The Interstellar Postcard: Voyager's Golden Record

In the fall of 1977, the unmanned probes Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were launched from Cape Canaveral. The twin spaceships carried copies of the Voyager Golden Record: a gold-plated copper phonograph record and stylus. These records contain the culmination of our knowledge about ourselves, and our planet. 

Side A

"Play me!" : the binary code along the outside indicates the record should be played at 0.27 rpm

"Our 'hood": This is a pulsar map of our galaxy. Pulsating stars, or pulsars, blast constant beams of radiation while they rotate, sort of like a lighthouse that shoots X-rays. This map shows our exact location in both space AND  time, using binary code that describes the frequency and characteristics of these beams. It's SO much information crammed into a simple, rich design. 

"Our chemistry": This figure shows the lowest energy state of a hydrogen atom, along with some information on quantum spin. The line between the two states indicates the transition time is used as a universal constant. 

"Attention: Use VCR": These diagrams instruct our interstellar recipient on how to view the video portion of the recording. Binary is used to indicate the waveform of the transmission and other information. The circle is the first image seen, if the scan is successful. It also has colour: a red image is followed by a blue one, followed by a green. A spectrum of the sun is also provided, to show how we interpret colours.

Finally, the record case features an ultra-pure sample of Uranium-238, which has a half-life of 4.468 billion years. This provides a chronological scale, against which all of the molecules of the spacecraft could be measured. Otherwise, aliens might find it in a trillion billion zillion years and be like ''when did THIS happen''.

Side B

Pictures: 

the Earth (duh)
DNA
a supermarket
crocodiles
a demonstration of licking, eating and drinking,
Toronto's Pearson airport

Sounds:

"Greetings!" in 55 languages
volcanic eruption
frogs
heartbeats, laughter
a wild dog, a domesticated dog

Bach, Chopin, a Peruvian wedding song, a Pygmy girls' initiation song

(full list)

Now, we wait

I find this incredibly exhilarating, and a little bit scary. We sent out this little package, humbly offering up a distilled glimpse at the essence of our planet. 

We don't know how advanced the receiver is. Maybe there is more advanced sentient life out there, and they've decided to refrain from interfering with us. Maybe they watched as the records were prepared and cast.

Two weeks ago, Voyager 1 reached the edge of the Milky Way and entered interstellar space. It is the furthest thing from Earth, ever. It will eventually fall into an infinite orbit around our galaxy, and whoever it is would have to be smart enough to get into space and grab it, which is no easy feat. 

Our hearts are on our sleeves, wrapped up in a little bundle streaking away from Earth at a THOUSAND KILOMETRES PER SECOND. 

Who's going to pick it up?

7 Terrifying Photos Of Nuclear Fuel Rod Pools

When a nuclear fuel rod has been exhausted, it's sent to chill out in a pool for a few years. It's still horrifically radioactive, and it needs to cool down before we stuff it into a giant concrete cask to be stored for the rest of conceivable existence.

This is what nightmares are made of:

Because radiation loses half of its intensity every 7 centimetres underwater, it actually only takes about 8 feet of pool to keep the radiation under wraps. The extra water at the top acts as a safety buffer. However, within an arms-length of the bottom, the radiation is lethal.

Imagine hearing a Geiger counter's crackly protests as you slowly descend, the water getting hotter and hotter. A burning sensation starting on your skin as the beta-particles chew through your DNA with carcinogenic fury. Nausea and migraines pummeling your body as you alight on the bottom of the pool, your ability to produce viable children immediately compromised.

Don't worry, it wouldn't last long.

Keep treading water, you guys.

Fecal Transplants: Please Give a Sh*t

I consider myself an Adonis-/Chris Traeger-type because I don't need to go end up going to the doctor very often. I buff my immune system by exercising, meditating and occasionally eating things off of the floor.

However, many people DO go to the doctor, and 4/5 of Canadians will end up on antibiotics at some point in 2013. Doctors prescribe antibiotics with the knowledge that your own personal cohort of germy hangers-on outnumbers the 'bad' bacteria that are making you ill.

Due to their strength, antibiotics may kill off your good bacteria as well. When this happens, there's nothing stopping seriously bad bacteria from flooding your guts and setting up shop (for a refresher on guts, click no further; also read bacteria vs. viruses). Ironically, you're highly likely to contract these horrible organisms from the sparkling bastion of cleanliness that is your local hospital.

Once established, bugs like C. difficile (Clostridium difficile) thwart the return of your good bacteria. This lets the baddies launch a bowel takeover that can punch holes in your intestines and bloat up your butt-tube into what's called a 'toxic megacolon'. Up to 15,000 patients die every year from hospital-contracted C. difficile.

Who ya gonna call

If you get C. difficile, you're going to reach over with your immuno-compromised hand to pick up the phone and personally thank Dr. Ben Eiseman, former VP of the American College of Surgeons and founder of the fecal transplant.

 In 1958, Eiseman took a diluted sample of donor poo and pumped it into a colitis patient. Nowadays, they use a colonoscope (don't ask) or a nasoduodenal tube (REALLY don't ask). The good bacteria re-colonize the comprimised digestive tract, giving C. difficle the boot and allowing food to be digested once again. A study reported fecal bacteriotherapy works 94% of the time, and it's much cheaper than antibiotics.

What did we learn

Your body is a giant petri dish that hosts a raucous and volatile bacterial feeding frenzy. I'm going to go shower 17 times.