Exploring the Deep Oceans

The deep sea seems almost to belong to another planet. Bizarre, little understood creatures live there in perpetual darkness and under mountainous pressures — vampire squids, sawtooth eels, sea spiders. They and many others have largely eluded science or appear for a tantalizing moment before the headlamps of submersibles only to vanish again. Despite decades of exploration, less than a tenth of the deep ocean realm has been explored, despite it being the largest habitat for life on Earth. There are a lot of sea monsters yet to be discovered.


The deep sea is invisible to anyone on a ship, of course. It's just the open ocean. But there are subtle signs even on the surface that great depths lie below. Creatures like great whales, albatrosses, tuna and sharks may be seen. But no sea gulls, harbor seals or otters are found in these expanses. To live in this part of the ocean, an animal has to swim all the time. There is no place to rest or hide from natural enemies.


Many species of deep ocean fish have special adaptations to living in extremely high pressure, low light conditions. Viper fish (found at 80-1600 meters - about a mile down) are some of the most wicked looking fish dredged up from the depths. Some of them are black as night all over with light organs in strategic places on their bodies, including one on a long dorsal fin that serves as a lure for the fish it preys upon. Some viperfish (and many other deep ocean fish species) don't have any pigment (color) at all - they're "see through". They also have enlarged eyes, presumably for gathering as much light as possible where there is little or no light at all. The light organs create lights by using a chemical process called bioluminescence.


Other deep ocean fish, such as the the gulper eel have a hinged skull, which can rotate upward to swallow large prey. They also have large stomachs which can stretch to accommodate a fish much larger than itself. The gulper eel is particularly well-known for its impossibly large mouth - big enough to get its mouth around (and swallow!) creatures much bigger than itself. Fish that live down here must adapt to a very low food supply, eating only "scraps" that sink down from above, or sometimes eating each other.

The Big Bang

The Big Bang theory is an effort to explain what happened at the very beginning of our universe. Discoveries in astronomy and physics have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that our universe did in fact have a beginning. Prior to that moment there was nothing; during and after that moment there was something: our universe. The big bang theory is an effort to explain what happened during and after that moment.

According to the standard theory, our universe sprang into existence as "singularity" around 13.7 billion years ago. What is a "singularity" and where does it come from? No one knows for sure. Singularities are zones which defy our current understanding of physics. They are thought to exist at the core of "black holes." Black holes are, well we all know what black holes are. The pressure is thought to be so intense that finite matter is actually squished into infinite density (a mathematical concept which truly boggles the mind). These zones of infinite density are called "singularities." Our universe is thought to have begun as an infinitesimally small, infinitely hot, infinitely dense, something - a singularity. Where did it come from? We don't know. Why did it appear? We don't know.

After its initial appearance, it apparently inflated (the "Big Bang"), expanded and cooled, going from very, very small and very, very hot, to the size and temperature of our current universe. It continues to expand and cool to this day and we are inside of it: incredible creatures living on a unique planet, circling a beautiful star clustered together with several hundred billion other stars in a galaxy soaring through the cosmos, all of which is inside of an expanding universe that began as an infinitesimal singularity which appeared out of nowhere for reasons unknown. This is the Big Bang theory.

Solar Systems and Galaxies

Galaxies are large systems of stars and interstellar matter, typically containing several million to some trillion stars, of masses between several million and several trillion times that of our Sun, of an extension of a few thousands to several 100,000s light years, typically separated by millions of light years distance. They come in a variety of flavors: Spiral, lenticular, elliptical and irregular. Besides simple stars, they typically contain various types of star clusters and nebulae. We live in a giant spiral galaxy, the Milky Way galaxy, of 100,000 light years in diameter and a mass of roughly a trillion solar masses.

Spiral galaxies usually consist of two major components: A flat, large disk which often contains a lot of interstellar matter and young star clusters and associations, which have emerged from them, often arranged in striking spiral patterns and/or bar structures. The luminosity and mass relation of these components seem to vary in a wide range, giving rise to a classification scheme. The pattern structures in the disk are caused by gravitational interaction with neighboring galaxies.

