Complex Numbers

Unsolved, Unresolved

Today's link isn't a podcast. I don't do podcasts. Shouldn't they call them something else now that the iPod is no more? Anyway, from Vox, a collection of stuff from a bunch of podcasts:

    17 astounding scientific mysteries that researchers can’t yet solve  
What is the universe made out of? How should we define death? Where did dogs come from? And more!

The key word in the headline there is "yet."

“Whatever we know is provisional,” Priya Natarajan, a Yale physicist, told us about research on dark matter. But the sentiment also applies to science overall. “It is apt to change. What motivates people like me to continue doing science is the fact that it keeps opening up more and more questions. Nothing is ultimately resolved.”

This is, of course, a good thing. But "nothing is ultimately resolved" can be misleading.

Unexplainable isn’t about how scientists don’t know anything.

There's a tendency in humans to indulge in binary thinking. That is, believing that since science can't tell us everything, then it can't tell us anything. This is, of course, arrant nonsense.

We’re drawn to questions because they are optimistic. They invite us to dream of a better world in which they are answered, where the gaps between questions and our capabilities to answer them are smaller.

Ugh. Optimistic? Maybe I should stop asking questions. Besides, finding out that the universe will definitely end is hardly optimistic. I mean, what's the point of doing anything if it's just going to wind down and stop one day? I mean, sure, trillions of years from now, but that's not so long, is it?

Here are some of the questions that astounded us the most.

I won't list all of them. That would take too long. Just ones I have comments on or can make jokes about.

1) What is the universe made out of?

String.

String theory: the Universe is a big ball of string, and God is a cat.

(Okay, this section is actually about dark matter, unsurprisingly, but my string theory pun is funnier.)

2) How did life start on Earth?

Lots of people think it started elsewhere and migrated to Earth. I have another article about that in the queue. Which is fine and may be a testable hypothesis, but, either way, it doesn't get at the real question, which is how did life start, query, full stop.

3) How did dogs evolve from wolves?

That's not the best-phrased question. It's not like wolves haven't been evolving for the past 20,000 years or whatever. Though that's hardly long enough for a lot of natural selection to take place. Artificial selection, sure, which is why we have both chihuahuas and Great Danes and call them both dogs. It's like the idea that we evolved from chimps: no, we and chimps (and bonobos) share a common ancestor.

5) What will animals look like in the future?

I'm guessing the answer is "animals."

10) Is there anything alive in the human poop left on the moon?

You know, I get that this question is academically important. It is also unique on this list because while we don't know the answer, we know precisely how to find the answer, and all it'll take will be another trip to the moon, this time carrying pooper-scoopers.

11) Was there an advanced civilization on Earth before humans?

I know it's kinda vogue-y to ask that question right now, but the simple truth is, if there were, we'd know. We might not find their artifacts or other archaeological remnants, but any "advanced" civilization worth that adjective is going to need energy and produce waste. That waste would show up all over the globe, just like our waste is doing now.

Besides, if there had been, all the oil would have been gone before we started digging for it.

No. There wasn't.

12) What is the definition of “life”?

Yeah, that's not a science question so much as a philosophy question. As I've noted before, though, science can inform philosophy.

14) What did dinosaurs sound like?

I hope they figure this one out, and it turns out they meowed.

17) How will everything end?

With some questions as yet unresolved, I'm sure.