The answer was interesting and had deep meanings, but still left questions in my mind. The creatures were told: a new species will be created and arrive soon, and each member of this species will be equivalent and worthy of a whole species.

Those who asked the question were silent, suggesting they were satisfied with the answer. But I wondered how a single member of a species can be worth an entire species – and whether destroying a whole species for a new one can really be just.

Here, it was obvious to me that the new species that would be created is humans, and those condemned were the species who went extinct in ancient times, before humanity appeared on earth. This dream vaguely reminded me something that I read in the “Risale-i Nur Collection” by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi.

Bediuzzaman remarkably states that, “A human being is equivalent to a species of other creatures” (Zuhra – 4th point, Isharat al-I’jaz, and Mathnawi al-Nuriya). This line hadn’t really struck me until I had the dream about older creatures questioning this wisdom.

In this dream, those creatures were dinosaurs. I was not scared; they weren’t threatening with their question. They were fighting for their rights and trying to understand the glorious plan, and beyond.

It seemed to me a lovely coincidence that I had a visit to Washington coming up soon and had a chance to visit the National Museum of Natural History, where you can see well preserved remnants of various dinosaurs.

All of the dinosaurs went extinct long before the first human showed up. Dinos first walked on earth over 200 million years ago and dominated the earth until 66 million years ago. Their dominion on earth ended with the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction. According to fossil records, there were more than 1000 dinosaur species. Dinosaurs had different habits of eating, as some were herbivorous (plant-eating) and others were carnivorous (meat-eating), including fish-eaters and insectivores, and omnivores (including both animals and plants in their diets). We should be thankful that we never knew many of the carnivores like T-Rex, which measured up to 12m (40ft)! It’s obvious that we could not live on earth if T-Rex were still running around. For our arrival, their departure was necessary.

There is no doubt that the human species is very valuable from various aspects, but what puts each person on the same level with another species?

One of humanity’s great merits is our collective understanding. This collective consciousness can be more fully realized through the glasses of faith in God. With the window of faith, humans not only comprehend His speech, but are better attuned to their fellow living beings – and maybe even non-living creatures. Humans are like one who is that all-inclusive and hears all other things. Hence, we can grasp proofs of the most beautiful names of the Creator from the speeches of all creatures.

The light of such understanding in humans leads to an expansion and improvement in our soul. This makes our value high, our sight universal, and our ability to achieve to perfection limitless. On the other hand, many other species are limited in many aspects by their nature, sights, and capacity of perfection. According to religious texts, though humans and other species are valued differently on earth, the divide grows larger in the hereafter. While every human being is re-created with their names, features, matter, and manner, other species return back to the soil.

When you visit nature museum next time, try to listen what the fossils of extinct species tell you about their complaint. They were created for a purpose; they have finished their job and gone. They have done a fantastic job and flourished, while leaving us many petrol reservoirs. Though countless species have gone extinct, more than 1.6 million other species are still living on earth. Death is not an end; nowadays, they are trying to reach out to us and tell us their secrets. We’re expected to become the best fruit of this universe.

This dream made me think about how the ways that Allah could teach us is not limited to what we do when we are awake. Would you ever think that ancient extinct species would also need the lights of the everlasting speech of the All-Wise and All-Powerful, as explained by why a man could be equivalent and worthy of a species of another creature by Bediuzzaman?

Another lesson is that as we live in an oil dependent-century, we are counting on reservoirs that formed millions years ago by the remnants of ancient living beings; but just as we depend on them, ancient extinct species are also counting on us and expecting us to contemplate our purpose for being here, and to show that we’re worthy of being the most glorious fruit in the universe. As the All-wise make things with infinite wisdom, he sends oil to people of this century to help in technology and he also sends further mercy in the form of knowledgeable scholars to answer our questions.

Finkelstein S.L et al., Nature, October 2013

Astronomers have recently spotted a faint ray of light using the Hubble Space Telescope, a ten-meter telescope at Keck Observatory, located at the summit of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano in Hawaii. Analysis of light showed that it was a galaxy formed 13.1 billion years ago, which is only 700 million years after the Big Bang, when our universe came into existence. This is so far back in time, it would be about 8 billion years before our sun was born. The new galaxy is called z8_GND_5296, and it is the oldest and most distant galaxy ever discovered. Because the universe is expanding, the lights coming from distant objects would be stretched, and their wavelengths changed, as they travel through the expanding universe. This phenomenon is called Redshift. It makes visible light look redder, and redshift increases proportionally with the distance to an object. Lights coming from z8_GND_5296 looked more redshifted than anyone had seen before. More detailed analyses showed that the mass of gz8_GND_5296’s stars was equivalent to 1 billion suns, which is approximately 50 times less than the Milky Way’s stellar mass. Even more surprisingly, the new galaxy is found to have an unusually high star-formation rate. This rate is typically calculated by how much raw hydrogen the galaxy yearly converts into new stars. gz8_GND_5296 converts hydrogen 300 times the mass of our sun, while the Milky Way produces 1 or 2 solar masses per year. One of the explanations for this extraordinary star-formation rate is that the early galaxies contained or drew in much more gas than scientists expected. The search for distant galaxies aims to find the very first galaxies formed after the Big Bang, perhaps the ones that produced the first natural elements. To this end, NASA plans to launch the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in 2018. JWST will reside in an orbit 1.5 million km from the earth and hopefully it will help astronomers to look further and further back into the origins of the Milky Way, and ultimately, the history of our universe.

Vast Freshwater Reserves Found Under Ocean

Offshore fresh groundwater reserves as a global phenomenon.
Post V.E.A et al., Nature, December 2013

As earth’s population rises, we face a serious problem of fresh water supplies. The United Nations predicts that half of the world will be struggling to find clean, fresh sources of water by 2030. Luckily, Australian scientists discovered huge freshwater reserves, and in the most unexpected place: under the ocean floor. Newly discovered reserves are estimated to contain 500,000 cubic kilometers of low-salinity water, located off the coast of South Africa, North America, Australia, and China. This vast reserve is approximately 100 times greater than the volume of the fresh water used since the beginning of the 1900s. This water reserve is thought to develop earlier in Earth’s history, perhaps over thousands of years, when oceans were not that deep and when the coastline was further out. Scientists hypothesize that rainwater leaked through the ground and had created these fresh water aquifers beneath layers of porous rock and/or soil. Around 20,000 years ago, the polar ice caps began to melt and these regions were covered by ocean. Fortunately, layers of either clay or sediment seemed to protect the reservoirs from salty contamination: the salinity of this water is low enough to be readily transformed into drinkable water. These water reserves can be extracted by constructing drilling platforms, either at sea or from the mainland, close to aquifers. However, drilling projects are usually very controversial due to environmental and economic costs. Scientists are currently seeking alternative, more environment-friendly ways to use these reserves. Nonetheless, mankind may have found a new vital water resource for the future.

