Category: technology

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Scientists Say There Could Be 36 Alien Civilizations in the Milky Way

We’ve all wondered–could there be, not just life, but intelligent life, out there?

And while relative intelligence of life on Earth could be debatable, two scientists from the University of Nottingham have a new theory that suggests there is.

36 different potential civilizations, to be exact.

Image credit: NASA via Rawpixel

How can scientists possibly make a prediction about the number of undiscovered civilizations?

It’s a mathematical theory based on a fifty-year-old equation called the Drake equation.

As Popular Mechanics explains:

Drake’s seven key variables, which range from how many habitable planets exoplanets there are in the galaxy to the amount of time over which intelligent life takes shape, are almost impossible to pin down.

The formula acts more like a framework for the probability of finding life; previous estimates have ranged from zero to over a billion civilizations.

But Professor of Astrophysics Christopher Conselice, his colleague Tom Westby, and their team at the University of Nottingham used new technology and assumptions about our galaxy, the Milky Way, to formulate a new hypothesis.

They published their work last summer in The Astrophysical Journal.

Image credit: NASA via Rawpixel

As quoted in Phys.org, Conselice explains that they based their assumption on the length of time it took a civilization to develop on Earth:

“There should be at least a few dozen active civilizations in our Galaxy under the assumption that it takes 5 billion years for intelligent life to form on other planets, as on Earth.

The idea is looking at evolution, but on a cosmic scale. We call this calculation the Astrobiological Copernican Limit.”

The Copernican limit guides researchers to think on a pretty large scale–where intelligent life develops in either more or less than 5 billion years.

By intelligent life, scientists mean a civilization capable of communication.

On Earth, that development took more than 4.5 billion years, thus the 5 billion year threshold.

Image credit: NASA via Rawpixel

These calculations have been used for years, but the Nottingham team took it one step further, factoring in the specific composition of Earth’s sun.

As Westby explained:

“In the strong criteria, whereby a metal content equal to that of the Sun is needed (the Sun is relatively speaking quite metal rich), we calculate that there should be around 36 active civilizations in our Galaxy.”

When all of the data is combined and analyzed, they believe just 36 exoplanets possess all the right conditions to support the development of an alien civilization.

Of course that means 36 alien civilizations that are enough like us to be recognizable as communicative beings.

Who knows how many are out there that are so different that we might not even recognize them if we saw them.

The problem is, a theory needs to be proven, and the exoplanets are so far away that while we can see them with high powered telescopes and gather some sensory data on them, we don’t yet have the technology to visit them–even with probes.

Image credit: NASA via Rawpixel

If they’re so far away, why do we even care?

Well aside from the intrinsic human need to explore and discover, finding out how many other civilizations co-exist could actually tell us something about how long life on earth will last.

As Professor Conselice points out:

If we find that intelligent life is common then this would reveal that our civilization could exist for much longer than a few hundred years, alternatively if we find that there are no active civilizations in our Galaxy it is a bad sign for our own long-term existence.

By searching for extraterrestrial intelligent life—even if we find nothing—we are discovering our own future and fate

This is very exciting in the world of astronomy.

But according to Popular Mechanics and The Guardian, not every scientist is convinced.

Oliver Shorttle of the University of Cambridge told the news organization that more factors need to be considered—such as how exactly life formed on Earth—before taking the new findings as fact.

That’s science for you. There’s always more to consider.

Even so, it’s pretty cool to have such a specific number, don’t you think?

Do you believe there’s life out there? Let us know your theories in the comments!

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Solutions To Everyday Problems We Think You’ll Enjoy

Life can be full of obstacles.

Sometimes it feels like you take one step forward and there are a million different little things in your way trying to stop you from achieving your goals.

And that’s why we think you’ll enjoy these cool solutions to everyday problems!

Not only will you find them interesting, but we think they’ll also give you some hope because you’ll realize that folks out there are working to make our lives just a little bit easier…and we could all use a little bit of that right now.

Take a look at these photos.

1. How many times have you needed this in your life?

Can you spare a square?

This bathroom has a button that you can press if you run out of toilet paper. from mildlyinteresting

2. What are you in the mood for, Fido?

I bet they love this!

This rest stop has a vending machine for dogs from mildlyinteresting

3. From Japan with love.

A brilliant idea!

In Tokyo, sidewalks have paths for the blind from mildlyinteresting

4. You know you’re gonna need it!

We need more of these.

This plastic spoon has a built-in toothpick from mildlyinteresting

5. Try something new.

You might even like it!

This box of limes recommends a different way of cutting fruit. from mildlyinteresting

6. Never seen this before.

But I’d say it’s a good idea.

The bathroom in this restaurant has a mouthwash dispenser. from mildlyinteresting

7. Have a drink!

And now it’s easier than ever.

This coconut has a pull top from mildlyinteresting

8. Why don’t more places do this?

It’s good advertising!

This gas station sign also tells you the current price of coffee from mildlyinteresting

9. Hey, it works either way.

I’m a fan of this!

The microwave at my office is a pull out drawer from mildlyinteresting

10. Just so you’re not missing anything.

Don’t you hate it when you get home from the store and realize your milk expires tomorrow?

New Huge dates stamped on the milks in the store from mildlyinteresting

11. Those toppings are gonna stay put.

Finally! It’s what we’ve been waiting for!

This bag has the corners cut out so that the pizza sits flat. from mildlyinteresting

12. That’s a great idea.

And I’m sure the patients really love it.

This hospital has a flower vending machine from mildlyinteresting

13. As a hockey fan, I approve of this.

A genius idea, eh?

This Canadian remote control has a Hockey button from mildlyinteresting

Those are all pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

How about you?

Have you seen any really cool inventions lately that blew your mind?

If so, please share them with us in the comments. Thanks!

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People Share Inventions So Perfect They Actually Can’t Be Improved Upon

Has the air conditioner ever been improved upon?

Because I gotta say, that has to be one of the best inventions that humans ever came up with.

What would we do without it?

I guess some people aren’t as impressed with it as I am, but I need it during the warm months or I am a very unpleasant person to be around. Hey, I’m just tellin’ the truth here…

AskReddit users talked about inventions so good they can’t be improved upon. Let’s see what they had to say.

1. Now you know.

“The Schrader Valve used to inflate your bicycle tires, car tires, tractor tires, etc.

It was patented in 1893.

It is still used in virtually every tire on the planet. And now you know its name.”

2. You can’t beat it.

“Fire cooking.

We’ve been trying to improve it for almost 2 million years.”

3. It’s perfect.

“The wheel.

What are you going to do?

Make it rounder?”

4. Boom!

“Crocodiles, or “any apex predator that lived through the K-T extinction.

Physically unchanged for a hundred million years, because it’s the perfect killing machine.

A half ton of cold-blooded fury, the bite force of 20,000 Newtons, and stomach acid so strong it can dissolve bones and hoofs.”

5. Nice try, Swiffer.

“Brooms haven’t changed, no matter how hard Swiffer tries.”

6. Won’t be improved upon.

“Scissors are the perfect tool for cutting and shaping material that will likely never be improved upon.”

7. Works every time!

“Hoodies.

Cold? Hoodie.

Underdressed? Hoodie.

No bra? Hoodie.

Hot? Hoodie.

Rainy? Hoodie.

Dead inside? You know it, hoodie.”

8. The good stuff.

“Gaffing tape.

Leaves no reside when ripped up, extremely heat resistant and strong, but expensive as all hell (used for film projects).”

9. Still the same.

“A hair comb.

Even ones found in ancient Egypt and elsewhere are basically the same design.”

10. What an invention!

“Condoms.

Any thinner, they’d break.

Any thicker, and it’s fake.”

11. A real crowdpleaser.

“Madden NFL.

They perfected it 15 years ago so they haven’t made a single change since.”

12. Just like the old days.

“A scythe

I was at my cottage over the weekend and I had to cut some grass. I forgot my lawnmower but I had an old scythe in the garage that I inherited a long time ago. I was just keeping it as a decoration and momento and never thought of actually using it.

I was bored and I had some time so I sharpened the blade and went to work.

I don’t know the first thing about scythes or even how to properly use them … I just started swinging it.

I couldn’t believe it actually cut grass and weeds. The longer I worked, the more detailed I could get with where I swung it.

Two hours later, I had cut the lawn, cut down some tall grass on the edge of the property and had started cutting down some light brush that I thought I needed a brush cutter for.

This scythe must be decades old but it still works better than my lawnmower, edge clipper and brush cutter … all without a motorized engine.”

13. Gotta love it!

“The hammer.

The absolute tool of perfection for rapid transfer of force within a very short amount of time.

There is nothing to improve upon.”

What do you think?

What inventions are so good that they can’t be improved upon?

Tell us what you think in the comments!

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What Inventions Are So Good They Can’t Be Improved Upon? Here’s How Folks Responded.

I’ve never thought about this before, so I’m excited to see what kinds of responses people came up with!

And I’m curious to see what you think, so please reply in the comments after reading through these!

What invention is so good it can’t be improved upon?

Here’s what AskReddit users had to say.

1. Most likely.

“I’ve heard the Pin setter machine in bowling Alleys has never had a redesign.

It was perfect already.”

2. Good thing we have it.

“P-trap.

A simple and elegant way to prevent odor from coming into your house via sink, toilet, etc.”

3. XLR.

“The XLR cable.

Until they can beam something directly into your head, we kind of hit a dead end for perceived sound. The simplicity of what a cable can do by allowing both AC and DC power to flow through so you can power and draw signal from a microphone.

Plus the fact it’s so simple to remove the noise you get from outside interference makes it even more genius.”

4. It’s perfect!

“The paper clip.

Last major patent was in the 1880s.”

5. Use the bones!

“Those bones they use for tanning leather.

People have tried using all sorts of different materials but bone always works best apparently.”

6. After all these years…

“The brick.

It has been made of mud, then mud with straw, then mud with clay, then finally with clay alone. That is as far as progress has taken the brick, in the (guess) 8,000 years since it was invented, and it is still in use today.

Someone, lost in the obscurity of ancient history, realized that you couldn’t build really strong stone structures with irregularly-shaped small natural stones, and hewing huge lumps of stone into regular shapes was just ridiculously hard work.

That person also observed that mud that fell into a fire was left hardened when the fire died down. So they figured that if you shaped mud into regular shapes, big enough to carry one in each hand, you would have all the advantages of small irregular stones and large geometrically-carved stones, but with none of the drawbacks of either.

This thought must have taken a second to dawn on the inventor. The practical work to prove the concept must have taken a weekend, at most. Perhaps a week or two to get the shape just right. And here we are, thousands of years later, and the d*mn thing has barely changed at all.”

7. Perfection.

“Pizza.

You can change it up, you can ruin it, and you can fold it half like a crazy calzone munching madman, but you can’t beat perfection.”

8. Can’t beat ’em.

“Most professional classical music instruments are already in their final stage like piano and violin.”

9. That name, though.

“The spoon is a pretty incredible invention.

It can often sub as a fork or a knife, and it has a great name.”

10. Works just fine.

“The basic sewing needle.

It really hasn’t changed in thousands of years.

There is no need for change.”

11. We all need them.

“Windshield wipers.

My engineering professor always lectured us on how perfect the design is and how and new changes made are strictly aesthetic and don’t work any better.”

12. Steam turbine.

“The steam turbine.

It is such a useful way to convert heat into electricity that it would not be surprising to see one strapped to a fusion reactor (if one ever get built).”

13. What would we do without it?

“Gonna have to disagree with the TV remote.

It needs sharp pointy bits so people know when they’re sitting on it.

Also, less of those buttons that serve no purpose but to confuse grandparents.”

What do you think are inventions that are so good they can’t be improved upon?

Talk to us in the comments.

We’d love to hear from you!

The post What Inventions Are So Good They Can’t Be Improved Upon? Here’s How Folks Responded. appeared first on UberFacts.

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This Son Photoshops His Dad Into Movies and the Results Are Very Funny

I wish I had a better knowledge of Photoshop.

There are so many cool things you can do with it–like digitally insert your dad into culturally relevant moments across both history and cinema

That being said, Instagram user the_dadvent does this rather well.

1. “Hey, Eddie. Is that a rabbit in your pocket…

…or are ya’ glad to see me?”

2. “They can take our land…

…but they’ll never take our…sweater vests?”

3. Dad: We’re not getting a dog?

Dads when they get the dog.

4. The gas mileage on this thing is what!?

“I’m not chipping in. It’s not my fault you missed the exit.”

5. Hey, Point Break.

“Ya’ keep telling me you’re worthy, so how about a haircut and a job? No, no. Don’t give me that God of Thunder nonsense.”

6. Listen up, McFly.

“When this banjo hit 55 miles an hour, you’re going to hear some serious sh*t.”

7. I am unsinkable.

His embrace melts the North Atlantic iceberg of my heart.

8. Junior!

“There’s a fire.”

9. Ayyy, so we singin’?

“I feel like we didn’t have to sing in the rain… And we dance now? In the puddles? Do always wear taps shoes out?”

10. I don’t know what was in that red pill.

“Are you guys seeing all these 1’s and 0’s. I’m maybe not okay with this. Where’s the guy with the pills?”

11. Yippe ki yay.

“Young man, where are your shoes?”

12. Holy local jurisdiction, Batman

“The police just let you do this?”

Have you ever used photoshop to manipulate photos like this? Ever had the urge to let Leo hold you on the bow of the Titanic? Ever taken the time to do it?

Share it with us in the comments so we can legitimize your claim to Leo’s love and ensure you’re not just one of his French girls.

Au revoir. 

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People Talk the Creepiest Unexplained Things They’ve Seen Online

If the internet has taught mee anything at all, it’s that there are far more creepy stories out there than I ever would have believed. Ghosts, humans, demons, robots – the list really goes on and on.

Even if you think you’ve seen everything there is to see, and maybe think you can come up with an explanation for most, if not all, of those things, these 18 posts might make you think again.

18. The definition of creepy.

So I decided to just type in something like mmmmmmmmmmmmm.com or something like it. Coca Cola used to (or still does) own a url like that. But just the same letter maybe 13-15 times. It came to a choppy video of a movie called South 32. It was cryptic and edited to just say “South 32” over and over again, for 4 hours.

So I tried a different letter. Same thing. And another letter. Same thing. The same website popped up for maybe 20 different urls in that type of sequence.

I tried submitting it to the internet mysteries subreddit but it didn’t gain any traction and I don’t believe it works anymore. This must’ve been 4 years ago now.

17. WTF cereal?!

When I was a kid, I had some cereal that had a website to visit to enter to win some prize or something.

When I entered that site into my computer, it didn’t take me to some kid friendly site or anything, it took me to a blank white page with just the text:

“We have been watching you.”

16. Why are people??

I was 12, alone in my room, casually browsing youtube on my old laptop when suddenly a jump scare opens on a completely different tab on chrome. I still remember my webcam’s light blinking.

I was so terrified that i wasn’t able to use my laptop alone for a good 6-7 months lol

15. Lesson learned.

This happened when I used to play Minecraft a lot back in like 2013-2014. I was with a friend on Skype and was trying to find other people to join to play a game in the lobby and I asked this one guy if he wanted to join. He gives me his Skype and my friend and I add him, then he starts inviting us to a video call and only one of us could join.

My friend joined and started screen sharing and this guy, who was probably like 12 or 13, was laying on his bed naked and had tied his legs and an arm to the bed posts and started ja*king off.

After that, I stopped inviting random people to Skype.

14. I’m sorry, what?

Humanbeef.com. Not around anymore.

I tried to find it on the way-back machine — to no avail. It was super creepy though…

ostensibly, a place to purchase meat — human meat. They had testimonials and photos / artistic renderings of processing employees wearing masks and of the final product. It’s been over twenty years (1998-ish) since I saw it, so my memory is a little faded… but I’m pretty sure the URL was humanbeef.com. I remember the color scheme being white and turquoise.

Anybody else remember it?

13. I would not like that.

Someone somehow guessed my name correctly in a 4chan thread.

I didn’t even give any clue to who I was.

Still don’t know who or how they did it.

12. Hubba Bubbles.

In the post above this one i just read a 2 paragraph comment about how to properly seduce a female dolphin.

11. This one did, anyway.

I was once reading a tongue-in-cheek article about paranoia, and it included a sentence like “they are watching everyone – even you, dryu_nya”.

The very next sentence said that they picked a name at random, but all the dryu_nyas out there must’ve shat so many bricks.

10. All that data mining.

I changed the email address attached to my Amazon account.

A year later I forgot and tried to sign into my account with old email address.

The same password worked but it was someone else’s account (name and address was different) and the guy hadn’t bought anything.

Why did he use my old email (it was unique to me and didn’t match his name) and how did the password end up the same as mine?

9. Why YouTube isn’t for kids.

Was casually surfing when I stumbled upon a video of a guy doing shotgun loading tutorials or something, the video was cut half and he was speaking another language and the gun accidentally went off and he blew his head clean off.

I don’t remember the website name or anything, I was just surfing funny videos to pass the time when I saw this. The amount of blood that went flying everywhere was horrible. I was just 11 when I saw this so it practically scarred me bad. It still chills me when I think about it.

8. How could you be?

I modded Discord servers for a while. Users send you all sorts of shock stuff when you ban them, typically just stuff like gay porn that doesn’t make me blink twice.

One guy sent me a home video of someone being beheaded. Wasn’t ready for that

7. This is the worst thing I’ve read in awhile.

A lady on gaiaonline got mad at me in chatterbox. So she went on my profile and spammed it with gifs of someone beating a dog to death with a shovel.

I remember seeing the first one and crying a lot because at the time I was like 11 or 12. She sent like 10 before I got her blocked and later banned. I had to manually delete each comment from my public profile.

Each gif was from a different point in the same video. It was really sad and I didn’t go back onto my pc for a long time.

6. Some people just like to scare kids?

I’m not sure if this has been explained, but I remember discovering a youtube channel which went by the name of “Robert Helpmann.”

The channel has various videos of a bodybag (seemingly with something inside of it) which is referred to as ‘Daisy.’ I came across this when I was young, and it terrified me

5. A glitch in the matrix.

This isn’t the internet but more on a call. I was on a call with my girlfriend who was in Germany at that time (early 2019) when suddenly she seemed to be repeating what she was saying from a while back. I got confused and was trying to ask her why she was repeating herself before I realized that her voice was being looped back. I didn’t realize the loop point or how far back it was but she was clearly saying the same lines as she did before. When I hung up and called her back, she asked me why I hung up on her and didn’t call me back.

Then during the second call, it happened again after 3 minutes! I’ve never been able to explain why this happened and has never occurred again before or since. Definitely gave me the creeps and more than a few thoughts that I was living in a simulation.

4. They never think they’re insane.

I read Kyle Odom’s manifesto on here. Basically he was this mentally ill ex marine who was convinced he was being telepathically manipulated by aliens. He believed their main hideout was in this church and he had to kill the leader to make it stop.

He ended up firing an entire clip of hollow point bullets into the back of the preacher of that church. The preacher made a full recovery which was deemed a miracle and Kyle Odom was arrested throwing his manifesto across the White House fence.

This is all a true story if you look him up.

3. That could have been super awkward.

I rang my Mum on WhatsApp to do a Video call , when she answered it was a man with his shirt off , middle aged (50’s) with glasses on sitting on a couch , it sort of looked like a hotel room . He had a foreign accent and said “Yes ? Hello? Who is this?”.

I hung up immediately and rang my Mum again and she picked up and she was on camera walking around near a pond . It was absolutely bizarre and has never happened again .

2. Can ghosts use the internet?

i was in a private call with a friend on discord and then suddenly we heard someone saying like “hello?! anyone can hear me? ” we both surprised and i’m 1000% sure there was only the two of us.

1. Never fall for the puppies.

Naive me got into kids chat, randomly got messaged by a guy asking if I want free toys. Childish me accepted, then guy led me to a 4 GB folder full of random dog photos.

Scrolling down a bit further there’s a few zip files, some photos were over saturated than the rest, others I can’t even make out.

Sh%t reminds me of some ol creepypasta and noped out.

Y’all, I don’t know what to think after reading those!

If you’ve got a similar story that would fit on this list, share it with us in the comments!

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