We are Stardust From many Galaxies

Back in my teaching days at Mendocino College I introduced all my students to the fact that they, like all else, were composed of material (atoms) from stars that evolved into molecules, compounds and eventually to that which we call our material world. This includes everything from rocks to dinosaurs and the earth itself. Recent analysis indicates that that primordial material did not come from just our galaxy but also from "galaxies far, far away".  If you can see this for the beauty and wonder that it implies enjoy it deeply and revel in our shared cosmic glory.

Here’s something that might help “see” the beauty.

 Galactic evolution 

http://earthsky.org/space/cosmic-dark-ages-lyman-alpha-galaxies-lager?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork

As long as I’m on astronomy I have couple of more things to share (of the thousands I would like to!) in that realm.

There is increasing evidence of a planet 10 orbiting out beyond Pluto. It’s eccentric angle to the plane of the ecliptic has made it difficult to “catch” until now. We don’t have a picture of it but the new telescopes that are being placed in orbit above the earth will help us define it’s presence.

 https://www.space.com › Science & Astronomy

One more: Jupiter is getting plenty of attention now-a-days as our probes near it’s surface begin to give us more information and surprises. Just look at this surface and imagine what it might be like in there. You might ask, “what is that information worth”? And I ask, “why does it have to be WORTH something”?

https://www.galaxymonitor.com/u-s-spacecraft-finds-cyclones-ammonia-river-jupiter/

Understanding, understanding, understanding – that has always driven me since childhood and nothing was more interesting than inner (biology) and outer (astronomy) space. Once again Tesla helped me immensely.

How I admire the man he was. His intellect was astounding. There were/are some equal but none greater. My opinion of course!

From way out there to way inside, check this out.

“Using algebraic topology in a way that it has never been used before in neuroscience, a team from the Blue Brain Project has uncovered a universe of multi-dimensional geometrical structures and spaces within the networks of the brain.”
“The research, published today in Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, shows that these structures arise when a group of neurons forms a clique: each neuron connects to every other neuron in the group in a very specific way that generates a precise geometric object. The more neurons there are in a clique, the higher the dimension of the geometric object.”
"We found a world that we had never imagined," says neuroscientist Henry Markram, director of Blue Brain Project and professor at the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, "there are tens of millions of these objects even in a small speck of the brain, up through seven dimensions. In some networks, we even found structures with up to eleven dimensions."

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-06-blue-brain-team-multi-dimensional-universe.html

This is ground breaking work in neuroscience and fascinating to contemplate the implications.

I don’t often, in fact never, include military actions in this blog but I will this time because I believe it deserves more attention than it has received over the years. It is about a WWI soldier by the name of Henry Johnson or who the Germans called “Black Death”. Though the French awarded him The Croix du Guerre (their top military honor) it took the United States 100 years to honor him with their Medal of Honor. This is his story.

Henry is on the left.

http://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-i/black-death-henry-johnson-americans-first-world-warhero-copy.html

 

Check out this photo. Not mine and I sure hope it’s not photo shopped but I had to put it in.

Unfortunately critters like these, who I call “THE OTHERS” and like those in the photo below (again not mine) are in danger more and more often of being “entangled” in drift nets, longlines, seines and all the other thousands of miles of nets that span the seas. Many of them discarded or lost in storms etc and simply adrift in the worlds oceans. 

 The FAO estimates that 640,000 tons of fishing gear is abandoned, lost, and discarded in our oceans annually and has been given the term ‘ghost gear’. The majority of ghost hear is composed of plastic which does not biodegrade and has a much longer lifespan.

It’s about food distribution not need, why all those nets are out there. Sorry, got a bit political there and I am trying to be up beat……so, how about this. 

My daughter Kersti continually sends me the most up lifting images knowing how disturbed I can, and do, often get with the state of the world. And here she is in real life giving her dad a bit of comfort. 

And then there's my son Zack out there fighting for social and environmental justice all his adult life. Who would have thought this little guy in my arms would one day be such a devoted warrior for the light. 

 Some History:

I came across this article while surfing and was magnetically drawn to this woman’s face. 

The "Lady of Elche"

http://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/01/29/the-lady-of-elche-a-mysterious-artifact-found-in-1897-on-a-private-estate-at-la-alcudia-spain/

It wasn’t so much that she was obviously very attractive but there was something else there. Whatever that “look” is, I am still at a loss to describe it. Perhaps you can do better.

More from “yesteryear”:

In 1939 a 6^th century burial site was excavated in England. On of the many archeological treasures was a burial ship like that of The Vikings. Besides a wonderful assortment of objects was this helmet (if you have been to The British Museum you probably saw it – I did) but adding to the historical value of the find was that the ship had been “clinked” with bitumen from Syria! This indicates once again that much broader trade was already extant in that early period. 

http://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/04/29/ancient-syrian-bitumen-found-english-burial-mound/

The following two finds also add to our knowledge of early trade history. Ah.....curiousity, discovery, knowledge all lead to reason. Marine Archeology, I have mentioned it before; there are hundreds of thousands of ancient ships, roadways and entire cities below the waters of the Continental Shelf. So much yet to discover.

http://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/08/20/two-israeli-divers-found-ancient-shipwreck-many-treasures/

http://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/06/25/a-cargo-ship-went-down-in-1681-packed-with-crates-of-swords-nails-bolts-of-cloth/

Speaking of the sea, check out these “sea wolves”.  If I have to come back to this planet again, I want to be one of these!

http://www.boredpanda.com/swimming-sea-wolves-pacific-coast-canada-ian-mcallister/

Okay – time for that last bit that’s political. May The Great and Sacred Mystery guide us in these very difficult times.