Do The Work On Separate Sheets Of Paper Or In Your Notebook: Fill & Download for Free

An Excerpt fromThe Heart of a Teacher,by Paula FoxHe was in the first third grade class I taught at Saint Mary's School in Morris, Minnesota. All 34 of my students were dear to me, but Mark Eklund was one in a million. Very neat in appearance, he had that happy-to-be-alive attitude that made even his occasional mischievousness delightful.Mark talked incessantly. I had to remind him again and again that talking without permission was not acceptable. What impressed me so much, though, was his sincere response every time I had to correct him for misbehaving. "Thank you for correcting me, Sister!" I didn't know what to make of it at first, but before long I became accustomed to hearing it many times a day.One morning my patience was growing thin when Mark talked once too often, and then I made a novice teacher's mistake. I looked at Mark and said, "If you say one more word, I am going to tape your mouth shut!" It wasn't ten seconds later when Chuck blurted out, "Mark is talking again." I hadn't asked any of the students to help me watch Mark, but since I had stated the punishment in front of the class, I had to act on it. I remember the scene as if it had occurred this morning. I walked to my desk, very deliberately opened my drawer and took out a roll of masking tape. Without saying a word, I proceeded to Mark's desk, tore off two pieces of tape and made a big X with them over his mouth. I then returned to the front of the room. As I glanced at Mark to see how he was doing, he winked at me. That did it! I started laughing. The class cheered as I walked back to Mark's desk, removed the tape, and shrugged my shoulders. His first words were, "Thank you for correcting me, Sister."At the end of the year, I was asked to teach junior-high math. The years flew by, and before I knew it Mark was in my classroom again. He was more handsome than ever and just as polite. Since he had to listen carefully to my instruction in the "new math," he did not talk as much in ninth grade as he had in third. One Friday, things just didn't feel right. We had worked hard on a new concept all week, and I sensed that the students were frowning, frustrated with themselves and edgy with one another. I had to stop this crankiness before it got out of hand. So I asked them to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then I told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down. It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed me the papers. Charlie smiled. Mark said, "Thank you for teaching me, Sister. Have a good weekend." That Saturday, I wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and I listed what everyone else had said about that individual.On Monday I gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. "Really?" I heard whispered. "I never knew that meant anything to anyone! I didn't know others liked me so much." No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. I never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another again.That group of students moved on. Several years later, after I returned from vacation, my parents met me at the airport. As we were driving home, Mother asked me the usual questions about the trip, the weather, my experiences in general. There was a lull in the conversation. Mother gave Dad a sideways glance and simply said, "Dad?" My father cleared his throat as he usually did before something important. "The Eklunds called last night," he began. "Really?" I said. "I haven't heard from them in years. I wonder how Mark is." Dad responded quietly. "Mark was killed in Vietnam," he said. "The funeral is tomorrow, and his parents would like it if you could attend." To this day I can still point to the exact spot on I-494 where Dad told me about Mark.I had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. Mark looked so handsome, so mature. All I could think at that moment was, "Mark, I would give all the masking tape in the world if only you would talk to me." The church was packed with Mark's friends. Chuck's sister sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Why did it have to rain on the day of the funeral? It was difficult enough at the graveside. The pastor said the usual prayers, and the bugler played taps. One by one those who loved Mark took a last walk by the coffin and sprinkled it with holy water. I was the last one to bless the coffin. As I stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to me. "Were you Mark's math teacher?" he asked. I nodded as I continued to stare at the coffin. "Mark talked about you a lot," he said.After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates headed to Chuck's farmhouse for lunch. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting for me. "We want to show you something," his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket. "They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it." Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. I knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which I had listed all the good things each of Mark's classmates had said about him. "Thank you so much for doing that," Mark's mother said. "As you can see, Mark treasured it." Mark's classmates started to gather around us. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still have my list. I keep it in the top drawer of my desk at home." Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album." "I have mine too," Marilyn said. "It's in my diary." Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. "I carry this with me at all times," Vicki said without batting an eyelash. "I think we all saved our lists." That's when I finally sat down and cried. I cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again.The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don't know when that one day will be. So please, tell the people you love and care for that they are special and important. Tell them, before it is too late.

