Other areas of science

Hello everyone, and I am going to be delving into other areas of science such as  biology, chemistry, and engineering. I hope to tie these all together somehow into physics, and to blog about them separately, though scientific disciplines cannot be strictly independent of each other they all tie into each other somehow.

USG Kellion

The USG Kellion is the shuttle that takes Isaac Clarke, and his crew to the USG Ishimura in the game dead space. Now the USG Kellion is fascinating in that the back part appears to have a disposable ShockPoint Drive which is used for faster than light travel. This small shuttle is compact, and is very maneuverable. I wonder that in the future what type of spacecraft will be developed, and whether or not there will be any disposable FTL drives that are attached to it though of course I am sure that the ShockPoint Drive is kept on there for as long as it can be used. I just find it cool that this small shuttle can make it all the way across the universe in a matter of seconds by going into shock space.

Planet Crackers?

Now this is entirely science fiction at the moment I was just speculating on the possibility of the planet cracker class starships that are found within the Dead Space universe. It seems to me though that if we ever become an interstellar civilization that planet crackers would be the best way to gather resources for humanity. Though it seems that it will not be technologically feasible until we are at least a type 2 civilization on the Kardashev Scale. The rather interesting thing about Planet Crackers is their gravity tethers which are powerful enough to remove significant portions of a planet's mass. I wonder how such a device could be created. Anyway I love the idea of planet crackers, and I hope that perhaps in the far future humanity will develop them.

Teleportation

I like the idea of teleportation in that you can deconstruct an object at the quantum level, and reconstruct it an unspecified amount of space away. I would not however use this on myself as the original me would be destroyed, and another version of myself would be constructed. This is a problem because strictly speaking I would be dead. Though I hope there is a solution to this problem where one does not have to be destroyed, and reconstructed. We will have to wait, and see because there is research into teleportation, and scientists predict that by the 2030s they will be able to teleport small organic molecules, and by the 2089s should be able to teleport large scale objects. So this research into teleportation should offer a solution along the way that would keep the original individual from being destroyed because teleportation would no doubt play a role in transport, and medicine.

Consciousness

Consciousness is perhaps the most puzzeling phenomenon that can be observed in the universe. It is a subject that has eluded even the most brilliant minds. The question is how can science which is about studying the physical world study something that is entirely subjective. Consciousness is such a complex topic where does it come from, and where does it go upon death. Roger Penrose world renowned physicist believes that consciousness is a part of the fabric of reality itself in his Orch-OR theory or orchestrated objective reduction theory in which he believes that once consciousness detaches itself from the brain it returns to the fabric of space, and time. Though this theory cannot currently be disproved it does not give definitive answers as to what consciousness is. Another hard problem is how the brain which is a quantum computer unify knowledge into conscious perception which is called the binding problem. Many scientists believe that gamma waves play an important part in the binding of information with conscious perception. The blue brain project aims to reverse engineer the human brain by 2025 when this is accomplished it may be possible to understand what consciousness is, and where it comes from. Though there is always the possibility that consciousness may never be fully understood.

ITER

ITER an acronym that stands for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor which is the largest experimental fusion reactor in the world, and one of the largest and most complex scientific projects ever undertaken. The goal of this project is to help commercialize nuclear fusion, and to actually achieve fusion. To date no man made fusion device has produced a watt of electric power. Despite all the optimism dating back to the 1950s, and all the research that has taken place since then nuclear fusion still eludes of the mathematics behind it are extremely complex not to mention the materials science required for constructing a nuclear fusion reactor. One of the major challenges of ITER is the confinement of plasma at over 160 million degrees, and holding it in the tokamak without it touching the wall because if it touches the reactor wall it will disintegrate it. Currently there is research under way to discover a wall can be constructed to withstand the tremendous heat, and pressure of nuclear fusion reactors. The first plasma of ITER is expected in 2019, and if it is successful it will be the first man made fusion device to produce power. The successor to ITER is going to be DEMO which stands for DEMOnstration reactor which will make upgrades, and apply the new knowledge learned from ITER to DEMO. Hopefully it will work because nuclear fusion is humanity's energy for the future.

Gamma Waves

Gamma waves are a pattern of neural oscillation that has a frequency of typically 40 Hz. Gamma waves are recognized as an important type of neural oscillation in that among popular theories the main belief posits that gamma waves play a major role in creation of unity in conscious experience. Which means that gamma waves may be the thing that our consciousness is constructed out of. Gamma waves do play a major role in conscious attention. Study shows that there is a relation between Tibetan Buddhist transcendental meditation, and gamma waves. Which could suggest that gamma waves play an important role in religious and spiritual experiences. Though research is ongoing, and perhaps as technology advances, and our fundamental understanding of the human brain grows we will eventually be able to explain gamma waves relation to the brain.