Robittybob1

In the classic double slit experiment I understand you can vary the result if the slits are varied in width and spacing, and I wouldn't call that experiment without value.

This planet was judged being like Earth due to its size and orbital period. Was it around a similar sized star? Too far away to be useful I'd say. http://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/world/nasas-kepler-mission-discovers-earths-older-and-bigger-cousin/ar-AAdoesm?ocid=UP97DHP

Do you understand God and nature? Is being tolerant godly? I always get the feeling societies are running experiments on themselves and only time will tell if it really works out for the better.

On the TV news tonight it sounded like additional funding to SETI, but I might have misunderstood it. http://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/techandscience/stephen-hawking-backs-new-search-for-aliens/ar-AAdeHLS?ocid=UP97DHP

I hadn't noticed that before. Some years ago I studied the possibility that life started on Mercury. I wonder if there is some connection. Where is that oxygen coming from?

I'm guessing any combination of elements would be possible. For we will be having a single look at the atmosphere. On the Earth the atmosphere has been altered by life forms e.g. plants producing oxygen, and man putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. These changes take an enormous amount of time to be noticed. So if there were readings taken over a timespan the ratios may be an indicator of something, but it could just be the result of volcanism.

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/truth+there+Stephen+Hawking+Russian+billionaire+launch+100M/11228828/story.html There seems to be a big difference in hunting UFOs and searching for signals from far distance planets. I wish them luck. When I was a kid I saw a v shaped formation of moving lights with the Milky Way as a background. This was in Southland (NZ) where there are no city lights so the view of the Milky Way was just spectacular. It was a long time ago now (possibly in the 1960s) but I see on YT that there were other sightings of a similar v shaped lights in the 1950s. I would have to think if that was a real sighting these UFO and possibly ETs are not communicating with EM frequencies, for we would have picked up them by now, if that UFO hung around for more than 10 years. I'm at a loss as to what else could be used for communication, so basically I'm plugging for a fail to their quest but to me this does not prove that ETs don't exist..

Thanks, from the same link.

Would the presence of Oxygen in the atmosphere of a planet be an indicator of animal life? Without plants and photosynthesis the Earth's atmosphere would be devoid of Oxygen. Without plants there would be limited scope for animals. So would this connection be universal?

The Sun is actually getting more intense. Eventually the Sun will expand rather than shrink.

You gave up too soon.

We are all friendly here.

Yes I think you are right. The bacteria themselves need feeding and they have probably evolved ways of resisting their own destruction, but they secrete enzymes and the byproduct could be shared by both itself and the host. Unless you really weighed the food in your diet one would not be sure if their food intake was down. But it was an observation. Two other people have gone into a state where they were very loose and their stools seemed to be undigested (their observation, not mine). Obviously there are many conditions to consider.

If that article was an attempt to show reconciliation between the Muslim faith and evolution it read like a failure to me. Anyone who tries to keep Adam as the first human misses the point of evolution.

I was looking at it from a different perspective. Could we save money by getting more value out of out food by having a different set of gut microbiota? I have been running an "experiment" on myself using probiotic yogurt and yogurt cheese. One thing that I noticed I was losing only a little weight (probably due to consuming less sugar in my tea and coffee) but my bowel motions are now less frequent, so I was wondering if I am digesting my food better. You say "facilitate more nutrient absorption", that sounds more a gut wall function, but could it be more a matter of nutrient availability, the microbiota improving the breakdown of the food?

But with the upsurge in Muslim fundamentalism, what is the Muslim view on the same subject? I could imagine they are not impressed by the Catholic Church supporting evolution. All regions don't take the same stance on the same topic.

Well then if you believe that you should study science (as a gnostic, somehow knowing God), science will (could at least) benefit from religion.

Would that depend on what you define religion as?

Was that a causal relationship?

What would the mutation rate have to be to get this effect in reality? Is it even possible baring living near Chernobyl?

As I said to my pastor 20 + years ago "if the Christians believe in Adam and Eve they are the biggest believers in evolution. For even the evolutionists don't need such a high rate of mutation as you would need." [Well words to that effect. It was such a long time ago.] So the story has problems. Yet I find the most recent common ancestor ideas rather fascinating too, in that there was a genetic Adam and Eve, even though they were not husband and wife.

Do you seriously doubt it?

A lot of the ice is on land and therefore runs into the sea when melted hence raising the sea levels. That's how I imagine it to be.

That was surprising and I will look into the "Gut-brain axis" further, thanks.

Photos of a sort. Great bit of work. Shows the sort of problem we are up against when looking at another planet in detail.