Rule #1: Always have a plan.(a) As the semester progresses, keep track of key dates: tests and exams, project submission deadlines, term breaks, etc.Enter these dates into a physical or digital calendar.If you choose to use a physical calendar, I recommend that you get a management diary. This will allow you to see the week’s events at a glance. The inside of the diary should look like this:If you choose to use a digital calendar, I recommend Google Calendar.(b) Schedule a fixed time every Sunday where you review your upcoming events over the next two months. Mark down when you’ll start preparing for that Math exam, working on that History project, or writing that English paper.(c) For each item or milestone, write down the associated key tasks. Do this on a separate sheet of paper. Create a rough timeline for when you’ll complete each of the tasks.(d) Next, note your commitments for the coming week, e.g. extracurricular activities, family gatherings, extra classes. On your calendar, highlight the blocks of time you’ll have for schoolwork.(e) Write down the tasks you’ll focus on during each block of time. This plan will evolve as the week goes by, but it will at least give you a framework to refer to.This planning process might sound time-consuming, but it’ll typically take just 15 minutes every Sunday. This is a wise investment of time, because the rest of your week will become far more productive.Rule #2: Be organized.Ever had trouble finding your notes or assignments when you needed them? You probably ended up wasting precious time looking for them, before you finally asked to borrow them from your friend.Many students tell me that they keep all their notes and assignments in one big pile, and only sort it out before their exams!Being organized – it’s easier said than done, I know.So here are just two key areas to focus on:1. Filing(a) Get an accordion folder that looks like this:Bring this folder to school every day.(b) Assign one section in the folder to each of your subjects. In addition, reserve the section at the front of the folder for your incomplete homework across all subjects. Label each section, e.g. Math, Physics, English, Incomplete Homework (All Subjects).(c) Every day, place your “incoming” notes and assignments in the correct section, as you receive them. There’s no need to create sub-categories for each subject.For example, place all your Physics notes and graded tests/assignments/lab reports in the “Physics” section of the folder. Don’t bother creating sub-categories like “Physics – Notes,” “Physics – Lab Reports,” etc.(d) Keep one large binder for each subject. The binder would look something like this:Leave these binders at home.(e) Use dividers to create sections within each binder, e.g. “Physics – Notes,” “Physics – Lab Reports.”(f) Every Friday when you get home from school, file your notes and assignments (from the accordion folder) in their respective binder.This is a simple system that takes 15 minutes a week to implement, but it’ll save you many hours in the long run.2. Homework(Thanks to Cal Newport for this one. I started using the system described below years ago; it’s roughly based on his system.)(a) Keep a homework list. Whenever your teacher assigns a new homework set, add it to your list. You can use a notebook for this purpose, or you can use an app on your phone. (I recommend the GNotes app, but any note-taking app will do.)Next to each item on your homework list, write the due date in parentheses. For example, your homework list for a typical Wednesday might look like this:Jan 14th, Wednesday– Math Chapter 2 assignment (due: Jan 20th)– Physics Chapter 4 assignment (due: Jan 18th)(b) Every day when you get home from school, refer to your homework list. At the same time, open your calendar. Look for blocks of time in your calendar where you’ll be able to complete each item on your homework list. Prioritize the items that have the most urgent deadline.For example, looking at your calendar, you might notice that you have time on Jan 14th from 4 to 6pm to finish your Physics Chapter 4 assignment. Convert that item on your homework list into an appointment in your calendar.Referring to your calendar once again, you might see that you have time on Jan 15th from 8 to 9pm to complete your Math Chapter 2 assignment. Once more, convert that item on your homework list into an appointment in your calendar.At this point, you might ask…“What happens if a homework assignment takes longer than expected, and I can’t complete it during the ‘appointment’ slot?”That’s a good question; the answer is in the next paragraph.