What's Killing You Now?

[Written for my school paper, The Stand]

How often is it that you think about the furthest reaches of outer space? It is probably not very often you think about Outer Mongolia, let alone the outer limits. Yet that is exactly where your doom will be coming from. There is more than enough out there to fry us a thousand times over. Our planet is only one of an incalculable number of others, caroming about the Universe in its own way, still vulnerable to the immeasurable number of potential threats.

Imagine a jet of raw energy erupting outwards, carrying more energy in it than the Sun will ever generate. Imagine something that - while lasting on the scale of seconds - could strip away the ozone layer, leaving only radiation in its wake. Despite only hitting one side of the Earth, it would flash-burn anything not in the shade and heat some parts of the atmosphere to the level of an oven. This is what can erupt from the heart of a dying star. This is the gamma-ray burst.

When a supernova collapses into a black hole, the fierce collision of forces in its core can result in two of these devastating cones shooting out of it. They can be so bright, it is possible to see them with your naked eye from halfway across the visible universe. Even from the far side of the galaxy, one of these bursts would be as bright as the Sun (though admittedly not in visible light). A supernova – the final death throes of a star – lets out about as much energy in its last few seconds as its star did over the course of its entire life. Gamma-ray bursts are around a thousand times brighter than that.

Now, if a burst were to actually hit Earth, it would not be pretty. Aside from the heat and radiation, a gamma-ray burst would turn ozone into nitrogen dioxide, which is essentially smog. Despite the fact that a burst would only hit one side of the planet, globally we’d probably lose about 30% of our ozone layer, though it would be closer to 50% in some spots. Keep in mind that the ozone holes that we have now are losses of less than 5% and you can see how bad this could be. Couple that with the fact that the lost ozone is now smog, able to block out sunlight, add the fact that nitrogen dioxide is water soluble and can become acid rain, and Earth is no longer recognizable.

It is a distinct possibility that one of these could hit Earth. It is a distinct possibility that it has happened before. One of the biggest extinction events in Earth’s history may have been caused by a gamma-ray burst. There was an unexplained ice age that happened around 443 million years ago. A gamma-ray burst that blocked out the Sun is a perfect explanation.

No, this is not a common occurrence for Earth. We are not blasted by gamma-ray bursts on a regular basis. It is also not something that should be immediately discounted. There’s one star, WR 104, that is on the brink of exploding into a tremendous supernova. Now, it may be eight thousand light years away (which translates to about eighty quadrillion kilometers), so the supernova itself is not going to hurt us, but that is near enough for a gamma-ray burst to hit us square on. Earth is positioned at almost exactly the right angle for this star to hit us square on. The most terrifying part of this is that since this star is eight thousand light years away, we won’t be able to see it go supernova or the burst coming until it has already hit us. It may have happened eight thousand years ago, but we won’t know until we’re dead.

So there’s an idea to toy with. We could be hurtling toward our doom right now. We really have only the slightest idea of what is out there. For all of our scientific knowledge, we only know about a fraction of what the Universe has to offer us. Who knows what could be just out of sight?

Sleep well.

Language, Linguistics, and Lameness.

It's probably no great surprise that I want to head into linguistics (I am horribly predictable like that) and it's something that I'm quite looking forward to, but there is one little thought that nags at the back of my mind:

Is it important enough?

I'll admit that it's a rather cocky problem, after all the fact that I'm worrying about it about it implies that I think I'll make some difference into whatever field I go into, but it's something that bothers me nonetheless. I can't quite place my finger on why, though I suspect that it has something to do with the fact that my goals in life are always way bigger than anything I'll ever achieve. When I wanted to go into physics (because I find the stuff fascinating, though I now know that I'm hopeless with the math involved), I wanted to do it to discover the unknown, to change the borders of human knowledge. I want to do the same with language, but it's not something that works in quite the same way.

Don't get me wrong, I realize how deep we could go into the links between language and thought, it's just that I can never go farther than humanity. I can never look into the nature of why everything is. Now, the question is, does that matter?

I don't have an answer to that question, which is exactly why my goals in life are bothering me so much. I want to do research, I want to understand the universe, I want to have a hand in humanity understanding the universe. As much as I want to run with my passions (and truly, my passion for language far outweighs my interest in physics), it's something I will never do. Here I am not referring specifically to my discovering something radical and new, but more referring to understanding in general. You see, math is the language of the universe. It's the way we are able to interpret the infinitely complex inner workings that we can't see. It's a language that I'll never be able to speak, especially if I go along this path.

But why does linguistics matter?

To me, specifically, it matters because it's something I adore. I think language is one of the most beautiful and intricate things that mankind has ever created, but that's not what I'm talking about. Does it matter to the world? Does linguistics make a difference? How deep is its impact? Does it matter that the word thou has disappeared, you taking it over and encapsulating two pronouns? I may find it extremely interesting but why is it important to the rest of the world?

Well, in my opinion, one of the most important aspects of linguisics is discovering the links between language and thought. Through that, we can learn to understand ourselves better and work with ourselves better. Outside of that, it's more about learning where we came from, where we're going to, understanding our past and our future. It doesn't look like all of that is hidden in something as simple as the disappearance of one word or the appearance of another, and it's not. It's not hidden in one, but in the whole tapestry of change that we can see throughout the past. It shows us what people value at specific times (more common words indicate what is most important to a particular group) and what they don't care about at others. It shows us what kind of culture was in place at the time. Language is covered with the fingerprints of history.

Is that important? Well, it's not an importance that most people realize, but it's important to me.

Is this post useful to anyone who is not me? Doubtful. Since I realize that nobody reads this blog, I've started to post my musings on life here.