Organic Chemistry I: Fill & Download for Free

Yes it could actually happen. But would be a scientific disaster, almost certainly a death sentence for the participants, probably within a few months, and would be a miserable experience for them before they die. Yet with a change in the mission profile, it could so easily be turned into something much more positive and interesting simply by focussing on an orbital mission exploring the surface by telepresence instead of immediately going to the surface right away.International Outer Space TreatyHardly anyone ever points out that any manned mission to the surface of Mars violates the international Outer Space Treaty provisions for planetary protection, and the COSPAR guidelines which all Mars surface missions follow, to avoid contaminating the planet with Earth life.The OST doesn't specifically mention microbial contamination (unlike Moon treaty) but it does say"States Parties to the Treaty shall pursue studies of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, and conduct exploration of them so as to avoid their harmful contamination and also adverse changes in the environment of the Earth resulting from the introduction of extraterrestrial matter and, where necessary, shall adopt appropriate measures for this purpose. If a State Party to the Treaty has reason to believe that anactivity or experiment planned by it or its nationals in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, would cause potentially harmful interference with activities of other States Parties in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, it shall undertake appropriate international consultations before proceeding with any such activity or experiment"Harmful there is normally interpreted as including, "harmful to the scientific researches of other states" - and microbial contamination would be harmful in that way because, introduce microbes to Mars, and e.g. many of the experiments on ExoMars, to take one example, become inconclusive because if they detect amino acids, you have no idea if they were Mars or Earth originiated.This is the OST full treaty if interested. http://www.unoosa.org/pdf/public...There's a meeting every two years under COSPAR of thousands of scientists who get together in workshops to work out how we should implement the provisions of the OST in all its thousands of details of things like exactly how to sterilize each type of spacecraft and depending on destination in the solar system, and that's how they interpret it.The treaty and guidelines were drawn up for a good reason. Introduce life to Mars and you are now studying a planet that has been contaminated by modern Earth life, and it will be extremely hard to find out if it had life already before you got there, and whether or not you have made the existing life on Mars extinct by introducing modern micro-organisms from Earth.There are different categories of mission according to the guidelines with the Moon category II Mars orbital missions in category III, and Mars landing in the far more strict Category IV. (For more about this see end of this article)It seems reasonable that they could update the guidelines to permit human orbiting missions to Mars, with appropriate care taken to make crash landings on Mars just about impossible, but can't see how they would ever in near future update them to permit surface missions until much more is known about the planet.Before you can legally send humans to the surface of Mars then the Outer Space Treaty and the COSPAR guidelines will need to be modified. If you attempt to get it changed to permit the expedition, then I am sure at this stage you will get massive opposition. The working groups that advise on the COSPAR guidelines continually advise to make it more strict, not less, as we learn more about the amazing extremophile capabilities of many ordinary seeming Earth micro-organisms.I'ts generally agreed that the robots on Mars are contaminated already with Earth life, but in a dormant state and probably confined to the spacecraft and vicinity.Any lander on the surface has to have the number of spore forming microbes on its surface less than 300,000 over the entire craft - that's before launch, numbers greatly reduced during the journey there and landing on Mars. That sounds a huge amount, but it's still a really high level of sterilization.It's not totally sure that we haven't contaminated Mars. But - mainly because Mars is really hostile, and the number of species that could survive there is small, most people think that the microbes we've sent there are just sitting dormant on the spacecraft, and could eventually be removed from Mars if we decided we want to keep it pristine indefinitely.Diversity of organisms in skin flora and human surroundingsIf anyone thinks it is possible for humans to go to Mars without introducing new organisms to it, reflect that the skin flora alone of a human being has 1000 species in 19 phyla, some not well known yet, and over a trillion individual organisms. Just your skin. And that's 19 PHYLA - same level as chordate one level above creatures with backbones in the evolutionary classifications.That's not taking account of your gut, food, air you breathe, water - we are surrounded by trillions of organisms and many especially of the "uncultivatable archaea" are still so little understood that all we have of them are fragments of gene sequences. Any human occupied spacecraft is like a giant package of these micro-organisms - and even many multi-cellular organisms too. And keeping all that within the spacecraft, is simply not possible as soon as you permit the astronauts to go out of the door in spacesuits.Extremophile niches on MarsMore and more species are turning out to be extremophiles, with hidden capabilities, don't need to live in extreme places at all, just capabilities that they have from the past. There is increasing modern evidence that some of these species could survive on some niches on Mars just as it is now without any terraforming of Mars and without any special adaptation of the organism, just transfer the organism to Mars and it could survive and colonize all available niches on the planet quite quickly. That is if the niches exist - but - e.g. thin salty films sub surface (which may well exist in places on Mars), or the water vapour that briefly condenses in evening and morning from the air on Mars - both been shown to be possible habitats or existing modern micro-organisms. And many organisms form spores that are amazingly resistant even to everything that Mars can throw at them.Rapidity of spread of micro-organisms on Mars if a suitable habitat is foundCarl Sagan once calculated that if you started with a single micro-organism, and it reproduced once a month (very slow for a micro-organism) then you could get a microbial population equal to the soil population of the Earth within a decade. Of course that is not going to happen on Mars because it is not hospitable enough to support such a large population.But by the same reasoning it is entirely possible for all suitable habitats on Mars to be colonised within a few years, if the habitats exist at all and are reasonably common on the surface. The exposed rocks slightly moistened by the morning and evening dew, and the possible thin subsurface layers of brine are both types of habitat that could be widespread on Mars. These don't even need to be near the human settlement, it just needs an endospore imbedded in a dust grain to be carried to one of them during the global Martian dust storms.Hard landings immediately violate COSPAR