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How Water Forms in Interstellar Space at 10K
KentuckyFC writes "Water is the most abundant solid material in space. But although astronomers see it on planets, moons, in comets and in interstellar clouds, nobody has been able to show how it forms. In theory, it should form easily when oxygen and atomic hydrogen meet. The problem is that there is not enough of it floating around as gas in interstellar dust clouds. So instead, the thinking is that water must form when atomic hydrogen interacts with frozen solid oxygen on the surface of dust grains in these clouds. Now Japanese astronomers have demonstrated this process for the first time in the lab in conditions that simulate interstellar space. That's cool because all the water in the solar system, including almost every drop you drink on Earth today, must have formed in exactly this way more than 5 billion years ago in a pre-solar dustcloud (abstract)."
Why is everyone so hung up on this? Why does every article that has anything remotely to do with cosmology or biology have a huge thread about this bullshit? Get over it.
While we have theorized that not all of those are needed, the truth is that we haven't found so much as a single primitive cell anywhere else. And we haven't found one single location in the entire universe with all five save for our home planet.
No, really. For hundreds of years the scientific notion was that the universe had always existed, and the idea of a "beginning" to the planet--let alone the cosmos--was just religious claptrap.
And if you want to get really specific, the concept that time is a fluid construct of your local frame of reference pre-dates serious scientific discussion as to the begining of the universe.
(Of course, if you're willing to prove me wrong, and can dig up a reference to "god-time" before the Big Bang theory, I'd love to hear it.)
Not fiction, but an allegory and analogy designed to explain to early people the history regarding their existence. The fact is, simpler stories on short time scales tended to work well because the human brain has a hard time with large numbers. A day is just long enough for you when your life expectancy is ~30 years.
Cynical Idealist
So now that humankind is capable of dealing with large numbers and such quite easily (and I think it's odd to think that civilization back then would have a hard time understanding 'billions of years' but nodded at 'and the water turned into wine' as if that was perfectly reasonable), is there any edition of The Bible (presumably unofficial) that has everything re-written in the "what it meant to say, but us puny humans wouldn't have understood back in the day, is ..."?
To hook into your sibling poster's comment... a presumably 'non-fictional' work, that indeed could be taken literally (whether the statements within be true or false left aside)?
Based upon the genealogy of the patriarchs as contained in Scripture, once one has determined the date of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, one should be able to arrive at a reasonably close determination for the Date of Creation. That dates creation around ~4106 BC. Also, christians are required by the gospel to accept the bible as the absolute word of god with no exceptions. If you do not fully believe in the virgin birth, jesus's ressurection, the flood, etc. then you are not christian by definition of the bible.
I prefer the Jefferson Bible, he removed all the BS from the bible. It cut the bible from 1660 (the one I found in my trash) to 46 pages of useful information.
Trying to install linux on my microwave, but keep getting a kernel panic...
It does not specify the date, but it does establish a time interval (6 days = 144 hours). Unless God-days are different from our days. The trouble with re-interpreting the Bible is that once you do it in one spot, you open the door to do it all over. And then you end up with N sub-sects which all interpret the Bible in their own way to meet their own agendas.
What I see troubling with the philosophy of reinterpreting things is that people start reinterpreting the wrong ideas. First you redefine how long a day is, then you redefine how long people live, and the next thing you know, astrology is classified as science because you have redefined "logic" to meet your religious needs.
People need to realize that the Bible is a shitty science and history book and was written to an end.
Remember, You are unique...just like everyone else.
Would you please stop modding Planesdragon down for defending his beliefs? That's just crass.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
I, personally, will not get over it. Too much progress has been made despite christianity's best efforts to hold it back, I refuse to let them regain any ground.
I agree. Were it not for christianity, we could have stronger, Roman values, and could merely justify the extermination of our enemies because they were weaker.
Look, you have all of these people arguing against the USA military actions around the world, as if, there was some sort of a cosmic judge that holds us wrong. This planet lives at the mercy of the USA and it is high time we make it pay for us.
The sooner we get rid of religion, and focus on survival of the fittest, we can eliminate the silly notions of the soul and with it the idea of fundamental rights. From there, we can proceed with the extermination of the third world, replacing weaker cultures with a stronger industrialized one, keeping the planet for those who have the values to use it, not merely subsistent parasites that besmirch the very name of humanity with their almost termite like existence.
This is my sig.
The only problem is that you get to make that choice only once, here on earth, with imperfect knowledge (which is why it's called 'faith', not 'science'). You can resent that, but here's a secret: there's a 'sure bet'. Live life as a Christian. If it turns out there's no God, you've lived a good life, the people around you will thank you for it, and you can go to dust in peace. If there is a God, you'll end up in heaven instead of the other place. An infinite and all powerful creator God can not desire anything, for being all powerful and infinite they have everything they could want before they want it. Rubbish. I'd expect that for an omnipotent God, creating beings that blindly obey him would be unbearably dull. God deliberately created us with free will.