I’ve always marveled at scientific findings, but some continue to baffle me. I know, most of you probably don’t get hung up on such esoteric matters. You probably live your life without thinking once about the possibility of a multiverse or the fact that there’s another galaxy veering straight towards us. That’s great – not about our galaxies colliding, but that you don’t dwell on these things. But please, allow me a few moments to express both awe and wonder, and possibly fear, at a few scientific concepts that continue to blow my mind...
Gravity. That’s right, what’s with gravity? We take it for granted but this is a challenging concept to grasp. To think that we as humans can live at different locations on a sphere-shaped piece of rock and not even know it.
And to think that each of us – every single thing that has mass – also exerts a gravitational force. You exert gravity on me. Hardly noticeable, but you do. Not only that, but gravity is somehow related to time. The further one moves from Earth, the slower time passes. This is why clocks in space have to be adjusted to match clocks on Earth. This blows my mind.
Not only that, but gravity affects light. As light escapes a gravitational pull, it turns redder, as red has a longer, lazier wavelength than other colours. If the gravitational pull is extremely strong, like in the case of a black hole, no colours escape. A black hole is a relatively small blob of matter so dense that it gobbles up everything in its path, light included.
Evolution. Sometimes it becomes hard for me to wrap my mind around a theory I was told was bunk while growing up. As a teenager living in a Christian community, I was told over and over again that it was only a theory. I only later learned how much evidence there is to support it. Even prominent Christian scientists like Francis Collins cannot deny the evidence. But I digress....
The marvel of human evolution is enough to blow the mind, but take a moment to consider marsupials. Largely isolated on the island of Australia, these animals were allowed to diversify like nowhere else. Almost every one of these animals has a pouch to raise their young. We’re talking koalas, Tasmanian devils, kangaroos, and the now-extinct Australia tiger. That’s right, as recently as the 1930s, there used to be a dog-like animal with tigerish stripes on its back end and a pouch on its underside. Even the males had a pouch, for crying out loud! (See the full documentary on Netflix’s Animal.)
Then there’s this: A kangaroo that lives in trees. This in itself proves that evolution is a process, as this kangaroo has not quite adapted to living above ground. Incredibly awkward, they kind of hop along the branches. Their young barely know what to do when they first come out of the pouch. “I was never meant to be up here!” they must think as they look down at the forest floor beneath them. Some fall to their deaths, but enough survive to perpetuate a population of kangaroos in trees. In another million years, they may finally get it right and evolve into, um... marsupial monkeys?
The Multiverse. Uh, let’s skip that one. I’m not ready.
The Universe. Much simpler, but massive. I'm afraid it’s more massive than you could ever imagine. There are up to a trillion stars in our Milky Way galaxy alone. There are up to a trillion galaxies in our universe. Assuming each galaxy has the same number of stars, that means there could be up to 24 septillion stars (that’s a 1 with 24 zeroes after it) in our universe... of which there may be more than one.
Not only that, but these galaxies are moving further and further apart. In a few billion years, we won’t be able to see most of these galaxies from Earth anymore. That is, except for one, because it will be colliding with ours. In a mere five billion years, the Andromeda galaxy will integrate with the Milky Way to create a night sky that will rival the greatest Canada Day fireworks. If you’re still around then, I would definitely check it out.
Microorganisms. In grade 12, I was flummoxed to learn there were little parasites living on my eyelashes. Now I learn there are actually more microorganisms in our bodies than our own human cells. Trillions of microbes are co-existing with us, within us. In fact, we wouldn’t be alive without them.
We tend to think that microorganisms, namely viruses and bacteria, are largely bad, when those that have evolved in us are actually good. The pathogens that tend to harm us are those that have evolved in other species. The coronavirus is such a virus, as is HIV-AIDS. As we know, these can kill millions of people and other animals, too.
But for the most part, we can thank these microscopic menaces for keeping us alive: Aiding in digestion, warding off sickness and even creating mental stability (a lack of gut microbes has been linked to anxiety and depression). We can increase our good gut bacteria by eating probiotic yogurt and, if you prefer, a stinky fermented cabbage called kimchi.
I’ll leave it at that. Enjoy the wonders of the day.
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