Quantum mechanics, Portal and Collapse

I passed biology. I did well on phylogeny, glucose oxidation pathways, ecology and genetics but the evolution question was very tough. I had to describe speciation on the Galapagos Islands with reference to a chart that was quite complex. I got the overall idea but am still waiting to hear back on a few points. In my opinion Darwin deserves more credit than Einstein or Newton because natural selection is so extremely counterintuitive. He stuck with it and got it right.

I finished my geology book and am now onto quantum mechanics although I still have geology questions to do. Quantum mechanics is very interesting. It explains energy states associated with atoms and how and why they change. QM is inextricably connected with cosmology. This is so much so that the book I am learning from is partially about QM and partially about cosmology. QM gets scaled out to universal sizes, literally.

I remember back in late 1998 that the game Unreal was released. It became well know for its Unreal game engine and lots of sequels followed. Steam recently released an Unreal pack with all the games. So I got that and installed them all and am back enjoying fond memories of a good game I played a decade ago. I also got Valve’s orange box for the latest Half-Life 2 story episodes, Team Fortress 2 and Portal (a fantastic HL2 mod). I also completed playing Metal Gear Solid IV and finished reading Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs and Steel before moving onto his next book Collapse. I also finished watching BBC’s Earth Story and 24 Season 1.

I am nearing the end of my course. I have two more months to go. I have already gained a total greater than the minimum to be sure of passing. So I believe I have passed although I need to double-check this because there is a final exam involving a combination of every aspect of the course. Soon I have to decide the path I want to take next. I can choose Geosciences, Health Sciences, Life Sciences, Molecular Science, Natural Sciences or Physical Science. I have ruled out Health sciences and Geosciences. Health science is aimed at the medical industry. I may take up geology as a hobby but not as a profession. Molecular science is essentially chemistry. I don’t think I want to be a chemist. Life science is biology with a focus on living things. Natural science is similar but is wider in scope to include natural phenomena on the planet and in the universe and is cross-discipline. Then there is Physical sciences. Now here is the catch. I do like the idea of specialized biology, like a life science but it is exclusive to living things. Natural science is also interesting but you move outside of just living things. However my Physical science scores are better than my biology or earth sciences. I think this is because I have more experience with physical sciences though and in general you either get it right or wrong there while biology is more detailed as is earth science.

The Ancestor's Tale, 24 and Earth Story

I finished my biology exam this week and so that is biology behind me but it was a tough exam featuring primate phylogeny, glucose oxidation, ecology, genetics and evolution. I do enjoy this topic but unlike physics and mathematics biology tends to depend a lot on describing processes step by step and explaining outcomes rather than punching in and calculating raw data into formulas.

So I am midway through Earth History and managed to get hold of all 8 episodes of Earth Story by the BBC. It is all about how the earth formed. Geology is actually very difficult especially when we get into magmatism and how different rocks are formed. For most people biology, chemistry and physics seem like the big 3 sciences but there are 4, biology, chemistry, physics and earth science. Earth science is mainly about geology and climatology. Most of you may be familiar with it in part from geography but it is a whole science unto itself.

I also finished reading all 650 pages of The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins. This was an amazing pilgrimage from modern human being back through time to DNA. I highly recommend it and there are some wonderful illustrations in it.

As a note the PS3 got an update to 2.41 and really is a class act of a game/media centre system. I also updated the last of a few PCs I own to SP3 for XP. I may upgrade both to Vista in the future. I am currently watching the TV series 24 Season 1 and think it is a very good thriller/drama.