Only a few
decades ago, if you said in public that life outside Earth was not just possible,
but probable, people would laugh at you and talk behind your back. Thanks to the advances in science, we’re able
to see much further than ever in the history of mankind and collect some
interesting facts about the subject.
Have you ever heard about super-Earths?
Astronomers
working with the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) HARPS instrument have stated and estimation
that, only in our galaxy, there are tens of billions of rocky planets not so
much bigger than Earth orbiting red dwarf stars within the habitable zones (the
area in a star system where liquid water can exist on a planet's surface) of
those relatively cool stars.
Being in
the habitable zone doesn’t necessarily mean that the planet has a perfect
atmosphere or temperature; some may be too hot; others too cold, and the mass
of the atmosphere can be really tricky in order to provide the essential means
for the creation of life.
New
observations indicate that 40% of all red dwarfs have rocky planets orbiting in
their habitable zones. Our own sun is a
hotter G V, or yellow dwarf, star and is more than twice as massive as a red
dwarf.
There are
different types
of stars known in the universe. Because
about 80% of stars in the Milky Way are red dwarfs (also referred to as M-class
stars), this leads to the conclusion that tens of billions of rocky planets
exist in habitable zones in our galaxy.
However,
the planets called super-Earths
have a better chance of supporting life than planets Earth-sized, and they can
have up to 10 times the mass of our planet.
As scientists have also stated that every star in our galaxy, the Milky
Way, has at least one planet in orbit around it, we’re able to get
for the first time an idea of how many super-Earths might exist out there.
Fortunately,
a great number of these exciting planets are relatively nearby neighbors: estimates
suggest that there are 100 super-Earths in habitable zones around stars 30
light years or less from us, which is, in cosmological terms, really close.
Sara Seager, a professor of planetary science and physics
at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says: "We are sure, though, that
because there are billions of stars in our galaxy alone, and because planet
formation is a random process, many stars will end up with potentially
habitable planets."
Now, the
next quest is the study of their atmospheres and search for life – although Stephen Hawking has a very persuasive
point of view about that; aliens almost certainly exist but humans should avoid making contact because,
in his words, “If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus
landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans."
He
explained: "We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life
might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet." Draw your own conclusions...
Ridley
Scott delights us once more with his ability to make grand science-fiction
movies accompanied by intelligent plots.
The upcoming Prometheus
will explore the origins of mankind on Earth, with a touch of its own mythology
and science; if you are expecting some connection with Alien or Blade Runner
get yourself ready for a whole new adventure – although the existence of
extra-terrestrial life forms can be a similarity.
The cast
shows competent actors and actresses like Guy Pearce, Charlize Theron, Michael
Fassbender, Noomi Rapace and others, and its budget is assumed to be something
around $150 million dollars; Scott had initially requested a $250
million budget along with an R rating, but 20th Century Fox was reluctant to
invest so much money in a film that was not PG-13, and the studio was pleased
because Lindelof's screenplay was found to be more budget-conscious.
The plot
follows the crew of the spaceship Prometheus in the year 2085, a team
of scientists and explorers, as they explore an advanced alien civilization in
search of the origins of humanity on a thrilling journey that will test their
physical and mental limits and strand them on a distant world, where they will discover
the answers to our most profound questions and to life's ultimate mystery.
Truth is,
little is known about Prometheus' plotline; we know that the film is set in
space for the most part, and is also largely based on discoveries about the
creation of mankind, life and the Earth, but in the process, they threaten the
future existence of mankind and are faced with unimaginable horrors.
The movie
is scheduled for release on June 8, 2012 (USA) and you can find more information
about it on its official website.
If you don’t
have the habit of going to operas every once in a while, that is something
really worth doing – at least once so you see for yourself this magnificent
form of art in all its splendor and virtuosity.
Elite
singers and musicians perform at the top of their talents an amazing
combination of music and drama which was created half millennium ago and
evolved to the nearest to perfection as an art form can be.
As it is
widely known, Italy is the heart of the world in opera
matters and it’s also believed that this music tradition had its origins there,
but that does not get the importance of other countries in essentially contributing
to create unforgettable works, as Germany, France, Russia and England.
Here I will
leave you with some of my favorite operas – at least, some arias – in case
you’re curious to see something new or maybe just miss watching them; anyway, I
hope you have a good time!
