SUMMARY: This video gives a short history of physics, and explains all the principles of physics in simple terms.
1. One of the great mysteries of mankind is
how far we will develop our technology. We’ve come a very long way since 1900.
It’s possible that in another 100 years we’ll be amazed by what our descendants
can do. In a thousand years, imagine how much farther we could go.
2. Aristotle’s beliefs lasted for 2000
years, until Isaac Newton proved him wrong, realizing that the moon is
constantly falling toward the earth. To understand how the moon moves, he
created calculus. He used calculus and his newly invented reflecting telescope
to calculate the movement of the planets. It’s so accurate we still use his equations
today.
3. Haley helped Newton by paying to publish his book
Principia.
4. Newton’s
three laws of motion are:
1.
Objects in motion stay in motion, unless acted upon by an another force. Objects
don’t get tired. Aristotle was wrong.
2.
Force equals mass x acceleration. (This made possible the industrial revolution)
3.
For every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. (This is the science
of rockets)
5. There are four forces of the universe:
1.
Gravity
2.
Electromagnetic Force
3.
Weak Nuclear Force (radioactive decay)
4.
Strong Nuclear Force (e=mc2) (explained the secret of the sun)
6. Faraday’s law - a wire turning in a magnet
creates electric current. Electricity and magnetism are the same force.
7. James Clerk Maxwell discovered
electricity has the velocity of light, because it is light, and light is
electricity. He created equations for light.
8. e=mc2 means the faster you
move, the heavier you get. This law created problems. Scientists had to
research thousands of sub-atomic particles.
9. antimatter is the opposite of matter. You
can create anti-atoms and anti-molecules. When matter and anti-matter collide
it creates the greatest release of energy in the universe.
10. The standard model of subatomic
particles is the most fundamental basis of reality we know today. It’s the
ugliest theory known to science, but it works.
11. String theory states that the four
forces of the universe are connected. It’s the theory of everything. It’s being
tested by the large Hadron conductor at Cern. It will help explain the big bang
– the physics of a black hole. It also suggest the existence of a multi-verse,
with many universes. The big bang could’ve been caused by either the collision
of fissioning of two universes.
12. The Hadron collider will help
scientists find new particles like the Higgs-Boson, and sparticles, which are
super particles that vibrate at high frequencies.
13. A wormhole is a connection between
universes, a shortcut between space and time. No one knows if it’s possible to
go through one. It could also serve as a time machine.
14. In trillions of years the universe will
get cold, stars will die, and people will die. The only way to escape the
universe is to go to a new one.
15. Is there a fifth force? No one has
found one.
16. 73% of matter in our universe is dark
energy. 23% is dark matter. Stars are 4% of the universe. But, we still don’t
know what dark matter is.
17. Every single physics textbook is wrong.
Most of the universe isn’t atoms. It’s dark.
SUMMARY: This
video explains current robotic research, and the biggest problems.
Bionics,
mixing man and machine:
A robotic exoskeleton, a suit
you can wear that makes you stronger. Pressure sensors similar to a blood
pressure tester tell a computer when to lift something. The idea is to
help weak, old people to be independent.
Doctors in Chicago have designed a light-sensitive
microchip that can be implanted into a human eye to replace a damaged
retina, helping the blind to see.
Scientists can connect your
mind to electrodes which the mind then controls to move a digital cursor,
and even operate a wheel chair.
Artificial
Intelligence (AI): Some things, like math are hard for people, but easy for
robots. Other tasks, like walking, talking, and seeing, are easy for people but
very hard for robots.
CVI is a robot in Japan. He
learns how to move by mimicking people, and then remembers what he’s
learned, even hitting a baseball with a bat.
It took 20 years to design
robots that can walk, run, jump, and climb stairs. The best robot at these
skills now is ASIMO, designed by Honda.
ASIMO also has sophisticated
eyes that can remember objects it’s seen before, learning their names. Even
better, it can look at an object, determine its size, shape, and then
interpret its function. It can look at a chair it’s never seen before and
realize it’s a chair. And it knows a table is not a chair because it’s too
big.
Programmers have written code
to allow people to talk to computers, giving them a long list of responses
to use. The computer seems to have a human personality, based on the list
given, and seems like artificial intelligence, but it’s not. It’s just a
random generator of sentences.
Computers can also be
programmed to imitate classical composers. They mimic musical patterns,
but there’s no attempt to create an emotion.
Ethical
Questions: Can robotics truly replace human interaction and companionship?
Should it? Will virtual worlds replace the real one, and is this a good or bad
thing? Once robots become capable of real artificial intelligence, should they be
treated like real, living beings? What rights should they have?
