The Scientific Method, Astronomy, and Health & Disease
The Scientific Method
What is Science?
Science is the systematic and organized body of knowledge. It is as objective as possible and always justifies itself.
The Scientific Method
The Scientific method is based on rules and ways that are common in every area of Science so that other researchers can study and analyze our data and maybe continue our studies to get into more depth.
Structure of the Scientific Method:
- Ask a question (something that can be measured)
- Do background research
- Construct a hypothesis
- Test the hypothesis (experiments, interviews, questionnaires…) then analyze them
- If it is true, communicate the results and conclusions, if it isn’t construct a new hypothesis and start again.
Hypothesis
A hypothesis is an educated guess. It has to be clear and precise, testable, and it must be a statement.
Advantages of Hypotheses:
- They determine the focus of the research.
- They force the researcher to clearly state the purpose of the research.
- They determine the variables that will and won’t be considered.
Interviews
An interview is a conversation between two people where one asks questions and the other one answers them. The questions are mainly open questions.
Types of Interviews:
- Informational Interview: To collect information about a person’s knowledge.
- Personality Interview: To know the personality or opinions of someone, usually well-known people.
Before the Interview:
- Decide the objective of the interview.
- Look for information about the person being interviewed.
- Prepare questions.
- Choose a recording device.
- Determine the length of the interview.
First, ask general questions, then the more difficult ones, and finally, the ending ones.
Questionnaires
A questionnaire is a method designed to obtain information on a certain topic through a sequence of questions asked to different people.
Steps to Conduct a Questionnaire:
- Choose a sample group.
- Design and make the questionnaire.
- Conduct the questionnaire.
- Extract data from it.
- Analyze the data.
Types of Questions:
- Closed: The responder has to choose between given answers/scale.
- Open: The responder can give any answer without limitations.
- About Facts: There is only one correct answer.
- About Opinion: There are different correct answers.
- Compromising: More delicate and personal.
- Control: The same question asked twice in a different way to see if the responder is paying attention.
The Big Bang Theory
The Universe originated 13.7 billion years ago by the Big Bang, a big explosion.
The fact that the galaxies are still moving away from each other and the Universe is expanding led to believing in the Big Bang theory because it must have started at a small zone.
The Big Bang theory was confirmed in 1964 by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson because they discovered a very weak type of radiation coming from every point in the Universe, the Cosmic Background radiation, which is the “echo” of the Big Bang.
The Spectrum of Light and the Doppler Effect
Redshift and blueshift describe how light changes as objects in space move closer or further away from us. It explains the Universe’s expansion.
Visible light is a spectrum of colors.
When an object moves away from us, the light is shifted to the red end of the spectrum, and its wavelength gets longer.
When an object moves towards us, the light moves to the blue end of the spectrum, and its wavelength gets shorter. This is called the Doppler effect.
Edwin Hubble discovered the redshift in the Universe and proved that nearly all galaxies were moving away.
Astronomy
Space Stations
- Salyut: A laboratory in space to find out its characteristics. It had a speed of 2800 km/h to win against Earth’s gravity. In 1971, it went into orbit for 23 days.
- Skylab (3 crew): From the USA. Its purpose was to see what zero gravity does to the human body.
- Apollo-Soyuz (5 crew): From the USA and the Soviet Union. Two different space stations that orbited and joined each other. Air pressure between them was very different, so it was dangerous. They solved the problem by gradually changing the pressure.
- Mir (6 crew): From the Soviet Union. Launched in 1986 and came back in 2001. Many experiments of all kinds were conducted. It was built in space, sent in 8 modules because it would have been too heavy to carry. Astronauts had to go out to space to attach the parts at a temperature of -200 degrees Celsius, so they used special equipment.
- International Space Station (10 crew): The world’s biggest. Once finished, it will have 14 modules. They have been building it for 11 years, and it costs $100 billion. It will weigh 400 tonnes. It moves constantly to keep solar panels facing the Sun. Four gyroscopes control the tilt. Astronauts need to work out 2.5 hours every day. They are trying to see how animals react to zero gravity. Data is collected by satellites from the Station and sent back to Earth. There has been permanent human presence for nearly a decade. It is 3 days away from Earth. They recycle water from sweat, humidity, and urine. In order to put a space station back into orbit, oxygen reacts with steam, and speed is given off.
Rosetta
Rosetta is the orbiter with Philae inside, a robot which was supposed to land on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P), analyze samples, and send data back to Earth.
The center of 67P is made of ice. When it approaches the Sun, it melts, and a trail appears behind it made out of melted materials.
Launched in 2004 and started orbiting the comet in 2014.
Rosetta orbited by using solar energy and the gravitational force of planets.
Rosetta had to release Philae on the comet, but they lost Philae. In July 2016, Philae was found through Rosetta. It had died because it had no light.
They decided to crash Rosetta into the comet (29th September at 11:20) to take some of the samples that Philae was supposed to take while approaching the comet.
Carbon compounds, nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen have been found on comets. The origin of life could be from comets.
Health and Disease
The World Health Organization (WHO) states that health is not only not having any illness but also having a good social and mental life. Health is influenced not only by you but also by where you live and your genetics.
Quality of Life
Quality of life depends on:
- Mental and physical health
- Level of autonomy
- Social relationships
- Environment
It can be measured by life expectancy.
The Antibiotics Apocalypse
Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest threats of the 21st Century.
We need to take fewer antibiotics because they make bacteria more resistant. Antibiotics are becoming less effective due to mutations in bacteria. They have found ways to stop antibiotics from affecting them.
If we don’t take all the doses of antibiotics, only the weak bacteria are killed, but the superbacteria become stronger.
Antibiotics make animals grow faster, so many farmers use them, but bacterial resistance can be passed from animals to humans.
Some scientists are trying to stop the communication between bacteria because bacteria count themselves by communicating before attacking. If they cannot communicate, they won’t attack. Bacteria were the first organisms on Earth; they live everywhere. Some are good, some are harmless, and some are bad.