and the Outer Space TreatyThe COSPAR guidelines require that Mars be protected in the event of a hard landing of any spacecraft sent there. A hard landing on Mars of a human occupied spacecraft would deposit human bodies directly on the surface - immediate huge Mars contamination, hard to see how that could ever be reversed.Of course, prospective human colonists would take care not to crash on Mars. But it's undoubtedly a risky mission.Roughly half the missions to the Mars surface so far have crashed. The atmosphere is dense enough so you have to commit to land and can't abort (which the Apollo lander could do easily on the Moon) - but not dense enough for a parachute landing.So surely, it's more dangerous than base jumping or hang gliding, with near future technology.Normally things like that are a matter for individual decision - do you want to take a risk like that personally?But in case of Mars that hard landing would also contaminate the planet so it's a decision not just for themselves to make but for the whole world to make, is it okay to contaminate Mars with dead human bodies in case of a crash?Terraforming issuesThis is not just an issue for scientific exploration of Mars. It could also be a major issue for terraforming if that is ever decided to be a good thing to do. For instance one way to terraform Mars might involve use of photosynthesising organisms to generate the oxygen. But what if you have already seeded Mars inadvertently with micro-organisms that just love oxygen, and will immediately eat it all up as soon as you create it? After a human visit there would be spores of such organisms just waiting to wake up when the conditions are right.This could prevent a balanced atmosphere ever forming in the first place. Our planet needed a stage of just oxygen producing organisms without any animals to consume the oxygen for a long period of time to develop an oxygen rich atmosphere. After that many cycles and feedback mechanisms developed. On Mars this is a major challenge to try to do that - and to introduce aerobes right at the start before you even attempt it might make it impossible to do it at all.The online Mars One community seem uninterested in any of these issues except the legal matter of the treatyI tried to point all this out on the Mars One forum some years ago, but the people there showed little understanding or interest in what I said so I gave up. The only thing that I said that I felt had some impact was when I mentioned that it would break current international legal treaty in the Outer Space Treaty.But though they acknowledged that it was a legal issue, they didn't appreciate the underlying reason for the treaty, which is far more important than just understanding that it breaks the treaty. Like - okay - the law has to be changed so we can go there - so what - kind of attitude. Just acknowledged it was an issue but then no more discussion at all after that.Analogy with AntarcticaAntarctica is protected by the Antarctica treaty, and if a private company set up an expedition to colonize Antarctica and introduce life from other continents to do so, there would be an outcry. It would be far far easier to colonize Antarctica, and indeed the Moon, than Mars.We know so little about Mars, and so much of value to learn - to destroy all that potential knowledge when your only reason for destroying it is so that you can have humans set foot on Mars sooner rather than later is so sad.Orbital missionsOrbital colonies of Mars.would be fine, and are a perfect solution that should make everyone happy apart from the trivial thing of being able in person to "plant your feet on Mars" (and so contaminate it irretrievably.I tried to persuade the Mars One people via their forum to turn it into an orbital colony of Mars. That would be fine as far as contamination issues are concerned. It's also much more interesting for the would be "colonists". An easier place to live, inspiring, no dust storms, easier to keep warm, can have any level of gravity you like via tethered spacecraft including Earth normal gravity, the whole of the Mars surface available to you every orbit via telepresence for exploration via remote controlled rovers, also of course direct observation with telescopes, list goes on and on.The only motivation of Mars One for going to surface rather than orbit is so that humans can set foot on the surfaceBut they just said - this means it is no longer the Mars One mission profile, and moved the thread to another forum about other topics not directly related to Mars One. Basically it doesn't have the media and visceral impact to go into orbit around Mars rather than for humans to set their feet actually on the surface, that is what they were saying.For them that is the trump card in all discussions that seems to immediately override any scientific or moral issues you have with the mission. That's the point where I gave up discussing it with them.I have yet to see a single reason given for humans to go to the surface of Mars that doesn't work far better as a reason for going to the Moon or to orbit around Mars.That is except for ability to say "I (or a human from Earth) stood on the surface of Mars".Hostility of the surface of Mars for humansMost people have no idea quite how hostile the surface of Mars is. It is a near vacuum, the atmosphere would count as a laboratory vacuum on Earth. It is very cold, same average temperature as Antarctica but day to night swings far greater meaning it gets much colder than anywhere on Earth at night, and that's at the equator.Dust storms that last for weeks on end that would blot out the sun.Everything a dull red colour - the photos of Mars are adjusted to simulate Earth lighting to make it easier for geologists to interpret. To human vision everything would be a dull muddy red with hardly any variation in colour.Depressing tooIt would just be so depressing for the "colonists" on the surface. You can only get out of your hab if you go through several hours every day of putting on and taking off your spacesuit and making all the checks to make sure you do it safely (if not you will probably die of a simple mistake). When you get out, it is dull reddish grey barren landscape stretching out for miles in all directions. The first couple of times it would be interesting and exotic and after that - for non scientists just depressing.Small - but not zero - chance Mars could harbour dangerous micro-orgamismsThere is also the possibility of reverse contamination too. No-one knows for sure that there is no life on Mars, indeed that would almost be a bit of a surprise given what we know about how quickly life formed on Earth. If there is life on Mars, there is a small but certainly not zero possibility that it might be hazardous to humans - because human diseases can develop without any animal host. It is rare but does happen, legionnaire's disease is an example. We would lack any immunity to it if such existed on Mars, and that too could kill all the colonists. Maybe slowly too over years rather than right away. It is low probability probably but we don't know how to assess the probability.And could also be life with a different basis from Earth life (scientifically most interesting of all) e.g. assuming carbon based - uses something maybe a bit like our DNA but not quite exactly the same. Whether that is something not to worry about at all, or extremely hazardous to DNA based life - again knowing nothing about what is there and what it might be like, we have no way to assess.Possible allergic reactions to Mars dustThis is a more minor point, probably