Author Archives: danielicopeland

How did life get started on Earth?

Posted on April 18, 2016 by danielicopeland

Well unfortunately no one knows for sure. The most prehistoric life that has ever been discovered, called stromatolites in Australia, can be dated back to 3.4 billion years ago. This life however is fairly evolved; it has cell walls and DNA (the more evolved version of RNA which still transmits the software for life today). […] Continue reading →

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What is the Fermi Paradox?

Posted on April 4, 2016 by danielicopeland

The Fermi Paradox, first proposed by physicist Enrico Fermi, addresses the question, “where is all the intelligent life in the universe?” It might seem that the answer to this is obvious; life is incredibly rare. But let’s just run a few numbers anyway. The low-end estimate of how many stars are in just in our […] Continue reading →

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The Hunt for Extrasolar Planets

Posted on March 27, 2016 by danielicopeland

The Hunt for Extrasolar Planets 2098 extrasolar planets have been discovered starting in 1988. Extrasolar planets are planets that exist on stars other than the sun. Because these are relatively small and dark object that orbit much larger bright objects so very far way they can be very difficult to find. Astronomers can discover them […] Continue reading →

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Nuclear Fusion in the Sun

Posted on March 13, 2016 by danielicopeland

At the core of the Sun, and every other Sun like star, a process called fusion takes place. Fusion describes a process where light elements, such as hydrogen, get fused together to form heavier elements, like helium. Fusion happens due to the intense pressure of gravity acting on the suns mass. A byproduct of this […] Continue reading →

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What’s the deal with black holes?

Posted on February 11, 2016 by danielicopeland

(Artist’s depiction of a black hole “stealing” mass from a nearby star) What are black holes? Black holes are supermassive cosmic objects. They can be very large or as small as an atom. These atom-sized black holes are so massive that, if on Earth, they could have the same mass as a large mountain. Super […] Continue reading →

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Gravitational Waves Confirmed

Posted on February 11, 2016 by danielicopeland

Picture and Video Explaining Gravitational Waves Thursday February 11th 2016 was a monumental day for physics. Albert Einstein first theorized gravitational waves in 1916 as part of his theory of general relativity. Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of the universe caused by massive cosmic events, such as the collision of black holes. These ripples […] Continue reading →

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