Some scientists are designing a
geminoid, a robot that looks like just like a real person, with many
motors hidden under plastic skin, which mimics the movements of a real
person.
Programmers can also make a
digital avatar of a person to interact in a digital world.
SUMMARY:
This video discusses new forms of energy that are clean and can last for
thousands of years.
1. Solar panels
can be used to power cars, and they’re getting more powerful.
2. Solar towers are being built in sunny
places to produce electricity for homes. Mirrors, called heliostats, track the sun and reflect light to the tower. One in Spain has 624
heliostats, and produces 11 megawatts. The temperature at the top reaches 400̊
C. Water pipes at the top of the tower convert water into steam. Dust on the
mirrors is a problem. Also, they generate nothing at night.
3. Solar panels in space could generate
power, even at night and send it down to Earth through a tether, or space elevator. The problem is creating
a tether that’s strong and light enough. A space tether would also make space
launch rockets obsolete, saving tons of fuel.
4. In the
last 10 years, global energy use has increased 25%.
5. The EMV
is an electric motorbike with a hydrogen
fuel cell. It mixes with oxygen to produce electricity and water. It’s very
clean, quiet, and weak, with only 8 horse power (hp). It’s very durable. You
can also take out the fuel cell and use it to power home appliances. One
problem is that hydrogen has to be extracted, currently using fossil fuels. It’s
also flammable.
6. In some
places along the coast at a narrows, ocean tides quickly come in and out, so
it’s possible to generate electricity with tidal
turbines. They’re like an underwater windmill. Tides are great because
they’re predictable. The turbine can raise and lower, and turn around depending
on the direction of the tide. It provides enough power for a small town. But,
the turbines do sometimes kill fish, and the salt water can corrode the works,
causing lubricants and pollution to leak out.
7. You can
also produce power from wave power.
A prototype is 120m long “water snake” and weights 700 tons.
8. Wind Turbines are already in use.
They’d be better if they were up in the atmosphere. That’s where the jet stream is. So, scientists are
developing a “smart kite” made of
nylon and kevlar that can generate electricity. The steel cable turns a generator
as the kite goes up, and it glides down to start again. The jet stream runs mainly
over England, The
Netherlands, and Denmark.
9. A tokamak is a huge circular oven which
heats hydrogen to 100 million degrees, changing it into a plasma, thus creating nuclear
fusion. None of the plasma touches the oven because of special magnets that
repel it. Current experiments only last for a moment – a split second.
10. Another
idea is to make synthetic petrol
from thin air. First a solar furnace
uses mirrors to reflect sunlight, heating air to 2,400 degrees. Then as carbon
dioxide breaks down, you take the atoms and add with water to create carbon
monoxide and hydrogen – the building blocks of petrol. One CR5 machine which
makes the petrol can make over 2 gallons a day.
SUMMARY: This video asks ethical questions
about new fields of biology and biochemistry
1. There are three stages or waves of
evolution
1.
The environment changed animals to best survive.
2.
Humans changed the environment to suit us.
3.
Evolution by design – people genetically change species, dogs for example.
2. Biologists using genetic technology have
created: the beefalo, the geep, the cama, the liger, and the zorse.
3. Biologists have taken bioluminescent
gene from jellyfish and put it into mammals. You can now get mice, cats, dogs,
pigs, fish, and monkeys that glow in the dark. It’s theoretical to make people
that glow in the dark.
4. Many governments don’t have laws or
offices to regulate genetically altered species, some of which become the food
you eat.
5. Most of the food in US supermarkets is
genetically modified.
6. Many species of animals have been
cloned. It’s a big idea for horses so you can have a gelding run in a race, and
his genetic duplicate can have babies.
7. Some animals, like goats and pigs, are
being genetically modified to make new chemicals.
8. Some pigs are being created to save
endangered species. Guar eggs have been put into cows to produce new offspring –
they look like guar, but they have cow DNA. They are hybrids, begging the
question, “How do you define a specieas?”
9. Scientists have put electrodes in
insects like cockroaches and moths, and can control the animals like a remote
control toy. It’s an organic robot. They’ve also done it to mice. It’s scary to
think how people could misuse this technology.
10. Scientists have taught monkeys to use
an electronic, prosthetic arm with just their minds.
11.Another scientist, Thomas Demarse, grew
mouse neurons to create an organic microchip which he used to run a computer
program.
12. biologist Sandro Mussa-Ivaldi took an
eel’s brain and put it in a bowl, and put it in a robot.
13. Mice have been created with skin that the human body would accept, for use in
growing body parts, like ears.
14. Scientists have created an artificial
cell – the first living creature with a computer as its mother – a DNA
synthesizer.