Turandot
Turandot is an opera in three acts
by Giacomo
Puccini, and
perhaps it has one of the most famous aria in the world. The first performance was held at
the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on April 25,
1926 and
conducted by Arturo Toscanini. Puccini's last opera was left unfinished at
his death, and what he had intended to be a final, transcendent love duet was
completed by a younger colleague, Franco Alfano.
In Peking's ImperialPalace, the fatally beautiful Princess
Turandot receives unlucky suitors from far and wide, who must answer three
riddles to win her hand—or die. Calaf,
son of the exiled King Timur of Tartary, is struck with Turandot's beauty, and
ignoring protests from his father and Liù, the servant girl who loves him, he
matches wits with the princess. Although
he guesses the three riddles, Calaf offers his life to Turandot if she can
discover his secret name. Searching the
city in vain, the princess finally tortures faithful Liù, driving her to
suicide. Faced with Liù's sacrifice and
Calaf's stern devotion, Turandot crumbles, and weeping in Calaf's arms, she
declares that his secret name is Love.
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in
three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an
Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa
and it premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January
1900. It is personally one of my favorites of all,
and the 2001 movie with Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu was a very good and
accessible reproduction of it.
Tosca opens
in a roman church, where the artist Cavaradossi paints a Mary Magdalen portrait
while dreaming of his lover, Tosca, a famously passionate singer. Suddenly the escaped political prisoner
Angelotti staggers in, on the run from the savage police chief Scarpia. When Tosca arrives and overhears the two men
talking, she is devoured with suspicion that Cavaradossi has another lover, but
the painter soothes her and hides Angelotti. The angry Scarpia bursts in, hot on the
escapee's heels and burning with lust for Tosca. Sizing up the situation, he
schemes to make the jealous singer betray her lover's secret. Cavaradossi is arrested and brutally
tortured, blackmailing Tosca into revealing Angelotti's whereabouts. Scarpia demands Tosca's favors as payment for
her lover's life, but the agonized Tosca meets his embrace with a fatal knife
thrust. Joyfully, she goes to free Cavaradossi, but Scarpia's final cruel
artifice leads her instead to witness her lover's execution. As the police pursue her, Tosca throws
herself from a parapet to her death.
Carmen
Carmen is an opera in four acts by the
French composer Georges
Bizet. It is,
perhaps, the opera with the most famous arias of all. The opera was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, on 3 March 1875, and was not at first particularly
successful; its initial run extended to 36 performances. Before this run was concluded, Bizet died
suddenly, and thus knew nothing of the opera's later celebrity.
In the kind of Spain that 19th-century French composers
dreamt of, gypsy cigarette girl Carmen taunts corporal Don José with her flamboyant
charms, and even the gentle peasant girl Micaela, who loves Don José, cannot
break Carmen's spell, and the corporal gives up everything to follow the gypsy
into the mountains. She quickly tires of
Don José and runs off with the handsome matador Escamillo, fatalistically
embracing the warning of death she has seen in the cards. As Escamillo triumphs in the bullring, Carmen
is confronted by Don José in a nearby alley, and this time, her defiance cannot
save her.
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three
acts by Giuseppe
Verdi. It
was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11,
1851. It
is considered by many to be the first of the operatic masterpieces of Verdi's
middle-to-late career.
Rigoletto is the bitter, hunchbacked court jester whose
treasured daughter, Gilda, has caught the eye of the womanizing Duke of
Mantua. Approaching Gilda, the duke
declares his love, and the girl discovers a passion for him. Court nobles, seeking revenge for the
jester's many insults, dupe Rigoletto into helping them kidnap Gilda, who is
delivered to the Duke and seduced by him.
Determined to show his daughter the Duke's true nature, Rigoletto takes
her to the house of the assassin Sparafucile, whose sister Maddalena offers the
duke her gypsy favors. Rigoletto has hired Sparafucile to kill the
duke, but Maddalena convinces her assassin brother to murder arandom victim instead. Knowing she will be murdered, Gilda appears
in disguise, is stabbed, stuffed in a sack and delivered to Rigoletto in place
of the duke's body. At the last minute,
the horrified hunchback opens the sack and discovers his daughter, who whispers
her last words of love for the duke and dies.
