This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
Time and Space, Space and Time. Tick: a life form emerges; Tock: a sun explodes; Tick: a galaxy is ripped apart; Tock: a star is formed. Our universe is absolutely amazing.
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When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it is tied to everything else in the universe.
-John Muir (1838-1914) U. S. naturalist, explorer.
I am among those who think that science has great beauty. A scientist in his laboratory is not only a technician: he is also a child placed before natural phenomena which impress him like a fairy tale.
Marie Curie (1867 - 1934)
If one is sufficiently lavish with time, everything possible happens.
- Herodotus
"Rivers shift, oceans fall, and mountains drift."
-R.E.M., "Feeling Gravity's Pull"
We have a hunger of the mind which asks for knowledge of all around us, and the more we gain, the more is our desire; the more we see, the more we are capable of seeing.
-Maria Mitchell, Astronomer (1818-1889)
If nature were not beautiful, it would not be worth knowing, and if nature were not worth knowing, life would not be worth living.
-Jules Henri Poincaré (1854-1912), French mathematician.
The first time they tell you that the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standing still.... I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at 1,000 miles an hour and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at 67,000 miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go....
-The Doctor, "Rose"
(Originally published at En Tequila Es Verdad)
Image credits and references:
1. Monarch Life Cycle by SidPix.
2. NGC 6302 by NASA.
3. Arp 194 by NASA. More info at Wired.
4. Sharpless 2-106 by NASA.
5. Chemical Compound Being Drawn by DARPA.
6. Aerogel Cube & Peter Tsou by NASA.
7. Chlorion Aerarium by USGS.
8. Curiosity: Robot Geologist and Chemist by NASA.
9. Hubble Ultra Deep Field by NASA.
10. The Tonoplast Intrinsic Protein by S. Gattolin et al.
11. Earth and Sun by NASA. Modified version of image 44.