Crows Don’t Forget a Face; Crow Intelligence Decoded

Abstract rule neurons in the endbrain support intelligent behavior in corvid songbirds.
Veit L. and Nieder A., Nature Communications November 2013

Scientists have long suspected that members of the corvids – a family of birds that includes ravens, crows and magpies – are extraordinarily intelligent. They make and use tools, remember multiple feeding locations, and exhibit highly social behaviors. Last year, scientists even demonstrated that crows captured in Seattle would never forget the face of their abductor and they would still taunt and dive-bomb the threatening face several years after the incident. To understand the mechanism of crows’ amazing face recognition process, neurobiologists designed an experiment, in which they trained the crows to perform memory tests on a computer. The crows were first shown an image and shortly afterwards, they had to select one of two test images on a touchscreen, using their beaks, based on switching behavioral rules. One of the test images was identical to the first image; the other one was a different image. Sometimes, the rule of the game was to select the very same image, and sometimes it was to select a different one. Remarkably, the crows were able to carry out both tasks and to switch between them almost perfectly. These tasks require a high level of concentration and mental flexibility that few animal species can manage – they even require a great effort for humans. By recording single-unit neuronal activity from an association area of the crow’s brain, known as the nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL), the researchers were often able to guess which rule the crow was following, even before the crow made its choice. The cerebral cortex in human brain is very large and it is thought to be home to complex cognitive functions including face recognition. However, since a bird’s cerebral cortex is much smaller than humans, people long thought that birds could not perform intelligent tasks. This study shows that birds use a unique non-cortical brain region, nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL), to sort sensory information and decide how to react.

What does sustainability mean? According to the definition by the World Commission on Environment and Development, sustainability means meeting the current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to do the same. Sustainability embraces more than just the environmental concerns; it also includes both social and economic factors. Thus it provides a holistic and inclusive foundation from which to operate.

Why care about sustainability anyway? It is because our very own life depends on clean air, drinkable water, arable land, other species and one another to exist. After all, if we are not breathing air, drinking water and eating plants or animals, we are not living. We are all part of a system, whether on a local or global scale. In order to make choices that will help us to improve our quality of life, we must first understand sustainability and the environmental issues present in our daily lives and how our actions are related to those issues. Once we understand our contribution to the problem, we can then begin to make decisions that will help, not harm, our planet, our future generations and ourselves (Worksbook, p.10).

As Pope John Paul II stated “Modern society will find no solution to the ecological problem unless it takes a serious look at its life styles.” If we categorize our life style in a way that helps us analyze the environmental impact of our choices, we might end up having three main categories: Water, Energy, and Waste. This article focuses on the problems related with those categories and the solutions that can be done on a personal level.

Water

“By means of water, we give life to everything.” (Al-Anbiya, 21:30)

Water is very precious, yet it is very scarce. Even though water covers two thirds of the surface of our planet, the freshwater in rivers, lakes, and streams represent only 0.02% of the earth’s total water (United States Geological Survey). According to an estimate from the United Nations, by the year 2025, around 2 million people will be living in regions with absolute water scarcity, and two out of three people on earth could be living under conditions of water stress if nothing is done. So, what can you do about it? According to the Sustainability Primer Works Book, the things you can do include finding and fixing the leaks around your home; because leaking faucets and toilets can account for as much as 20 gallons of water lost per person per day (Treehugger team, 2006). You can also install water saving devices, because high efficiency toilets and showerheads can save the average household about 30 gallons of water each day (Walsh, 2009). A low flow high efficiency showerhead uses 2.5 gallons of water or less per minute, whereas traditional showerheads use 5 gallons or more per minute. The top priority is changing your behavior. Simply turning off the water while shaving or brushing teeth could save more than 5 gallons (19 liters) of water per day. Keeping a bucket or large pitcher in the bathroom or kitchen to capture the excess water while you are waiting for the hot water to make it to the faucet can get you enough water, which can be used for your pets, plants, to wash produce etc.

Energy

“To warn of the dangers is not to despair of the solutions.” Al Gore

Much of the world’s current energy production is unsustainable. The burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil to produce electricity depletes non-renewable resources, and releases pollutants that contribute to smog, acid rain and other types of air pollution. Electricity production is indeed the leading cause for industrial air pollution. Replacing your incandescent bulbs with more energy efficient Compact Fluorescent Bulbs (CFLs) or Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) can be a good start to go green for energy around your house. Lighting accounts for up to 25% of home electricity use (California Energy Commission). CFLs use one-fourth the energy of standard incandescent bulbs to give out the same amount of light, and they last ten times longer. LEDs may even last 50 to100 times longer than the standard light bulbs. According to the US department of Energy: “If every home in America replaced just one incandescent light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified CFL, it would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes and prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of more than 800,000 cars annually.”

You can also pay attention to heating and cooling in your home.

Basic things like changing the filter, putting on a sweater instead of turning on the heater, and setting the thermostat appropriately might save up to 10% off your electricity bill. Think about buying energy saving appliances when you need to buy new ones, simply look for the signs like ENERGY STAR. Also, shut off appliances whenever possible. The U.S. Department of Energy recommends using “standby-mode” when our computers will be idle for more than 20 minutes. It also points out that 75% of electricity used to power home electronics is consumed when these appliances are “turned off.” You can use a power strip to turn everything completely off when finished for the day.

Waste

“Waste not want not!” Benjamin Franklin

World economies operate on a take, make, waste model, which is a one-way linear production system in a finite world. The problem with this system is that it operates as though everything were in infinite supply. But this is not the case for our limited resources. Our current practices for waste generation create significant environmental, economic, and public health problems. Generally, the public is unaware where our trash ends-up, and what it causes there. Landfill, also known as a dump, is a site for disposal of the wastes by burial. A large number of adverse impacts may occur from landfill operations. One is serious pollution of the local environment such as contamination of groundwater and/or aquifers by leakage and residual soil contamination during landfill usage. Another is after landfill closure; the generation of methane by organic waste decay (methane is a greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide, and can itself be a danger to inhabitants of an area.) Then there are simple nuisance problems such as dust, odor, vermin, and noise pollution.

The problem is not only what we do with waste but also what we waste. According to United States Department of Agriculture, over a quarter of the country’s food that is approximately 25.9 million tons, gets thrown away every year. On the other hand, the number of cell phones Americans tossed out in 2008 is 130 million (Larry Greenemeler, 2009). Recycling them would have saved enough energy to power 194,000 homes for a year. The current U.S. recycling average for the so-called e-waste, including unwanted cell phones, televisions, PCs, computer peripherals, computer mouses, keyboards and many others, is in the order of 10 to 13%. Sustainability Primer points out the things you can do about waste issues. These include but are not limited to reducing how much you consume and to reuse items whenever possible, to bring your own reusable bag, and reuse paper and plastic bags. Reuse paper and envelopes at home or in the office. Recycle office supplies like printer cartridges, toner etc. At home, recycle everything you can or collect for hazardous household waste. You can also give away or donate things that you don’t use. Like the “good old times,” repair instead of discard, purchase well designed quality items that last longer. Try to recreate the old-good habit of borrowing and sharing the resources among neighbors and family. It may take some effort but start composting your food waste. In addition to all above, the best thing you can do is “close the loop” by purchasing products made from recycled materials.

All things considered, does it seem like you need to suffer at all to go green?

If we want to change the way things are going, we should listen to what Gandhi said, “I must be the change I wish to see in the world around me”. Living in balance with nature requires understanding the value of the bounties we take for granted. Because “In the end, we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught” Baba Dioum.