not actually dangerous, but even so could be a major personal and psychological issue for any colony. I mention it for completeness.It would probably be impossible to avoid bringing the Mars dust into the habitat in a working colony. The dust is not yet studied on a microscopic level and it is possible that humans might have allergic reactions to it, and of course not had any opportunity to build up resistance to it. The colonists might suffer from continual severe hay fever type symptoms.Life in an orbital colony around MarsContrast life in orbit. You see the whole of Mars spread out below you, and as astronauts have found on the ISS, then life in orbit is interesting for humans. You would have gravity too because a Mars orbital colony would be spun up to achieve gravity.You would be frequently in demand by scientists to drive their spacecraft over the surface of Mars, or pilot their gliders and balloons - the main reasons the existing spacecraft travel so slowly is because of the long round trip light speed delay when controlled from Earth, the other issues such as having enough energy available for journey on the surface could be solved easily if there was anyone there who could drive them in real time.You wouldn't need to be a science specialist to do that, so it is a place where I can imagine non scientists being useful (working alongside scientists) - especially as you get more missions to the surface (and many institutions and countries would surely be keen to add them either alongside or part of a major orbital mission) - you would need people who are good and careful drivers able to drive the rovers safely around on the surface. Not necessarily the same as the best scientists.You have a bigger habitat for less cost, because it costs much less to send materials to Mars orbit than to the surface.Orbit around Mars easier to reach in terms of delta v than surface of our MoonThere is actually less delta v for Mars orbit than for a Moon landing, so supply of materials is much easier, a huge difference. Literally saving many billions of pounds, and hugely reducing complexity of the mission, and chances of things to go wrong by sending the humans to orbit rather than the surface.It's actually quite easy to return too. Not a huge expensive project way out of reach of a project like Mars One, to return a sick astronaut.In site resource utilization for orbital colonyYou still have resources you can utilize on the spot, Mars orbit is as good as the surface in that respect, possibly better. I'm thinking of Phobos and Deimos - but for that matter also near earth asteroids too. A mining company in operation in the space close to Earth could more easily send its materials to a Mars orbital colony than to the surface of the Earth. So as space industry develops, a Mars orbital colony would be able to access those materials more easily than almost any other place apart from orbits around Earth itself (months or years of time delay not a big deal for supply of water, minerals etc from comets and asteroids).Humans in orbit around Mars could control robots on the surface, and are not a concern so long as you are careful to make sure they can't crash on Mars - for instance with trajectory biasing, and you wouldn't do aerocapture probably,it's humans on the surface that's the concern and that's solely because of the contamination issues. If humans could be sterilized, like plant seeds, then fine, but they can't be, sadly.Moon for first steps for colonizationHaving said that, I'd recommend a first colony mission to the poles of the Moon. That's because it is a lot closer to the Earth. On Mars say that your main heater packs in, or your oxygen supply is damaged, or any of a thousand small issues that could kill all the astronauts. Maybe you have a backup but it goes as well.Then, it is at least six months travel time before you can get a replacement sent from Earth. And that's possible only every two years.On the Moon then it is just a matter of days to get a replacement sent, and there is at least a chance you can cobble something together that will work at least until it arrives.The same applies to vital personnel, if for instance the only doctor on your mission dies. On the Moon a new doctor can be sent with a few days notice. On Mars it could be a year or two before the replacement gets to you.Difficulties for techy specialists on Earth attempting to assist Mars missions with real time emergency issuesIf you have ever tried helping someone with computer problems via a telephone line - imagine doing something much more technical than that - and with a 44 minute delay to wait for them to say anything (22 minutes for your advise to get to them, 22 minutes for their reply to get back to you). Now imagine that the people you assist are non techy and may not be able to articulate their problems well in ways that the support scientists and technicians can understand instantly. Many hours could easily pass before you can assess the situation on Earth and communicate even simple instructions to them.That is what tech support from Earth of ordinary people at the distance o Mars, even in a Mars orbit colony would be like. And this might be an emergency situation where they need to find a solution within minutes.This could be for engineering or computing support. Or medical support. And for astronauts on Mars or in Mars orbit, they live in a potentially dangerous environment and could easily be a life and death situation where minutes count, and at the same time, the smallest error in following your instructions could also lead to death.So techy specialists needed as a major part of the crew for orbital missions to MarsYou must have specialists there with them. It is okay to have people who are artists and poets and composers etc as part of a larger crew even if not trained in computers or maths or science or piloting spaceships etc - but not on their own without any specialists with them - that is just a death sentence at the distance of Mars!So - I say - go to the Moon first for colonies with people in less than prime health and non specialists. There we can work out the issues and find out how such a mix of personnel works in practise. For Mars - start with orbital missions - which need to be small groups of highly trained individuals, and include doctors on hand in an emergency, not just people able to do first aid.It needs to be a tight crew in the early Mars missions, all highly skilled in some way or another well able to deal with highly technical scientific issues. Also needs at least some scientists, some engineers, and some people who thoroughly understand the spacecraft and equipment (think Apollo 13)..At the distance of Mars a long term mission of many years or decades needs multiple redundancy of the specialists (in case of death - if your doctor dies for instance then it may be a year or two before a replacement can be sent)Can have people with no prior space training at all as well, I really like that aspect of the Mars One mission. That's great so long as they are very healthy, and highly skilled in some way.On a larger mission (with enough scientists, doctors etc to make it viable) including poets and composers too, not just scientists, create new works of art, describe what they experience in ways that resonate with us back on Earth. That's possible when you get to dozens of people.But on their own as a small crew - with no scientists or engineers - or doctors etc?Not six months away on Mars. Not now. Not on their own. Just possibly on the Moon that might work. On Mars as part of a larger