(c) At the end of each day, look at your calendar to see if there are any assignments (which have already been converted into appointments) that you’d planned to finish, but weren’t able to. Add those appointments to another day that’s well before the due date.For instance, let’s say you couldn’t finish your Math Chapter 2 assignment on Jan 15th from 8 to 9pm, because you got stuck on one of the questions. You estimate that you’ll need another 30 minutes to finish the assignment.So, at the end of Jan 15th, you refer to your calendar. You notice that you have an available slot on Jan 17th from 4:30 to 5pm. So, in that slot, create an appointment, “Math Chapter 2 assignment.”And that’s how the system works. I know it seems complicated, but it really isn’t. Try it out for a couple of weeks and you’ll get the hang of it.Rule #3: Take care of your physical health.Most of the students I work with complain that they’re constantly tired and sleep deprived.They can’t focus in class. They daydream. They lack energy and enthusiasm. They frequently fall sick.Is it possible to be a straight-A student when you’re in this kind of physical state?Yes… but it’s unlikely.Physical health is the foundation of academic excellence. To be a straight-A student, you don’t need to have the physique of an Olympic-level athlete. But you do need to take excellent care of your body.Work on these three areas, and you’ll become a better learner:1. SleepEight hours of sleep a night is ideal; some people need nine.If you’re sleeping four, five or six hours a night, you won’t be able to suddenly increase it to eight or more. The jump is too big, and you probably feel like you have too much to do during the day as it is.So I recommend that you gradually bring forward your bedtime. 10 minutes earlier this week, 20 minutes earlier next week, 30 minutes earlier the week after, and so on, until you get to your target bedtime.To remind yourself to go to bed on time, set an alarm. When the alarm goes off, start your bedtime routine.But it’s not just about how much you sleep. How well you sleep matters too.To improve your sleep quality, get the Twilight app for your Android phone. For your computer and jailbroken iPhone, install f.lux. (Unfortunately, if you have a non-jailbroken iPhone, there doesn’t seem to be a substitute app at the moment.) My own sleep quality has improved dramatically since I started using these two apps.Next, make your bedroom as dark as possible at night. Put up blackout curtains, and remove all light sources.Turn off all electronic devices in your bedroom before you go to sleep. If, for whatever reason, you need to leave your phone on, turn it to airplane mode. This way, you’ll minimize the cell phone radiation you’re exposed to, and you’ll sleep better.And just in case you need further convincing that sleep is crucial if you want to become a straight-A student, read this study.2. FoodIt’s the usual advice:Eat regular meals.Drink 8 to 10 glasses of water a day.Don’t overeat more than once a week.Restrict your intake of processed foods.Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.Don’t drink sugary drinks.Do these things and you’ll feel more alert throughout the day. It’s hard to become a straight-A student if you’re always feeling lethargic!3. ExerciseYou’ve heard it before: Exercise at least three times a week, for at least 30 to 45 minutes each time.Exercise enhances your memory and thinking skills, as proven by research. So make exercise a priority, and you’ll get better grades.Rule #4: Don’t cram. Instead, use a periodic review system.People are usually surprised to hear that I’ve never pulled an all-nighter before. As the research shows, cramming is a bad idea.The more effective approach?Periodic review.If you periodically review the new information you learn, you’ll move that information from your short-term to your long-term memory. This way, you won’t forget important facts or equationscome exam time.The end result: Less stress and anxiety, and more A’s.After much experimentation, I’ve found that the optimal review intervals for most students are as follows:1 day after learning the new information3 days after the first review7 days after the second review21 days after the third review30 days after the fourth review45 days after the fifth review60 days after the sixth reviewBy the end of this cycle, the information is almost permanently stored in your long-term memory.Note that each review is just a review of the key facts and equations, not a full review of the topic. As such, each review only takes 10 to 15 minutes to complete.Here’s how to put this periodic review system into practice.(a) Let’s assume that today is Jan 14th, and your teacher has just finished teaching Biology Chapter 3. Referring to the optimal review intervals listed above, you should do the first review one day after learning the new information. So take out your calendar and go to Jan 15th.(b) Create an appointment, “Review Biology Chapter 3,” for Jan 15th during an available slot.(c) Referring to the optimal review intervals once more, you should do the second review three days after the first review (which you did on Jan 15th). This would bring you to Jan 18th, so flip to that date in your calendar. Create an appointment, “Review Biology Chapter 3,” for Jan 18th during an available slot.(d) You should do the third review on Jan 25th (7 days after Jan 18th), the fourth review on Feb 15th (21 days after Jan 25th), and so on.