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Monday, May 15, 2017

Just A Theory

          “Oh gravity? It is just a theory! We can fall up if we just think hard enough about it.” Does that sound ridiculous? It should. Gravity is not something to be questioned or brushed off as “just a theory”. It is the combination of postulations, evidence, and rigorous testing. It is the culmination of lots of hard work to understand how the universe works. It is the Theory of Gravity.[1]
There is a fundamental misunderstanding within everyday conversation about what a theory really is. It is all too common to hear people say, “That is just a theory” and imply that because it is “just a theory” it is not to be trusted. However, a theory is not a wishy-washy speculation that can change in seconds or even days. A theory is the combination of evidence to produce the best possible explanation given the current facts. The National Academy of Sciences defines a theory as “a comprehensive explanation of some aspect of nature that is supported by a vast body of evidence”. Scientific theories are explanations for natural phenomenon that are not likely to change unless really startling and convincing new evidence is uncovered, not mere speculation as is often inferred in daily conversation.
To fix this common misuse there are two options. The first is to try and educate more people about the meaning of theory so that the true meaning becomes what is used in everyday conversation. The second is to scrap the word theory all together and use a new word in place of it. I argue that we need to use the first approach because the issues riding on the use of theory, specifically climate change, do not have time to wait for a new word to be coined and to make its way into everyday usage.
Now some people might say that this is just a question of semantics. Why should we care so much about how the word theory is used in everyday language? Isn’t that the least of our problems right now? The answer is that we absolutely should care because understanding the meaning of theory has tremendous implications for how people respond when presented with the implications of a given theory. If people think that a theory is just speculation and not backed up by a substantial body of evidence, then they are not likely to act based upon what the theory says. However, if they understand that what backs up a theory is a tremendous body of evidence and carefully detailed research, then they are more likely to take what a theory predicts seriously and act accordingly.
The actions people take based on proper understanding of the word theory are particularly important when it comes to the theory of climate change because understanding the predictions of this theory is a matter of life and death. Places like the Marshall Islands that are already starting to be flooded out due to rising sea levels don’t have time for people to say “Oh climate change is just a theory!”. They need a world that is crystal clear on the fact that when scientists call something a theory, it is backed up by substantial evidence and not likely to change.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change “Scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal” and according to NASA 97% of scientists are in agreement that climate change is happening and that it is caused by human activities. There is an overwhelming amount of scientific data that supports the existence of climate change that has been documented and analyzed since the early 1980’s.  It is a theory and that means that we need to pay attention to it.
The implications of the theory of climate change are far too important to keep debating its legitimacy as a theory; we simply do not have time to wait. By midcentury the Arctic Ocean is going to be ice free every summer. This means devastating weather changes up and down the Eastern Seaboard. By the end of the century sea levels will have risen 1-4 feet. More than half of the US population lives within 50 miles of the coast so rising sea levels will displace countless people while simultaneously destroying infrastructure. It does not take much time looking at projection maps to see what a harmful effect climate change will have on the US, let alone on island countries. We need to start talking about climate change as the theory it is so that we can start acting to mitigate the devastating effects of climate change.
The good news is that changing people’s use of the word theory is not as hard as it may first appear. I offer my experiences in learning about evolution in my AP Environmental Science as evidence that correcting the use of theory is not as daunting a process as it may seem. My teacher started our unit on evolution by differentiating between meanings of theory and hypothesis to show what it means for evolution to be a theory. He explained the definition of each to the class and made clear that a theory is supported by tremendous amounts of evidence. After class that day I heard my classmates correcting other people when they used the word theory incorrectly in conversation. This proves that the change does not take the same drastic measures that it would take to put a new word in circulation, it just takes a fifteen-minute lesson.
Imagine how fast the misuse of the word theory could be corrected if all science teachers spent fifteen minutes teaching that lesson or if newspapers stuck in a sentence or two explaining the meaning of theory the next time they report on anything theory related. This is not a terribly difficult problem to remedy, but it is an extremely crucial one. As a society, we need to move past pointless debates over the validity of climate change because people’s lives are at stake. There are concrete steps we can take to start working as a society to mitigate climate change and one of those strategies is returning to the true meaning of theory. By returning to the proper use of theory, we can start conveying why climate change is not something to be debated, it is something to trust the evidence for, and it is something to act on now because it is just a theory.



[1] I acknowledge that there are other possibilities for gravity being put forward, BUT they have not been moved past the hypothesis stage. The current theory of gravity still stands.

Saturday, April 29, 2017

A New Big Bang

Hey all!

I am back! I know that it has been a while since I posted on this blog. So much has happened in this past year and I am so excited to share it with you! I have been busy graduating from high school and starting my first year of college. As I write this, I am about to start my final week of classes at Princeton University. I am planning on majoring in astrophysics and getting a certificate in Planets and Life and one in Technology and Society. While I have been at school, so much has happened in space too!

New Horizons has made huge progress, SpaceX has landed a reusable rocket, Cassini is beginning to end its mission, and NASA is under new leadership with a new budget. I am excited to explore all of these exciting new developments with all of you!

Best,
Emma

Sunday, March 15, 2015

An Irrationally Wonderful Day

Pi Day
Courtesy of geocaching.com
Happy Pi Day to all the geeks and nerds of the world!  (I know I am one day late). On March 15, 2015  at 9:26 and 53 seconds, an amazing thing happened: the digits of the time matched the first ten digits of pi. Every year on March 14 the mathematicians of the world unite to celebrate Pi Day but yesterday was of particular significance. Usually only three digits match, but once every century ten of them do. This once in a lifetime day led to much celebration for the nerds of the world. It's fun to celebrate such an important number and it is a good excuse to eat lots of pie. Yum! Pi is a particularly interesting and important number for many reasons. I will not go into the intricacies of the number but if you are interested click here. If you are like me and you have a vast collection of nerdy math and science shirts then you probably will want one in commemoration of Pi Day too. I got mine here and had lots of fun explaining it to people throughout the day.

Here are some of my favorite facts about pi and Pi Day:

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Actually, It Is Rocket Science

Get up at 5:15, drive for 2 hours, why? To go see a rocket test, of course! Today I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life: I got to see the first test of the solid rocket booster (SRB) for NASA's new Space Launch System (SLS). The test was at Orbital ATK in Promontory, Utah and my, oh, my was it incredible! 

The test was the first test of the new booster, the most powerful ever built and successfully fired. There will be one more certifying test for the booster before two of them will be attached to the core stage and used to lift the Orion Crew Vehicle into space. The initial life capability of two of these boosters working in tandem will be 70-130 metric tons. The booster burned 5 tons of propellant per second and in total produced 3.6 million pounds of thrust in the two minutes it was fired. 

Comparison of SLS to other rockets
Courtesy of nasa.gov

Because the SLS is going to be launching heavier payloads than any rocket system before it, there needs to be more thrust. To accomplish this there was another section added to the booster making it a five section, 177 foot (17 story) tall contraption. The SLS booster generates 20% greater average thrust than the SRBs on the Space Transportation System (Space Shuttle) and has 24% greater total impulse. 

This test was a particularly awesome moment to be present for because it represents the start of a new era in space exploration. To stand and see the fireball shoot out the end and then feel the ground shake as the sound and shock waves hit, was a breathtaking experience.
In that video you can hear/see the difference in time between when the booster was ignited (FUN FACT: Once SRB's are ignited there is no off switch. They burn till the very end). Keep in mind that it was that bright and that loud from 2 miles away! (We did the calculations to determine that in the car ride home because we're cool like that) 

Today was one of the most unforgettable moments of my life. It was so incredible to be a witness to the new era of space exploration. As my friend so eloquently put it, "May this be not a once in a lifetime, but a first in a lifetime."

Sunday, February 15, 2015

25 Years of the Pale Blue Dot

The iconic Pale Blue Dot picture
Courtesy of wikipedia.org
Yesterday marks the 25th anniversary of the iconic Pale Blue Dot photograph taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft. Carl Sagan is responsible for pushing NASA to turn the cameras of the ship back to earth. Carl Sagan is known as one of the most successful and diligent communicators of science and he is also one of my personal heroes. In honor of the anniversary of the picture I have decided to post a speech I gave about the 'cosmic perspective' which Carl Sagan shared with so many people in the world.


The cosmos is all that is, was, or ever will be. The word cosmos comes from the
ancient Greek term meaning order or world. For all the time that humans have walked
on this earth they have gazed up at the sky in wonder and down at the earth in
amazement in an attempt to understand the beauty of the order and logic of the cosmos
that surrounds us each and every day. Each tribe and group of the ancient past created
a way of attempting to find reason behind the workings of the world. They invented
stories like those of Greek mythology where each god correlated with a planet. Over the years
we, the human race, have lost contact with the cosmos. As we light up our world with
electricity and technology we spend more time looking down than we do looking up. We
have grown distant from the Cosmos. While the cultures of our ancestors were
intrinsically connected to the sky and the workings of nature our world has become
more and more self centered. We live in an individualistic culture where not much
thought is given to what else is out there or how valuable life here on earth is.
However, there still are people who do recognize how valuable our place in the
universe is and try to share that perspective with everyone because they recognize how
important that point of view is.
Dr. Carl Sagan
Courtesy of carlsaganday.com

Carl Sagan was a planetary scientist for NASA and a very successful popularizer
of science during his time on earth. Through his television show, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage,  he shared with over 600 million people in 60 different countries a hunger to understand our place in the universe and to understand why that position matters intellectually, culturally, and emotionally. He called this outlook on the universe “The Cosmic Perspective” and that is perspective is one I believe that we as humanity have lost and absolutely need to regain.