expedition with maybe at least a dozen or more, with most specialists, again could work a bit like the way that happens sometimes with the ISS. But in any hab at the distance of Mars, you are talking about something as complex as the ISS, but so far from the Earth it requires six months travel time to get there at the best of times, and often much longer. And up to 44 minutes light speed delay just to communicate your problem to Earth and back again with no possibility ever of a normal free flowing two way discussion with specialists on Earth.Mars One ideasTheir ideas are great, as far as they go - and for stimulating discussion - and they obviously are good at generating publicity for them. But if only they had a bit more appreciation of science and understanding of it, to match their enthusiasm and ideas.It's the idea that's the issue, not the Mars One organisersIn my conversations on their forum then the Mars One enthusiasts came over as honest enthusiastic people of integrity, who happen to believe that the most important thing is for humans to land on the surface of Mars as soon as possible. They seem currently unable to consider any other alternatives except a surface mission.That is what makes the project such a terrible idea in my opinion, as I've explained. The rest of it - the things most Mars One detractors focus attention on - I think much of that is great and am all for diversity in space missions :).If they just change the profile to focus on an orbital mission first, and accept the necessity for keeping to the international Outer Space Treaty and accept it is not going to be changed just to permit their expedition to the surface of Mars, then I'd be all in support of them. The need for large expeditions and to include a mix of many specialists at the distance of Mars I think will become clear as planning progresses.Article IX of the internationally approved Outer Space Treaty"Article IX: ... States Parties to the Treaty shall pursue studies of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, and conduct exploration of them so as to avoid their harmful contamination and also adverse changes in the environment of the Earth resulting from the introduction of extraterrestrial matter and, where necessary, shall adopt appropriate measures for this purpose...Details about the COSPAR guidelinesThere are four categories of location for the COSPAR guidelines depending on the capability of the destination to support life (leaving out category V which is to do with sample return)Category I: Any mission to the Sun, Mercury, other locations not of interest for studying prebiotic chemistry or the origin and evolution of life.Category II: Any mission to the Earth's Moon, Venus, comets, Jupiter, Pluto/Charon, Kuiper Belt Objects, other locations of interest for studying prebiotic chemistry and the origin of life but for which there is an insignificant probability of contamination with Earth life.Category III: Flyby and orbiter missions to locations with the potential to host life and for which there is a possibility of contamination by Earth life; e.g., Mars, Europa, Titan or Enceladus.Category IV: Lander or probe missions to locations with the potential to host life and for which there is a possibility of contamination by Earth life; e.g., Mars, Europa, Titan or Enceladus.(quote from Wikipedia article: Planetary Protection - Categories)The Moon is category II. The asteroids category I or II. Mars category IV. That is why the current law would permit colonies in space, and on the Moon too, with a bit of care taken, but would not permit colonies on Mars. Orbital colonies around Mars would be category III so need more care than a Moon colony - the risk there is of an accident leading to a human occupied spaceship crashing into Mars. For instance use of aerobraking by a human occupied ship to Mars for capture into a Mars orbit would be especially risky from a planetary protection point of viewMy attempt to raise these points on the Mars One ForumYou can read my Mars One discussion here:Orbital Colony around Mars instead a planet-based one, similar to NASA HERRO mission?The post that lead me to give up discussing things with them (politely) was when a "supermoderator" wrote on page 3."It really is an interesting and valid approach, but I beg you - don't make this topic a personal obsession.We're about to make Mars One get through the way it was proposed, with a human base on the Martian surface.That's what's debated at this forum and what determines the fate of mankind in Space for the years to come.So I moved this thread to the General Mars Discussion forum - we only want to discuss topics directly related to Mars One at the project forum."References and background materialFor references and background for the things I say here, and all the scientific details and references to papers etc, you can start here:Manned mission to Mars - CritiquesCould have peppered this page with links to the background supporting material but I thought go for something easily readable and not interrupt the flow. It is all thoroughly backed up by the scientific literature.See also my blog posts: The Value of a Pristine Mars and its Uniqueness to Science and Humanity in its Current State and Space habs could house trillions of people in the future - planetary surfaces can never match thatNew article at Science 20I've just written a new article on a closely connected topic here:No Escape From Problems in Space Colonies - Earth is Des Res - Even After Nuclear War or Asteroid Impact

There are many ways you can develop new skills and gain knowledge for free in your spare time. Many universities and other educational institutions offer free online courses, complete with tests, quizzes, reading material, study guides, and even textbooks.Here are some tools that will have you hitting those e-books.Code YearIf learning computer programming sounds way out of your reach, best left to the geniuses of the world, you're wrong. According to Code Year, anyone can learn the basics of computer programming in just one year.Code Year lessons are presented in an interactive format that doesn't necessarily feel like you're learning code. It's certainly the opposite of listening to lectures and reading dry books on programming. Budding programmers start off with JavaScript and move quickly through the subsequent lessons.W3SchoolsThe largest site on the Internet for Web developers, W3Schools is a fantastic resource for those interested in brushing up on their Web development skills—or learning them for the first time. Want to make your own website? W3Schools offers tutorials and references on a large range of subjects, including HTML, CSS, XML, JavaScript, PHP, SQL, and more.TEDI guess most of you have seen at least one TED Talk by now. The nonprofit started out as a conference in 1984 with the intention of "bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design." (It even saw one of the first Macintosh computer demos that year.) Fast-forwarding 28 years, TED now features more than 1,114 free, award-winning talks, with more added each week.iTunes UiTunes U hosts content from more than 800 universities and distinguished organizations. Stanford, Yale, and Oxford are on the list, as well as MoMA, the New York Public Library, Public Radio International, and PBS stations. iTunes U offers audio and video of lectures, plus slideshows, PDFs, books, films, exhibit tours, and audio books. iTunes U, which supports both the PDF and ePub file formats, allows educators to distribute schedules, syllabi, lecture outlines, study guides, notes, maps, and even entire books.Khan AcademySal Khan, former hedge fund analyst and creator of the nonprofit Khan Academy, has made over 2,700 free educational videos and aims to continue until the day he dies. Hoping to make several tens of thousands of videos available in nearly every subject, Khan Academy currently covers K-12 math, and science topics like biology, chemistry, cosmology, astronomy, and physics. The site also dabbles in finance and history, and a recent partnership with Smarthistory added hundreds of art history videos to the libraryThere are many other platforms also where one can learn to enhance his skills like Edu4sure, Coursera, etc.

