Thread: What are your favourite simple things that science just cannot explain?

Originally Posted by Xaqaria

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_(parrot)

Oh yeah, I remember that little guy.

Originally Posted by Dannon Oneironaut

Why men have nipples.

There is a book by the title of your question.
http://www.amazon.com/Nipples-Hundre.../dp/1400082315

just to add on to the gravity bit. yes we know how gravity relates to objects and such and relativity gives us an interesting picture of it...but is gravity really made that way? Is that what really causes gravity? I guess what Im trying to get at is...what part of mass produces gravity?

Originally Posted by tkdyo

just to add on to the gravity bit. yes we know how gravity relates to objects and such and relativity gives us an interesting picture of it...but is gravity really made that way? Is that what really causes gravity? I guess what Im trying to get at is...what part of mass produces gravity?

Mass is condensed energy. Like attracts like. Mass attracts mass. I know that this is not a scientific explanation but it is still true nevertheless.

No.

Matter takes up space and thereby warps it. The folds in space that can affect other bits of matter are what we perceive as gravity.

the thing that confuses me about that is I thought space was a vacuum. so how can mass warp it if theres nothing there?

True, gravity is warped space. Space, though mostly empty, actually has particles and energies spread out through out it, but mostly it is a vacuum. However, it has dimensions, it has distance, and in the fourth dimension it is space/time, like a sheet on a water bed, that when you sit on it it sinks and a ball will roll towards you into the depression that you create. The effect of this is that mass attracts mass because mass warps space.

Ummm.. not sure if anyone has listed this yet, but I'm pretty sure they do not know why lightning strikes the Earth.

I can't really remember which it was. I think they know how electricity is generated in clouds, but they do not know how it strikes the Earth. Or why.

I think they do.
It is because the Earth gets a negative charge and the clouds get a positive charge and the lightning neutralizes the charge.

Bumblebees can fly.

Originally Posted by Dannon Oneironaut

Bumblebees can fly.

Uhm. They beat their wings. Really hard. Like most animals that fly.

Originally Posted by A Roxxor

Uhm. They beat their wings. Really hard. Like most animals that fly.

Actually, it has to do with the specific way their wings move. Insects do not fly the same way larger animals do. Only recently was it discovered that unlike larger animals that either fly by pushing upwards against the air or gliding, insects beat their wings in such a way that little vortices of air are created around their bodies which causes lift. It has been explained, but was a popular mystery for a long time.

Also, the 'spacetime as a rubber sheet' model is just that, a model based on relativity. This model is being challenged a bit by quantum physicists who are looking for a force carrying particle for gravity, or a 'graviton'. If they find it then it changes the rubber sheet model pretty drastically.

Originally Posted by Xaqaria

Also, the 'spacetime as a rubber sheet' model is just that, a model based on relativity. This model is being challenged a bit by quantum physicists who are looking for a force carrying particle for gravity, or a 'graviton'. If they find it then it changes the rubber sheet model pretty drastically.

Damn!
How will it change it?
Why are they looking for a gravitron? I mean, what makes them think that there may be gravitrons?

Originally Posted by Dannon Oneironaut

Damn!
How will it change it?
Why are they looking for a gravitron? I mean, what makes them think that there may be gravitrons?

relativistic gravity just doesn't jibe with quantum mechanics. A quantum model of gravity would require that gravity be an actual force that is transmitted just like all the other forces; through quantized 'particles'. They are looking for the graviton, basically because their model of reality is correct only if it (and a few other particles) exist. Otherwise, its back to the drawing board, so to speak. I personally believe that this will be the way of things; quantum mechanics has gotten to a turning point at which it is spawning all sorts of speculation in order to explain some of the stuff that people have a hard time wrapping their brains around; the most notable of this speculation is the whole of string theory. Science and speculation do not go well together, especially when they don't wait to verify earlier speculation before basing new speculation on their speculations. Pretty soon, something isn't going to fit and they are going to have to 'redo' large chunks of the model in order to make sense of it all again.

This page is mostly about the speed of gravity (which by observation appears to be instantaneous) but talks about the reasons why the membrane model doesn't exactly fit observation and other possibilities. I personally think gravity is in the top 3 mysteries of our time, partially because we've thought we had it all figured out at several points in history, only to realize that it still could be completely different from how we imagine it.

Originally Posted by Xaqaria

Also, the 'spacetime as a rubber sheet' model is just that, a model based on relativity. This model is being challenged a bit by quantum physicists who are looking for a force carrying particle for gravity, or a 'graviton'. If they find it then it changes the rubber sheet model pretty drastically.

This is what I was getting at. Relativity is great for figuring gravity on large scales, but it doesnt actually show what creates gravity seeing as space is not a rubber sheet as such.

Why there is a Universe instead of nothing.

I would have to agree with the people who said Dreams, Consciousness, and Celeritas. Why are they? What makes them?

Originally Posted by Dannon Oneironaut

Why there is a Universe instead of nothing.

Big bang.

Originally Posted by LucidFlanders

Big bang.

What triggered it, and where did the energy and matter originate?

Originally Posted by ThePreserver

What triggered it, and where did the energy and matter originate?

We don't know yet, and that's okay. The exploration continues!

Goosebumps. The ones you get from feelings, as opposed the kind that just mean it's cold.

^ Strong emotions can sometimes activate the fight or flight response. Goose bumps would've made us look more intimidating when we were furrier .

Originally Posted by Spartiate

^ Strong emotions can sometimes activate the fight or flight response. Goose bumps would've made us look more intimidating when we were furrier .

Then why doesn't my cat look more intimidating when she hears a melody that moves her, or when the stray cat she has a crush on talks to her through the window, or when she just thinks about how awesome it is to have her fluffy belly rubbed?

Cause that's how my goosebumps work.

Originally Posted by Dannon Oneironaut

Why men have nipples.

Because female body plan is the default body plan in human development

Originally Posted by SnakeCharmer

Because female body plan is the default body plan in human development

To attract other nipples/

Originally Posted by Dannon Oneironaut

To attract other nipples/

Also, male lactation. Male lactation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia