I was watching national geographic today and I realised how much I've not been in touch with Science. An ex triple science student doing everything except anything related to science. I sort of miss it, especially bio. Like I used to remember those scientific names in cell structures and talk about the different cycles as if they were my friends. Now, I can't even remember what's beta-oxidation. Glyconeogenesis maybe, cos it's easy to guess from the name. What's the Kreb (crap) cycle again?

But something on national geographic got me glued to the screen for a good half an hour. The first few minutes about the documentary was attempting to paint a bleak picture about the earth's future. I thought stuff like earthquakes, cyclones and floods would be common, but the show actually suggested something like a possible "ice age" in the future. I was thinking in my head "how can it be, we're talking about global warming in these days and you're telling me about ice age??"

Oh boy I was so wrong.

Because of the earth's revolution around the sun, we're currently living in the warm inter-glacial period. Meaning, the earth's orbit around our sun is sometimes almost like a circle (like now), or an elliptical shape something like an oval. When the earth is in an elliptical orbit, they'll be certain periods where we're further away from the sun compared to the current circular one. So, the warmer weather we're experiencing now is actually not the norm. Just because we've been in this "warm" climate almost all of our lives, we think that this is normal. Ironic as it may sound, the earth's normal climate is supposed to be erratic.

My eyes just widened when I found out from the documentary that volcanoes can actually trigger temporary freezing periods. Firstly, the dust particles and ashes produced during an eruption will enter the air and effectively block out the sun's ray, therefore reducing the temperature on the ground. Secondly, the huge amount of sulphur dioxide gases are efficient reflectors of sunlight, so they also prevent the sun's rays from reaching the ground. There has been evidence in the past that volcanic eruptions have caused a drop of close to 7deg celsius in northern america, Ohio experienced massive crop failure and winter in June. In June....!

By the way, they also featured a glaciologist who had a team drill a hole into the icy ground to get ice cores. Ice cores are actually excellent time keepers, cos they preserve the particles and compositions in the atmosphere in chronological order. Each year the new layer simply forms above the previous, so cool! :) They managed to dig up an ice core worth 2 miles long. That's SUPER LONG. I bet they had like hundred of thousands of years of the earth's history in their laboratories.

Then the second part of the show talked about global warming speeding up the process of freezing. That sounded so weird to me. Like warming, freezing? Everytime when I thought about global warming, I'd stop at the effects of melting polar caps and rising sea levels, but I failed to see the effects of those effects. When the ice sheets melt, large volumes of freshwater enters the oceans, especially the Atlantic Ocean. The Northern Atlantic Ocean is where the hot currents enter a transiting phase to cold currents, you might have come across something familiar in secondary school geography. So when the melted ice washes into the northern atlantic, it slows down the great ocean oconveyor and heat circulation to other parts in the globe. So, global warming actually brings down the earth's temperature!!!

And then, I recalled reading somewhere in the Bible that there'll be a big fire with sulphur at the end of time. You can check with the others who read their bible properly though :D And Matthew 24:29 says "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken". The books in the old testament have more prophesies, but I don't really remember the exact words.

Maybe there'll be massive and numerous volcanic eruptions at the end of time, and the sun will reach the end of its life and end up in a big explosion. How am I to know, I wouldn't be here to witness all these.

One thing I'm sure of, there will never be a giant flood again like in Noah's time, because the Lord has made a covenant with us that He will never ever destroy mankind again with a flood. Genesis 9:14 "...that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh".

On a side note, I've always been wondering why do girls end up cutting their hair 80% of the time after a break up. I've witnessed this among people whom I know, and even actresses in the TV shows do it. I've always thought that people with long hair who suddenly cut their hair short are either very stressed or they met with a major setback in their life.

I don't know. Maybe I'll cut my hair after I get married. When I have to l o o k mature, and with all the household chores to do and little imps to take care of, a shorter hair will probably require less maintenance. I can't recall if I thought of cutting my hair a few months back. Better not yah, that would have been a super unwise and unworthy thing to do.

Oh, I played monopoly with Yonghui today. Won him by $789 dollars.