This is a list of fundamental things which will be good for adults to know in our modern era. While choosing the topics my approach was something like: “you don’t need to learn all the details if you are not interested but it is really useful at least to have heard of what it is”Some of the topics may be too obvious and some of them may seem very unnecessary. I have done my best to find a compromise. Since this is a study which I have prepared according to my own knowledge depth, there will be for sure some missing points and mistakes. I have checked some books, some old school encyclopedias, several websites, similar lists and consolidated / filtered / summarized all I found with my own vision. Also, I’m not a native speaker (which you can see easily) so there will be some inevitable language mistakes. Ok, let’s go!Main CategoriesNatural Sciences & MathematicsSocial SciencesPsychology & SpiritualityArtsHealthTechnologyDaily Life SkillsSoft SkillsBig IdeasNATURAL SCIENCES & MATHEMATICSMathematics: Let’s start with the mathematics. Everybody starts learning math when they start primary school. And we continue learning it until we graduate. Basic maths is indispensable (four operations, fractions, decimals, ratios and proportions and so on) You may be a dancer, poet or farmer and you will still need it when you make a monthly personal budget or calculate the interest rates of the credit you took from your bank.But besides the very basics, I think it will be very good and interesting to learn a bit more advanced topics like: the difference between the linear growth and exponential growth (Bacterial growth - Wikipedia), modular arithmetic (how computers work and what are those famous 1s and 0s in matrix wallpapers), reading charts (x-axis, y-axis) and much more. I sometimes see very enjoyable books explaining daily life topics with mathematics in bookstores but I don’t remember now to recommend any. (feel free to comment any recommendations)One more thing about mathematics is: logic and paradoxes. If you’ve never heard what is a paradox, you should definitely check a few. They are mind-blowing and really fascinating! (10 Mind-Boggling Paradoxes)Biology: The science of living beings. Humans have systems in their bodies working coordinately like departments of a company. Bats are the only flying mammals. But what is a mammal? What is a cell? What is a DNA? We see DNA tests in many movies but how do they understand whether that child is her’s with only one hair string? What is a virus? Is it living or non-living? Ever heard of photosynthesis? Why are trees said to be lungs of the earth? Oh, what is lung anyway?Chemistry: Atoms. Molecules. Chemical reactions. States of matter. What is a gas, what is boiling? Did you know you cannot boil an egg on top of the Everest because boiling temperature will not be enough? And this topic is pretty related to how pressure cookers work. Speaking about water, why do they say H2O to the water? Why not H5O? Do you remember periodic table from high school classes? It seems very colorful and fancy but why is it important? What is an atom? What is in it?Physics: Force. Forces. Machines. Wheel. Light. Mirrors. Lenses. Pressure. Electronics. Waves. Dynamics. Energy. Sun. Planets. All these and much more fall into physics and it is up to you how much you want to learn. Maybe you don’t need to go into quantum physics or general relativity but it may be nice to have an idea what entropy is. It is interesting. Also, cosmology, astrophysics, planet orbits, stars, possibility of time travel, wormholes, light-year, galaxies are also very interesting to learn and read about.There are great youtube channels about all these topics. And one of my personal favourite:Ok, this is enough for the first part. Let’s move on to social sciences..SOCIAL SCIENCESHistory / World History: Most of us learn a lot about our own country’s history. But in fact, all our history is interconnected. So I see it essential to learn world history. The USA was not always there, they are pretty new. Roman Empire was one of the largest empires ever but why did they fail to continue? What happened in world war I-II? If you know the history, it will be eaiser to understand what is happening in the middle east today. What is cold war? How did the Soviet Union collapse? Who discovered the America and what they have done? How did China manage to preserve its borders this long? We hear about Aztecs, Incas but where are they now? Why do they call the UK The empire on which the sun never sets? What was the purpose of Hitler? If Germany and Japan lost the world war, how they became two of the most powerful countries in such a short time? Ever heard Napoleon? Or Mahatma Gandhi? Or Atatürk? History is an ocean..Geography / World Geography: Guessing the country from its flag is a fun game. But geography is much more from country flags. It is very surprising how less some people know about the country locations (Ohh, is Japan an island?!) Ok maybe you dont need to know where exactly is Barbados but an adult should be able to visualize the world map roughly, with the continents set apart, where is China, where is Europe, where is Atlantic Ocean etc.Basic geography knowledge also contains the landforms of earth. What is a desert, what is a river delta or a rain forest? You should be able to read the maps, understand a bit what legend says (scaling?). Climate information, animals and plants for a specific type of climate regions, weather conditions, what type of winds are there, earth formation, how disasters occur and many more.Sociology / Culture: Why societies act the way they do? How do we interact with each other? What is culture? Why do we create families? What is ethics? (by the way, ethics is one of my favourite sub-topic. It can be very interesting sometimes. For example, should people be allowed to clone themselves or should we take immigrants into our country etc.)Besides socilogy topics, I also think everybody should have a general idea about the different cultures all around the world. This is very stimulating. East Asia is quite different than Europe, so is South Africa or Brazil. Earth is huge and people do not act everywhere in a way you do. For example, you may be thinking that calling your parents with their names is very normal but in some regions, it is very rude and unacceptable. It is not because they or you are idiots but there are reasons for that. It is very fun to see what kind of traditions people have in different places.This is an interesting documentary film showing a day of many different people from all around the world. Worth to watch.Politics & Forms of Government: We all used to hear about communism and capitalism in the past decades. But that’s just a drop in the bucket. The historical progress of politics is quite interesting. And it is always changing inevitably! We still couldn’t find the best government form. We even aren’t sure