So what is this Cosmic Perspective? Well it is the understanding that the Earth is
a tiny mote of dust traveling around a medium sized star on a spiral arm of the Milky
Way galaxy with around 100 billion other stars in the galaxy which is only one of 100
billion other galaxies. Yet, the atoms that comprise life on earth were forged in the
center of a massive star. We, humans, are seemingly insignificant but very special at the
same time for we are the only Earth and one human race. To have a cosmic perspective
means having an understanding of how precious life in the cosmos is and how
important it is to understand what is around us.
Apollo 11 Moon Landing: One of the most iconic chapters of
US space exploration
Courtesy of nasa.gov

If one looks back through history it is very easy to
spot the people who had a cosmic
perspective. They were our ancestors who tried to find their place in the stars. They
were the scientists, the visionaries, the people who questioned why life exists and the
purpose of it. The people with the cosmic perspective were the ones who persistently
asked why even in the face of adversity. They were the explorers who searched to the
ends of the earth for new knowledge because they understood that a knowledge of
where we are in the cosmos is essential to the survival of the human race.
The urge to explore is something that has died away over the past few centuries
as we have settled and conquered most of the unknown places on earth. In the 1500’s
when the conquest of the America’s was in full bloom people traveled the world in
search of new and exotic places, people, and things. While part of the motive was
commerce there was also a raw search for knowledge. National spirit for exploration. Pride in knowing was out there.  And it is very obvious which countries held exploration at high value, they are the world superpowers today. However, that spirit for exploration and knowledge has died away. We are now a world that doesn’t look out or up. For the most part we look down. At our cell phones and our increasingly busy lives. We go about life without realizing that there is an infinite expanse of the cosmos just waiting for us to explore it. As Carl Sagan once said, “We sailed the earthly oceans but now it is time to step foot into the last unexplored area of human interests. We stand at the edge
of the cosmic ocean, just waiting to be explored.”

So how does one obtain a cosmic perspective? Well, the starting place is a
realization of the importance of the acquisition of knowledge. And how do we gain
knowledge? SCIENCE. Now when I say science I would not be surprised if what came
to mind are boring textbook readings, difficult labs, and a generally not good feeling. But
if that is what you believe is science, then your perception about science is off by 180
degrees. Science is everywhere and everything. Every time you ask a question and
figure out a way to answer it you are performing an experiment. You’re following the age
old scientific method. You’re gaining new knowledge about the cosmos and your place
in it and I believe there is nothing more important than that. Carl Sagan once said, “We
are a way for the cosmos to know itself.” By experimenting, questioning, and
researching we can push the boundaries of our knowledge and dare to have a cosmic
perspective and to learn about the cosmos that we inhabit and are also a deeply
connected part of.
Our cosmic address
Courtesy of nasa.gov
The second part of having a cosmic perspective is knowing our place in the
universe, our cosmic address. Let’s start with what we know. We are in the United States States of
America which is one of 196  countries on the planet Earth. Earth is located within the Solar System of 8 planets. That solar system is located on the edge of one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way. The Milky Way is located in the Local Group which is in turn each house at least 100 billion stars. Not to mention that many leading astronomers and astrophysicists believe that our universe may be only one of many. That we may live in a multiverse housing an infinite numbers of stars and galaxies. located in the Virgo Supercluster. Overall, there are over 100 billion galaxies in our observable universe that each contain an estimated 100 billion stars which have countless number of exoplanets around them.

Feeling small and insignificant yet? That’s okay. That’s part of having a cosmic
perspective. In the 1970’s Carl Sagan convinced NASA to turn the Voyager 1 spacecraft
around for one last glimpse of earth as it headed out into the cosmos. The picture is
famous for the perspective it gives. Saturn’s rings grace the foreground while one has to
really look for earth. In that picture our precious home planet, earth, is about the size of
a grain of sand, a pale blue dot. In all that vastness that surrounds our planet there is no
hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. Our imagined self-
importance, that we are somehow better than the rest is challenged by that pale point of
light. The Earth is the only known place with life. We are it. There is no other human
race. There comes a time in our lives when we realize that we as people, as a species,
as a planet are not the center of the universe and we come to value everything on this
speck of dust floating in the sky.


Carl Sagan saying it like it is
Courtesy of pintrest.com
It has been said that having the cosmic perspective is depressing but I think that
is incorrect. I think that to have a cosmic perspective is empowering because with it
comes a respect and appreciation for life itself. As Carl Sagan said, “Every one of us is,
in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a
hundred billion galaxies you will not find another. To me it underscores our responsibility
to deal more kindly with other humans and to protect and love the pale blue dot
because it is the only home we have ever known. If we take this knowledge to heart, if
we come to know our place in the cosmos and to love nature and our place in it then we
will be remembered as those who paved the way for the survival and bettering of the
human race.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Space X Landing Round 2

Today Space X will attempt to land its Falcon 9 rocket on its sea based landing pad for the second time. They tried a few weeks ago unsuccessfully. The success of reusable rockets would mark the start of a new era in space exploration. It would indicate a shift to more cost effective space programs that are also more environmentally friendly and sustainable.
Space X landing pad
Courtesy of spacex.com 
The launch is scheduled for 6:10 EST. Coverage starts on NASA TV at 3:30 EST. Be sure to check in before going to watch Taylor Swift kill it at the Grammy's! 

May the force be with you Space X!