Archive for February, 2010

Evolution Is A Scientific Theory

Feb 22nd, 10 / 4 Comments

This is kind of a pet topic of mine. I have no problem with people practicing their religions, and I’m religious myself. I even have some pretty out there views on some things, which you will know if you read through my site. However, the lack of scientific literacy in my country is astounding to me.

Evolution is real. It is a scientific theory. This means it has been tested in ways as rigorous as we can devise, we have observed the process, found supporting evidence, and not found contradicting evidence. This means, unless we make some new discovery that throws a gear in the works, evolution is a good explanation for how complicated life arose from simple life. Such a new discovery is likely to only cause us to refine our view of evolution though. Basically, that evolution happens is a fact. How it happens is currently the domain of theory.

For an example, consider gravity. It is also a theory. For a long time, we used Newton’s laws of gravity to model it. We still use these laws in most circumstances, since they get the job done. However, we also discovered that at very high speeds, gravity does some funky, unexpected things. This is where Einstein’s theory of general relativity comes in. It is a more specific theory of gravity, but it served to refine our knowledge of how gravity works, not invalidate Newton’s work.

This is what will likely happen when the next great discovery on evolution is made. It will refine our knowledge and make it more specific, rather than invalidate what we already know.

In any case, I think if anyone told you gravity is just a theory, you’d probably laugh at them. I hope you would anyway. It is a theory, but it’s quite an important part of our knowledge.

If someone tells you something is just a theory as a way of dismissing it, it’s because they don’t understand that scientific theories have lots of testing and observation go into them before they are called theories. They don’t just think something up and call it a theory. When they’ve just thought it up and are getting ready to test it, it’s a hypothesis. Don’t let the way words are used casually detract from their meaning when they are used in a scientific context. Understand that in science, words are used very precisely, to be sure everyone is on the same page.

Additional resources:

Evolution: Fact and Theory
Scientific Evidence Supporting Evolution Continues To Grow
Evolution Is a Fact and a Theory

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How I Learned to Fall Asleep

Feb 6th, 10 / 0 Comments

Note: Please remember, as mentioned in my sitewide disclaimer, I’m not a doctor or otherwise qualified to provide medical advice. This is simply my experience that lead to sleeping better.

I used to have a very hard time falling asleep. I could spend hours laying in bed not sleeping. Sometimes, I just wasn’t tired. Other times, my mind just didn’t want to stop thinking. And when I was younger, it was truly annoying having a bedtime, because the fact was, I was not going to sleep anytime soon.

Eventually, I decided I wasn’t going to strictly abide by a bedtime anymore. Certainly, I would head to my room at the appropriate time and be appropriately quiet. But I got a feel for what volume the TV could be on without anyone hearing outside my room. I listened for when my parents went to bed so I could turn my light on and read. Then, I would play video games, read, and watch TV until I couldn’t hold my eyes open anymore. Then, it was an easy matter to fall asleep. My body just didn’t want to be awake anymore, so it was going to sleep whether I liked it or not.

I liked it way better than trying to sleep on my own. So, for me, the first step was simply to stop trying to sleep when I wasn’t tired. But it wasn’t the end. After all, becoming exhausted in order to fall asleep does get old after awhile, and  doesn’t lend itself well to the scheduled lives most people lead. I still had to wake up for school after all.

However, staying awake until I couldn’t anymore had another effect. After falling asleep quickly and easily for a long time, I learned what happens when I go to sleep. Not in a way I can explain, but rather I could observe how I felt going from awake to asleep as I kept just sleeping easily after staying awake for far too long. After seeing how that worked, I eventually learned to just do it whenever I become tired and wanted to sleep. Now, when ever I feel tired and would like to sleep, it’s a simple matter to lay down, close my eyes, and shut down within a few minutes. It’s not perfect mind you. I still get overly stressed and start thinking too much sometimes when I’d rather just  get some shut eye. But most of the time, it really is just time to lay down and go to sleep.

So, in short form, if you want to try this:

1) Start staying awake until staying awake is a struggle.
2) Lay down, get comfy, and go to sleep quickly due to being extremely tired.
3) Eventually, after many repetitions of steps one and two, learn to put yourself to sleep by noticing how you go to sleep quickly when extremely tired. This should happen subconsciously.

Naturally, sleep deprivation is considered a bad idea in the medical community, so it would be wise to consult a medical professional first. I wouldn’t expect something horribly bad to come of this so long as you’re smart about knowing your limits (protip: don’t drive after being awake for 24 hours straight), but getting a professional opinion on the matter can’t hurt and could possibly help a lot. It could also catch any issues that might be specific to you if you have any health complications that too little sleep might adversely effect.

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