Mine’s physics! I enjoy it so much 😃
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Geology, it’s simply fascinating how much you can tell about our earth by holding a mere stone in your hands.
I wish it was easier to learn beyond the really basic “igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary” stage. Like, I have no idea what all is underneath me right now or why, and if you research it you’re instantly wading through papers written about some specific question, which assumes I know this or that craton and it’s history.
There’s a few levels down from each of those that you can get the broad strokes of fairly easily.
For igneous, you can broadly break it down into extrusive vs intrusive. Basically, did the magma slowly solidify underground, resulting in large grains like in granite, or did it come out in the form of lava that cools rapidly into fine grained or even glassy structures like obsidian. Then there’s the other axis of “how much silica is in there?” Really high silica content rocks are called “felsic” rocks. Granite is an example of a felsic intrusive rock, ryolite is an extrusive felsic rock; Basically the same minerals, but way smaller crystals. On the other end of the silica spectrum, there’s “mafic” and ultramafic rocks that have less silica and more iron and magnesium. The main example of a mafic rock you might know of is basalt. You can find charts like this one that break things down that way.
Cool diagram! It’s interesting how narrow the band of distinguished composition differences is. Anything above 69% is just felsic, and anything below 45% is ultramafic, and hasn’t been created any time recently because the Earth has cooled inside.
Structure-wise, for igneous there’s various different kinds of intrusions. For metamorphic and sedimentary there’s (of course) layers, as well as faults and folds, and pedosphere formations like drumlins. And then there’s other kinds of intrusion (if that’s the right term) like salt or various kinds of petroleum.
What I’d really love is geological history laid out on a timeline for some specific area. I’d like to be able to picture it all, instead of just looking at isolated examples of a rock or landform.
I bet you could find a professor near you that would let you attend office hours and ask whatever questions you have.
That would be cool. How do I approach that without seeming like a crank that wants to discuss flat Earth or something?
Don’t overthink it. Look up faculty and try to find one that teaches introductory courses. Send them an email stating something along the lines that you’re a non student looking to learn a little more than high school introductory terms. Ask if there’s a lecture you could audit or a time like office hours where you could ask questions. A bunch of professors would probably be willing to talk to a flat earther if they were approached on a polite and courteous manner.
If your interest can’t be satisfied with a question session, you could look into whether a local university has an option for non-degree students to enroll in classes. That’s an option that’s frequently not advertised but is pretty common (at least in the US.)
That would be an expensive hobby project, haha!
Some community and state colleges can be pretty cheap, and most schools offer night classes for those who work all day. A gen-ed like geology is likely to have such hours available for this community of night students, especially if you live in an area where geology is related to employment. Usually pretty cheap to take one class at a time through something like an Adult and Continuing Education program.
To be clear, I’m Canadian. As far as I’m aware big-boy institutions are the only option. They’re cheaper than the US ones, especially if you stay in province, but it’s still hundreds per credit.
As a computer person… algorithm design is extremely fascinating and while I think it’s silly that my BS says “computer science” there definitely is a real field of computer scientists and it’s awesome. Most of us are just really well practiced code monkeys though.
I have two friends who are studying or have studied computer science and I have nothing but respect for what they do. It’s a rapidly growing and very versatile field
To clarify, are they actually doing research or just CS degree havers? Most of us folks with CS degrees don’t work in a research capacity (even if we’re working with interesting business problems).
Being able to factor algorithms like algebraic equations is really neat.
I’ve never been able to wrap my head around proofs of algorithms, but I love the idea.
One of the best authorities on that concept is Djikstra - they actually formally proved a few full algorithms and also provided a lot of guidance on how to prove others. It’s not something you’ll see… well, probably ever… but it’s a very interesting approach to program design. Dijkstra imagined a world where all programmers would be writing formal proofs of correctness before authoring a single line of code… that’s a neat world, I’d love to see it… but it’s also incredibly burdensome so our tech explosion would likely be happening a lot slower.
Maths, because its maths all the way down/up.
If we can pick math, then I choose logic.
Logic is all the hard work without the fun, but sure!
Relevant xkcd
Yep. If you count math as a science, math is my favorite.
If not, probably geology.
My favorite field of science is… Field Science…
There’s honestly a ton of stuff out there in the natural world that we can’t get data about any other way other than having field scientists out in, you know, actual fields and rivers and forests.
I’m not a scientist, but I can get down with that.
Mines a toss up between microbiology and immunology, but I also totally get your favorite as it’s the basis for all sciences!
Awesome! What in particular draws you to microbiology and immunology, and what’s the most interesting thing that you’ve learned about it?
In the big picture, it’s due to the microscopic world having massive implications across life. I’ve also lost friends and family to autoimmune disorders and cancer, so my long term goal is to improve our understanding in the field. Immunology is super fascinating, but there’s more we don’t know than we know about the immune system. We don’t even understand how fever works or Tylenol from start to finish for example!
What makes you stoked about physics?
Autoimmune disorders and cancer are cruel diseases. The human body is essentially a universe of its own and there are so many things we’ve yet to understand about it. I’m sorry for your loss and I’m sure you’ll make some great contributions!
Physics gets me stoked because of these tiny particles and fields that have huge implications across the universe and life as we know it. For example if the proton were heavier than the neutron, the whole universe would be very different. Everything relies on such a delicate balance and there’s so many mysteries about physics that we’ve yet to uncover for instance dark matter and dark energy! Then there’s quantum physics, which is notoriously hard to describe but very interesting to learn about nonetheless!
Deep space radar telemetry
Probably metrology, because it’s in everything but nobody even knows what it is. Anthropology made me a better person, too.
Psychology is probably my least favourite, because it gets slapped on everything to make it sound official, while the actual field can predict fairly little at this stage. No offense, but physics is also overdone in popular discourse.
Science-fiction
Probably zoology and neuroscience.
I enjoy some of the soft sciences as well but that feels a bit off topic.
Definitely the one in Wye, UK! Really great grounds and great in summer for a picnic.
As in, Kent?
You knows it!
It’s a shame some of the locals hurled racist abuse to a diverse student body from Imperial many moons back!
Biology is amazing. Creatures are really complex machines built through trial and error. It’s amazing to see what nature has come up with.
IT security, I hold a BS. Its truly interdisciplinary which makes talent so fucking skilled people. It’s amazing. It spans from math to electronics via computer science and also touches on physical security like lock mechanisms. Endlessly interesting.
Not a scientist, but I find astrophysics endlessly interesting. When daily life seems overwhelming it’s good to consider what an insignificant morsel I am, in fact the whole solar system is, in the scale of the known universe.
There’s a supermassive black hole aptly named TON 618 that’s 40 times larger than our solar system! Some of these sizes are incomprehensible but very sobering.
Fluid dynamics
I really enjoy cooking and enjoy reading about the science behind it. So chemistry/biochem, I guess? For any interested J. Kenji Lopez-At is a good and approachable source.
Also for those that like astronomy and also beer, look for an Astronomy on Tap chapter near you! They are an org that puts on presentations about astronomy in bars. Dunno about other chapters, but my city’s chapter is free to attend.
