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Tag: Large Hadron Collider

Science, Math, and Nature as Inspiration for Themes in Writing and Beyond

Long-time readers of the Observation Desk might remember that I’m a fan of science. Some of my old posts include “We Are All Stardust”, “Big New for the Big Bang,” and “Seems the World Will End in a Bang, Not a Whimper.” I find science and nature (and even sometimes math!) to be a great source of inspiration, not only for writing but for my life.

There are so many wonderful, beautiful, crazy aspects of our universe. An exploding star, called a supernova, sends particles shooting across the universe. These happen all the time in our universe and have been happening for billions of years. All the elements that make up earth, including our own bodies, were once ejected particles from a supernova.

Then you have the Fibbonacci Sequence, which starts at 0,1 and each subsequent number is the sum of the previous two (0,1,1,2,3,5,8, etc…) and put in order in boxes make a spiral. Many things in nature follow this pattern, from flower petal and seed arrangements to how spiral galaxies are formed.

To take a look at a math example, did you know that a computer cannot truly generate a random number? Because computers function via algorithms, or sets of rules programmed in to the computer, it’s not possible for a computer to do random.

And whether or not I totally understand all these concepts that fascinate me (spoiler alert: I don’t, but I keep trying anyway!), they never fail to inspire me. They push me to examine the patterns in my writing. On a micro level, I look at the the words, language, and sentence structure patterns I fall back on, so I can push myself beyond my own cliches.

On a macro level, it pushes me to recognize emerging themes in my writing. What themes did I go in with and maybe didn’t follow through on properly? What themes didn’t I notice, ones that maybe stemmed from my subconscious, that can make my story better if I tease them out more and reinforce them? Where are there more opportunities to refine any symbols I’ve used or places where I can introduce more?

Taking a patterned analysis to my writing allows me to make sure every detail (word, sentence, symbol, description, etc…) counts to work toward a greater whole through theme and plot.

To take all this a step further, trying to understand the science and math that governs nature can help me examine my own life for themes and patterns. It pushes me to a greater level of introspection and hopefully to a better place as human being. And that will only contribute to me being a better, more deliberate writer.

When I work at honing that merging of the creative and analytical thinking, stuff  moves in ways I could never have imagined before. The world, my stories, my life…everything reaches a whole new level of understanding in my mind. And that feels like a pretty incredible phenomenon.

The #InkRipples Inspiration Continues with Science

#InkRipplesblueandgreenI’m a bit of a science nerd at times. I have a layman’s fascination with astrophysics and love watching programs and videos, reading books, and visiting exhibits on the many topics it covers. (Long time readers of the blog may remember these classic science posts on the Large Hadron Collider, the Big Bang, and dark matter.) And that’s what brings you today’s #InkRipples moment of inspiration.

The boys joke that when they see too many cool things (i.e. trains, fire trucks, police cars, construction vehicles, and the like), their heads explode, complete with hand gestures and sound effects. I feel that way about science. It can make my head spin, but it’s an endless source of head-explosion moments…and inspiration!

The thing about science is that it can make you feel very insignificant, as it does in this video about how small we are in comparison to the largest known star. (I may have shared this video and the following one on the Observation Desk before, but they are totally worth a rewatch if you’ve already seen them.)

With information like that, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with the large scale of the Universe and to think that nothing you could ever do in your puny, little lifetime could have any kind of lasting effect. So before you begin to despair, let me share this next video with you, which I think helps us to appreciate the intricate way we are all connected to each other and the Universe. When famous astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson was asked what the most astounding fact in the Universe was, he head this to say:

So now I want to know what kinds of things induce your head-explosion moments.

Dark Matter, Alternate Universes, and a Story Idea

I haven’t had a science update lately, mostly because my favorite science project the Large Hadron Collider is on hiatus. It’s being upgraded to increase its power so it can smash teeny, tiny particles even faster and harder. Scientists are hoping to unlock the secrets of dark matter.

Dark matter is thought to make up a large part of the universe, but so little is known about it. Thinking about the universe and great mysteries like dark matter get my creative juices flowing. One of my favorite science programs is Discovery Channel’s How the Universe WorksIt kind of make my head hurts because the theories and science discussed are so mind-blowing in both concept and scope, but boy it’s so exciting to think about the universe.

I took physics classes in high school and college and found them, frankly, boring. Nothing we discussed ignited any sense of excitement. I get that you have to learn the basics to better understand the bigger concepts that theoretical and astrophysicists study, but I wish those basic physics classes had at least sparked some interest in learning more. And they just didn’t do that. It wasn’t until I was an adult, long out of school, that my own curiosity lead me to a passion for learning about the universe.

I hope to one day use a fictional story to meld my passion for writing and creating worlds and characters and my excitement over the universe. It’s been percolating for some time now and I think I have a premise and a main character. But I need to finish up a couple of other projects first and school myself more on the scientific concepts I’ll need to know to make the story authentic. Anyone want to give me a crash course? 🙂

I’ll leave you with this little gem of an article called “Quantum Theory Proves That Consciousness Moves to Another Universe After Death.” It definitely sounds science-fictiony, but it’s one of those ideas that I love reading about, if only to make my head spin a little with both excitement and confusion.

Seems the World Will End in a Bang, Not a Whimper

I’ve had so much books news going on lately that I’ve neglected to update you all on any science news. My longtime followers know that I’ve been very interested in the progress of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the discovery of the Higgs boson, also called the God Particle. For new readers, some back articles about this topic include what the God Particle is, LHC creates primordial matter, and disproving Einstein.

Well, I reported back in July how scientists “discovered” the God Particle. Awesome news! So the face of physics and what we know about the world has changed, right? Ummm, not exactly. Subsequent analysis of the particle has not found any evidence to say it isn’t the God Particle (how’s that for a double negative!). And earlier this month, CERN shut down the LHC for two years for scheduled maintenance (imagine if your car maintenance took that long!).

Don’t worry, though. Even though there won’t be any subatomic particles smashing together at the LCH for awhile, I’ve still got some mind-bending news to report. Recent calculations regarding the Higgs Boson indicate that in tens of billlions of years, another alternate universe will expand far enough out that it will reach our universe, which will then disappear in a catastrophic event. And it will happen at the speed of light…how’s that for a Big Bang!

But don’t worry about that either. We’ll be long gone before then…and not just you and me and our grandchildren. The whole Earth will be gone when the sun burns out in another five billion or so years!

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