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Affinity
AFFINITY: Attraction between related things, including even the harmonic forces that pre-exist matter. String Theory tells us ‘one-dimensional harmonic forces’ are the basic building blocks of all aspects of the universe whether visible or...
Debunking the Cradle of Civilization Myth
ABRAHAM: - The Biblical character Abraham is of primary importance in a complex of religions lead by the Judaeo/Christian/Islamic labels. He has been attributed with great wisdom and yet he behaved in atrocious ways. It is likely that there was...
Fall Bird Migration
Fall is the time of the year when many birds are busy preparing for the long journey to their winter homes. Migration is the movement of birds and other animals from one home to another. Some birds will fly thousands of miles to reach their winter...
Greetings For better Communication
Why do we greet each other?
Greetings are probably as old as the civilization. People always
greet each other whenever they meet or talk. A good morning,
hello, how are you, how are things at your end, etc are some of
the common ways to...
The Science of Science!
What is Science! ?
First of all, Science! is not the same as science.
Science! is the study and knowledge of all things
scientific, quasiscientific, or pseudoscientific. Anything that
is obscure, incoherent, or improbable is made clear...
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The Impossible Machine
There are a lot of complicated machines in the world today. Some are marvels of design and engineering. Only a few years ago, they would have seemed the stuff of science-fiction. Nothing invented today will be like the machine that I’m going to build.
I’m going to build a machine. It will be extremely complex, more than a television, or a VCR, or even a computer. This machine will be so complex that it will contain volumes of complicated information locked in a special code. Oh, and it operates itself, that’s right! It doesn’t need someone to “run” it.
What if I told you that it that it will be so smart that it can even repair and replace itself so it will never wear out? Even complicated machines wear out and have to be fixed. Even these machines don’t operate themselves. But mine will! Wouldn’t you like to have a car like that? Did I mention that it will even reproduce and replace itself. I mean it will create exact functional replicas of itself.
Sounds extremely difficult, doesn’t it? Maybe impossible is a better word. I’m still not finished telling you about my machine. This machine can “fuel” itself so it won’t need gasoline or batteries. It doesn’t run on nuclear power either.
It will be in some ways like a small city complete with it’s own transportation, manufacturing, even it own power plant. And laboratory, since it operates by complex chemical reactions, much too complex to even begin to describe here. With all this activity it will have to a waste disposal system too -- it cleans itself.
A amchine that could do all this would have to huge...wouldn’t it? So with all this, how big will it be? What if I said my machine will be miniature?
So small, in fact, that it will be invisible...almost. Unless of course, you use a microscope, a very powerful one.
Impressed? You should be! By now you know that I can’t even begin to make this machine, even with all the technology today or in the next thousand years. So I’ll confess right now that I can’t make it, even if I wanted to. So it would be no way that it could just happen by accident? And I don’t feel bad that I can’t build it because neither can anyone else. Not even a team of scientists, engineers, and inventors.
Now let me say that I am not talking about science-fiction, I am talking about something that is very real. And it’s been around for thousands of years, too. It’s not really a machine, though because no machine will ever be able to be so complex and do so many things by itself. A machine, by comparison, is a crude and stupid device. But this is real. It’s called a “cell”. Your body is made up of literally billions of them, each functioning on it’s own without any instruction from you. They all work together with every other cell in the body to maintain and support life. They never go to class but you will have to if you want to begin to understand what little we actually know about them.
Maybe you were not aware that a cell was so much more wonderful than any machine made by man could ever be. And more complicated, too. More than any machine that could be built.
Which brings me to the question...Who did?
About the Author
Jim Henderson is currently employed in the field of environmental regulatory compliance. He enjoys writing as a past time and has had several articles published in various on-line publications.
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| Science/AAAS | Scientific research, news and career information |
| International weekly science journal, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). |
| www.sciencemag.org |
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| Science/AAAS | Table of Contents: 1 December 2006; 314 (5804) |
| This Week in Science: Editor summaries of this week's papers. Science 1 December 2006: 1349. ... 2006 American Association for the Advancement of Science. ... |
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| Science in the Yahoo! Directory |
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| Open Directory - Science |
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| Science - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| Sciences versus Science: the plural of the term is often used but is difficult to ... Science education is also a very vibrant field of study and research. ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
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| Popular Science |
| Monthly magazine about current science and technology. |
| www.popsci.com |
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| Science/AAAS | ScienceNOW: The Latest News Headlines from the ... |
| AAAS web magazine. Some free sample stories, subscription required for full text. |
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| Science NetLinks: Resources for Teaching Science |
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| Cool Science for Curious Kids |
| Fun and interactive site to help kids appreciate science. Why are snakes like lizards, and monkeys like moose? Find out here. |
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| Welcome to the Science Museum |
| London museum and library of science. Exhibitions cover all areas of science and technology. Includes online exhibits and a learning area. |
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