La Traviata
La traviatais an opera in
three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, based on La dame aux Camélias (1852), a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas. The first performance of the opera was
on 6 March 1853 at the La Fenice opera house in Venice. It was jeered at times by the audience, who
directed some of their scorn at the casting of soprano Fanny
Salvini-Donatelli in the lead role of Violetta. Though she was an acclaimed singer, they
considered her to be too old (at 38) and too overweight to credibly play a
young woman dying of consumption.
The opera
tells the story of a Paris rich boy named Alfredo, who falls
for the consumptive prostitute Violetta.
His father isn't happy with the relationship and persuades her to
abandon him because her scandalous past threatens his son's future. She goes back to her old life, but falls
mortally ill, so Alfredo’s father relents and allows a touching deathbed
reunion.
Aida
Aida, sometimes spelled Aïda, is also an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, based on a scenario
written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette. Aida was
first performed at the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo on 24
December 1871, conducted by Giovanni Bottesini.
On Egypt, Rhadames, a warrior, is delighted to learn that he
has been chosen to lead the army against the Ethiopian enemy, because he hopes
that he will thus be able to win Aida, a slave girl, as his prize for victory
in battle. Aida is the captured daughter
of the Ethiopian king, Amonasro, and she fears that either her lover or her father
will be killed in battle. However, the
king's daughter, Amneris, has set her mark on Rhadames, and his coldness
towards her confirms her suspicions that he loves someone else. Pharaoh and his court receive triumphant
Rhadames, who is asked to name his reward.
The crowd call for the prisoners to be killed, but Rhadames asks that,
as his reward, their lives be spared. Pharaoh agrees, and gives him the hand of
Amneris for good measure, plus naming Rhadames as his own successor as
Pharaoh. Amneris tells Rhadames that
King Amonasro has been killed, but that Aida is alive. The deal is that if
Rhadames agrees to forget about Aida, she, Amneris that is, will obtain a
pardon from the Pharaoh, but he can’t. If Amneris can't have her man, nobody
else can, and Rhadames is thus condemned to death. By being bricked up alive,
but before the vault is closed, Aida joins him to share his fate. Amneris repents
of her actions.
Pagliacci
Pagliacci, sometimes incorrectly rendered
with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a
prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo, and it is his only opera that is still widely
staged. Leoncavallo was slapped with a
lawsuit for plagiarizing the plot for the opera Pagliacci. In his defense, Leoncavallo claimed that the
opera plot was based on a childhood experience.
Pagliacci premiered at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan on May 21,
1892,
conducted by Arturo Toscanini.
Tonio, a
member of an itinerant touring troupe, tells the audience of a village in Calabria that though they are seeing a play,
they should remember that actors, even clowns, are real people who suffer and
live lives of agony as well as joy. Canio
invites everyone to their performance that night, and the villagers invite him
to have a drink with them. One man makes
a crack about Tonio having a chance to seduce Nedda, Canio’s wife. Canio, instantly serious, tells him that
nothing relating to his wife is a joking matter. When he leaves, Nedda is
at first frightened that Canio might know something of her activities, but then
she finally agrees to leave Canio for her lover, a townsperson named Silvio. Tonio, who desired Nedda, smarting from her
rejection, returns and sees the lovers. He
rushes off to the village to get Canio. The
two lovers plan to elope that night, and Canio comes in just as he hears Nedda
sing that on that night she will be Silvio’s forever; she does not use his
name, and Canio screams and chases the younger man who escapes. When Canio returns, she refuses to give him
her lover’s name. She goes off to prepare for the show; Beppe tells Canio that
he must prepare as well and play the clown although his heart is breaking. The play opens with scenes of Nedda with
Tonio and their happy romance. Canio, as
the clown, enters just as Nedda sings the exact words he heard her say to her
lover an hour or so earlier, and he burst into fury. Nedda tries for a few moments to bring Canio
back to the play, but all he can do is to demand the name of her lover. She finally explodes, crying that she will
never tell him. Blind with rage, he stabs her. Silvio breaks from the crowd; Canio sees him
and stabs him. The opera ends with the immortal line, “The comedy is
over.”
There’s
nothing better for killing time in a constructive way than reading a good
book. Books expand our horizons, fill us
up with knowledge, make us laugh and cry and sharp our minds.
