Life Definition and 1000 Threads

I'm not going to give you guys the full story, but I will summarise. A fair few years ago, I got into some trouble, starting drinking far too much and basically went of the rails. I got kicked out of uni, ended up going to prison for a little bit, almost died after being stabbed and got into a...

Hello Everyone, First I would like to thank you for allowing me to post in this community and Would like to Give a brief background about me: BEng (Hons) Degree: Aerospace Engineering from UK MSc Degree: Advanced methods of Aeronautical Engineering from UK Basically a Fresh Graduate...

The title is the name of a Science book review on the following book: From Strange Simplicity to Complex Familiarity, by Manfred Eigen, published back in April. The review was published in the current issue of Science, but it's behind a paywall. It's interesting though, if you're at a...

Let me start off with saying that I am an undergraduate who just started his second year. I am enrolled in classes such as Partial Differential Equations, Complex Variables, Linear Algebra, Astrophysics, and a Physics Problem Solving Class. I really enjoy math as a tool, and as a subject alone...

Imagine mirror image of a cell - built from a scratch using mirror images (enantiomers) of molecules of the original cell. It should work as standard one, but use e.g. L-sugars instead of our D-sugars: article. Some possible applications: - doubling the space of possible enzymes we could...

From what I understand, all life on Earth is descendent from a common ancestor, which was probably a self replicating molecule that spontaneously formed billions of years ago. As I think I understand it this single molecule self replicated, and succesive generations of the replicated molecules...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2416761/Scientists-claim-evidence-ALIEN-LIFE-Balloon-sent-edge-atmosphere-picks-organisms-come-space.html "British scientists believe they have found evidence alien life after sending a balloon to the edge of space. The team of scientists sent...

I stumbled upon this article and was wondering what others think of it? http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-truth-is-out-there-british-scientists-claim-to-have-found-proof-of-alien-life-8826690.html

Sounds ridiculous to not do well, right? I won't flunk, but I am shooting for at least a 3.7 GPA. I want to have a shot at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Caltech, and Harvey Mudd. If I get 3.7 or less (maybe around 3.6), will my chance of getting into my dream schools be null for life? I just...

I was having a discussion with my friend about alien life and we both kinda agreed that for life to be intelligent, it must follow the same path as all intelligent life in the universe. If we say that all life through the universe is Darwinian, then for a species to be intelligent it must have...

I spent a whole year taking practice tests and I took an entire princeton review course. I have studied intermittently for the last 4 months. I memorized the entire formula sheet from the kaplan math book and more and maybe used 2 of the formulas on the test. I took 4 practice tests and...

Water solvent is usually considered and essential basis for any Life in the Universe. Recently other solvents have been considered (eg Ammonia), but maybe we could come up with an idea of life that doesn't need solvent at all? As far as I understand solvent is need mainly as medium of...

I feel like I am running out of momentum life wise. The last year has been so difficult for me that I see everything different. I still enjoy work and learning, but I don't enjoy school anymore. I have no confidence in myself academically despite actually making some good progress in an idea I...

Could there be complex life somewhere in the universe with body temperatures averaging 80 degrees F? I am curious if life of some kind could survive a body temperature that low and function normally.

Hey guys, first post here. I am making a list of applied math examples and I was wondering what uses you guys know. For example I recall in Numerical we learned the Shooting Method. It didn't make any sense to me until I realized it could be used in Beam Deflection. Applied Math...

all the information points to that life started on Earth by pure chance what are the chance that life didn't happen at all on planet earth

Where do I begin. The past two years at my uni have been disappointingly bleak and uneventful. Since my freshman year I have been dabbling in courses ranging from pure math, electrical engineering, physics, and I still have no idea what the h*ll I want to do. For a while now, I have thought that...

I am a college freshman, and I was just wondering what the work environment and nature of work was like for a physicist and an engineer. I am most interested in hearing about all types of physicists (but I find particle physics fascinating) and electrical and mechanical engineer but all other...

the feeling of "what I'm doing I'm wasting my life" hello, I'm 17 years old high school final year, it is summer it has been 3 months now since the start of the vacation and I've never left home once in these 3 months I'm not a recluse or anything, i actually would like to go out but the reason...

Hi everyone. I wonder if life and dark energy have something in common or are related to each other. If our universe had more dark energy than it now has, e.g 90% of the universe was filled with dark energy, would we still be able to live? The more dark energy, the fewer the chances of us being...

Hi, I'm new. :biggrin: I'm currently studying A-levels, and I'm going to study astrophysics at uni, so I may be on this website quite often asking questions in the future! Secondly, I have a question. Why is there LIQUID water under Enceladus' surface? Is it similar to Europa around Jupiter...

This is a very important question for me which has bothered me greatly. I started talking about it in the Smolin cosmic natural selection thread. What I would like to know is, if the Universe started over a very large number of times (n) from t=0, the start of the big bang, In how many of these...

Background: I own a lake marina that rents balls for house boats to tie up to on a permanent basis. The boats range in size and weight for 45' to 65' and weight from 2,000lbs to 15,000lbs. The balls are on a grid pattern 9 balls wide by 10 ball deep and 120' to 140' cabling between balls in all...

I think I just had the weirdest dinner ever. My wife invited her secretary and the secretary's girlfriend to dinner, and of course made me go with her. The only thing I knew before showing up to dinner is that her name was Kelsey. Well, we showed up early and sat at the table. My wife left...

Dear experts, please help me with this debate between my buddy and I. I'm on the side that most mammals, like cats, dogs, humans and monkeys have 2 stage life cycle. Young --> adult and back. My buddy says it should be 3 stage egg--> young--> adult and back. We are both rather weak on...