if we really need governments. For example we praise democracy as a signal of civilization and modernity, right? Do you know what do experts say about democracy: “Democracy is the worst form of Government except all those others” (Trump is elected with it :)Anyway, let’s don’t leave our topic. There are lots of things to be known for an adult in this area. For example how elections work? What does prime minister do? Who decides how to change the education system? What is a parliament? What about international relations? What is UN, NATO, EU, Trade agreements, borders etc.Basic Law & Rights: I guess this is one of the most missed/ignored subjects if you are not specifically working in this area. But this is too important to miss! Ok, knowing where Nigeria is on world map is nice but it probably won’t save your life. However, knowing your rights/limits/obligations before police knocks on your door could be very helpful. And leave aside the basic legal system knowledge, most of us are even not aware of our personal rights.Ok this was the easy part. Most of us somehow know these rights. But what about responsibilities? For example you have to pay your taxes, you cannot drink and drive, you have to take care of your children, you have to vote. Do you know what you can do / cannot do if you are arrested? Or what if you encounter a thief at your home? Can you shoot him/her? Does it differ if he is at your bedroom? What is counted as self-defence? Do you smoke weed? Or do you use drugs? Is it legal where you live? Do you know the consequences? Or another question: if you see someone kills a person are you obliged to report that to the police? Do you use copyrighted material on your website? Do you know the consequences? There are many questions like this and I don’t know most of these myself either. Unfortunately, we learn these things the hard way: experience.Also take a look at: Your Rights - RightsInfoBesides personal rights, there are essential information every adult should know regarding the legal system. For example, do you know what are the differences between a lawyer, attorney general and judge? Where can you apply for an official complaint? How do you sue someone? Does it cost anything? What is constitution?Economics: Oh yeah! Economics is a large subject which has a world on its own. But we are talking about the basics here. So, let’s try to keep on the track.There are lots of sub-topics which fall under economics. How do currencies work? What is inflation? What is the relation between the interest rates-inflation-currencies-exports/imports. How stock exchange works? Why did we create this? How banks work and where do they earn money from? Why $100 today is more valuable than $100 tomorrow (time value of money)? What is opportunity cost?Besides these basic concepts, I also note down some related topics which may be good to have an idea about:General knowledge about main occupations/jobs. What does an accountant do in a daily life? Or a carpenter, commissioner or a web developer?Nice to know how companies work? Which departments do what in general? What is does human resources or logistics department do? What is a CEO of CFO? What are the biggest companies in the world? How many employees do they employ? How much revenue they generate and how much profit they create? Ohh what is the difference between revenue and profit?Personal finance. How to make a monthly/yearly budget? Where should we invest our money and how? How should we save money for future?For those who want to go a bit deeper, I would definitely recommend this Crash Course channel (they are really cool):Economics - CrashCourse - YouTubeLet’s finish this section with a bit fun:Two Cows Explain Economics Better Than Any ClassMIND AND SOULPsychology: We are not talking about the pure deep knowledge here which will help you pass the exams and make you psychologist. Rather than that, we are talking about general knowledge which will be helpful if “anyone” knows a bit. Considering this, what I would say as a foremost information about psychology is: your brain also gets sick and that can be cured. I still see lots of people who are unaware of this fact and continue living with their own problems. They don’t even think that is a problem which ruins their life. Anyway, that’s not the issue at the moment.Psychology is a very broad topic and I’m not an expert, but I quite enjoy reading about main theories, some experiments and related studies. For example, there are famous studies and behaviours like Stockholm syndrome (starting to feel empathy to (even like) our kidnapper), Dunning–Kruger effect (everybody thinks they are above average) or The Paradox of Choice (the more choices we have the less likely we are to be happy with our decision) and many more.. You have probably heard but do you know what is Maslow's Hierarchy or Pavlov’s Dog? It would be nice to get an idea..Many fascinating movies use psychological studies in their scenarios or completely based on an experiment. Check this out for The 25 Most Influential Psychological Experiments in History. And in Quora these are one of the most followed topics I have seen: What psychological tricks and hacks are useful to know? and What are some cool psychological hacks?Besides all these, psychology works mainly on our mind problems. What is depression, why does it happen, am I having a panic-attack, my child is hyperactive is this a good thing? Do I have a social phobia or just an introvert? I am a porn/drugs/smoking/gambling addict, how to get rid off it? Can someone have schizophrenia if didn’t have before? How to overcome my anxiety about sex. Oh talking about sex, what did Freud say about it?Philosophy: Ever heard Sophie's World? It is a novel about the history of philosophy and was the best-selling book in the world around mid 90s. You may think: “How come a book about philosophy becomes the best-seller globally?” But in fact, philosophy is damn intriguing! Everybody should know a little bit about it.What is knowledge? What is “something” and Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing? Am I really here in this physical world or is this all an imagination of someone (god?) What is Cogito ergo sum? Who is Descartes, Kant, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Nietzsche? What is dualism, nihilism or pragmatism? Who is septic, materialistic or hedonist?Aaaaand ladies and gentlemen, please welcome: Prisoner’s DilemmaDid you like this? Ok, you can continue here: Game theoryReligion: Whether you believe in god, in buddha, in sun or be an atheist everybody has an idea about religion. You may be thinking it is the opium of the masses or is way to happiness. One thing is certain: it is one of the most controversial area in our humanity. From “knowledge point of view” it is a very good idea to learn about other beliefs of people all around the world. Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, atheism, Scientology or anything you care. If we learn others, this will make us more humble, indulgent and easy to empathize.Nowadays many people try to learn mindfulness. Actually it is nothing new. In many religions, these meditation methods are being applied for centuries. Did you know Yoga is actually a prayer method and it has many similarities with others in different religions? (e.g. Salat in Islam)I really love learning about Sufism and it says if the subject comes to spirituality than your intelligence is useless anymore. You should continue with your heart. The words are not enough to explain.