Lenticular-These are, in short, "spiral galaxies without spiral structure", or smooth disk galaxies, where stellar formation has stopped long ago, because the interstellar matter was used up. From their appearance and stellar contents, they can often hardly be distinguished from ellipticals.

Elliptical galaxies are actually of elliptical shape (for those of you who failed geometry, that means they look like cosmic footballs or eggs). They have little or no global angular momentum (do not rotate as a whole). Normally, elliptical galaxies contain very little or no interstellar matter. They appear like luminous bulges of spirals, without a disk component.

Irregular galaxies-Often due to distortion by the gravitation of their intergalactic neighbors, these galaxies do not fit well into the scheme of disks and ellipsoids, but exhibit peculiar shapes. A subclass of distorted disks is however frequently occuring.

The Birth and Death of a Star

Our Sun is a main sequence star. It started its life as a nebula (or protostar). Once they accumulate enough energy, fusion ignition occurs. This sends the star to its next stage in life, the main sequence.

Main Sequence Stars - The main sequence is the point in a star's evolution during which it maintains a stable nuclear reaction. It is this stage during which a star will spend most of its life. Our Sun is a main sequence star. A main sequence star will experience only small fluctuations in luminosity and temperature. The amount of time a star spends in this phase depends on its mass. Large, massive stars will have a short main sequence stage while less massive stars will remain in main sequence much longer. Very massive stars will exhaust their fuel in only a few hundred million years. Smaller stars, like the Sun, will burn for several billion years during their main sequence stage. Very massive stars will become blue giants during their main sequence.

Red Giants - A red giant is a large star that is reddish or orange in color. It represents the late phase of development in a star's life, when its supply hydrogen has been exhausted and helium is being fused. This causes the star to collapse, raising the temperature in the core. The outer surface of the star expands and cools, giving it a reddish color. Red giants are very large, reaching sizes of over 100 times the star's original size. Very large stars will form what are called red supergiants. Betelgeuse (below) in Orion is an example of a red supergiant star.

White Dwarfs - A white dwarf is the remnant of an average-sized star that has passed through the red giant stage of its life. After the star has used up its remaining fuel, the star may expel some of its matter into space, creating a planetary nebula. What remains is the dead core of the star. The core glows because of its residual heat. Eventually the core will radiate all of its heat into space and cool down to become what is known as a black dwarf. White dwarf stars are very dense. Their size is about the same as that of the Earth, but the contain as much mass as the Sun. They are extremely hot, reaching temperatures of over 100,000 degrees.

Black Holes-A black hole is what is left over after a red supergiant (Above average size red giant) implodes (Supernova) and leaves a black hole. It is region of space in which the gravitational field is so powerful that nothing can escape after having fallen in. It gets its name for obvious reasons, it is so strong that not even light can escape it. There are many controversies over black holes and where they lead. I believe that it will be argued about for many years.

Science VS Pseudoscience

Science as defined by Websters dictionary is "the observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena." But it is so much more than that. Science is where we get all of our reasoning from. It helps us understand the world that we live in. Science is divided into two main subdivisions: Natural Science and Social Science. Natural Science is the study of natural phenomena (biology, chemistry, physics). Social Science is the study of human behavior and societies (psychology, sociology). Science is based off of facts and ideas that have been tested and proven. Scientist start with the facts and draw conclusions from them.

Pseudoscience on the other hand takes conclusions and attempts to find facts to back it up. Pseudoscience is all about guessing. It has no concrete evidence supporting it. Pseudosciences are often based on or about ideology, culture, or commercial goals. If someone were to find a flaw or some information that contradicted or showed that the original idea was wrong; then that evidence would either be ignored or suppressed. When someone explains a pseudoscience, it is often vague and confusing. Some prime examples are palm reading, astrology, and intelligent design (type of evolution theory).

I was suprised to see how bad pseudosciences could be. They have the nerve to find out information that conflicts with their conclusion and they ignore it. People who are in the pseudoscience field are ignorant, ranting fools. They should be forced to be janitors and DMV workers the rest of their lives!