High Science

What Makes Something "Alive"?

The meat of our second episode begins with John, James, Kat, and special guest Robbie exploring the essence of life. They all struggle in determining the explicit qualities that makes something living and applying these qualities to examples such as trees and fire to determine if they fit the criteria for life. The traits listed are as follows:

Organization - Living things are organized. All living things are made of tiny structures known as cells. In multi-cellular organisms, cells organize into tissues, tissues organize into organs and so on.

Reproduction - Living things make other living things (of the same species).

Growth - Living things grow.

Response to Stimuli - Living things will adjust to a change in their environment.

Metabolism - Living things carry out chemical processes to maintain a state of living.

Evolution - Living things evolve (explained later in the episode).

Homeostasis - Living things maintain equilibrium regarding properties such as temperature, acidity, etc.

The Feynman Technique for Learning is discussed which states that there's a difference in knowing the name of a concept and really knowing that concept. If we can't explain life to a five year old, do we truly understand it?

Scientists Mentioned: Richard Feynman

Resources: 

What is Life? Is Death Real? - Kurzgesagt

What is Life? - Khan Academy

Cells: The Smallest Unit of Life

Robert Hooke did not invent the microscope (oops) but he did coin the term "cell" to describe the room-like structures he saw in cork under the microscope. Many other scientists noticed these room-like structures present in all living things and thus cellular biology was born. The cell is considered the smallest unit of life as it hits all seven of the criteria listed above. Cells can be seen as "protein factories" making things like hair and enzymes. Nothing that the cell is made of is considered living. Organic (carbon-based) molecules are the building blocks of cells but the cell is foundation of life and the smallest thing considered alive. At the atomic level, life is meaningless. Everything is made up protons, neutrons, and electrons arranged in different ways. If everything is made of the same stuff, what makes life so special?

Scientists Mentioned: Robert Hooke

Resources: 

What is a Cell? - National Library of Medicine

How Cells Work - How Stuff Works

The Origin of Life

We see life happening all around us. But where did it come from? How did life begin here on Earth? What made molecules work in just the right way to make cells? Two ideas are discussed and explored:

Panspermia - Jizz covered alien rocks. This idea states that life came to Earth from space! Ancient microbial life might have survived on meteorites that crashed into Earths surface. We might all be aliens!

Abiogenesis - The more accepted theory of the two. This idea states that life spontaneously came into existence on ancient Earth. The famous experiment that supports this theory is the Miller-Urey Experiment. This experiment gives us evidence that organic molecules (the building blocks of life) CAN be created in early Earth's atmosphere. From here, it is thought that these organic molecules began interacting enough to eventually create the very first cell.

Scientists Mentioned: Stanley Miller, Harold Urey

Resources: 

Origin of Life: How Life Started on Earth - Nova

Abiogenesis - Wikipedia

Panspermia - Wikipedia

Evolution

First the difference between a scientific theory and a scientific law is discussed. This is because evolution is both a law and a theory. The debunked theory of lamarckian evolution is presented which state...

Intro

Here it is! The inaugural episode of High Science: the podcast where we explore the mysteries of the universe, one joint at a time. As we figure out this whole recording business, we explore special relativity and the philosophy of science. The show notes for this episode and all episodes forward will provide you with a brief summary of our conversations. They will also give you some links to follow if you would like to read up on these ideas further. Any video, web-comic, book, etc will also be linked if it was mentioned in the episode.

Special Relativity

We start by exploring the mind-bending theory of special relativity. Galilean Relativity is first established (Driving 10 mph, throw a ball at 5 mph, relative to the ground the ball moves at 15 mph) along with frames of reference. The constant speed of light is discussed along with the implications of a moving object emitting light. It's worth taking a step back and noting that our hosts are getting ripped while slugging through these heady concepts so hilarity ensues. The interconnectedness of space and time is explored along with length contraction and time dilation. This was our very first topic so it may be revisited in the future for a more complete exploration.

Scientists Mentioned:

James Clerk Maxwell, Albert Einstein

Resources:

Special Relativity - Crash Course Physics

How Special Relativity Works - How Stuff Works Science

What is Science?

What better way to begin a science podcast than talking about science itself? This topic begins at 14:15 and the discussion begins with why we do science and transitions into how we do science. Scientific scrutiny is especially focused on using atomic theory and the Ancient Greeks to solidify the idea. The importance of evidence and empirical investigation is highlighted along with the uncertain and conditional nature of science. Issues with the presentation of science in school is touched upon as well. The conversation is expanded into determining where science sits as an idea in the greater web of philosophy. Some metaphysical issues with empiricism are explored through a few examples - most notable of which being Plato's allegory of the cave.

Philosophers Mentioned:

Plato, Democritus (indirectly)

Resources:

Philosophy of Science, Origins, and Emergence - The Scientific Skeptic

Densely Packed Hitlers - Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

A Candle in the Dark - High Science Blog

Cargo Cult Science - High Science Blog