Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Neanderthals Were Absolute Freaks Of Nature

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxgQcYGvWG0

Neanderthals had a broad nose, sloping forehead, and bony eye bridges.  I've seen humans with mild similar features as humans are quite diverse.  People of European ancestry often have a small percentage of Neanderthal DNA.

Around 50,000 years ago, Homosapiens had mostly died off due to a drought in Africa caused by an ice age in Europe.  Around 7,000 individuals lived on the southern coast of Africa and had adapted to this life.  They fished for first the first time, built the first permanent structures, and invented new tools.  As the drought went away, these humans expanded their territory at a rate of about a mile per year.  Within 2,000 years they were reaching other continents.

A skull was found in the vicinity of Isreal that was 50% Homosapien and 50% Neanderthal.  It is believed that as Homosapiens moved into Europe they sometimes bred with Neanderthals.

Brian Cox Found New Solution To The Fermi Paradox And It Isn't Good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSE_mnW-MWU

Reportedly, within 500 million years, the Earth will be a cold, dry, dead planet because the tectonic plates will stop moving. However, it isn't necessarily true that we would have to go to another star system.  We might find technological solutions to save the planet or create sustainable habitats.  

I don't think that it is realistic to settle another star system when it will be much cheaper to settle our solar system.

If we wanted to play the long game, we could spend tens of millions of years building another planet from asteroids.

NASA has suggested that we could move the Earth to a higher orbit over millions of years by flying asteroids by the Earth to nudge it gravitationally.  We could prevent the planet from being consumed by the sun in 4 billion years.   Talk about playing the long game.

It seems extremely likely that the first interstellar explorers from Earth will be intelligent robots, possibly with human personalities.  The journey is too difficult for biological organisms.  

However, because of evolution humans will be very different within a few hundred thousand years, or we might use technology to change ourselves in a few hundred years.  We might incorporate technology into our bodies until eventually, the human race will be a race of machines.




Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

How NOT to Land a Parachute

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-qj4h2Gl7YU

In the past, I wanted to try skydiving, but not anymore.  I'm getting older and it is too risky.

I have heard that in parachute training they make you fall from increasing heights until you can fall and land from a height of 16 feet.  That's a pretty big drop.  According to the laws of physics, you would be traveling at 32 feet per second.