(e) Now all you need to do is fulfill the “appointment” when it comes around.This system will save you dozens of hours by maximizing your studying efficiency.Rule #5: Form a homework group.Here’s why I recommend this.You’ll run into difficulties while doing your homework, so it’s good to have friends around whom you can turn to for help. Even if they can’t solve the problem, you can bounce ideas off them. This process can be motivating and fun.But if you do your homework alone, you’ll become discouraged more easily when you can’t solve a problem.Your homework group should consist of three to four people, including you. More people than that and it’ll be distracting.If possible, find people to join your homework group who are better than you at that specific subject. More importantly, ensure that the people in your homework group actually want to get together to do homework – not chat!When it comes to studying, however, you may or may not be better off doing it in a group. Some students enjoy studying with friends, because there’s a healthy pressure to stay focused. But other students concentrate better when they study alone.So run your own experiment and decide what works best for you.Rule #6: Set up a distraction-free study area.Here are some practical things you can do to make your study session as fruitful as possible:Install and activate the Freedom or Anti-Social app on your computer.Turn off your phone, and put it at least 10 feet away from your study area.Keep a clutter-free study area.Work in 30- to 45-minute blocks. Time your study sessions to help you stay focused.Give yourself a small reward every time you complete a study session, e.g. eat a fruit, watch a YouTube video, go for a short walk.If you plan to study at home, let your family members know when you’ll be studying so that they won’t interrupt you.On a related note, don’t multitask. You might think that you’re able to watch TV, write an essay, check your Twitter feed, and solve a Math problem – at the same time.But research shows that multitasking isn’t productive, and may even damage your brain. So focus on one thing at a time, and you’ll be that much closer to becoming a straight-A student.Rule #7: Clarify your doubts immediately.Many students wait until a week before the exam to clarify their doubts. This leads to panic and anxiety, a combination that doesn’t result in optimal exam performance.The alternative is simple: Ask questions. Lots of them.If you don’t understand a concept, ask your teacher to explain it again. If you feel shy about raising your hand during class, then approach your teacher after class.Yes, if you do this consistently, your classmates might label you a “teacher’s pet” or a “brown noser.” There’s always a price to pay when you pursue excellence. Accept this fact and move on.If you’re studying and you realize that you have many questions about a topic, write down all your questions on a sheet of paper. You might be tempted to text your friends or your teacher to get those questions answered right away, but I don’t recommend that you do this.It’s hard to explain things via text message, so you’ll end up wasting a lot of time. The more effective approach is to batch your questions and talk to your teacher in person, as soon as you have a chance to.On a related note, go to class every single day.Yes, your teachers might be boring. Yes, they might tell lame jokes. Yes, they might speak in a monotone.But nonetheless, they’ll highlight the important areas to focus on, which will save you time and effort down the line. Furthermore, you’ll probably find it easier to make sense of your teachers’ explanation, than to figure things out on your own.That’s why borrowing your classmate’s notes isn’t a substitute for attending class.I’m proud to say that throughout my 17 years of formal education, I only ever skipped one class.(That class was a review session on a topic that I’d already studied several times.)Another point to note: If you get to choose where to sit during class, grab a seat at the front.Research shows that students who sit closer to the front get better grades.

We still know next to nothing about it.Our universe is freakishly large, strange beyond comprehension, mysteries that it is infuriating. And it’s as old as time itself. 13.8 billion years old, and still relentlessly expanding by the second.We, modern humans, on the other hand, have only been around for some thousand years - a tiny fraction of the age of the mighty universe.To visualize just how tiny that is, Imagine the entire history of the universe squeezed into one year. With the Big Bang marking the very beginning of that year - January 1st at 12:00 a.m., and the present moment representing the last second of it.With that, it wouldn’t be until the last day of the year, in the last 10 minutes that Homo sapiens emerged. More precisely, December 31st at 11:52 p.m. And just 4 seconds ago - at 11:59:56 p.m., Christ was born!The entirety of human history is but a few seconds on the cosmic calendar.(Credit goes to the brilliant Carl Sagan for this wonderful visualization of the universe and its history).It would be least surprising, then, that we still know next to nothing about the universe. We are as ignorant about it, as insignificant, unimportant, and blind, as an ant is towards the Earth. I’d say we’re considerably more so.Embarrassing? Maybe. Humbling? You bet. Exciting? Absolutely.Why? Because it means that we still have so much more to discover than we already have. Our journey has just begun. And this realization satisfies any curious mind.I vehemently believe that this is the most interesting fact of all - having more knowledge ahead of us than we’ve already accumulated. It also helps us realize our place in the universe. Which is why I decided to start my answer with it.Wormholes are shortcuts in the fabric of space-time.Without getting too deep in the physics and math behind it, the following example will give you a general understanding of this interesting phenomenon known as wormholes.Consider a sheet of paper, kinda like the one below. On it, two dots are drawn. They’re marked A and B. What would be the shortest route between these two points?Intuitively, one might answer “a straight line”. And while this is clearly the right answer in two dimensional space, we can yet find a shorter and way more efficient route by utilizing a higher dimension. In the case of our example, by