** If you are interested in sufism I can recommend a book here:Amazon.com: The Forty Rules of Love: A Novel of Rumi by Elif ShafakARTPainting: I would be really happy to take a private lesson from a painting expert who would explain me why Monalisa is damn famous or what is special with Picasso’s paintings. Yes I can read about them, check the images from internet, read the history and so on. But isn’t it a very good idea to go to museums together with the expert and he/she will tell me about how fascinating are the stories behind those paintings? :)I don’t know about visual arts so I can’t understand the real value of paintings or sculptures. However, I sense the stories behind and willing to learn in the future. Oh sorry for my personal opinions and let’s get back to the “knowledge” part.Baroque, impressionism, cubism, expressionism, Van Gogh, modern art, The Last Supper, Salvador Dali and The Persistence Of Memory..Architecture: Our design approach reflects our life style. So does architecture of our buildings. They have stories. And I believe there are lots of things to learn in this. Everybody knows Eiffel Tower but do you have any idea why it has that shape? Ever heard of Sagrada Família? (It has started in 1882 and its construction is still in progress!) What about Colosseum, Taj Mahal, Kremlin or Hagia Sophia? I am far from being an expert but I love looking at them..Literature: Shakespeare. Dickens. Tolstoy. Mark Twain. Kafka. Dostoyevsky and many many more. Did you read Animal Farm, Anna Karenina or Hamlet? Most of us are watching movies/tv series instead of reading books nowadays but books offer a much more fulfilling experience.Books That Everyone Should Read At Least Once In Their LivesBesides these classics, it is also good to learn how to read poems, how to read books, how to understand and interpret them. Speed reading techniques may be also worth to consider.Music: Everybody loves music. But besides listening your favourite songs, wouldn’t it be good to know a bit about the background? For example, if you know what a bass guitar does or to be able to understand how complicated the drums of that particular song may enhance your listening experience. You “may” enjoy with a different view from the concerts you go. But I say “may” for this part because I am not very sure whether knowing more about the instruments will give you more joy or is it better to “just listen”.Personally, while raising kids they should be given opportunity at least to try playing a few instruments. They don’t need to be experts in any of them but I believe just playing a guitar or a flute or a piano will extend their vision about life, arts and music.By the way, let’s don’t forget the legendary songs. Your legendary can be from Metallica, Vivaldi or Rihanna. But just checking out different types of music may help you to find some new songs you didn’t know you may like.And before we finish this section, just spare 20 minutes of today for this:HEALTHFirst Aid: Everybody should know first aid. Period. But it is not easy to learn it by reading or watching videos, it should be practiced. I don’t know why they don’t teach it at schools. It is not optional. What will you do if someone you love is having a heart attack, or shocked by electricity, or heavily bleeding or choking and you are alone? It may be too late for an ambulance.Basic Anatomy: Do you know what your liver is actually doing? Or your kidneys? What do doctors mean when they say your hormones or enzymes? I think everybody should know about our anatomy at least in the basic terms.InnerBody.com | Your Interactive Guide to Human AnatomyEmergency/Survival Info: What to do in a terrorist attack? What to do during an earthquake? Fire? Animal attack in a forest? One little piece of information you may have read somewhere can literally save your life someday.Basic Pharmaceutical Knowledge: You won’t keep asking your mom which pills you should take when you burn your hand, catch flu or have a headache, will you? Every adult should be aware of some basics about medicines. For example what does an antibiotic do to your body and how you should use it? Which cream you should apply to relieve muscle pain? Did you know you should never drink alcohol with any medication? Is it ok to give Asprin to your child? You are using some pills for your reflux but are you aware of short/long time side effects? Ever heard what active ingredient is?What are the names of some basic medicines that everybody should know about?*** Never use medicines without knowing their side effects. Follow your doctor’s advice before going in a medical treatment ***Diseases: Everyone should know, at least roughly, what is AIDS and how do you get infected, what is diabetes, what is cancer and how does it occur. If you hear someone near you had tuberculosis, you should be aware of that it is contagious.I want to share something I always find very interesting. We are always talking about war, bombings, terrorist attacks and so on. It feels like people are mainly dying from these. In fact, that’s the very small percentage of causes of death. Look at this:Of course those intentional injuries have a large psychologic effect on society because we think they are preventable. However, we can also prevent lots of diseases. (Yes, the chart above also contains old people too and we are going to die somehow but that doesn’t make it less worthy to learn)Alternative Medicines: You may not believe alternative treatment methods. But nowadays, even doctors recommend some of them as well. For example, if you have migraine you very well know that modern medicine science is not able to understand and solve it completely (yet). But you may try acupuncture meanwhile. Or instead of running to the pills cabinet when you snuffle, you may try some herbs. If you are not even aware of these treatment methods, how will you decide to try someday?Foods / Healthy Eating: What do we eat? Where do they come from? What is all the fuss about fast-food? What do we know about the basics of nutrition? What is carbonhydrate, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals? Is being a vegetarian healthy? How do they bring that meat to your table? Which processes do these foods are passed? Do you know where strawberries grow? Is this organic food trend being exaggerated? Why we should limit using salt and added sugar as much as we can? Can you read nutrition facts label?There are lots of documentaries about our food industry. Watch one of them if you haven’t done so far. It will change your perspective. I recommend:Food, Inc. (2008)Sports: We mentioned about the importance of knowing how human body works before. But when it comes to exercising, there are some basic moves everyone should do in daily life. Walking and jogging is great but ever heard about plank, squat and push-ups? I liked this article about these basic exercises.Knowing some fitness terminology can be helpful as well: cardio, biceps, triceps, body mass index, lactic acid, heart rate, warm up and so on.I am pretty sure you know soccer, basketball, tennis but you may also want to check what is pilates, power yoga, martial arts, functional training, zumba.Losing weight is one of the most popular topics nowadays. Combined with nutritional knowledge you will be able to know what you are doing.Lastly, dancing! Be it tango, samba or popping. They are all fun and a great way to keep your body fit and healthy. Not only learning what they are but also trying a few is something you won’t regret.TECHNOLOGYHow stuff works: We are all living in the technology era. We use smartphones, TVs, dishwashers, computers, planes, cars, internet. Of