Here are 10
must-read books of different genres for people whose tastes are eclectic – have
fun on your journey!
As a
disclaimer, the websites chosen for describing the books are merely
illustrative, and I do not endorse, nor am I affiliated with any party.
Cleopatra
VII of Egypt was barely more than a teenager when she
inherited the richest empire in the world, fifty-one years before the birth of
Jesus Christ. Colin Falconer did a great
job telling her story.
Colin Falconer
was born in North
London. He is a former journalist and the author of
three previous historical novels, which have been published in many languages
throughout the world. He travels widely
to research his novels but now lives in a small coastal town in Western Australia.
The Bourne Identity was named the second best spy novel
of all-time, and the novel was adapted into a 1988 television
movie starring Richard Chamberlain and Jaclyn Smith,
and a 2002 movie starring Matt Damon, Franka
Potente and Chris Cooper.
Robert
Ludlum (May 25, 1927 – March 12, 2001) was
an American author of 23 thriller novels. The number of his books in print is estimated
between 290–500 million copies. They have been published in 33 languages
and 40 countries. Ludlum also published
books under the pseudonyms Jonathan Ryder and Michael Shepherd.
The masterpiece of Steinbeck's later years, East of
Eden is set in the rich farmlands of California's Salinas Valley. Follow the intertwined destinies of two
families – the Trasks and the Hamiltons – whose generations helplessly reenact
the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. (February 27, 1902 – December
20, 1968) was an American writer. He is
widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The
Grapes of Wrath (1939)
and East
of Eden (1952)
and the novella Of Mice and Men (1937). He was an author of twenty-seven books,
including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and five collections of short
stories; Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.
Larsson's regret of not helping a young girl named Lisbeth,
whom he saw being raped when he was 15, manifested in his character of the same
name, also a rape victim. Larsson writes
within the crime novel, in Chapter 12, "It's actually a fascinating case. What I believe is known as
a locked room mystery, on an island. And nothing in the
investigation seems to follow normal logic. Every question remains unanswered,
every clue leads to a dead end."
Karl
Stig-Erland "Stieg" (15 August 1954 – 9 November
2004) was
a Swedish journalist and writer. He is best known
for writing the "Millennium series" of crime novels,
which were published posthumously.
Larsson lived and worked much of his life in Stockholm, in the
field of journalism and as an independent researcher of right-wing extremism. He was the second best-selling author in the
world for 2008.
Sophie's World is a novel about philosophy
by Jostein Gaarder, published in 1991. It was originally written in Norwegian, but has since been translated
into English (1995) and many other languages. It sold more than 30 million copies and is one
of the most successful Norwegian novels outside of Norway. The book has been adapted into a film and a PC
game.
Jostein Gaarder is a
Norwegian intellectual and author of several novels, short
stories and children's books. Gaarder often writes from the perspective of
children, exploring their sense of wonder about the world.
Old Ralph Roberts hasn't been sleeping well lately. Every
night he wakes just a little bit earlier, and pretty soon, he thinks, he won't
get any sleep at all. It wouldn't be so bad, except for the strange
hallucinations he's been having. Or, at least, he hopes they are hallucinations.
For fans of horror books, this one is a masterpiece.
Stephen Edwin King (born September
21, 1947)
is an American author of
contemporary horror, suspense, science
fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350
million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television
movies and comic books. Many of his
stories are set in his home state of Maine.
If you are
an inquisitive person, that’s a must-read.
Hawking exceeds his teaching abilities in this book, where he explains
with mastery very difficult concepts of theoretical physics to normal-brained
people.
Stephen William Hawking (born January 8,
1942) is a
British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author. His key
scientific works to date have included providing, with Roger
Penrose, theorems regarding gravitational singularities in
the framework of general relativity, and the theoretical prediction
that black holes should emit radiation, which is today known
as Hawking radiation (or sometimes as Bekenstein-Hawking
radiation). He is an Honorary
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a lifetime member of the Pontifical
Academy of Sciences, and in 2009 was awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. Hawking was the Lucasian Professor of
Mathematics at the University of Cambridge between 1979 and 2009. Subsequently, he became research director at
the university's Centre for Theoretical Cosmology.