folding this piece of paper as demonstrated here.This, in a nutshell, is what wormholes are. They’re secret passages in the universe that connect two points by manipulating the fabric of space-time. Which means, not only do they allow you, theoretically, to travel between galaxies in a “practically superluminal speed”, but they can also send you to a different point in time, accomplishing time travel.But what is space-time in the first place? It’s simply a spider-like web that permeates the whole universe. Thanks to Einstein’s brilliant work on special and general relativity, this new picture for the universe that challenged Newtonian physics, greatly enhanced our understanding of gravity.The Earth, for example, warps this four-dimensional web to a certain degree, as shown below. And this curvature in spacetime is what causes gravity, and keeps the moon in orbit.The same applies to other planets, stars, and basically everything in the universe that has mass.Blackholes, being extremely dense objects, can bend spacetime so strongly that everything falls in their gravitational field. Even light can’t escape their attraction force.But wormholes take that even further. They tear the fabric of spacetime, creating a tunnel between two places in the universe. Here’s a simplified visualization of a wormhole.Now here’s the problem with wormholes. If they do actually exist, they’re most likely to be subatomic. Not to mention, the inside of a wormhole is dangerously volatile and unstable. Building one that is big enough, and stable enough for humans to travel through is extremely difficult. It requires a special ingredient called negative energy.You might remember from the 2014 wonderful movie Interstellar by Christopher Nolan when Cooper flew into a wormhole and travelled to another galaxy far away in a matter of minutes.Today, we still don’t have enough knowledge or the technology necessary to make this dream a reality. But who knows, perhaps one day we will.Right after the Big Bang, the universe doubled in size many times over in less than a nonillionth of a second.Everything in the universe, as hard to imagine as this must be, was once inside a single point. All the matter and energy of 200 billion galaxies, 93 billion light-years across. All was inside an infinitely hot, infinitely dense point.Beyond that point, there was nothing. But unlike the conventional nothing we use in our daily language, this meant no empty space, no time. Literally NO-THING, with every sense of the word.Then for reasons yet to be known, this singularity point, as referred to by physicists, exploded. And the universe bursted into existence with what we now call The Big Bang. It’s the most important event in the evolution of our universe. But what came after The Big Bang is even more difficult to comprehend.Right after the burst, inflation took off. And the universe doubled in size 90 times during the first 10^(-34) seconds of its life. That is a hundredth of a billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second!This is a ridiculously tiny fraction of time. It is impossibly difficult to imagine the speed by which the universe expanded following the Big Bang. But how about the scale of that expansion? It was just 90 folds after all - that’s a fairy small number, isn’t it?Well, Remember that sheet of paper we used earlier to demonstrate wormholes? Let’s borrow it back, and fold it completely this time.Now, the average thicknesses of a paper is 0.1 millimeters. So, by folding it just once, it’ll appear 0.2 millimeters in thickness. Not that big of a difference, is it? But wait until you see the magic of exponential growth.If you fold that paper only seven times, it’ll be as thick as a notebook with 128 pages. That’s simple math, (2 > 4 > 8 > 16 > 32 > 64 > 128).Now, put the paper on the ground and fold it a total of 23 times. You’ll have to look way up now as it gets 1 km high - that’s higher than Burj Khalifa.With the 42nd fold, you will reach the moon!51 folds, and the paper is burning now as it touches the sun!81 folds in total will get this piece of paper so thick, it can barely fit inside the Andromeda Galaxy!And finally, 91 folds. Where would that lead us? Take a deep breath and see for yourself.This is the Virgo Supercluster. It’s 110 million light-years across. And it contains more than 100 galaxy groups and clusters. One of those groups is called the Local Galactic Group, which in turn includes The Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy, plus a fifty or so other galaxies.Our sheet of paper is actually thicker now. It’s 130.8 million light-years wide.Imagine going from less that a millimeter in thickness to 130.8 million light-years in just a hundredth of a billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second!This is ABSOLUTELY F€£@ INSANE! The universe is insane. I swear if not for my trust in science and math, I would’ve never believed this.Deep in our universe is an ocean of nothingness - a desert called The Big Void.700 million light-years from Earth is a region of space that was once believed to be completely empty of any matter. No stars, no planets, no dust, nothing. Not a single galaxy was observed in it. It’s called the Big Void, or Boötes void. And it’s the largest void ever discovered in the universe, hence the name.