course most of us don’t need to understand how printed circuits work but having a general knowledge about this technology world is essential.This website used to be very popular a decade ago and still worth to check today: HowStuffWorks. But there are lots of great resources to learn the basics today. Make a list like this and start checking from time to time: How internet works? How computers work? Engines, cell phones, printers, white appliances, watch, camera, microphone, electric guitar, GPS, radio, telephone, planes, satellites and whatever you like.Computers / Internet: You always hear a program called Photoshop but do you know what it is? How do you open .zip files? What is a pdf file? You probably heard about Microsoft Excel but you will be surprised to know the things that can be done with Excel. Using computers is inevitable today and you should know at least the basics even though you don’t master any of it.Besides using software, you should also be familiar with some terminology. For example what is a search engine? What is a browser? What is IP? How big is 100 MB and how many MBs a movie occupy on our hard disk? What is hosting and servers, why do we need servers anyway? What is cookie, spam, firewall and CAPTCHA? What is a computer virus and will it get infected if I use my computer when I have the sniffles?!And there are some websites you should be at least visited once. Without knowing what it is, you cannot tell if you will like it. Websites like TED, Duolingo, Khan Academy, World Factbook, IMDB, Groupon, Trello, Skyscanner, Deviantart and many more are really worth to check out.Quora is full of tech/computer geniuses, so I am not going to go into more detail. But I will leave one link here which I think is enough (you will understand why if you visit):Deepak Mehta (दीपक मेहता)'s answer to What are the most productive ways to spend time on the Internet?This is what is happening on the internet every 60 seconds. Mind blowing!DAILY LIFE SKILLSSwimming: Earth is 71% water. You will certainly need it!How to Cook: This is not only for ladies. Cooking is some kind of therapy. It also lets you know and appreciate the meals that come to your table.Dancing: Mentioned this in sports section too. Just give it a try.How to fix a car, change tyre, refill oil: Oh yes, you take your car to the service, but these are still needed.Housework / DIYs: Can you iron? Or use a screwdriver? Paint the wall? You won’t hire someone everytime you need to change the bulb, will you?How to Makeup Correctly (yes, for ladies): I don’t know why I put this here :)Gardening: We all dream of leaving our corporate jobs, moving to a countryside and dealing with gardening, don’t we? Put aside the dreams it is a fact that we need to touch the soil more. It takes your stress and makes you feel more natural and happier. If you have the land by your house, don’t hesitate to get your hands dirty!Sewing: It is just a little button fell of. That should be easy to fix, right?Cleaning: According to very deep and scientific studies (!) 86% of men do not know how to use washing machine. They don’t even know the difference between bleach and detergent. Oh, by the way can I use this liquid to clean the kitchen sink??How to Whistle Loud: This skill is a must! You will need it when you miss that cab or bus. It is also very useful at a match.Tie up / Fastening / String skills: Ok you know how to do up your shoelace. But what about a tie? What if you need to make a strong tie? Can you knot? Not everything is wireless yet, you may need these:Personal Time Management: This is a bit related to that person’s character. Some people are very organized and planned whereas some of them are quite spontaneous. But whatever character trait you have, you will still need a bit time management skills. There are great online tools and mobile apps. Check those if you feel lost sometimes.Basic Security Issues: This may seem too obvious to some of you but there are still lots of people out there who give their credit card password to the person on phone. Banks never ask your password. Regarding passwords, there are some best practices like not using the same password for everywhere, recording them in secured apps and so on.There are also lots of security rules about our cars and houses. Every adult should know the meanings of warning signs on the roads. Balconies are dangerous for your kids and pets. Never leave pills and little pieces at places reachable by little kids. Unplug your electrical device when you leave home or even not using it.Saying: “oohh! I didn’t know that” will not fix the situation later on.Terminology: There are looots of terms being used in many different areas. We cannot know them all and we don’t need them all. But knowing some basics will be helpful, like: lol, wtf, ppc, seo, NATO, GDP, btw, NSFW, asap, ceo, cfo, ps, diy, etc. Check internet abbreviations as well as economics, technology, companies, countries and so on. This is a good and short list I have found:List of Commonly Used AbbreviationsSOFT SKILLSCommunication: Being able to express your ideas in a clear manner. Active listening. Understanding body language. Questioning. Giving a speech in front of an audience. Being polite. Be able to act politically. Controlling your anger. These skills are not easy to learn by reading or watching videos. You will rather practice it as you live.While we discuss, debate, defend our opinion we use some techniques (rhetoric), mostly instinctively. And inevitably most of us fall into logical fallacies sometimes. It is helpful to know this:Communication with Opposite Gender: Check Quora for several types of “I love him/her. How should I approach and tell that I have a crush?”How to Tip Correctly: Restaurant, cafe, bar, car valet, pizza delivery guy or anybody. You don’t need to get stressed at that moment.Making a ReservationKeeping Your Marriage HappyThere are many more soft skills but it will be better to cut it here and put some links:87 Soft Skills (The Big List)Badass Skills: Soft skills are very important and they really define the happiness of a society. However, I am more interested in badass skills (or I don’t know what are they called) For example, being able to bribe! Don’t flame me but I’m pretty sure lots of people here have heard how he got off from traffic police control without getting a fine by crossing a few bucks. Or promoting yourself at a company to get ahead of your colleagues. Or snubbing a bully. I am not praising these skills but life is cruel and someday you may need to switch to dark side, temporarily ;)BIG IDEASOn this last part, I am just going to put some big ideas/theories/subjects/concepts which may be quite interesting to learn about. These are mostly controversial topics and it is really stimulating to listen thoughts of both sides. Here you go:Evolution TheoryGlobalizationDeterminism and Free WillGame TheoryQuantum MechanicsRacismPareto RuleArtificial IntelligenceMachine LearningBig DataGlobal WarmingGlobal TerrorEuthanasiaNuclear EnergyAnimal RightsHomeschoolingCloningEthicsVegetarianismGay MarriageAbortionCivil Unions, Right to StrikeSocialism, Communism, Imperialism, CapitalismDark WebCittaslowDrugs LegalizationSweat ShopsGuns CarriageCrowdfunding3D PrintersTravel to MarsLife After Death (Reincarnation)Phew! It went far too comprehensive than I anticipated in the beginning. But I still tried to keep in my main categories. Most of the images from Google and I especially chose the ones with the references on them. Also I tried to give links to all info I shared here.Hope this helps!