ScienceBlog.ie

It seems that over time and with the development and advancements made in science, it may not be too long before  Science Fiction and Science Fact gradually become one and the same. In a follow up to our previous post of the impending Doomsday via a solar flame, another avenue to doomsday is also on the horizon.

Science Fiction movies, such as Terminator and the Matrix (to name but two), have predicted a day when computers evolve to a time when humans are simply an inconvenience to evolution. As abstract as this may seem, today we witness the dawn of living creatures being used to power a simple computer, visa vie the humans are batteries in the Matrix future.

All that innocent experimentation with fuel cells that run on blood has led to this, a flesh-eating clock. This prototype time-piece from UK-based designers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau traps insects on flypaper stretched across its roller system before depositing them into a vat of bacteria. The ensuing chemical reaction, or “digestion,” is transformed into power that keeps the rollers rollin’ and the LCD clock ablaze.

Doomsday via solar flare or as computer battery?…is there anything else that could signal our Doom???

http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/29/carnivorous-clock-eats-bugs-counts-down-to-doomsday/

Apocolypse soon!

Predictions abound regarding Doomsday, including Nostradamus, Merlin (Myriddin, Welsh Druidic Seer) Nostradamus, the Mayan Indians and the ancient Chinese in the I Ching, but what has come to light in recent years is that many of these predictions coalesce to the same date – 21st December 2012, the end of the Mayan calendar. The predictions are of global meltdown, of fire and brimstone and of floods and waves, but is there any science behind the predictions?

Surprisingly, the answer is maybe. On the winter solstice (Dec 21st, 2012) the earth, the sun and the centre-point (origin) of the milky-way galaxy are in exact alignment (the word exact is in dispute of, course). Furthermore NASA has predicted an exceptionally strong solar maximum between 2010 and 2012.

The most popular hair-brained theory regarding the outcome of this alignment is Geomagnetic Reversal (Sometimes referred to as polar shift). This theory is supported by evidence that the Earth’s magnetic field is weakening, which indicates that the poles will reverse soon. In fact, a polar shift is long overdue, with the last one occurring 780,000 years ago. Critics believe that if the poles reverse, it will be a slow, not a catastrophic process.

The reality of the situation is that it will probably be the end of the world, so to say, not because of the galactic alignment causing a polar shift, but because of a large solar flare hitting the earth – imagine being without mobile phone reception and satellite TV for a week, as good as the end of the world!!!

- Eamonn