References

• Sustainability Primer Works Book, Worksbook, Community Partners/Sustainable works, Los Angeles, 2009-2010 Update, SMVersion 9.0.
• Treehugger Blog, “How to green your water,” December 03, 2006. www.treehugger.com
• Walsh, B. “Getting real about the high price of cheap food,” Time Magazine, Aug 21, 2009.
• California Energy Commision, http://www.energy.ca.gov/efficiency/lighting/
• Division of Information Technology, UW- Madison “Turn off your monitor to save energy? Do it.” December 29, 2005 http://www.doit.wisc.edu/news/story.asp?filename=598
• Greenemeler L. Scientific American blog, comment on Trashed Tech: Where Do Old Cell Phones, TVs and PCs Go to Die?, November 29,2009 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=trash-tech-pc-tv-waste

Turkey is currently the sixth largest market for electricity in Europe and this demand for energy has made Turkey one of the fastest growing global markets for fuel. The expected energy demand for Turkey by 2020 is expected to be 570 GWh (giga watts per hour) (Demirbas 2005, 615). Today, Turkey pays approximately $50 billion a year to other countries for their high quality oil, gas and coal. If nothing is done to develop alternative sources of energy, it is expected that the cost to import fuel from other countries will cost Turkey a staggering $100 billion in 2020. Fortunately, in 2005, Turkey passed a Renewable Energy Law to bring the country more in line with European Union regulations and standards to meet the growing electricity demand and to diversify sources of energy.

Wind power

Turkey could potentially meet all its total energy needs solely from the use of wind energy. The most attractive sites for wind energy utilization and generation are the Marmara, South East Anatolian and Aegean regions. The first wind energy farm was established in Izmir, Turkey in February 1998 with a 1.5 MW capacity (Hepbasli and Ozgener, 2004). On the other hand, the U.S. started harvesting wind power 17 years before Turkey. We need to keep in mind that the U.S. is on a grand scale when compared to Turkey. It is interesting to see the trends for the usage of wind energy between these two countries. The current electricity production from wind for Turkey is about 433 MW (Megawatts) as compared to 35,000 MW for U.S. While Turkey is targeting to achieve a quarter of its potential, 20,000 MW by 2020, the U.S. is intending to reach 90% of its potential and reach 10×108 MW (Table 1) by 2020.

Table 1: Wind power: Turkey and U.S.

Solar power

In terms of the potential of solar power, both Turkey and the U.S. are amongst the most propitious countries in the world by having a range of 175- 200 watts per square meter per day (David Wheeler, Global Developments for Future Blog, comment posted on February 19, 2008).

The most advantageous region in Turkey for the harvesting of solar energy is its Southwest due to its geographic location in the Mediterranean. It is quite common to come across solar panels on top of the roofs in Southwestern Turkey. Photovoltaic (PV) systems are currently limited in use in Turkey but they are on the rise. In Silifke, located south central Anatolia (about 200 km away from Adana), a PV system is currently being used to power irrigation pumps. In order to encourage investors to invest their money into the development of solar power in Turkey the government subsidies need be increased and include the current 5.5 euro-cents/KWh feed-in-tariff.

The most common places where you would see heavy solar power usage for everything from day and night lighting to heating the pool in Turkey are in Eco-homes (left), and Solar cities (right).

Source: http://www.qurbaa.com/images/eko-evleri.jpg

Source: www.solartek.com.tr/tr/index.asp?ID=34

*The hot water heating system installations cover about 10 Million m2 surface.

What is interesting to note is that currently Turkey is amongst the top five countries in the world in the amount of solar power used to heat their water.

Hydropower

According to the Idaho National Laboratory, approximately 6,000 MWs is the gross power potential of U.S. hydropower, of which only about 16 percent can be developed with economical feasibility. About 76 percent of this potential has already been developed, and the remaining portion is to be developed by 2020. On the other hand, Turkey has a somewhat different scenario where the gross hydropower potential is 435 MW, of which only 29% is economical feasible for development and only 35% of that potential has been developed to this date (Yuksek et al. 2007).

After Turkey declared its support for the Kyoto Protocol, it has given a big push for renewable sources of energy, especially wind and hydropower. With the required regulations passed after Kyoto, and with the more recent Copenhagen Accord, Turkey has adapted rigorous development plans for its hydropower potential. The total number of current hydropower projects is over 350, and it is estimated that Turkey can meet up to 46% of the energy demand in 2020 from hydropower resources (Yuksek et al. 2007).

Lifestyles

One of the most important issues for environmental consciousness is energy efficiency. Saving energy is a way of life, not just a part of it.

The automobile has become an integral part of American life with vehicles outnumbering licensed drivers: 254 million cars and 194 million licensed drives. In Turkey the latest statistics showed that there are only 23 million licensed drivers as compared to the 16 million cars on the road. These statistics proves that people living in Turkey tend to more commonly use alternative means of travel, such as the public transportation system, rather than driving their own cars, especially in the larger cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Konya and Bursa. In Istanbul there are even designated lanes along the highway for buses. Although buses, subway, and streetcars are among the preferred ways of transportation since their network pretty much covers everywhere, however, the big cities are still experiencing heavy traffic on the streets due to passenger cars.

The good news is that in Turkey the vast majority of the fleet of taxis and buses have been converted to Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) form, saving energy and money.

Environment awareness amongst the populace is also on the rise as well. Having young minds working on the cultural practices that need to be changed for a sustainable future requires both courage and time. To this end, Turkey has devoted the week of January 11th to raise the awareness for energy efficiency. Turkish schools celebrate this week by educating students from all ages in terms of matters governing energy and efficiency.

Rain water catchment systems, have always been part of the architectural design for buildings, however, the water collected from the roof was basically drained down to the garden and was not very practical. With the young generation raising awareness to not waste this precious resource, people have created better designs to capture and find a better use for the rain water.

Rain gutter designs are quite different in Turkey in comparison to the U.S. as well; instead of having them on the side of the curbs, they are designed as screens along the streets. Some cities have canals that bring melted snow and rain water to the middle of the city from the mountains in the vicinity. This water is then used for irrigation purposes.

According to the 2004 statistical figures of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT) 34 million tons of municipal waste and 17.5 million tons of industrial waste are produced in Turkey annually. The amount of wastes produced per person in Turkey reaches up to 1 kg (2.2 lbs) daily, of which 34% is food waste. This figure is very small in comparison to waste generation in the United States. The average waste generation in the U.S. is 3.5 kg (7 lbs) per person per day. It is believed that the cultural habits and practices of a people can affect the energy efficiency and minimize waste generation in their country. The practices in Turkey include but are not limited to using the produce when it is abundant and preserving it for later use either by drying fruits and vegetables, creating pastes (such as tomato paste), making marmalade and jams, as well as canning fruits and vegetables and pickling vegetables.

When it comes to our garbage, waste prevention – rather than waste management – is the best way to reduce environmental stress (Brown 2008, 7). It might come as a shock to some, but the most common drink in Turkey, black tea, is still today served in reusable glass cups (below). This differs in the U.S. where 16 billion paper cups are used for coffee on average in 2006, resulting in 253 million pounds of waste (Hillary Feldman, About My Planet Blog, comment posted on May 29, 2008). We need to adapt to thinking in terms of “Waste equals food” as Paul Bierman-Lytle, an architect working for the American engineering firm CH2M Hill, described the concept that waste from one system should provide food for another, whether an industrial system or an ecosystem.

Having said all the above, some of the highlights from Turkey’s future plans include the following: accelerating expansion in renewable sources of energy, aligning Turkey with the European Union regarding renewable sources of energy, using the Multilateral Clean Tech Fund – according to the World Bank, Turkey is the first to receive that fund in 2009 – reduce greenhouse gas emissions, subsidize investors and investments in renewable energy resources, reduce waste generation and improve waste recovery with the help of research and development on these issues.

As humans, although we might see ourselves losing the battle of “Saving the Earth” today, however, we still have the chance to turn things around before it is too late.

I believe if we all work hand in hand to raise global citizens, who can understand and value common humanity, we can get us to work together toward a sustainable future.

Fethiye Ozis is a Lecturer, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at University of Southern California.

