Welcome to Thursday Things! This week we investigate a far out murder that hasn’t happened yet, clear our minds by clearing out space, and watch the heavens explode.
If you enjoy this edition, please click the heart icon in the header or at the end of the post to let me know.
I have an alibi. Photo by Brian McGowan on Unsplash
CSI … in space!
Outer space — a place of infinite mystery, wonder, and opportunity. Though we have sent our machines far beyond the limits of the solar system, human beings have yet to venture beyond Earth orbit on a sustained basis. Yes, we’ve strolled around on the moon. But we’ve only been there a few times. And only briefly.
Yet someday humanity will build permanent settlements on the moon and go Mars and beyond. We will mine the asteroids for precious minerals, develop medicines and materials that can only be manufactured in the low gravity environment of space. We will probe the secrets of the sun, the comets, and the outer planets.
And we will probably commit murder.
For all that optimism — and I’m very much a space colonization enthusiast — I can’t argue with the resigned pragmatism of the guy featured in this article.
Are humans going to commit crimes in space? Of course we are!
Space CSI investigates murder in microgravity
ATLANTA — There has never been a homicide in space. But Detective Zack Kowalske is conducting research to investigate the first murder in microgravity, not if — but when — it occurs.
"Where humanity goes, so too will human behavior," said Kowalske, a crime scene investigator (CSI) for the police department in Roswell, Georgia, a suburb north of Atlanta. "So, being able to understand how to best reconstruct those criminal acts is really important."
He’s not wrong. The first murder in space is only a matter of time. So it’s good that someone is thinking ahead about how to solve that future crime.
On Earth, CSIs examine blood spatter to determine an attacker’s position in relation to a victim. But Kowalske became curious about how those calculations would change if gravity were removed from the equation.
So Kowalske worked with researchers “to examine spatter patterns created in microgravity.” They carried out their experiments by spraying fake blood around in a plane doing steep dives to briefly simulate the weightlessness in space. Sounds fun!
I assume it was like this. But for Science!
And what did they learn?
Without gravity’s downward pull, Kowalske and his colleagues knew the simulated blood would follow a straight trajectory. But when it struck the targets, the researchers were surprised to find much smaller spatter patterns than what they would see in normal gravity conditions.
In space, no one can hear you bleed.
Clear your closets, clear your mind
First, let’s be clear — it’s not hoarding if it’s books!
With that out of the way, everyone who isn’t Marie Kondo gradually accumulates far more “stuff” than necessary in our houses, apartments, or, er, condos.1 The clutter can be annoying, awkward to deal with, perhaps even dangerous.2
But aside from the physical inconveniences, and potential dangers, of too much stuff, clutter can damage your mind:
Decluttering Your Life Can Save Your Mental Health
The relationship between clutter and mental health is simple. When clutter is winning, mental health is losing.
In that case, I’d say at my house the conflict is in a prolonged stalemate. Much like trench warfare during World War 1.
Eliminating clutter will improve your mental health.
Good to know. Tell me more.
The consequences of clutter on your mental health are many and significant.
It impairs memory, leads to poor eating habits, and decreases impulse control. Clutter increases the risk for developing mood disorders and interferes with concentration and decision-making. It also stunts creativity, lessens your productivity, and saps your energy.
Think of the time you spend looking for lost items, or buying new ones because searching through the clutter is overwhelming. It robs you of five percent of your time. What is five percent of your income? That’s what your clutter is costing you.
Five percent! That’s almost as much as the sales tax around here!
But it gets worse:
Clutter makes communication difficult and can even damage or destroy relationships. When an environment is highly cluttered, people are distracted by random visual stimuli in the room, interfering with reading the expressions and emotions of the people in the chaotic environment.
Research published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology studied the factors that detract from and contribute to the psychological home. Author Catherine Roster, a professor at the University of New Mexico’s Anderson School of Management, found that possession clutter has a profoundly negative impact on a sense of psychological home.
You know, this article seems to have the same plot as most infomercials. Can anything stop clutter from driving me crazy?
Why, yes! Introducing new lemon-scented Decluttering!
Decluttering has powerful, positive impacts on mental health, more than you expect. Some of the greatest benefits include:
Boosts mood – the act of decluttering relaxes your mind.
Improves physical health – eating habits improve, combatting the association between clutter and becoming overweight.
Escalates the ability to focus, which prepares your mind to perform tasks.
Increases productivity – visual accomplishment is rewarding.
Relieves anxiety – having clutter makes you fear more clutter.
Improves sleep – an organized environment increases sleep quality.
Improves relationships – communication is more effective.
Okay, the fresh lemon scent is optional. But decluttering — aside from making your home less of a fire, tripping, and being crushed by mounds of refuse hazard — will improve your life.
The article concludes with a few tips on how to declutter and save your sanity. I’ll only give the first one, because you should go read it yourself.
Start small. An entire house, or an entire room, can be overwhelming. Enjoy even the small success of organizing a drawer or shelf. Listen to music or an audiobook while you work.
Starting small is always good advice. You have to take the first step before you can take any of the others. Happy decluttering!
I see no clutter here. Photo by Darwin Vegher on Unsplash
Speaking of decluttering
A star will explode sometime this years. We don’t know exactly when. But it will be spectacular.
Explosive star event will create once-in-a-lifetime sight in the sky. Here’s how to see it
Astronomers are expecting a “new star” to appear in the night sky anytime between now and September, and it promises to be a once-in-a-lifetime celestial sight, according to NASA.
The expected brightening event, known as a nova, will occur in the Milky Way’s Corona Borealis, or Northern Crown constellation, which is located between the Boötes and Hercules constellations.
While a supernova is the explosive death of a massive star, a nova refers to the sudden, brief explosion from a collapsed star known as a white dwarf.
That’s the brief version. What’s happening is that a red giant star and a white dwarf star are throwing the mother of all block parties:
T Coronae Borealis, otherwise known as the “Blaze Star,” is a binary system in the Corona Borealis that includes a dead white dwarf star and an aging red giant star.
Every 79 years or so, T Coronae Borealis experiences an explosive event.
The stars in the orbiting pair are close enough to each other that they interact violently.
This sometimes happens in Hollywood too. Stars have big egos.
The red giant becomes increasingly unstable over time as it heats up, casting off its outer layers that land as matter on the white dwarf star.3
The exchange of matter causes the atmosphere of the white dwarf to gradually heat until it experiences a “runaway thermonuclear reaction,” resulting in a nova.
I’m getting the impression that space is a dangerous place.
Thank you for reading!
Please click the hearts, leave a comment, and use the share feature to send this issue to a friend who might enjoy it. See you next Thursday!
Kondo … condo. Get it? I hope she lives in a condo. Missed opportunity if she doesn’t!
Compulsive hoarder crushed to death under mound of rubbish
A compulsive hoarder has been found crushed to death under mound of rubbish, police said.
The man, 51, who lived in Alcabre in north-western Spain, was believed to have suffered from Diogenes syndrome, a condition in which people often collect things compulsively and neglect themselves.
Now that’s decluttering!