery has written a piece for the Scientific American magazine explaining it and you can read it here.

Helium is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and inert gas. It's also non-toxic so don't you worry about Mr. Freeman inhaling a lot of it.

Ever Wondered What Happens If You Mix Coke And Milk Together?

You've seen how Mentos candies can cause a bottle of coke to explode. It's quite awesome and a lot of people have pranked their folks with it. Mixing coke and milk together is not as exciting as coke and Mentos but the result is very interesting. The soda turns clearer to the point of almost getting transparent. Science tells us that this is the result of a chemical reaction when acids from the soda and milk mix together.

The Kola Superdeep Borehole, The Deepest Hole In The World

Looking at the current state of the Kola Superdeep Borehole in the Pechengsky District in Russia, you wouldn't think that it houses the deepest hole in the world. Abandoned in 2008 after the drilling and research equipment were scrapped, the research site now lies in ruins. The borehole itself (pictured below) was welded shut.

The borehole was a scientific research project by the Russians with the aim of drilling as deep as possible into the Earth's crust. Drilling started in 1970 and ended in 1990 when the researchers deemed it no longer feasible to continue drilling because of the high temperature. When drilling stopped, the hole has reached 12,262 meters.

The folks over at SciShow has created a short presentation that provides an overview of the project, details on how it was conducted, and what the researchers found thousands of meters under the Earth's crust.

Photo: Rakot13/Wikimedia Commons

Hugh Herr Gives Talk On The Next Generation Of Bionic Limbs And Robotic Prosthetics

Hugh Herr, a biophysicist, engineer, and rock climber gave a talk at TED about the next generation of bionic limbs and robotic prosthetics that he and his team are building. Mr. Herr heads the MIT Media Lab's Biomechatronics group. He is also an associate professor in MIT's Program in Media Arts and Sciences and in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. Mr. Herr lost both of his legs in 1982 due to tissue damage from frost bite incurred during a mountain climbing accident.

What Happens If You Throw Every Single Human Alive Today Into The Grand Canyon?

The world's human population currently stands at 7.2 billion. That's a humungous amount of people. You would think that if you put all 7.2 billion people into the Grand Canyon, they will fill it up. Apparently, this is so far-fetched. In fact, we will only make a small pile. According to Michael of the well-known YouTube channel Vsauce, this is what the pile of 7.2 billion people would look like.

Watch Michael talk about it below: