Conquering the Universe is Stupid

What is the cost of your ambition?

The answer to this question varies from person to person, and often correlates to the extent of their goals. Typically, the response is something along the lines of hard work and perseverance. Most people would never openly admit that they would harm others, even if it meant that they could finally attain their heart’s desires. But for some, they would be pretty cool with destroying anything or anyone that gets in their way, and they don’t care who knows it.

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Wait, hold on. How could anyone operate like that? Well, writers of space fiction often justify it in the same way: some folks are just really, really bad. And not “bad” like fun and cool, but bad as in truly awful on a fundamental level. Even terrible enough to eradicate entire star systems… and whatever life inhabits them.

Here’s the basic formula:

The only real variation from story to story can be found in their motives. What drives the bad guy to commit atrocities against innocent people? What’s in it for them? If every vicious act is done in the name of achieving ultimate power, what happens after they’ve achieved it? While the reasons may vary, the method is always the same: force all life to bend to their will, and destroy all who oppose them.

Consider the Sith from the Star Wars franchise. They spread evil throughout the universe to increase the power of the dark side. But why? They could just focus all of that energy on being good and achieve the same level of power. Even if they didn’t want to be as snooty and self-righteous as the Jedi, they could forge their own path to the light side without harming others. Why do innocent lifeforms have to suffer just so some dudes that they’ve never met can have cool lightning hands?

Not to mention the amount of work that a plan of that scope would require. The countless hours spent scheming and plotting, sowing the seeds of corruption wherever they can. The criminal organizations to construct, and influential people to threaten. And all of this not just on one planet, but all of them?

Of course, not every space villain goes to such trouble to get what they want. Let’s look at the example of Horde Prime from Netflix’s She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Rather than working with others, he created clones of himself and established a hive mine to connect them. With his vision of a perfect universe entirely under his control, he trampled all who dared defy his rule. Except… that’s still a lot of effort.

Ultimately, is it worth it? For an intergalactic control freak, perhaps it is. And a conflict of that scale is sure to make for an interesting story! But I’ve always struggled to understand the logic behind it. How could precious lives and complex civilizations be an acceptable trade for the satisfaction of one person’s egomania and greed? How entitled does someone need to be to cause so much death and destruction?

Luckily, these are fictional characters. We can just analyze them, delving into their carefully constructed backstories in order to understand them.

If only it were that easy in real life.

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HANAN OMAR - An alien cosplaying as a big nerd. I like thinking about big questions and writing down whatever my brain pukes up.

Mars vs. Earth: Who has the Greenest Thumb

Growing Crops on Mars

Martian agriculture might still be a theoretical possibility, but it's becoming increasingly feasible the more that it's researched. Especially with the recent discovery of water on Mars (although it is mostly in ice or vapour form).

photo of weightless astronaut in space with caption “gravity be like:”. photo by pixabay.

Martian crops are a subject of ongoing experimentation and research. The international space station (ISS) has ongoing experiments for growing crops in space-like conditions and has successfully harvested various crops. None of these conditions are zero gravity. The gravitational force aboard the ISS is approximately 89% of the gravity on Earth, but since the ISS is in orbit the astronauts feel weightless because of free fall. Mars has approximately 38% of the gravity of Earth, so there will be more challenges before growing anything on Mars.

These experiments consider growing conditions such as light exposure, water requirements, and the effects of low gravity on growth. Some successful harvests the astronauts on the ISS have enjoyed are leafy greens, peppers, and more. Just last year, they harvested green chilis and made themselves space tacos! It is downright fascinating to consider where these discoveries could lead.

But what about crops on Earth?

Although certainly less exciting than the prospect of Martian crops, Earthan crops are not without their unique challenges. Only, instead of it being a Martian agriculture problem, it’s a late-stage capitalism problem. Of how we can keep up with the increasing demand for crops with the level of soil erosion we are facing.

And you may be thinking, “what does soil have to do with space?” But think about it! Soil is just the inverse of space. Space occupies a great distance with little (discovered) life to speak of. On the other hand, every bit of soil is teeming with life! One square metre of rich soil can contain up to 1,000,000,000 organisms. Soil gets shoehorned as something mundane that we know everything about, but a closer look reveals so much diversity in ordinary soil. That is, if we preserve it properly.

Soil erosion sucks

image id: the flex tape meme. In the first panel, a person, labelled “humanity”, looks at a large container of water, labelled “soil erosion”. The container has a large hole and is leaking water. In the second panel, the person puts flex tape, labelled “growing food on mars”, over the hole. End ID].

image created by the author.

Soil erosion is an issue of critical importance. In recent years, there’s been a push for organic food and against genetically modified food (GMOs). But genetic modification can increase crop yield and reduce the need for pesticides.

Our current crop demand is not sustainable. We rely on topsoil for 95% of our crops and it is degrading ten times faster than it can be replenished. Thanks to pesticides, intensive soil tilling, synthetic fertilizers, lack of crop rotation, and increasing demand, the soil isn't given any opportunity to rest and recover. Humanity has not been following any soil tilling best practices. Over time, its quality inevitably degrades, and it will affect our ability to grow food. And that is purely a result of capitalism.

Growing crops on Mars is absolutely essential for long-term expeditions into space. After all, astronauts cannot rely on freeze-dried food for all their nutrition, it’s not sustainable for them. But soil erosion is not sustainable for us. This trend of running the soil we have into the ground spells worrying things for our future agricultural capabilities.

The technology that we need to resolve these issues isn't there yet, and we don't know when it will be. But despite the climate catastrophes and supply chain disruptions that our planet is currently facing, Earth is still the best equipped to meet our current agricultural needs. We cannot survive on space crops alone, no matter how cool they are.

Looking at the big possibilities has its place in our cultural imaginings. But looking closer into the evolving challenges of growing on Earth is important to sustain us until we have the technology to grow crops on Mars. If we can find a more sustainable way to do it, we can still be growing crops in 50 years. And who knows? By then, we may be able to go to Mars and have the technology needed for alternatives.

But for now, this planet is what we got. So, we should protect it while we can. Until such a time when we can abandon the Earth in a flaming heap, I'm here to remind everyone to keep Earth’s soil in your mind and hearts. Just in case Earth doesn’t implode as soon as we think. It’s always good to have a backup plan.

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existentialism collage made by milo

Milo Ezra Kane - Milo is a writing student who longs for the cold embrace of the void. When they aren’t talking about space, they can be found playing dnd, embracing the absurd, and screaming into the void about the weight of capitalism.

You can find a launch pad of other content Milo has created on linktree. Or hop over to medium to find more of their writing.

Black Holes - Brilliant but Deadly

Black holes! You know ‘em, you love ‘em. What’s not to like about giant vacuums that turn you into a spaghetti noodle if you get too close?

In more scientific terms, black holes are a huge amount of matter packed into a very small space. The result is a gravitational pull that’s so strong that nothing can escape, not even light.

But how do they happen?

If a star is big enough (around 3 times the size of the sun), nothing can keep it from collapsing under the influence of gravity, causing a supernova explosion. At one point, the surface of the star will reach the “event horizon.” When it reaches this point, time on the star slows and literally stops.

Then, because time is standing still, the star can’t collapse any further. It remains frozen in the middle of caving in on itself and becomes a black hole.

Types of black holes

There are 2 major kinds of black holes: stellar mass and supermassive.

Stellar mass black holes are the average Joes of black holes. They are the remnants of massive stars and are all over the universe. In fact, scientists predict that there are ten million to a billion stellar mass black holes in the Milky Way alone.

Image courtesy of nasa

On the other end of the spectrum of giant space vacuums, supermassive black holes are millions, if not billions of times as massive as the Sun. Astronomers believe that supermassive black holes are at the centre of almost all large galaxies, including our own.

The formation of supermassive black holes is theorized to be a chain reaction of collisions of stars that results in extremely huge stars, which promptly collapse to form medium-sized black holes. All these black holes gravitate towards the centre of the galaxy and merge together to create a supermassive black hole.

So, there’s only two sizes of black holes with no in between? Well, that’s what scientists thought until recently.

The newly discovered mid-mass black hole has the mass of about 500 to 1000 Suns, and kind of wrecked a bunch of theories about the formation of black holes.

What’s inside?

The center of a black hole is called the singularity. It doesn’t really exist.

I want to call it the point of no return to be dramatic, but honestly if you’re anywhere near a black hole, you’ve already reached that point.

The singularity is the place where matter sucked into the black hole is compressed down to an infinitely tiny point… theoretically.

Or it could be where matter gets squished into the smallest possible volume, a Planck length. Everything that has ever entered the black hole gets compressed into a microscopic ball… theoretically.

Black holes could be filled with dark energy—the stuff that causes the universe to expand. As things get sucked in, they can’t actually get past the event horizon because of all that dark energy and instead remains on the surface… theoretically.

All this to say, we don’t know for sure what’s inside of black holes. I mean, it’s not like we can send someone inside to go check.

Rotating Black Holes

All of the fun stuff I’ve mentioned already are about boring, stationary black holes, but rotating black holes are where things get beyond cool (if the theories are correct, that is).

Image courtesy of pixabay

The spin of a rotating black hole turns the singularity into a ring. Once you pass through the ring, you enter a real-life wormhole that spits you out into an entirely different part of the universe.

Of course, if you were to encounter the inside of a rotating black hole, you would be faced with a wall of infinitely energetic radiation.

The black hole is pulling radiation in, but the rotation speed of the singularity ring pushes the radiation back. The turning point is called the inner horizon.

That’s the entire past history of the universe blasted into your face in less than a second!

Too bad you’ll be too busy being a noodle to notice.

Sources

https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/black-holes

https://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_sources/blackholes.html

https://www.space.com/what-happens-black-hole-center

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JAX YOUNG — Space enthusiast here to take you on a tour of the cosmos. Gets emotionally attached to Mars rovers. Virgo.

The Stars are Just Like Us, Only Cooler-Looking and Better

The earliest humans would gaze out into the night, their terror over the sun’s disappearance turning into wonder over the countless twinkling lights illuminating the dark sky. Eventually, they noticed that these lights, remaining in the same configurations, were shifting; it was as though the constellations were slowly rotating around the world. They realised that by observing the position of the stars, they could keep track of time. This discovery allowed the ancients to measure out the seasons and years.

While that might not seem like much, understanding the passage of time is what gives us the ability to plan ahead. Mankind was able to figure out the best time of year for planting or harvesting specific crops. They could predict natural disasters — like floods and storms — and take measures to protect themselves. Something that we now take for granted was revolutionary at the dawn of civilization, and it propelled humanity forward even faster.

The Mesopotamians recognized the significance of the stars, Moon, and planets in their lives. Without them, they would not be able to enjoy the many benefits of forecasting the future. Before long, the stars became more than just a pretty calendar; they became gods. How else could the ancients explain their influence on the seasons? Their magnificent shining appearance? Their longevity in a time when the average life expectancy was thirty?

Fueled by their desire to understand these celestial bodies, the Mesopotamians dedicated centuries to studying them. They were even able to use their research to predict eclipses. Do you know how to do that? I don’t. I have the internet to help me, and I still miss them.

Over time, the night sky became a reference book to guide humanity in all areas. The constellations became symbols, each representing its own period of one month. The month in which a person was born allowed astrologers to chart out their fate. Throughout the civilised world, the study of astrology evolved and became more complex. 

Relationship astrology determines your compatibility with the people in your life. Medical astrology studies your health and predicts how illness will affect you. There’s even horary astrology, a practice that can provide answers to specific questions! No matter the issue, the stars seem to have a solution for everything.

But why are people so inclined to believe in them? Even when we only knew them to be tiny specks of light, why have we always had the collective instinct to revere them? At this point, we know that these brilliant constellations are composed of fiery gas balls hundreds, thousands, even millions of lightyears away. They aren’t even in the same configurations they were in when they were named. And yet, the practice of astrology has stood the test of time.

Perhaps we are compelled to believe in the stars because they have already given us so much. Without them, mankind might not have lasted as long as it has. Or perhaps the same wonder our ancestors felt under the glittering beauty of the night sky lives on in our hearts even now.

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HANAN OMAR - An alien cosplaying as a big nerd. I like thinking about big questions and writing down whatever my brain pukes up.

The mystery of dark matter

Wondering what space is made of? Well, so is everyone else.

It all started with Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky in 1933. He was measuring the speed at which the Coma galaxy cluster spun and noticed that the cluster was moving at a speed that implied much more mass than what was visible. Zwicky theorized there was some sort of “missing mass” keeping the galaxies from escaping the cluster’s gravitational pull.

In the 1970s, American astronomer Vera Rubin and her colleagues confirmed Zwicky’s theory. They observed that the mass of the stars within an average galaxy is only about 10 percent of what is required to keep those stars orbiting the galaxy’s centre.

Thus, the mystery of dark matter was born.

Composition

But what is all this “missing mass”? Space fog? Alien interference? Billions of tonnes of invisible primordial soup, the first ever forbidden snack? Maybe.

Image courtesy of unsplash

The truth is, we know more about what dark matter is not than what it is.

The first thing we know is that it isn’t visible to the eye. Dark matter is, well… dark. Its presence is detected by its gravitational pull rather than its luminosity or its ability to reflect light. This means that scientists need to get creative when it comes to measuring dark matter (but I’ll get to that later).

It also isn’t antimatter. Dark matter doesn’t produce the unique gamma rays antimatter does when it collides with regular matter.

Finally, it is not the same as the dark clouds of matter in and between galaxies. These gases are made up of baryons (protons, neutrons and the like), familiar and recognizable to any scientist with a degree in astrophysics. But a common belief is that dark matter isn’t baryonic at all. Instead, it’s assumed to be made up of particles that exist in theory but have yet to be observed.

That’s a longer way of saying we have no idea what this stuff is made of.

Measurement

It’s later, and now is the time to talk about measuring dark matter!

Scientists can indirectly measure dark matter through a method called gravitational lensing. Like with optical lenses, light passing through a gravitational lens gets bent, not unlike myself when I advise my brother to put anything but hot sauce on his vegetables.

When light from distant stars passes through a galaxy, the gravity of the matter in that galaxy causes the light to bend. As a result, the light looks like it’s coming from somewhere other than its actual origin. Many NASA scientists use the Hubble Space Telescope to observe the amount of bending to learn about the dark matter present in a certain galaxy or cluster.

image courtesy of unsplash

Theories

There are no small number of theories surrounding dark matter, but I’ll only cover some of the major ones.

Dark matter could be brown dwarfs—stars that never ignited because they lacked the necessary mass. Or maybe the remnants of the cores of dead small or medium sized stars, called white dwarfs. Dark matter might even be neutron stars, or giant galaxy-sized black holes, or literally magic.

Okay, probably not that last one.

The issue with those theories is that there just aren’t enough failed or dead stars to account for the amount of dark matter in the universe.

Dark matter makes up roughly 30 percent of the universe’s matter-energy composition (literally everything in the universe). I mean, that’s a substantial percentage, but it’s not that much, right? It may seem that way until you learn that everything on Earth and everything NASA has ever observed with all their fancy telescopes adds up to less than 5 percent of the universe. What a way to make you feel small.

The rest of the composition is dark energy, but that’s a whole other can of worms.

Conclusion

To this day, the nature of dark matter remains one of the greatest astronomical mysteries. Despite being aware of it for nearly a century, we know very few things about dark matter that aren’t (at least in part) theoretical. All we know for sure is that it’s there, and it’s keeping all those really pretty galaxies together. Everyone say thank you, dark matter!

Sources

https://www.britannica.com/science/dark-matter

https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy

https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/9-12/features/what-is-dark-matter.html

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JAX YOUNG — Space enthusiast here to take you on a tour of the cosmos. Gets emotionally attached to Mars rovers. Virgo.

Are We All Connected?

Looking out into the infinite universe, it’s hard to see what the purpose of our existence is. Is it all just random chaos, or is everything a piece of a larger picture? This question has been pondered throughout all of human history. Philosophers reflect and reason, mathematicians and physicists pore over facts and data. They spend lifetimes in pursuit of the truth, but each answer just reveals new questions.

As it turns out, not knowing things leaves plenty of room for our imaginations to run wild. Between the known and the unknown exists the creative genre of space fiction. What lies beyond the realm of human understanding is a playground of speculation – an infinite hardware store of tools and supplies to craft endless stories. And yet, one theme seems to come up all throughout the genre: connection. More specifically, the connection of every living thing in the universe.

In Star Wars, there’s the Force. In Voltron, quintessence. She-Ra could tap into the energy of a planet and propel it through dimensions! Each fictional voyage into space seems to find the characters face-to-face with some massive well of energy to which every living being is linked.

The reason behind this is rather simple; space fiction is just a whimsical, emotional exploration into the nature of existence. It is yet another vehicle heading toward the goal of understanding our place in the universe, but it takes the scenic route. While it is often inspired by existing research and philosophy, space fiction takes liberties that make the void seem less overwhelming and pants-shittingly scary. It’s similar to religion, except disagreements just lead to nerds arguing online instead of war and human tragedy.

The storylines of space fiction that pursue this idea of interconnectedness often follow the same basic formula: a small number of people, some good and some bad, have the ability to draw power from what is fundamentally the essence of life itself. The hero must learn to wield this power in order to face a great evil, overcoming their own personal struggles along the way. Throughout their training, they form a deeper understanding of this energy and learn to set aside their individuality to become part of something bigger. Written all out like this, it seems kind of cheesy.

And yet…

There’s something about this story arc that speaks to me. And judging by the obsessive enthusiastic fanbases supporting these kinds of stories, it must resonate with a lot of other people as well. There’s something incredibly comforting about being part of something more significant, something that we can feel even if we can’t understand what it is.

It could be that there is a God that created everything and watches over us. Or maybe we’re all part of the Living Force, and when we die we become part of the Cosmic Force. We could just be one being experiencing itself in infinite ways. Or we could be nothing.

But until we know for sure, we can keep writing stories about the endless possibilities.

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HANAN OMAR - An alien cosplaying as a big nerd. I like thinking about big questions and writing down whatever my brain pukes up.