Bryson, who’s
best known for his travel writing (the both amazing A Walk in the woods
and Neither
Here, Nor There), entertain and enlighten us through this, sometimes funny,
but surely captivating, popular science book; a highly recommendable good read
that will sure give you smiles.
William McGuire "Bill"
Bryson, (born December
8, 1951) is
a best-selling American author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on
the English language and on science. Born
an American, he was a resident of Britain for most of his adult life before
returning to the US in 1995. In 2003
Bryson moved back to Britain, living in the old rectory of Wramplingham,
Norfolk, and was appointed Chancellor of Durham University.
This
thriller is set in Washington, D.C. and is the follow-up of the world’s
best seller The Da
Vinci Code; and Brown did it again. He mixes history, religion, science and art in
this electrifying book that is going to keep you up for hours.
Dan Brown (born June
22, 1964)
is an American author of thriller fiction, best known for the 2003
bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novels, which are treasure hunts set
in a 24-hour time period, feature the recurring themes of cryptography,
keys, symbols, codes, and conspiracy theories. His books have been translated into over 40
languages, and as of 2009, sold over 80 million copies. Two of them, The Da Vinci
Code and Angels & Demons, have been adapted into feature films.
In the
future of Ray Kuzweil’s prediction, technology will play a role in our lives
much more important than we think: it will enable us to reverse aging, boost
our cerebral power and fix DNA errors.
The next step in our evolutionary process will be the union of human and
machine in which the knowledge and skills embedded in our brains will be
combined with the vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing ability
of our creations.
Raymond "Ray" Kurzweil (born February
12, 1948)
is an American author, scientist, inventor and futurist. Aside
from futurology, he is involved in fields such as optical character
recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology,
and electronic keyboard instruments. He is the author of several books on
health, artificial intelligence (AI), transhumanism, technological
singularity, and futurism.
Ok… that’s
the kind of list that everyone disagrees in some points, but everyone has an
opinion about it too. Life is too short
to just sit around in a day like this and I bet you are not getting any
younger… so, here are some to-do’s; some are quite expensive, but hey – that’s
a lifetime wish list. What would you
like to do before you die?
1 – Skydive
Who never
wanted to jump from a plane at 10,000 feet altitude and fall down to a terminal
velocity of around 150mph? If you want
to feel alive in an extreme way, that’s something to be considered.
2 – Invent
something
Who never
had an idea and wished to see it in the real world? Have you ever felt that something doesn’t
work the way you want and that you could improve it somehow? Just go for it and free your mind! Here are
two websites you could use to create and patent your idea.
Get inside
a huge hamster-like ball and go downhill; yep, that sounds fun! Originated in New Zealand, this adrenaline rushing ride is
spreading world-wide.
4 – Ride a
thrilling roller-coaster
With so
many exciting roller-coasters in the world, you only have to choose… which is
going to be the first one.
Wikipedia
describes it as: “an activity that involves jumping from a tall structure while
connected to a large elastic cord. The tall structure is usually a fixed
object, such as a building, bridge or crane; but it is also possible
to jump from a movable object, such as
a hot-air-balloon or helicopter, that has the ability to hover above
the ground. The thrill comes as much from the free-falling as from the
rebounds.” I guess I could do it… again.
6 – Realize
a childhood dream
Maybe when
you were a kid, you dreamt about visiting the pyramids of Egypt, or learning how to play the
guitar, or even driving a Ferrari. Well, why not?
7 – Take a
trip to places you always wanted to go
Why not
visit the Eiffel Tower, spend a week
in Barcelona, go on a cruise around Sicily,
check out the Oktoberfest in
Munich, see what the Brazilian Carnaval
is all about and walk the Great Wall of China?
There are so many trips to go on; you better start planning!
8 – Swim
with the sharks
That is
definitely a scary, exciting and cool thing to do!
9 – Go
zero-gravity
As being an
astronaut isn’t for everyone, you can either go with Virgin Galactic (if you can afford it)
or choose cheaper ways to experience weightlessness, asgozerog.com.
10 – Take flight lessons
Is flying
for everyone? I don’t care; it’s sure an
amazing experience or hobby. I bet you
can find some place not so far from where you are just like Pilot Journey.
11 – Go up
in a hot-air balloon
It doesn’t
matter if you’re going by yourself or with your beloved one; riding in a
balloon must be a wonderful sensation.
