Five Science Facts That Will Blow Your Mind

[Doomsday101]

For the next five days, New Yorkers will be learning about science not from a PowerPoint presentation but by watching it firsthand.

The World Science Festival is taking over New York City from June 1 to 5, bringing together scientists, celebrities, researchers and more to discuss the fascinating world of science. Celebrating its fourth year, the fledgling festival has turned into a seasoned veteran, attracting over 185,000 attendants last year, and the festival creators expect the numbers to be even more impressive this year.

The main goal of the festival: to highlight a topic that creators feel hasn't been given proper credit in both the media and mainstream society.

“We realized that science is not presented to a general audience in a way that is truly reflective of the astonishing content,” Tracy Day, co-founder of the World Science Festival, told FoxNews.com. “Usually science is kind of siloed. It’s kind of over there somewhere and the general audience never actually sees it."

"We realized this was an incredible opportunity to take science out of that siloed existence and bring it to the center of popular culture.”


The World Science Festival promises a number of mind blowing revelations. Just consider these ideas, among the many to be presented over the next few days:

* The first person who will live 1,000 years has already been born;

* Our daily physical realities are merely holographic projections formed by light passing through a thin surface layer that surrounds the universe;

* Doctors will soon be able to diagnose diseases simply by smelling them;

* As depicted in the film, “The Matrix,” the workings of the universe may be simulations from a super-advanced computer that runs our daily lives like so much software;

* thinking machines will take over the comprehension of data, concepts, and behaviors that are too big for human minds.



Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011...nd-2011-world-science-festival/#ixzz1OVU9yOyf

 

[TheCount]

Those are facts?

 

[Doomsday101]

Those are facts?

In their world I guess they are.

 

[YosemiteSam]

* The first person who will live 1,000 years has already been born;

Let me guess, they are referring to cryonics?

 

[Doomsday101]

Let me guess, they are referring to cryonics?

I don't know. I have heard that life expectancy could one day be 150 to 200 years of age. My only question is who can afford that.

As for living to be 1,000? you got me on that.


I found this tib bit:

Dr. Aubrey de Grey, best-selling author of "Ending Aging: The Rejuvenation Breakthroughs That Could Reverse Human Aging in Our Lifetime." He believes regenerative medicine could, in a matter of decades, extend life expectancy to 1000 years.

 

[joseephuss]

I don't know. I have heard that life expectancy could one day be 150 to 200 years of age. My only question is who can afford that.

As for living to be 1,000? you got me on that

I suppose in the far future a person could live to be 1000, but I doubt that person has been born right now. I don't even think there is a person alive right now that will live to be 150 or 200 years. We still have a ways to go to get people to live that long.

Even if they could get people to live that long, what would be the quality of life? Does someone want to live a couple of 100 years with Alzheimer's or schizophrenia?

I agree that these things are not facts, neither are they things that blow my mind. They are 5 interesting theories.

 

[Doomsday101]

I suppose in the far future a person could live to be 1000, but I doubt that person has been born right now. I don't even think there is a person alive right now that will live to be 150 or 200 years. We still have a ways to go to get people to live that long.

Even if they could get people to live that long, what would be the quality of life? Does someone want to live a couple of 100 years with Alzheimer's or schizophrenia?

I agree that these things are not facts, neither are they things that blow my mind. They are 5 interesting theories.

Let me just say I don't buy into this so called science facts either

As for living 1,000 years even if it could be done is it worth it? Stop and think of an already over crowed world we have now.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I don't see it happening. You can't prevent aging completely. Just because someone finds a way to rejuvenate skin or something like that, the heart, lungs, kidneys etc age too. Not to mention plaque (not teeth, in arteries) build ups, etc and even diseases of different types will kill you first. (heart disease or something similar) That isn't even talking about the deterioration of the brain. Not only from age, but from what people do to themselves.

1,000 year ain't happening. Maybe 150s, but at that point the overcrowding and pollution issues will become so bad that they will start up a Logan's Run scenario.

 

[LeonDixson]

I don't know. I have heard that life expectancy could one day be 150 to 200 years of age.