Hello, I have this circuit: And I'm using this battery: http://www.tme.eu/en/details/bat-6f22_gp/batteries/gp/gp-1604g/# How long will the battery keep supplying the circuit? Thanks !

hi all I am going to arrive to the US in September,I will be an international student holding F1 visa. I will major in Electrical engineering at Cleveland State university. my dad will pay my tuition which is around 13 k a year. and my uncle will let me live with him ,so I don't have to pay...

Hi, as I read in one of Hawking books, he predicted that a 2D life-form with an alimentary canal can not exist because it would fall apart. I was wondering about that, because I thought of an easy solution for this: with two movable chainings its still possible. I have made a graphic and...

So here's the deal. I'm going through a lot right now, between school, work and family and friends, every aspect of my life is incredibly unstable and I need to hear some stories. Specifically, I need someone to tell me a story from their life pertaining to a significant obstacle they overcame...

This is my first post on Physics Forums, so hello everyone. My name is Jorge, and I would like some life advice. I am an incoming senior at a public high school in Miami. I intend to go to the university and major in something related to the sciences (I'll get back to this). In my sophomore...

Star G2 Planets name Athena Planets Diameter 0.50 Earths, Mass 0.125, Density 5.52 g cm/3 Planets orbit 1.10 au with an eccentricity of 0.08 Planets axil tilt 20 degrees Planets rotation rate 24 hours Planets water/land ratio 60/40 with an average ocean depth of 18,000 feet. Planets...

Good Morning Everyone, I noticed there isn't really an introduction section on these forums, so just throwing it up on here because it fits. I am 28 years old and considering a career shift. In high school I took the basic math and science minimums to get me to graduation, but at 24 years...

I'm not sure if I can explain my self elegantly but, basically I started studying Medicine. prior to this I finished my bachelor in physics / computer science & did a 1 year post grad course, Anyway, life happened and I don't really want anything to do with physics anymore. I'm finding...

Hello, I am a very introverted person and usually enjoy one or two close friends. My whole school life I perhaps had just 2 or 3 close friends. In college ofcouse I lost in touch of them and was all lonely. But it didn't mind me. I was busy in my studies and enjoying it. This month I had my...

Hi context: The USD/CNH currency pair has been trending down at an almost linear rate past 3 years, it's safe to assume it will continue to trend downwards for the short term foreseeable future as the Chinese govt slowly allows the Yuan to appreciate to its real value. The problem: Every...

A while back I managed to get (2) very nice surplus Nikon microscopes from UC Davis (CA). Since then I have taken several grass root and compost samples from my yard and mulch pile and cultured them in glass bottles with purified drinking water. I wind up with all kinds of life forms that...

the half life of C14 is 5730 years. if a sample of C14 has a mass of 20 micrograms at time t = 0, how much is left after 2000 years? I learned from somewhere that these exponential decay and half life problems use the equation y = ab^t or y = a(1+r)^t where y = total, a = initial...

I've just finished watching an interview with Richard Dawkins, where he describes what he considers to be transcendent moments during his life and career. I'd like to know what experiences members here have had which you may also describe as transcendent, and to what extent you would attribute...

Hi need help for order of magnitude estimates the question is give the numerical values for order of magnitude estimates for following . explain and justify assumptions (a) the number of cars that pass through an intersection of to busy streets during the evenning commune on a typical workday...

People have achieved injecting desired genetic code into bacteria. This is a big thing of course but it is far from creating life purely out of chemicals. Assuming 'life' to be the ability to interact with the environment for benefit and to reproduce, is it possible, at least theoretically, to...

"Engineers have no Life" Hey young people. When I was at university and came across that phrase, I thought what could be a better life than an engineer. He is doing what he likes best at his profession. Sad, I had little grasp of the reality of an engineer's life that time. Well, I work in...

I was solving a question which is the following : Give examples of 3 sets W,X,Y such that W ε X and X ε Y but W doesn't ε Y . I solved the question by taking the following 3 sets: W = {1,2} X = { 7 , 8 , W} Y = { 3 , 4 , X} looking it from the theory point of you I find that W is not...

Homework Statement I'm working on a project for my circuit analysis class in which we designed a circuit that involves a wheatstone bridge, takes the voltage difference and then amplifies it to a useable level. I am past that phase of the design, I have a working circuit for that on a...

Hi, I was wondering how to derive relationship between radiocative constant and half life, which is t1/2=ln2/b, where b=decay constant. It seemed like the it was just replaced into the equation A=A0(1/2)t/t1/2. Thanks in advance

Hello PF I am starting my life to be an astrophysicist and was wondering about how much do they get payed, i was thinking about probably becoming a professor if not working at lab hopefully for NASA seems unlikely though. I was also wondering what would be a good university for this, I've never...

So this summer I was planning to take calc 1 at a school, but they canceled it. Very aggravating. But I can take the course online somewhere, so will it hurt me later on to take it online? Also does anyone know of good accredited places that I could take calc 1? I was thinking BYU or I don't...

Homework Statement A patient comes into the hospital for a bone scan and is injected with a dye containing Tc-99m. The half-life of Tc-99m is 6.03 h. What fraction of the original technetium will remain the patient 36 h after the procedure if radioactive decay is the only means by which it is...

Could a star gain more mass from elements that "collide" with it? If a ×-sized meteor crashed into the sun, does it ultimately accrete to the sun?

So, I see a lot of my peers joining frats. Even my sister has joined one. With so many people joining now, what are the chances that it would help them hook up with a job later on in life? I mean, in the 1950's, the chances were high, but now it's 2013 - everyone's going to college and a large...

I heard Neil deGrasse Tyson talk about the life of a photon that was emitted from the Sun and hit oneself. He said that its entire life was an instant. I hope I'm not misquoting or misunderstanding what he said. With that in mind, does that instant take into account the thousand of years...