12 – Run a marathon
(or half)
Do you feel
like you don’t know what your limits are anymore? This achievement would set
you in a great shape and it’s nearly free of cost; all you need is your will!
13 – Write
a letter for the future you
“Dear future
me: when I’m 50 I certainly hope to have a Porsche, a house by the beach and hair. Please, tell me that nothing went wrong…”
14 – Stay a
night in the hotel of your dreams
Why not
staying a night in the underwater suite of the Poseidon Undersea
Resorts? It’s only $ 15,000…
15 – Go
supersonic
When I
watched Top Gun for the first time I remember thinking: “I wanna do that!” If
you also wanted to fly a MiG-29, book your dream flight at jetdiscovery.com or some other company like it.
16 – See
for yourself that the world is round
The surest way is to go in one direction and not stop until
you're back to the start again. For a cheaper and more relaxing method, journey
north of the Arctic Circle around the summer solstice and spend a night in a
hot tube watching the sun circle above the horizon.
17 – Buy
your dream car
Whether is
a SUV or a convertible, everybody has a “car crush” in their heart and, even if
you sell it 6 months later, it’s gonna be unforgettable.
18 – Be
someone else for a day
Go to another
city where no one knows you, wear a hat and be a famous race-car driver;
whoever you decide to be, just remember one thing: take pictures because it’s
going to be funny.
19 – Swim
naked
That’s
something easy to do, but really refreshing… if you haven’t tried it yet, don’t
get mad… get naked.
20 – Fall
in love
Most of the
list above would make much more sense if you had someone to share with… it can
be either a summer crush or the one; it doesn’t matter. Anyways, it is a great adventure.
“If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up
with anything original.”
I think I
have seen those videos a thousand times, and yet he still astonishes me with his
simplicity and clarity to explain his point of view.
Sir Ken Robinson was born on March 4,
1950, in Liverpool, England; one of seven children from working-class
background, he completed a PhD in 1981 at the University of London, researching
drama and theatre in education and, since then, he is an internationally
recognized leader in the development of education, creativity and innovation. He
is also one of the world’s leading speakers with a profound impact on audiences
everywhere. The videos of his famous 2006 and 2010 talks to the prestigious
TED Conference have been seen by an estimated 200 million people in over 150
countries.
The video
in question is the 2006 talk at TED when he captivated the attention of the
world with his proposal: schools
kill creativity. He rethinks our
school system and, when I say “ours”, I mean the human race. It’s kind of funny how apparently we know
certain things by heart, but we never put into words – and there you go; it takes
one man to open your eyes, and your ears to what you have already seen, and
heard.
Anyway, we
are all different and my impression about it might be different than yours. Watch the videos and take your own
conclusions… after all, we are supposed to be free thinkers, right?
After all
these catastrophes and natural disasters that occurred in the world during the
last years, I kind of wondered: how prepared are we for the next big hit? What
are the governments doing to avoid, or at least, prevent the damages?
I have
friends who live in California, U.S.A., so I eventually thought about the
earthquakes and San Andreas Fault. Doing some Research about it, I
was astonished to realize how people deal with the possibility of these
disasters. Some internet forums have
comments like “…earthquakes are fun to me, most times I’m in bed and it's like
a vibrating massage (lol) I don't worry about it”, or “I don't think it's
really that big a deal to most of us in LA, at least not something we worry about
everyday.” First of all, please, understand;
I am not trying to cause panic or preaching that a powerful earthquake is going
to destroy the state anytime soon, but the USGS itself predicted:
“California has more than a 99% chance of having a magnitude 6.7 or larger
earthquake within the next 30 years, according to scientists using a new model
to determine the probability of big quakes”; so I decided to look for clues of what
is going to look like when it finally happens.
First, I’ve
found a video of a computer
generated simulation of the impacted are on the internet, so I would have
an idea of the area hit by it. Then,
logically, I wanted to know what the preventive measures were.
As NPR’s
John McChesney said back in 2005, “Since earthquakes can't be predicted, the
only effective antidote is to shore up buildings and infrastructure for the
inevitable, but the extraordinary expense isn't politically attractive. The Bush administration cut FEMA's (Federal
Emergency Management Agency) pre-disaster mitigation budget in
half in 2005, and Congress then appropriated less than that, only $100 million.