(Visualization of Boötes void)The diameter of the big void is a staggering 330 million light-years! This immense sphere of near-nothingness is so huge that it actually counts for 0.27% the diameter of the entire observable universe! THIS IS TERRIFYING! A quarter percent of the entire universe is a total mystery to us. It’s dark, mostly empty and exceedingly cold. The big void is, without a doubt, the creepiest, and most bizarre place in space.It wasn’t until the year 1990 that scientists discovered the first galaxy in Boötes Void. Today, astronomers estimate that there are around 60 galaxies in the big void. While 60 is obviously not nothing, it’s still baffling to scientists how such a huge area of space contains so little matter.Our universe would have to be much older for it to allow the existence of such a massive void. Taking the uniform distribution of matter in consideration, an area of this vastness should house somewhere around 10,000 galaxies instead of just 60.To put these numbers in some kind of perspective, consider this.Here’s our beautiful galaxy - our home, The Milky Way.The Milky Way galaxy is 100,000 light-years across. In plain English, it only takes light 1.3 seconds from Earth to reach the moon. But to cross through our galaxy, end to end, it’ll keep going at a whopping speed of 299,792 kilometers per second for 100,000 years!Now, get ready to be petrified. Take, not a hundred, or a thousand, but 3,300 Milky Ways and stack them next to each other. Can you picture this in your head? Now realize this: ALL 3,300 Milky Ways would fit in the diameter of the great void!Keep in mind that we’re talking about the diameter here…..we’re only considering two dimensions in a sphere.I tried to resist it. I really did, but couldn’t. I couldn’t stop myself from getting all philosophical and deep and shit.Imagine the loneliness of those 60 galaxies. Each floating millions of light-years away from its closest neighbor in this ocean of nothingness. Imagine the sheer extent of the emptiness surrounding each one of those island universes, engulfing their perception of reality.And what if an alien civilization actually lives there now, on one of the billions of planets in the void? What if they were trying to reach beyond their home galaxy, explore the universe, only to be confronted with a seemingly infinite blackness?Based on years of research, astronomers have concluded that if the Milky Way had been in the center of the Boötes void, we wouldn't have known that other galaxies even existed until the 1960s.In 1924, Edwin Hubble published his findings after years of peeking through the telescope into the dark sky. His work showed us that our galaxy was but one among many many others. We were not alone after all. Our views of the universe were completely, irreversibly, and forever changed.Now, suppose there was another Edwin Hubble on some planet in a galaxy centering the big void. He’s looking up at the sky searching for stars beyond the boundaries of that galaxy, and finding none. Nothing but complete and endless darkness is seen out there. He, and the entire alien civilization on that planet, would be deluded into thinking that not only is their galaxy the center of the universe, but the universe itself.These poor aliens would attach more pride to themselves than we do. But how mistaken they would be!How mistaken might we be? We’ve always craved importance, and continuously refused to believe that we were not the center of the universe. But thanks to technology and scientific thinking, we are constantly proven wrong. But what if our current technology, marvelous as we find it, is to be found guilty providing us incomplete or false signals about the universe and our place in it?This must be one of the most humbling thoughts one can entertain. And It makes you wonder whether we actually know anything for real.Alien civilizations may be trying to reach us. But it’s probably for the best of humanity that they never make it.In September and August 1977, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, respectively, were launched by NASA to explore the Solar System. Each of the two spacecrafts carried The Voyager Gold Record. On which messages from us were stored and are now available to whomever and whatever is out there in wide space. This gold record, we hope, will last for billions of years.The record includes 115 pictures of Earth, people, animals, plants and different landscapes from our beautiful planet. Along with a number of symphonies composed by Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. Greetings in 55 languages, too. As well as a message by the former U.S. President Jimmy Carter that reads:“ This is a present from a small, distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours “.The Voyager Golden Record is one of the most beautiful, ambitious and romantic things that we’ve ever created. And at this very moment, it’s floating somewhere outside our solar system, wandering in interstellar space.The voyager program was not our only attempt to communicate with extraterrestrial life. For decades, we’ve been bombarding space with radio signals and hoping to receive a reply from “others”. But is it actually a good idea to make contact with aliens, and drag them to our little pale blue dot? Some scientists argue not.Stephen Hawking was very vocal about the dangers of bringing attention to Earth. Aliens may not share our enthusiasm towards making contact with species from a different world. Even more troubling, what if they were more advanced, way more advanced than we are, that they deem us unworthy of living. We might not be able to even defend ourselves should they decide to wipe us out.According to the Kardashev scale, civilizations in the universe can be categorized based on the amount of energy they have access to, and are capable of making use of. This scale recognizes three major types of civilizations.Type I, Planetary Civilization - capable