The Definition of Life

The definition of life has been and is now an item of hot debate among biologists. The definition of life is taught to children through the Schleiden-Shwann cell theory. This is how life comes to be defined after the cell theory.
1) All life forms are composed of one or more cells, and cells are the basis of structure and function in all life forms.
2) All life forms come from other life forms through some form of reproduction of cells.
3) All life forms are able to create their own proteins and create energy through synthesis.
Though this is considered the "official" definition of life, I am here to say that it is not.
I feel that it is absurd to think that ALL life forms are composed of cells. What is the possibility of structures like cells forming on other planets completely isolated from Earth? And do all life forms have to be composed of carbon-based molecules? I feel that it is ridiculous for space organizations like NASA to examine Mars for any traces of carbon-hydrates as signs of life.
The virus is officially considered non-living. It is so because it cannot create its own proteins, and use host cells to create proteins and reproduce for them. But does a life form have to be able to make its own proteins? Viruses show every sign of life except for the laws that say life must be composed of cells and be able to create its own proteins. They even have their own genetic material. They are able to attach themselves to host cells and then insert their genetic material into the host cell, where it replaces the original cell's genetic material, and the host cell reproduces the virus. Viruses resemble simple parasites. Because viruses are able to do this, they should be considered simple life forms as the 4th Woese domain of life, next to archaebacteria, eubacteria and eukaryotes. Therefore I also I think that the definition of life should be altered to allow viruses to be life forms. This is also the belief of many other biologist.

Update on the End of the Universe

Another theory to the end of the Universe is called the "Big Rip".

If the universe is filled with a type of energy called "phantom energy", which is an energy that counteracts with gravity and which some cosmologists believe is causing the Universe to expand, then the Universe will continue to expand forever. Therefore, the distance between galaxies, then star systems, then stars and planets, will eventually get farther. When the different bodies in the Universe cannot interact at all, either through gravity, electromagnetic force (e.g. light), weak force, and strong force, then they will be ripped apart. Near the end of the Universe, the galaxies will continue to move away from each other at an astounding rate, and then eventually the star systems (including our own Solar System) will get pulled apart, and at the end, all particles will be ripped apart and cease to exist.

A very violent end to our Universe, eh?

Particles that Don't Exist

In the complex and often confusing world of physics, there are many confuzzling concepts. One concept I find very confusing, but pretty cool is that thee are particles that exist and don't exist at the same time. These particles are called "virtual particles". Virtual particles are particles that cannot be directly detected since they have zero mass, but the effect of it on a "real" particle can be detected. These particles include photons and gravitons. Most virtual particles can be measured like waves and energy. For example, photons can be represented as a particle or waves/energy (light). Virtual particles are used to explain interactions in physics. For example, an electromagnetic interaction can be described as the exchange of photons.

Out of Ideas

I am currently out of ideas on what to post. If you would, please give me ideas on what I should talk about. I might do something on dark matter and dark energy soon (or maybe neutrinos or something). Please help!

The Brain - Explained in Physics

OK. We're going into philosophy and psychology today. So anyway. Have you ever thought about scientifically how thinking works? Well, this is it: You're brain thinks by having the nerve cells send messenger RNA everywhere. Does it ever feel like that? I don't think so. Does our soul think? Or does our brain do it for us? Can souls exist legally within the laws of physics? Do they exist in a completely different dimension but can communicate and use our bodies through the use of soulions*? If our consciousness is only in out brains, then is our thought mostly controlled by physics? Even though physics and philosophy are both just a bunch of questions, they just don't work together. It is very mind-boggling.


*soulions is a made-up term that I just invented.

A Wrinkle in Time (And Space)

The fifth dimension. A topic of hot debate, especially between astrophysicists and particle physicists. Mathematically and abstractly, the fifth dimension is structurally legitimate. The fifth dimension is a dimension that supposedly exists at a right angle to time. If one were to draw a space-time diagram (please read Stephen Hawking's books for reference for now about space-time diagrams; I'll explain them later), then add an extra axis at a right angle to time, then it would look as though once an object reaches a certain point in time, it could suddenly change to a different position in space.
Is instantaneous travel throughout the universe possible? Maybe.

End of the Universe

There are many speculations about the end of the universe, and has been of debate by scientists all over the world. Some of them are just stupid crummy and un1337 ones that unknowledgable people made up like this: Aliens are going to take over the universe, and eventually cause war and antimatter bombs will turn the universe into pure energy, which will dissipate into nothing. Those are useless and no one wants to hear them, because this is a physics blog.

One theory is that the universe is stationary. This is what Einstein believed in. When he made his general theory of relativity, he was dissatisfied with the fact that his theory did not support a stationary universe, so he added a cosmological constant. He later called it the "biggest blunder" of his life.

The two most supported speculations of the end of the universe are opposite of each other. One states that the universe will eventually started to fall back to the power of gravity and collapse back to a singularity as it was before the Big Bang in what is called the "Big Crunch". The other states that the universe will continue to expand until the universe will cool down to absolute zero and become desolate, which some people call "Heat Death". The people supporting Heat Death theory say that according to calculations, there is not enough matter in the universe to cause the collapse. The people supporting the Big Crunch theory say that there exists some form of "dark matter" that is usually invisible to or unrecognized by telescopes, and that there is enough of this stuff that it will eventually cause the universe to collapse.

What do you think?

Pluto and Charon are not alone

Pluto's moon, Charon, was discovered by an American astronomy James Christy on June 22, 1978. But these two lonely objects in the outer reaches of the solar system are not alone. Just recently this year, on May 15, the Hubble Space Telescope Pluto Companion Search Team discovered two possible moons of Pluto, currently codenamed P1 and P2. P1 has the diameter of approximately 50 to 160 kilometers, and P2 has the diameter of approximately 30 to 150 kilometers.