Top Science Discoveries
Try to imagine life without antibiotics. We wouldn’t live nearly as long as we do
without them. Here’s a look at some discoveries that have changed the world.
It’s impossible to rank their importance, so they’re listed in the order they
were discovered.
The Copernicum System
In 1543, while on his deathbed, Polish astronomer Nicholas
Copernicus published his theory that the Sun is a
motionless body at the center of the solar system, with the planets revolving
around it. Before the Copernicum system was introduced, astronomers believed
the Earth was at the center of the universe.
Gravity
Isaac Newton, an English
mathematician and physicist, is considered the greatest scientist of all time.
Among his many discoveries, the most important is probably his law of universal
gravitation. In 1664, Newton figured out that gravity is the force that draws
objects toward each other. It explained why things fall down and why the
planets orbit around the Sun.
Electricity
If electricity makes life easier for us, you can thank Michael Faraday. He made two big
discoveries that changed our lives. In 1821, he discovered that when a wire
carrying an electric current is placed next to a single magnetic pole, the wire
will rotate. This led to the development of the electric motor. Ten years
later, he became the first person to produce an electric current by moving a
wire through a magnetic field. Faraday's experiment created the first
generator, the forerunner of the huge generators that produce our electricity.
Evolution
When Charles Darwin, the British
naturalist, came up with the theory of evolution in 1859, he changed our idea
of how life on earth developed. Darwin argued that all organisms evolve, or
change, very slowly over time. These changes are adaptations that allow a
species to survive in its environment. These adaptations happen by chance. If a
species doesn't adapt, it may become extinct. He called this process natural selection, but it is often called the
survival of the fittest.
Louis Pasteur
Before French chemist Louis Pasteur began experimenting
with bacteria in the 1860s, people did not know what caused disease. He not
only discovered that disease came from microorganisms, but he also realized
that bacteria could be killed by heat and disinfectant. This idea caused
doctors to wash their hands and sterilize their instruments, which has saved
millions of lives.
Theory of Relativity
Albert Einstein’s theory of special
relativity, which he published in 1905, explains the relationships between
speed, time and distance. The complicated theory states that the speed of light
always remains the same—186,000 miles/second (300,000 km/second) regardless of
how fast someone or something is moving toward or away from it. This theory
became the foundation for much of modern science.
The Big Bang Theory
Nobody knows exactly how the universe came into existence, but
many scientists believe that it happened about 13.7 billion years ago with a
massive explosion, called the Big Bang. In 1927, Georges Lemaître proposed the Big
Bang theory of the universe. The theory says that all the matter in the
universe was originally compressed into a tiny dot. In a fraction of a second,
the dot expanded, and all the matter instantly filled what is now our universe.
The event marked the beginning of time. Scientific observations seem to confirm
the theory.
Penicillin
Antibiotics are powerful drugs that kill dangerous bacteria in
our bodies that make us sick. In 1928, Alexander Flemingdiscovered the first
antibiotic, penicillin, which he grew in his lab using mold and fungi. Without
antibiotics, infections like strep throat could be deadly.
DNA
On February 28, 1953, James Watson of the United States and Francis
Crick of England made one of the greatest scientific
discoveries in history. The two scientists found the double-helix structure of
DNA. It’s made up of two strands that twist around each other and have an
almost endless variety of chemical patterns that create instructions for the
human body to follow. Our genes are made of DNA and determine how things like
what color hair and eyes we’ll have. In 1962, they were awarded the Nobel Prize
for this work. The discovery has helped doctors understand diseases and may
someday prevent some illnesses like heart disease and cancer.
Identify your exercise. No exercise was created equal. You might like running, so run. You might like jogging, so jog. You might like stationary bikes, so bike stationarily. Find the one that works best for you – that isn’t too much of a chore for you to do regularly throughout the week. Don’t pick a routine that you don’t like – or you won’t want to do it, and you certainly won’t stick with it for long. I also wouldn’t recommend buying into that whole “no pain, no gain” mantra. I’ve lost weight without hurting myself, and you probably can, too.
Avoid trans fats and high fructose corn syrup. I offer this suggestion for a few reasons. First, they’re not good for you anyway. Second, you’ll eliminate a lot of the “bad foods” outright – no questions asked. You’ll have to become more selective in what you eat by avoiding these two nasty ingredients – which are in more foods than you probably care to know.
No magic pill. Nonsense! There is no such thing as a magic pill. Don’t fall victim to the hype of the latest fat-burning drug commercial. If you listen or read closely, you’ll see that every single one of these things is effective when combined with proper diet and exercise (which they even state in their advertisements). The side-effects for these drugs are usually worse than your additional weight, anyway.
Vitamins are good for you. If you’re going to take any pills, let them be natural supplements (like Essential Fatty Acids or multivitamins). Be careful about overdoing it, though – especially with herbal remedies. Too much of anything is a bad thing. You can consult a nutritionist, but always buy on your own – and keep these supplements to a minimum. Remember, too, that specific vitamins are no good without specific minerals.
Ignore Ronald McDonald. You don’t have to eliminate fast food completely, but you should avoid it at all costs. Most of it is nasty, bad stuff anyway – if you’d even go as far as to call it food. If you’re looking for convenience, find a more convenient meal source. Besides, most of what they serve would be considered “food product,” not food. There’s a gigantic difference as far as your body is concerned. Your bloodstream does not have taste buds, need I remind you?
Maintain your priorities. Sure, your sandwich would taste amazing with an extra tablespoon of mayonnaise… but do you really need it? Rather, is it more important for you to reach your weight loss goal quicker – or have this sandwich taste marginally better? What’ll happen the next time you’re faced with this decision – will you cave again? It’s a slippery slope; don’t lose sight of what’s most important to you.
Counteract the “Rainy Day” principle. If you decrease your calorie count without necessarily increasing your physical activity level, your body is going to crash. It’s going to say to itself: “Holy sh*t! I better store these calories as fat, because I’m not getting enough of them – and I don’t want to die.” When you exercise, you set your body’s process to “burn” instead of “save.”
Sleep it off. To be an efficient fat-burning machine, your body requires at least eight hours of sleep a night. If you think that you’re doing yourself a favor by sleeping less, you’re mistaken. Give your body time to rest itself, both mentally and physically. Sleep is very, very important (if only for mental alertness for the following day). If you feel tired, that’s likely your body’s way of saying: “Shut your eyes, stupid!”
Fat is where it’s at. If you think you can lose weight and keep it off by avoiding all fats, you’re sadly mistaken. In fact, if you think that low fat eating is the only way to go, you might as well just quit now. Your body (and your brain) needs fat to survive! This is why the scientists call “them” essential fatty acids – Omegas 3, 6, and 9. These fats have been stripped from many supermarket shelf items, and it’s your responsibility to put fat back into your dietary plan. Don’t avoid eating fat, embrace it – equally.
Fiber good. When you start to lose fat, you’re probably going to get constipated. Yeah, it happens more frequently than we care to admit (or share). You should have a good amount of fiber every day, anyway. Fiber is very important to your health (and your weight loss goals). Try the Metamucil snack wafers for a quick fiber infusion. Then, magnesium citrate for those… “stuck” moments, in which you’ll find yourself from time to time. Stick a bottle or two of that in your fridge for safe keeping, and don’t plan on going anywhere for 24 hours after taking a dose (trust me, trust me, trust me)
Click here to know more about weight loss products. Click here