of using all the energy made available on their planet.Type II, Stellar Civilization - advanced enough to actually harness the entire power of their star.Type III, Galactic Civilization - exceedingly advanced that they can utilize all the energy available in the galaxy.But where do humans rank on that list?Well, we’re not even on it, yet. Currently, we are a type 0 civilization - barely capable of employing the energy available on our planet, and what’s falling on us from the sun.You think these wind mills and giant solar plants are cool?Then, Check this out.The is the Dyson Structure. It was popularized by theoretical physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson. This horrifying megastructure would encapsulate an entire star, thousands of times the size of our sun, in order to take in and store all its energy. And then transmit it to a planet colonized by a type II civilization.This is what a stellar civilization would have to show for in the event of an intergalactic contact. Imagine what a type III galactic civilization would be able to pull off.In case of star wars, a galactic war, or a cosmic war, Earthlings, aka humans, would be simply pathetic. We won’t even have a chance to make a stand. The only flag we might be able to raise in the war is likely to be the white flag. So, perhaps we ought to just shut up for now, and remain low for a little longer.From atoms, all the way to the biggest stars in the universe, nothingness is most common.This is the atom. It’s the building block of everything in the universe, from the smallest molecules, to the largest stars. The chair next to you, your phone, your own body. EVERYTHING in the universe is but atoms combined together.In the center of the atom we find the nucleus, which, in turn, is made up of protons and neutrons. Going around the nucleus - well, not actually going around it, but let’s not get too technical - is the electron.While this simplified and wildly-used illustration of the atom provides a general picture of how it’s structured, it’s far from accurate.See that empty space between the nucleus and the electrons? In reality, this vacancy of space counts for around 99.9999999% the size of the atom! This is ridiculous. Atoms are almost entirely empty. In other words, all the stuff in the universe is mostly non-stuff.To realize just how absurd that is, suppose the nucleus was the size of, say, your iPhone’s home screen button - shy of 1 cm in diameter. The atom will then have a diameter of 1 km! Which means that you could walk 500 meters in any direction and 99.999999% of what you see would be empty space.(These numbers may vary from atom to atom, depending on the size of their nuclei and the number of electrons).Forget numbers. Let’s talk real, actual, big objects - things we can see with our naked eyes.Here’s the Empire State Building. 443 meters high, 102 stories and 365,000 tons of stuff.Now, If we were to get rid of all the empty space from every single atom making up this tower, this is what it would come down to.Yes, the entire Empire State Building without its empty space is a mere grain of rice, but still weighing the exact same 350,000 tons!You know when someone tells you “I feel empty”. Well, they’re actually literally right. In fact, we all are, in some sense. We’re all mostly empty. Yes, sometimes figuratively, but always literally.Imagine we take out all the empty space in all of the atoms inside every cell in our bodies, the entire population of the Earth would then fit inside an apple!Just one apple, with 7.5 billion people in it.Our universe is vast beyond imagination. But it might also turn out to be too small and beat all expectations.Dark energy - the mystery we don’t understand yet. And dark matter, which is equally puzzling.It was the year 1929. As the global economy started to collapse, and the world was falling into the great depression, Edwin Hubble chose a different direction. He kept on looking up at the sky to interrogate the darkness. What he observed that year while peeking into what’s beyond the Milky Way came as complete surprise to him, and to the entire scientific community.Dr. Hubble noticed that the farther a galaxy is from Earth, the faster it seemed to be moving away. Concluding that the universe was expanding in an accelerated speed. This was against everything astronomers had thought about the evolution of the cosmos.Once again, Edwin Hubble revolutionized our understanding of the universe. This time paving the way for the Big Bang Theory. Which is mainly built upon the notion of an accelerated rate of expansion.Prior to Hubble’s observations, gravity had been thought to be slowing down the pace of the universe’s expansion. But it turned out there was an even stronger force pushing galaxies away from each other. A repulsive force that later came to be known as Dark Energy. And it makes up 68% of the entire universe!Another strange observation that astronomers have made while studying galaxy formation is the way they spin. According to Newton’s universal law of gravity, stars at the edge of a galaxy have to move more slowly than the ones closer to the center. But what scientists have found showed none of that. Far-away stars moved at the same speed as the ones close to the center.This challenged the fundamental laws of physics - namely Newtonian gravity, and Einstein’s theory of relativity.The only logical explanation for such movement is that galaxies have more mass than we can actually see, much much more. Extra invisible mass that binds a galaxy together. And this is what came to be known as Dark Matter.Dark matter doesn’t emit or reflect