References

• – About My Planet Blog, http://www.aboutmyplanet.com/environment/paper-unsustainable/
• – Brown, Lester R. Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, W.W. Norton & Company
• – Center for Global Development Blog, http://blogs.cgdev.org/globaldevelopment
• – Demirbas, A. “Competition Potential of Wind Power Plants” Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, Volume 27, Issue 7 May 2005, p 605 – 612.
• – DIE (State Statistics Institute). Statistics of Turkey in 2003. 2004. DIE. Turkey.
• – Hepbasli, A.; Ozgener, O. “A review on the development of wind energy in Turkey” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 8, Issue 3, June 2004, p 257-276.
• – Omer Yuksek, Murat Kankal, Murat Ihsan Komurcu, Hizir Onsoy, and Adem Akpinar. 2007. The Importance of Hydropower plants in Turkey’s Energy Planning.Paper presented at the international Congress on River Basin Management, March 22-24, in Antalya, Turkey
• – Turk Medya Adana, CNN Turk http://www.turkmedya.com/V1/Pg/detail/NewID/131268/CatID/6/CityName/Adana/ TownID/2/Header/gunes_enerjisi_tarimda_kullanildi.html

Until today, almost all of your organs and systems introduced themselves and explained the great artistry in their creation along with their wisdom and precision. Certainly, these were not just for your information. Of course, it is important for you to know about your organs and their duties, and for you to live accordingly with this knowledge. However, its main purpose has been to introduce you to your Lord, who created you and all living and nonliving things perfectly. Just like seeing a work of art and not appreciating the artist is a twisted view, so is seeing the art exhibited on the body of the world’s most dignified entity, the human being, and not appreciating our Lord. It would just be a worthless and pointless heap of knowledge.

Today, we will look at the human body statistically, have our last lesson, and say goodbye.

Before we talk about the systems and organs that make up your body, you should know that it is a blessing that God didn’t leave you in nonexistence, and put you into existence. Then, you should know that it is also a blessing that He didn’t leave you as inorganic molecules, but created you as a living organism. For you to understand better, I would like you to look carefully at the delicate measures of the numbers I will give you in the tables below and to realize how high your value has been lifted.

The weights and percentages of inorganic elements in a 70 kg human body:

Oxygen…….. 44 kg……. 63%
Carbon……. 14 kg……. 20%
Hydrogen……. 7 kg……. 10%
Nitrogen……. 2.1 kg……. 3%
Calcium……. 1 kg……. 1.5%
Phosphorus……. 700 g……. 1%
Potassium……. 170 g……. 0.25%
Sulfur….. 140 g……. 0,2%
Chlorine……. 70 g……. 0.1%
Sodium….. 70 g……. 0.1%
Magnesium.. 30 g……. 0.04%
Iron…… 3 g……. 0.004%
Copper…… 300 mg……. 0.0005%
Manganese….. 100 mg……. 0.0002%
Iodine……. 30 mg……. 0.00004%

The total percentage of trace elements found in the blood serum and in enzymes, such as zinc, cobalt, cadmium, molybdenum, nickel, lead, fluorine, selenium, mercury, and aluminum, is 0.80526%.

As you can see, 76% of you (53.1 kg of oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen) are gases that dissolve into the air. These aren’t worth anything because there are plenty of them in the air. From 14 cents per kilogram, 14 kilograms of carbon (coal) is worth around 2 dollars. One kilogram calcium (lime) is worth around 12 cents. 140 grams of chlorine and sodium together (salt) is worth around 3 cents. All of the other elements (such as iron, copper, and magnesium) are worth a handful of soil, because they are found easily in soil, and there is only very little of them in the human body. So in total, your elements are worth $2.15.

Let’s increase your value a little bit! Our Lord didn’t leave you as elements; He turned you into organic material with very large molecules, such as protein, fat, carbohydrates, and vitamins. That gives us the table below:
Organ…. Water (%) …. Fat (%)…… Protein (%)…. Ash (%)
Skin…… 64.68…… 13.00…… 22.10…… 0.68
Skeleton…… 31.81…… 17.18…… 18.93…… 28.91
Teeth…… 5.00…… 0.00…… 23.00…… 70.90
Skeletal muscle…… 79.52…… 3.35…… 16.50…… 0.93
Brain-Spinal cord…… 73.33…… 12.68…… 12.06…… 1.37
Liver…… 71.46…… 10.35…… 16.19…… 0.88
Heart…… 73.69…… 9.26…… 15.88…… 0.80
Lungs…… 83.74…… 1.54…… 13.38…… 0.95
Spleen…… 78.69…… 1.19…… 17.81…… 1.13
Kidneys…… 79.47…… 4.01…… 14.69…… 0.96
Pancreas…… 73.08…… 13.08…… 12.69…… 0.93
Intestines…… 79.07…… 6.24…… 13.19…… 0.86
Adipose tissue…… 50.09….. 42.44…… 7.06…… 0.51
Other tissues…… 70.40…… 12.39…… 16.06…… 1.01
Blood and lymph…… 93.33…… 0.17…… 5.68…… 0.94
Total…… 67.85…… 12.51…… 14.39…… 4.84

If you wonder about your value as water, protein, fat, and ash, you can calculate it according to a 70 kg person. If you do this, you can see that you are made up of 47.495 kilograms of water, 8.757 kg fat, 10.073 kg protein and 3.388 kg ash (mineral salts). Since the water in you is dirty and not clear, it isn’t worth anything. Your minerals and ash aren’t worth anything because there are plenty of them in soil. For $1.42 per kilogram, your fat is worth around $12.86. Your protein is worth around 16 kilograms of lamb, which costs around $36.57. So when you are elevated from elemental material to organic material, your value rises up to around $50.

Of course, our Lord didn’t leave you like this. He created you in the form of organs and tissues, which carry out miraculous tasks so that you can stay alive. Now, let’s see the groups of trillions of differentiated cells:

Total number of cells in the human body………… around 100 trillion
Number of cells that die in one second…………around 50 million
Number of cells created in one second…………around 50 million
Number of cell types…………more than 200
Number of red blood cells in 5 liters of blood…………25 trillion
Height reached by putting all of our red blood cells on top of each other…………around 60.000 km
Length reached by putting all of our red blood cells side by side…………192.500 km
Red blood cells’ surface area………..more than 1000 m2
Number of white blood cells (leucocytes) in our blood…………40 billion
Number of nerve cells…………30 billion
Length of a sperm…………35 micrometers
Diameter of an egg cell…………100-120 micrometers
Average length of a liver cell…………30-50 micrometers
Lifespan of small intestine mucous cells…………1.4 days
Lifespan of stomach entrance area (cardia) mucous cells…………9.1 days
Lifespan of stomach exit area (pylorus) mucous cells…………1.8 days
Lifespan of epithelial cells in lung alveoli…………8.1 days
Lifespan of large intestine (colon) mucous cells…………10 days
Lifespan of upper skin (epidermis) cells…………19.2 days
Lifespan of covering epithelial cells in the bladder…………66.5 days
Lifespan of neutrophile leucocytes…………45 days
Lifespan of eosinophile leucocytes…………10 days
Lifespan of lymphocytes…………5 days to 1 year
Lifespan of monocytes…………months
Lifespan of red blood cells…………120 days
Number of times a red blood cell travels the body during its life…………300.000
Number of red blood cells generated in a second…………2.4 million
Number of red blood cells generated in a day…………208 billion
Lifespan of a liver cell…………222 days
Lifespan of a kidney cell…………286 days
Number of mitochondria (power plant) in a nerve cell…………up to 10.000
Number of ribosomes created in a liver cell in one second…………180
Total length of the DNA in one cell…………2 m
Number of muscles in the body…………around 600
Number of muscles that work when smiling…………15
Number of muscles that work when frowning…………43
Total amount of work done by our muscles in one day
(Equal to lifting a 6 ton truck 50 meters into the air with a crane)…………around 3.106 Newtons
Total number of capillaries…………30 billion
Number of alveoli in the lungs…………400 million
Total amount of air taken in by the lungs in one day……………around 10.000 liters
Total amount of air we use in 75 years…………around 285 million liters
Total length of the nephrons in the kidney…………around 50 km
Total length of the glomerulus capillaries in the kidney…………around 25 km
Total inner surface area of the kidney channels…………20 m2
Total filtration area of the Bowman capsules in the kidney…………1 m2
Total skin weight…………11.15 kg
Total surface area of the skin…………1.5-1.8 m2
Total length of capillaries in 1 cm2 of skin…………around 1 m
Weight of dead keratin cells that fall off the skin in one day…………10 gr
Length of the nerve fibers in the skin…………80 km
Number of sweat glands…………around 2 million
Number of sebaceous glands in the skin on the head…………around 120.000
Total number of cells in the skin…………around 100 billion
Number of sensory receptors in the skin…………around 60 million
Daily sweat amount…………800 ml
Maximum daily sweat amount…………18 liters
Number of cells in the retina…………127 million
Number of values of the same color our eye can distinguish…………around 200
Number of shades of light that we can perceive…………around 500

The reason I gave all these numbers was not just to show the multitude of cells, organs, and tissues, but to emphasize that our Lord can create these with the precision that He creates a single cell. Mammals also have the organs and tissues that I have mentioned. Besides, some mammals have different organs with superior aspects. From this point of view, we are not much different from a cow or a horse. However, our Lord says that He created us in the best form possible, equipped us with superior qualities, and granted us the authority over all creation. Dear Peter! It’s time that you shed out of being an animal and rise to the degree of humanity. You cannot do this with your cells, organs, or tissues, but by gaining knowledge of divinity via spiritual virtues (such as the mind, conscience, and free will) that our Lord gave you.

If we see our body as a palace, could the stones, glass, porcelain, and wood come together and say, “Come on let’s make a palace, which will be the greatest palace in the world.” Could elements first turn into organic matter with macromolecules, then into cell organelles, then into cells, and finally into cells with different special duties, all on their own?

Finally, I believe it will be useful to give a table that shows every organ’s share in your body. My advice is not to evaluate anything materially. You cannot live without your pancreas, which only takes up a very small part of your body. Your heart, which is only 0.7% of your body, pumps the water of life (blood) to all of your organs; and your brain, which is 3.5%, manages your whole body. You can never give up on your kidneys, which take up only 0.5%.

Percentages of organ weights to the total body weight
Skeletal muscle (red meat)…………31.56 %
Skeleton and teeth…………14.90 %
Adipose tissue…………13.63 %
Skin…………7.81 %
Blood and lymph…………3.77 %
Lungs…………4.15 %
Brain and spinal cord…………3.52 %
Liver…………3.41 %
Intestines and stomach…………2.07 %
Kidneys…………0.51 %
Heart…………0.69 %
Spleen…………0.19 %
Pancreas…………0.16 %
Cartilage, ligaments, blood vessels and peripheral nerves…………13.63 %

All in all, we can say that the human body has holistic perfection with its functional parts, from hair to nail, to intestines and kidneys, as well as its aesthetic beauty.

Dear Peter! We have talked with you for a long time. I hope it was useful. I did everything I could. I am sorry that I couldn’t portray your true value!

New Jersey-based Helping Hands Relief Foundation (HHRF) is one of those relief organizations that have quickly responded to the call for help from the Horn of Africa. Many volunteers of HHRF have already taken off to Somalia to deliver donations and food to the victims.

The world is undergoing several major tests. The problems caused by economic crises one after another, terrorism, global warming, and others have to be tackled with immediately. But the emergency of the current famine has no comparison, and we have to act now. It is time to delay our own needs today and rush for help to the victims of the famine. This is the greatest test we as the human family have to be pass.

We photons are the envoys of the sun. Our duty is to carry the energy that was stored in the sun during the creation of the universe to the earth. In the sun’s center, during the nuclear reaction called fusion, four hydrogen nuclei form one helium nucleus. The mass of four hydrogen nuclei is 4 x 1,6726 x 10 ^-24 grams (i.e. 6,6904 x 10 ^-24 grams); the mass of one helium nucleus is 6,6447 x 10 ^-24 grams. It is clear that the mass of one helium nucleus is a little smaller than the mass of four hydrogen nuclei. If we calculate the difference: 6,6904 x 10 ^-24 g – 6,6447 x 10 ^-24 g = 0,0457 x 10 ^-24 g. This small mass difference is transformed into great energy by order of the Creator, and in this way we and our relatives, neutrinos, are created.

Our Lord has created us as the fastest particles in the universe. We cover 300,000 kilometers in a second. Although we move so fast, the sun’s center is very dense. The density is about 150 times greater than the density of water (1 g/cm3). Thus, as soon as we move, we crash into the hydrogen and helium nucleuses around us. They swallow us, but then they immediately set us free; then yet another strike waits for us immediately. In every collision, our energy is reduced a little, and we divide into several light particles with lower energy levels. Most of our lives-perhaps 100 thousand years-is spent in these collisions.

If we left the center of the sun without any collisions, the earth would be blasted to pieces in a moment when we hit it. As a result of the collisions, we, who have a high energy level in the beginning, are converted into low energy level light particles.

So many of us are created in the sun that at every second a four-million-ton mass is converted into energy. In the sun, which is 5 billion years old, approximately a hundred times the mass of the earth has been converted into energy up to today.

While we are created in the center of the sun, we reach the outer layer of the sun, the photosphere, by passing slowly through the layers from the center to the surface of the sun. On leaving the surface, our energy decreases, our number increases, and our temperature goes down to 5,800 degrees C. You may consider this temperature very high, but you should not forget that our temperature in the beginning was 15 million degrees C.

We pass the 700,000 kilometers from the center of the sun to the photosphere layer in 100,000 years. The photosphere’s density is so low that it is only one percent of the atmosphere’s density at sea level. We leave this layer fast without any collisions. To reach the earth, there is 150 million kilometers of space ahead of us. Here we show our speed, which we did not have a chance to display earlier because of the collisions we have inside the sun. We travel the 150-million-kilometer distance in 8.5 minutes and reach the earth. There are some of us with extremely high energy levels who can cause damage on earth. The ozone layer is responsible for picking them off. The non-dangerous ones among us reach the face of the earth by traveling through the 100-kilometer-deep atmosphere in 1/10000 of a second. Finally, it is time to deliver the energy we have carried to you.

Every photon has a duty. Some of us heat the earth; some of us vaporize the water in the seas to bring the merciful rains. We have many other duties as well as these. Perhaps our most important duty is to be swallowed by the chlorophyll in plant leaves, so as to provide the energy in the food you eat and in the oxygen you breathe.

Possibly the energy that you have used while reading this essay was obtained from a bean you ate in your lunch. Do not forget that we brought from the sun’s center both the energy in the bean you ate and the energy in any plant that was food for any animal whose meat you have eaten.

We also carried the energy that was in the gas of the truck that brought these pages to you. If our brothers that came to the earth a million years ago had not brought energy to the plants at that time, could those plants have been transformed into oil or coal by decaying underground?

Our Lord gave us light particles a mission to carry the energy that is stored in substances so that the energy will be a source of life for you. We fulfill our duties without any error so that you might think and learn a lesson from these facts.

In your next meal, consider looking at the blessings on your plate from the following perspective: “I am about to eat energy that was heated approximately 100,000 years ago at 15 million degrees C in an oven in the sun’s center and later cooled and made appropriate for the bodies of human beings.”

The sound of the sun

Sound waves are seismic waves which cause up-down and forward-backward movements. According to some scientists with poetic hearts the sound of the sun is like the sound of the heart beat. When a human’s heart beats, it makes varying sounds by contracting and relaxing, and cardiologists use these sounds to determine if there is a problem with the heart. Like the cardiologists who listen to our hearts, helioseismologists (scientists who research the sun’s seismic waves) listen to the sounds of the sun to learn more about its structure and mysteries. The power produced by these sounds makes the sun oscillate like a bell or tremble like someone suffering from a high fever. Another interesting point is that millions of different sounds have been discovered to emanate from the sun and every sound oscillates on a distinct frequency and displays a different pattern on the sun’s surface. If we compare the sun to a piano, a piano has 88 metal wires which produce sounds with varying tones, whereas the sun produces ten million notes. So the sun is like an enormous piano with ten million notes producing sounds at roughly five-minute intervals which create harmonic acoustics resembling the heart beat.

Scientists are trying to decipher these ten million different sounds, which brings us to another interesting point; we cannot hear the sound frequencies because they are too low (between 1–4 millihertz) for the human ear (the lowest range of human hearing is 20 Hz). 1–4 millihertz equals to a time span of 200–1,000 seconds, meaning that the sun oscillates once every 3–16 minutes. Even if our hearing ability was suitable, the sound would not reach us because there is no air or layer of gas between the earth and the sun to convey sound. If we could increase the sounds of the sun by 20,000–40,000 times, the sound humans would hear would only resemble a whisper. The sun is like a musical instrument that plays a continuous concerto of ten million notes every day in the sky above us, and we do not even perceive it. Can you imagine the astronomical music if we were to include the galaxy’s 200 million stars?

Scientists gather important information about the sun’s core by studying the echoes that appear on the sun’s surface from the energy produced from these ten million notes. The solar oscillations are divided into three categories called the p, g, and f modes. The p mode is the pressure of acoustic waves, g mode is gravity and the f mode refers to the surface-gravity waves. There are ten million of the p and f modes alone and the combination of these modes produce ten million different sounds.

In Bediüzzaman’s Risale-i Nur, his explanation of the letter “Lam” in the verse 36:38 in chapter Ya Sin in the Qur’an, affirms that everybody obtains understanding of this chapter according to his or her own spiritual senses and every chapter of the Qur’an contains thousands of aspects from which everyone benefits according to his or her own depth of understanding, from the common public to scholars, from scholars to the philosopher of the cosmos. In The Words, Nursi goes on to say, “Precise and wise scholars consider li to be causal and adverbial. They understand that since the All-Wise Maker operates behind the veil of apparent causality, He has tied the planets to the sun by His law of gravity and causes them to revolve with distinct but regular motions according to His universal wisdom. To produce gravity, He has made the sun’s movement on its axis an apparent cause. Thus a resting place means that “the sun moves in the place determined for it for the order and stability of its own (solar) system.” Like the Divine laws, that motion produces heat, heat produces force, and force produces gravity. … The sun is a light-diffusing tree, and the planets are its moving fruits. But unlike trees, the sun is shaken so that the fruits do not fall. If it were not shaken, they would fall and be scattered. They also may imagine the sun to be a leader of a circle reciting God’s Names, ecstatically reciting in the circle’s center and leading the others to recite. Elsewhere, I expressed this meaning as follows: ‘The sun is a fruit-bearing tree; it is shaken so that its traveling fruits do not fall. If it rested, no longer shaken, the attraction would cease, and those attracted to it would weep through space” (Twenty-fifth Word).

It is interesting that the sun’s oscillation, which modern science discovered in the 1960s, was mentioned much earlier by Bediüzzaman. In fact he went further and even explained the wisdom and necessity of the sun’s oscillation as a law of gravitation keeping the earth and the other surrounding planets in orbit. This is a subject which has only recently begun to be researched by scientists of the present. If we were to look further into the history of the valuable discoveries of Imam Rabbani, Ibrahim Haqqi of Erzurum, Ulug Bey, and many other scholars, we would be sure to encounter many other scientific facts.

References

1. “Solar Ellipticity Fluctuations Yield No Evidence of g-Modes,” J. R. Kuhn, K. G. Libbrecht and R. H. Dicke, Nature 319, 128 (1986).
2. “The Excitation and Damping of Solar Oscillations,” K. G. Libbrecht, B. D. Popp, J. M. Kaufman and M. J. Penn, Nature 323, 235 (1986).
3. “What do Observations Tell us about the Excitation of Solar Oscillation Modes?” K. G. Libbrecht, Proceedings of IAU Symposium 123, Advances in Helio- and Astroseismology (1988).
4. “Seismology of Solar Oscillation Line Widths,” J. Christensen-Dalsgaard, D. O. Gough, and K. G. Libbrecht, Astrophys. J. Letters 341, L103 (1989).
5. “Frequencies of Solar Oscillations,” K. G. Libbrecht, M. F. Woodard, and J. M. Kaufman, Astrophys J. Supp. 74, 1129(1990).
6. “Advances in Helioseismology,” K. G. Libbrecht and M. F. Woodard, Science 253, 152 (1991).

For a long time astronomers have talked about the nine planets orbiting the Sun. These nine heavenly bodies have always been more special than other objects orbiting the Sun, such as asteroids and comets. The nine planets are larger than others; you can see some of them in the sky even with the naked eye if you know where to look. In September 2003, astronomer Mike Brown of Caltech and his colleagues announced the discovery of a new object in the sky, then named 2003 UB313 Eris, which is 27% larger than Pluto. This made astronomers reconsider the definition of a planet, thereby making Pluto and Eris two of the new category of objects orbiting the Sun dubbed “dwarf planets.”

While astronomers are engaged in the debate on planet definitions, astrophysicists still have not agreed about how planets were created. In fact, the journal Science recently put the birth of planets on the list of the top 125 questions scientists will tackle in the next quarter century.1 The comment ended with: “Planetary systems around other stars should provide clues.”

The reason scientists are interested in extrasolar planets- planets orbiting other stars, or exoplanets in short- is not limited to their curiosity about how planets were created. The second major motive for exoplanet research is the attempt to detect another “habitable” planet. NASA’s Origins Program,2 for example, is attempting to answer the question, “Are there worlds like the Earth around nearby stars? If so, are they habitable, and is life as we know it present there?” This is one of the major questions the new field of astrobiology is striving to answer.

In this article, we give an overview of planets and exoplanets with an emphasis on the critical conditions for life on a planet.

Planets and Exoplanets

The International Astronomical Union’s 2006 definition of a planet states that a planet is a celestial body that (1) is in orbit around a star, (2) has sufficient mass so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round shape) but is not itself a star, and (3) has “cleared the neighborhood” around its orbit.

According to this definition, Pluto is indeed not a planet as its “moon” Charon is half the size of Pluto, whereas the moons of all other planets are much smaller than their respective parent planets. In addition, Pluto’s orbit is not as “clean” as the orbits of other planets.

Having introduced the new planet definition, we want to emphasize the first and foremost condition: a planet has to be in orbit around a star-not around the Sun. According to NASA Jet Propulsion Lab’s PlanetQuest website, as of August 2007, about 250 exoplanets in 99 planetary systems have been discovered. (The site exoplanets.org gives 228 planets around nearby stars.)

Discovery of solar planets is not too challenging: you take a clear picture of the same portion of the sky periodically, and compare the successive pictures. If you see an object that changes its position, then you can be sure that it is an object orbiting the Sun. Because stars are very far away compared to bodies orbiting the Sun, they seem stationary relative to us.

To give a sense of how far the stars are from us, think of the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, which is 4.3 light years away. One light year is the distance light travels in one year, which is 5.88 million million miles. If you fly a supersonic jet-a jet that can break the sound barrier (765 mph), such as the SR-713 or the MiG-25R, which can reach three times the speed of sound in the air-you would have to fly for about 1 million years nonstop to arrive at the nearest star. The most distant planet, Uranus, is about 0.002 million million miles away from the Sun, which is more than 12,000 times closer than Proxima Centauri-your trip to Uranus with a supersonic jet will take only about 80 years.

Exoplanets are as far away as stars. Therefore, it is impossible to detect them using the simple picture-the-sky method utilized for the solar planets. Every star with planets in its orbit is affected by the mass of the planets. This causes the star to sway back and forth. With extremely sensitive instruments measuring the Doppler shift in the frequency of light received from the star, the effect of the planet on the star can be detected.4 Another method is called astrometry: precise measurement of the positions of the stars relative to very distant stars, which appear stationary because they are far away. Small movements of the star because of the presence of planets can be detected.5

Direct optical detection of exoplanets is extremely hard, as they do not give off their own light. In the presence of the bright star, the planet becomes totally invisible. There are a few solutions. In the transit method, a planet blocks some of the star’s light as it transits past the star.6 Sensitive instruments can detect such small dips in the brightness of the stars. Also, interferometric detection7 can be used to detect the extremely weak light from the planet. Another optical detection method is called the “choronograph,” which is used to physically block the glare of the parent star, exposing the planet.

How are planets created?

The motion of a planet around the Sun can be described using two conservation laws-conservation of energy and conservation of angular momentum. Based on the understanding of orbital mechanics and the well-known laws of motion (first published in their entirety by Newton), it has become routine to place satellites in orbit around different planets to conduct various studies. Although science has been quite successful in describing planetary motion, we still do not know how planets were created. The conservation laws mentioned above do not determine the number, orbits, rotation directions, sizes, or type-rocky or gas giant-of planets. Initial conditions play a significant role; initial mass distribution around the star, the size of the particles orbiting the star during the early stages of the star’s life, and the initial orbits of these particles-when considered with the laws of motion, conservation laws, and the law of gravitational attraction-result in different planet-creation scenarios.

There are currently two main theories of planet creation, the gravitational instability and core accretion theories. In the gravitational instability theory, planets form during a rapid collapse of a dense cloud. In the core accretion theory, planets start as small rock-ice cores that grow as they gravitationally acquire additional mass.8 By detecting planets recently created around different stars, scientists hope to test these theories.

Search for life on exoplanets

Diverse life forms on the Earth are taken for granted. The average individual does not think much about the inner workings of life and the conditions that make life possible on the Earth.

Earth is a rocky planet that contains heavier elements, such as silicon, iron, and so on. We know that heavier elements were created during the supernova explosions,9 which comprised a few generations of stars, and therefore more than a few billion years. In a galaxy that is very young, one does not expect there will have been enough supernova explosions to produce heavy elements.

In an old galaxy, however, one does not expect to see radioactive elements. Thus, the planets that form in an old galaxy might be as dead as the moon because there will not be enough radioactive fuel. The Milky Way, our galaxy, is neither very young nor very old. Note that ages of galaxies and stars are in the order of billions of years-our sun is estimated to have been created about 4.6 billion years ago, and it is a middle–aged star.

In the Milky Way, our sun is placed at just the right spot, about halfway from the center.10 At the core of our galaxy, the density of stars is so high that they collide with each other. At the outer extremities, at the rim of the galaxy, the star density is too low to generate the heavier elements that make up planets as very few supernova explosions are expected.11

The orbits of all planets are elliptical, but very close to being circles. This is very significant for a planet if life is to prosper. Eccentricity is a measure of the elliptical shape of an orbit. A perfect circular orbit has an eccentricity of 0 (zero), and as the eccentricity comes closer to 1, the orbit becomes like a sausage. The earth’s orbit around the sun has an eccentricity of 0.067, very close to a perfect circle. If the eccentricity were to become 0.3, the average global temperature would become 73 F (23 C), compared with 58 F (14.5 C) on the Earth now, and, “some parts of the African, South American and Australian interiors heat up to 140 F (60 C)” when the Earth passes closest to the Sun,” according to Darren Williams and his colleagues of Pennsylvania State University.12 On an orbit with eccentricity of 0.4, the average temperature would increase to 86 F (30 C). Given the current scientific opinion on global warming and how catastrophic conditions could become because of a few degrees increase due to increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, you can imagine how unbearable the Earth would become for many complex life forms. Therefore, for a planet to bear life on its surface, its orbit must be at an optimum range of distances from the parent star, which is dubbed the “habitable zone.”

All planetary orbits around the Sun-not only that of the Earth-are nearly circular, and they do not cross each other’s orbits. If there were a number of planets with highly eccentric orbits around the Sun, some of them would cross the Earth’s orbit increasing the probability of a collision.

Obviously, a planet with life as we know it on Earth would need to be a rocky planet. In the solar system only four planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) are rocky planets; the other four (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) are gas giants.

The existence of gas giants, Jupiter being the largest of all, appears to be very important, too. Meteorite collision is a likely Doomsday scenario for the inhabitants of the Earth. In fact, meteorite collisions are cited as the main cause of the extinction of many species from the face of Earth in its several billion-year history.13 Jupiter is about 5au away from the Sun-1au is the mean Earth–Sun distance, nearly 150 million km-and as the most massive planet it plays a critical role in protecting the Earth from meteorites and comets.

In addition to all these astronomical conditions, the Earth has a magnetic belt that protects it from charged particles ejected from the Sun and other bodies. The Earth has an atmosphere,14 and the presence of water is absolutely critical for life.15

Of the almost three hundred exoplanets so far identified, most of them are gas giants as massive as Jupiter-more than 300 Earth masses. Therefore, scientists do not expect a glimpse of life on them. Recently, Christophe Lovis of the University of Geneva and his colleagues reported three low-mass planets orbiting the nearby star HD 69830, described as “hot-Neptunes” or “super-Earths”, as their masses are from 5–20 times the mass of the Earth. Scientists predict that two of these planets may be rocky planets based on theoretical calculations.16 For more conclusive results, however, telescopes with much higher resolutions are needed. Such telescopes are expected to be operational within a decade.

In conclusion, research interest in exoplanets originates from questions about the mechanism of planet creation, and the attempt to find planets where life can exist as we experience it on our blue planet. We do not know whether we will be able locate other worlds similar to the Earth with their own inhabitants. One thing we know, however, is that life is only possible through a great many critical conditions acting together in stars and planets as well as in cells and molecules. Life is very special indeed. Although the existence of other planetary systems suggests that our solar system is not as unique as once thought, with its “blue” planet -a planet that can support biological life-it still seems absolutely unique. Many scientists think, however, that with better tools and methods it is only a matter of time before we locate an Earth-like exoplanet. Time will prove or disprove their predictions.

Dr. Ertan Salik is an Assistant Prof. of Physics at California State Polytechnic Univ, Pomona. As well as teaching and conducting physics research Dr. Salik is currently involved in many education programs.

Notes

1. Science, Vol. 309, No. 5731, pp. 1–204 (2005).

2. NASA Origins program: http://origins.jpl.nasa.gov and http://origins.stsci.edu/

3. http://www.sr-71.org/ Accessed 2008-07-26.

4. Struve, Otto. “Proposal for a project of high-precision stellar radial velocity work”, The Observatory 72 (1952): 199–200, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppler_spectroscopy Accessed 2008-07-26.

5. http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/extrasolar_planets/extrasolar/astrometry.html Accessed 2008-07-26.

6. Charbonneau, D.; T. Brown; A. Burrows; G. Laughlin (2006). “When Extraslar Planets Transit Their Parent Stars”. Protostars and Planets V, University of Arizona Press.

7. Exoplanet detection using a nulling interferometer, Manuel P. Cagigal and Vidal F. Canales, Optics Express, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2 July 2001.

8. http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/news/giantRockyCore.cfm Accessed 2008-07-26.

9. Gedik, Nuh. “Supernova Explosions and a Miracle of The Qur’an,” The Fountain, April-June 2006.

10. Weed, William Speed. “Circles of Life,” Discovery, November 2002.

11. See Charbonneau 2006.

12. Weed, 2002.

13. Gonullu, Omer Said. “The Message of Meteorites,” The Fountain, January–March 2005.

14. Cakmak, Osman. “A Journey in the Atmosphere,” The Fountain, January–March 2002.

15. Gedik, Nuh. “The Miracles of Water,” The Fountain, January–March 2005.

16. Lovis, Christophe et al. Nature, 441, 305–309 (18 May 2006).

The sun radiates an enormous amount of energy-at a rate of 3.9×1026 Joule per second. This is roughly equivalent to the energy of a 10 billion megaton TNT bomb every second. This huge amount of energy has been maintained for several billion years and will continue for several more. The fusion reaction of the Sun is a process in which hydrogen burns, transforming into helium, which is then followed by thermonuclear explosions. Isotopes of hydrogen, such as deuterium and tritium, are fused to form heavier helium. During this process the released energy can be as high as 17.6 MeV. The energy released from a 17 lbs deuterium fusion is equal to 1,000 kilotons of TNT. Every second the Sun fuses 675,000,000 tons of hydrogen into 653,000,000 tons of helium.

Scientists have attempted to make fusion work on the earth to make larger amounts of energy, thus solving our energy problems for the future. The first nuclear fusion trials were carried out for nuclear weapons. The released energy from the fusion trials was 500 times higher than that from the fission reactions of nuclear weapons¹. The energy released was equal to that of approximately 12 million tons of TNT. The civilian applications for energy production began in the early 1950s, and we are still trying to solve how to control this amount of energy in reactors.

In nuclear fusion, the negative and positive ions of hydrogen, called plasma, reach temperatures of 100 million degrees. To achieve the plasma parameters of the Sun, for example, the same temperature and density, the plasma must be heated to 100 million degrees Celsius and be kept dense and confined for at least 1 second.

Plasmas are mostly heated by Ohmic (resistive) heating, beam injection, or radio frequency heating. Ohmic heating is the result of an induced current being passed through the plasmas. This mechanism is also used to make electric bulbs and heaters work. Ohmic heating cannot attain plasma temperatures; such heating does not rise above 20-30 million degrees Celsius. When the temperature increases, the resistivity of the plasma decreases. Natural beam injection is one of the mechanisms used to obtain higher energy temperatures. Injecting a high-energy beam of neutral atoms into the plasma causes more collisions and increases the plasma temperature by transferring the atoms’ energy to the plasma. Radio frequency heating is another collision mechanism that increases the plasma temperature. Radio waves generated by oscillators transfer their energy at appropriate frequencies to ions or electrons, thus increasing the plasma temperature. Scientists have managed to get to high enough temperatures; however, these plasmas cannot be contained by the reactor walls easily and the reactions cannot be sustained. To prevent a loss of reaction control and to make the plasmas denser, magnetic confinement mechanisms have been developed such as TOKAMAK, Z-PINCH and ICF.

The TOKAMAK (Toroidal Chamber) device was invented in the late 1950s by the Russian physicists Igor Tam and Andrei Sakharov. In this system, mixtures of deuterium and tritium plasmas, confined by doughnut-shaped magnetic fields, are produced by the toroidal coils, which are then heated to very high temperatures. The temperature achieved by the Princeton Labs is 510 million degrees-almost 30 times greater than the temperature of the Sun. One of the major problems in TOKAMAK is that superconducting magnetic coils are needed for the electricity demand, but the superconducting magnets only operate at cold temperatures. So, a space between the plasma and coils must be maintained to avoid the plasma reaching the coils and damaging them. This mechanism is still assumed to be the best for the confinement of plasmas².

Another confinement system is the Z-pinch (Zeta-Pinch) pulse power device. The current flow of experimental devices is in the Z-axis, so the device was called the Z-pinch by the British scientists in the late 1950s. In this mechanism, very tiny wires, thinner than a human hair, are positioned in different configurations, such as cylindrical or nested geometries, and are then placed in an anode cathode gap.

Applying high voltage on the system causes the energetic plasmas to compress and heat the deuterium or tritium fuel in small pellets. The current flows through these wires axially, generating magnetic fields that confine the plasma. The temperature achieved is about 1.6 billion degrees; this result, reported by the Sandia National Labs, is almost 250 times higher than the interior of the Sun. Z-pinches produce the most powerful plasmas, but the generated plasmas are very unstable³.

Lasers were invented in 1962, and have been applied in many areas. Lasers were used in infusion research to confine the plasma in the late 1960s by scientists at Lawrence Livermore. This laser-based process is called ICF (Inertial Confinement Fusion). In this mechanism, laser light is used to compress and heat the pellet. The temperature achieved is about 100 million degrees Celsius and the plasma is compressed almost 1,000 times its liquid density. However, this confinement occurs in less than in a microsecond, which is not enough time to allow the ions to build on the energy of their own inertia.

Today, many countries have invested millions of dollars in confinement and ignition systems to create fusion power. ITER is an International TOKAMAK fusion project that will be built in France (for more information: http://www.iter.org/). Its participants have agreed to provide funding of $13.1 billion. When it is completed, the ITER will be one of the most expensive scientific projects in the world. However, despite the high cost, there are good reasons why scientists insist on the use of fusion. One of these is that no CO2 is produced during the process. Everyone is aware that CO2 has negative effects; for example, it leads to increased pollution and global warming. Another reason is the abundance of hydrogen available for fusion in seawater and on the earth’s crust. Another important reason is that fusion is safer than fission or other energy sources: There are no nuclear accidents, and in case of malfunction, the plasma is absorbed and cooled by the reactor walls. Also, the generated amount of radioactive particles is fewer than those generated by fission.

If everything goes well, scientists expect that fusion will be used as a source of energy in a couple of decades. If fusion is successful, it can provide clean, safe, reliable, sustainable, and widely applicable energy.

M. Fatih Yilmaz is a graduate researcher at Physics Department, University of Nevada.

Notes

1. Frisch O. R.: “The Discovery of Fission – How It All Began.” Physics Today 20 (1967), 11, pp. 43-48; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fission.

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokamak; http://www.ppdl.gov.

3. James Glanz, Science 18 July 1997:Vol. 277. no. 5324, p. 306 DOI: 10.1126/science.277.5324.306.