The Tiniest Scientists Are Very Old

Microbes do quantum mechanics

Tenet Four of the tenets of ecocosmology indicates that we should preserve all species.

One good reason is that they may have within them some quantum of intelligence we need in order to survive as a species in this cosmos.

A complete field of science, biomimicry, is dedicated to listening and watching what other species have to say.

While watching the other species in the world around us, scientists noticed that some of the tiniest of them are good at quantum mechanics:

A team of University of Toronto chemists have made a major contribution to the emerging field of quantum biology, observing quantum mechanics at work in photosynthesis in marine algae.

"There's been a lot of excitement and speculation that nature may be using quantum mechanical practices," says chemistry professor Greg Scholes, lead author of a new study published in Nature. "Our latest experiments show that normally functioning biological systems have the capacity to use quantum mechanics in order to optimize a process as essential to their survival as photosynthesis." ... It also raises some other potentially fascinating questions, such as, have these organisms developed quantum-mechanical strategies for light-harvesting to gain an evolutionary advantage? It suggests that algae knew about quantum mechanics nearly two billion years before humans," says Scholes.

(Quantum Mechanics at Work in Photosynthesis). Algae have been familiar with these quantum mechanical processes for nearly two billion years.

Note also that these creatures use all their ability to help others, including humanity, for without photosynthesis we would not exist today.

It behooves us to learn what we can from the cosmos around us, including our ecosystem here on the earth, because we have a long road ahead of us, according to the tenets of Ecocosmology.

It behooves us to stop destroying species at such an alarming rate, or at any rate above zero.

The next post in this series is here.

Mystery Bubble - Signal, Grid, or What?

Dyson Sphere?

The hexagon of Saturn is not the only geometric, or should I say astrometric, shape that has scientific folk scratching their heads these days.

An astronomer at Mount Wilson Observatory, Dave Jurasevich, observed a sphere-shaped phenomenon in an area of Cygnus shown in the photo to the left.

The sphere is about the size of our solar system, evidently with a star within its parameters.

Those who are aware of Dyson's theories about sphere shapes in space were quick to revisit his theories.

You can read more about the sphere or bubble here.

We discussed the subject of signals from space a la SETI in a post here, suggesting that detecting planets around stars that are near the end of their life cycle could be a more likely candidate for signal origination.

Put two and two together, a sphere, a star near the end of its life cycle, and the odds of a signal are theoretically increased.

Whatever the source, these objects out in the cosmos are wonderfully mysterious and interesting.

Cassini Stays At Saturn Until 2017

A very successful NASA mission, Cassini, has been given many more orbits of the gas giant Saturn.

It is a multi-national effort:

"The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL".

(Cassini, NASA). We have covered some of the mind boggling, beautiful, mysterious, and even uncanny developments during the years of the mission.

Space travel, competent space travel that is, is a must it seems for the survival of the human species.

Competent space travel means we lose the loser rocket science we use today, and develop a new physics for new technology to replace this ancient form of propulsion.

One major accomplishment, here on earth, of the mission is that nations worked together to improve our global understanding of our solar system.