To put those numbers in context, it will
cost $840 million just to retrofit San Francisco's GeneralHospital.”
Weeks
before the Hurricane Irene strikes Washington D.C and New York in 2011, the
agency’s disaster relief fund dropped below $1 billion—to $792 million—nearly
the lowest the fund has ever been only eight months into the year.
However,
after the Great
1906 San Francisco Earthquake that destroyed most of the city in 60 seconds
of magnitude 7.9, a repeat of it is estimated to cause ruptures in four
segments of the San Andreas Fault and result in around $54 billion in building damage.
California’s GDP is nearly U$ 2 trillion, representing
over 13% of the national GDP. Many companies’
headquarters are located there and, it is by far, the most populous state of
the country. They are responsible for roughly
1 out of 15 workers in the U.S.A. and over 70% of the country’s
educators. I think that, pretty much,
says it all.
For the record,
though, just 12% of homes with fire insurance also have earthquake coverage,
according to the California Earthquake Authority. Should people be more
concerned about it? I got all this information in one morning of curiosity;
what is going to be the excuse for being caught short-handed when it finally
happens?
A Bed that floats
in the air on magnets; an electric car with over 2,000hp that is ready with
technology for hovering in electromagnetic highways; a cell phone made with
nanotechnology that folds into a wrist-watch and stretches into a keyboard; piano-gloves
to play in the air; a Segway-like dicycle that pops a third wheel on the fly
and transforms into a motorcycle.
If you
think that I’m talking about some new Steven Spielberg film, think again. Most of those gadgets are already being
produced for sale, for the happiness of millions of future enthusiasts around
the world.
According
to Moore’s law the advances in technology
are growing in such an exponential rate that these improvements have dramatically
enhanced the impact of digital electronics in nearly every segment of the world
economy, allowing all kinds of new inventions. But let’s talk about the cool
stuff!
The
magnetic floating bed designed by Janjaap Ruijssenaars is astonishing, but so
is its price: it’s expected to cost “merely” $1,200,000. If you are familiar
with magnets and are asking yourself how they prevent the bed from floating
away, it is held by four very thin wires.
As a car
lover, I was taken by its design, but knowing that the Mithos is a
zero-emissions car that goes up to 247mph and has so many other future-focused features
made it a must in the list. Designed by the Portuguese designer Tiago Miguel Inacio,
this electromagnetic monster is supposed to have specifications such as
teleportation, quantum boost, scratch-resistant body material and others.
Nokia’s
innovation comes with the help of nanotechnology in the Nokia Morph concept. This
cell phone fibril protein material makes it flexible, stretchable, transparent
and remarkably strong giving you a good hint of what the future of
telecommunication technology is going to look like.
Another
interesting device that is probably going to be improved with time is the
eletronic piano-gloves
by the Chinese manufacturer Thanko; the idea of playing piano in the air sounds
fascinating and I am sure it is going to have further applications in other
gizmos.
The
sensational Uno 3
scooter is definitely a must-have if you’re tired of finding parking places in
big cities. This little transformer goes
from an elaborated Segway into a scooter in about one second as you drive it in
the streets, and it is also eco-friendly.
How many people fit in the elevator with their vehicles?
I’m glad to
know that there are still intelligent people out there, despite the stupidity being
widely celebrated nowadays.
While most
teenage girls spend their time gossiping around, trying to be popular and
watching JerseyShore, the 17-year-old high school
student Angela Zhang has written a research paper in her spare time that
provides us with, let me put it in a simple way, a possible cure for cancer.
Born to
Chinese immigrants, she started reading doctorate level papers on
bio-engineering when she was only a freshman. By sophomore year she'd talked her way into
the lab at Stanford, and by junior year was doing her own research projects.
"Cure for cancer -- a high school student," said
her chemistry teacher at Monta Vista High School, Kavita Gupta. "It's
just so mind-boggling. I just cannot even begin to comprehend how she even
thought about it or did this."
"I
just thought, 'Why not?' 'What is there to lose?'" said Angela.
“At first
it was a little bit overwhelming,” said Angela, “but I found that it almost
became like a puzzle, being able to decode something.”
Angela's idea was to mix cancer medicine and nanotechnology; the drugs, mixed
in a polymer that would attach to nanoparticles, would then fasten themselves
to cancer cells and show up on an MRI allowing doctors to exactly see where
the tumors are.