light. And this is were it draws the name from. We can’t actually see it. But still, its attraction force affects entire galaxies. The only method by which we were able prove the existence of this mysterious matter was through gravitational lensing.Now here’s the disturbing part. Combined, dark energy and dark matter account for more than 95% of the energy-mass content of the universe! And everything else - all the stars that shine, the planets going around them, moons, comets, and basically everything we can actually see, make up less than 5% of what is really there in the universe.Again, I tried to stop myself from getting all philosophical and deep, and just focus on pure facts, but I couldn’t. If 95% of the cosmos is a complete mystery to us. And of that remaining 5%, around 99.99999% is empty space, then where the hell is everything? More than that, what IS everything?I mean, seriously, is this a joke? Or is it some kind of a scam? Is our universe just a facade, after all? Or is it simply a universe on budget - with most of it merely empty space, and the rest is hidden from us?The universe will eventually die; collapse on itself, or tear apart. And then return to nothingness.Nothing lasts forever. Not even the universe. It’s destined to end one day, but we’re still not sure how or when. It’s perhaps the last mystery we’ll ever be able to solve.There’s a general consensus in the scientific community about the origins of our universe. It all started some 13.8 billion years ago with the Big Bang. The ultimate fate of our universe, however, remains a topic that’s been dividing scientists to this day.The reason behind this uncertainty is the tremendous amount of calculations required to project the end of the cosmos. And the array of variables we’ll need to consider, most of which we have elementary knowledge about. Dark matter, dark energy, negative energy, quantum gravity, blackholes, the universe’s shape, and the second law of thermodynamics. They’re all players in the same End Game.Many theories have been developed over the years to predict the fate of the universe. But for the sake of simplicity, I’ll mention the two most famous ones. These two scenarios are fundamentally opposing to each othe - The Big Crunch, and The Big Rip.The Big Crunch theory states that even though our universe is expanding in an accelerating speed, thanks to dark energy, gravity will eventually prevail and bring the universe back on itself.Supported mainly by quantum mechanics, it is thought that in the unforeseeable future, the expansion of our universe will start slowing down, and then come to a hault. Consequently, gravity will take the upper hand as the controlling force in the cosmos.Galaxies will reverse in their motion, and begin to get closer to each other as the space between them shrinks. Stars will grow in density. And everything will turn into a blackhole as they dominate the universe.It’s somewhat like going back in time to the moment of creation, i.e., The Big Bang, only with increasing entropy. At the end, all will fall in an infinitely dense hole.This unimaginably dense point would be the absolute spitting image of the universe 13.8 billion years ago - a singularity point. Such projection also gave rise to what’s become known as The Big Bounce Theory. It suggests that immediately after the universe collapses on itself, it’ll explode again, giving birth to a new universe.In other words, The Big Crunch of our universe might be The Big Bang of the next one.How the Big Crunch Theory WorksConversely, The Big Rip Theory predicts that the expansion of our universe will only increase over time. Dark energy will keep pushing galaxies away from each other, creating more empty space between them. But in the very-far future, this will have devastating consequences.As galaxies separate from each other, and fly farther away, it would be theoretically impossible for any intelligent species to observe what’s beyond their home galaxy. Planets will drift away from their orbits, and start wandering aimlessly in the dark skies. As a consequence, all living beings on those planets will freeze to death.Even atoms will be broken down. Subatomic particles will dissipate. And the very fabric of spacetime, which is the essence of our universe, will rip apart. All until nothing is there in sight.Eventually, everything will cease to exist. Time and space will lose their meaning. And the ultimate truth will then unfold. The universe will die in cold.New model of cosmic stickiness favors 'Big Rip' demise of universeWhether it’s a big rip, big crunch, big freeze, heat death, or false vacuum, the universe is vanishing. It may be five billion years from now as some cosmologists project, or it could take as long as a hundred billion years.All in all, the last tick on the cosmic clock is coming. And only then, will it finally be declared, once and for all - the time of death for the universe as a whole.This, I think, is now my longest answer here on Quora. And it’s the one I enjoyed the most. Honestly, I wanted to keep going, but the answer just got too long as it is.I love writing. And I especially love writing about the universe. So, I’ve decided to add one more fact. And I kept it for last because it is maybe the most inspiring one. Oh, and I thought I’d have some fun with it.Please read the first word of fact #1, followed by the second word of fact #2, then the third word of….You know where this is going. And finish with the eighth word of fact #8.Enjoy.FootnotesCosmic Calendar - WikipediaWhat If The Universe Was Just 365 Days Old?Boötes void - WikipediaVoyager Golden Record - Wikipedia