I watched a show on the History Channel that talked about this. As long as our cells reproduce normally we don't age as fast. But there comes a time when the cells don't reproduce and then we age rapidly. What causes the cell to quit reproducing is interesting. Each chromosome has a cap on each end of it called a telomere. The telomer doesn't fully replicate itself each time the cell replicates and thus keeps getting shorter and shorter over time. When the telomere is completely gone the chromosome ends start to fray and it can't replicate. The telomere is like the plastic tip on the end of a shoelace that keeps is from fraying.

Cancer cells have long telomeres that don't shorten when it replicates. That why they don't die a normal death.

Scientists are researching a substance that keeps the telomers of normal cells from dying off, which could extend our age to 180 or 200 years. They have to walk the tightrope though because they could turn the cells into cancer cells.

At least, that is the way I understood the show.

 

[ZeroClub]

Our daily physical realities are merely holographic projections formed by light passing through a thin surface layer that surrounds the universe;

So it's all smoke and mirrors?

 

[joseephuss]

So it's all smoke and mirrors?

It does seem more philosophy than science. What is reality? Even if it is only a holograph that we all share, then that holograph could be considered reality.

 

[Doomsday101]

I watched a show on the History Channel that talked about this. As long as our cells reproduce normally we don't age as fast. But there comes a time when the cells don't reproduce and then we age rapidly. What causes the cell to quit reproducing is interesting. Each chromosome has a cap on each end of it called a telomere. The telomer doesn't fully replicate itself each time the cell replicates and thus keeps getting shorter and shorter over time. When the telomere is completely gone the chromosome ends start to fray and it can't replicate. The telomere is like the plastic tip on the end of a shoelace that keeps is from fraying.

Cancer cells have long telomeres that don't shorten when it replicates. That why they don't die a normal death.

Scientists are researching a substance that keeps the telomers of normal cells from dying off, which could extend our age to 180 or 200 years. They have to walk the tightrope though because they could turn the cells into cancer cells.

At least, that is the way I understood the show.

I don't doubt that one day people could live 150 to 200 years, really it is amazing that in 1900 life expectantcy was 49.2 today it is 78

 

[YosemiteSam]

It does seem more philosophy than science. What is reality? Even if it is only a holograph that we all share, then that holograph could be considered reality.

You would be surprised to find out that much of scientific discovery grew out of philosophy first.

 

[LeonDixson]

I don't doubt that one day people could live 150 to 200 years, really it is amazing that in 1900 life expectantcy was 49.2 today it is 78

I agree. I also agree with your statement above about being able to afford it. Where life expectancy increases slowly over time finances, insurance etc. has a chance to adapt and adjust. If science made it possible virtually overnight for us all to live even to 120 years, we would outlive our retirement and Social Security would go bust even faster than it already is.

 

[burmafrd]

The 49.2 thing was deceptive. If you lived to the age of 20 you had a very good chance of seeing 60 at least. That is what skews things so much; infant mortality and the death of children.

 

[Doomsday101]

I agree. I also agree with your statement above about being able to afford it. Where life expectancy increases slowly over time finances, insurance etc. has a chance to adapt and adjust. If science made it possible virtually overnight for us all to live even to 120 years, we would outlive our retirement and Social Security would go bust even faster than it already is.

I agree and that is only looking at it from the US point of view but how about worldwide where starvation already exists. Even here we would not have the resources to take on that amount of people

 

[Doomsday101]

The 49.2 thing was deceptive. If you lived to the age of 20 you had a very good chance of seeing 60 at least. That is what skews things so much; infant mortality and the death of children.

I agree but even the margin from the 50’s or 60’s compared today is greater and many do expect life expectancy to increase over the next 10 to 20 years. Will it be to the extent of 150 or 200? Who knows but I don't think it is that far fetched. Question I would have is feasible when you take in the realities of the world.

 

[Wimbo]

* The first person who will live 1,000 years has already been born;

THere can be only one...

 

[revospeed]

THere can be only one...

Duncan Macleod>>>Conner Macleod.

 

[ZeroClub]

THere can be only one...