Then, she
thought of using an infrared light aimed at the tumors so the polymer would
melt and release the medicine, killing the cancer cells while leaving healthy
cells unharmed.
Although it
will be years before scientists run tests on humans, the results on mice were
pretty promising – the tumors almost completely disappeared.
"Angela created a nanoparticle that is like a Swiss
army knife of cancer treatment," said Tejal Desai, a bioengineer at
the University of California, San Francisco, and a competition judge.
“This is a
Cinderella moment for a science nerd like me,” Zhang told the Mercury News.
She also
said she’s very excited to learn everything possible in the sciences – biology,
chemistry, physics, engineering, and even computer science -- to make new
innovations possible. We are also very excited that you do, Angela. And Good
luck!
I guess
everyone likes somewhat of, as Ricciotto Canudo called, The 7th Art. Films, motion pictures or movies, however you
want to call them, are intrinsic part of life in these modern times, bringing
joy and comfort to many around the world and uniting people and cultures
together.
It’s sure a
lot have changed since the times of the Lumière brothers, but every year
thousands of movies come to us to enrich our lives in many ways, and the bank
accounts of film production companies. The
capital generated by the film industry goes over billions of dollars each year,
creating thousands of direct and indirect jobs over the three stages of
filmmaking: the pre-production, the production and the post-production of
films.
The natural
evolution of cinema as an art form is pretty noticeable, especially in the last
few decades thanks to the advances in computer technologies, which allow
directors to reproduce oneiric images and situations that would not be possible
in real life.
However, the
day is today and the moment is now, so I’m leaving some hints about releases
for 2012 – although I’m not responsible for any bad movies made!
Have you
ever seen “Dead Poets Society”? It’s one
of those movies you watch on and on along life and it is still good after the eightieth
time.
Anyway, I
was reading some poems of Walt Whitman and I came across this great one, which
became popular thanks to that movie.
Walt
Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. He was born in
Westhills, Long Island, May 31, 1819, in a farm-house overlooking the sea. He
learned type-setting at thirteen years of age and, two years later, he taught a
country school. In addition to
publishing his poetry he was a volunteer nurse during the American Civil
War. He died in Camden, N. J., March 20, 1892.
His poems lack much of the standard of recognized poetic
measure; he has a style peculiar to himself, and his writings are full of
meaning, beauty and interest.
O Captain! My
Captain!
by Walt Whitman
O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up
and hear the bells;
Rise up-for you the flag is flung-for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths-for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;
Don’t you
feel excited when you’re able to take a glance at the future? Materials made of carbon nanotubes give you
some taste of it – and they’re coming to stay.
But what are these carbon nanotubes?
Carbon
nanotubes (CNTs) are molecular-scale tubes of carbon atoms bonded together, and
when I say “nano” I really mean small – they have been constructed with length-to-diameter
ratio of up to 132,000,000:1, significantly larger than for any other material.
And that’s not even the most interesting
part; what is really cool is what you can do with that.
We are
talking about the strongest material yet discovered. The hardness of thebulk modulus of superhard phase
nanotubes is around 462 to 546 gigapascals (GPa), even higher than that of
diamond (420 GPa for single diamond crystal). The stiffness of the best
nanotubes can be as high as 1000 GPa which is approximately 5x higher than
steel. The tensile strength, or breaking
strain of nanotubes can be up to 63 GPa, around 50x higher than steel, and it
also has several other properties like kinetic (an inner nanotube core may
slide, almost without friction, within its outer nanotube shell), electrical (multi
walled carbon nanotubes with interconnected inner shells show
superconductivity), wave absorption (specially microwaves), thermal (good
conductors) and others. Ok, but in the
real world, what are the applications of these CNTs?
Current use
and application of nanotubes goes from bicycles components to tissue
engineering, but their potential reaches from civil engineering to space
elevators – Nasa is offering prizes of over $1 million to whoever can come up
with materials to make it happen and revolutionize the industry of space
tourism trips.
Unfortunately,
we can’t yet produce CNTs materials in a scale to do it so; the observation of
the longest carbon nanotubes was reported in 2009 of being astonishing
18.5 cm long, but don’t be sad: the good thing about the future is that it
keeps turning into present.
