The Roundup: Everything Matters

Today in my Neurobiology seminar we were talking about how some of the greatest discoveries in the world stem not necessarily from cure- or result-based science, but rather from harnessing our seemingly irrelevant interests and reaping the benefits of serendipity.

This video of the Hubble ultra deep field is a terrific case in point. We are only one of many billions of galaxies. I can't even begin to imagine what that really means. I don't have the mental landscape to think of the abundance of other universes. It reminds me of Everything Matters, the novel by Ron Currie, Jr. that was assigned as our freshman summer reading.

If you haven't heard of or read the book, I highly recommend it. The premise is that some form of ourselves may exist in many different universes such that our life is being "played out" to infinity number of scenarios, each with a unique path and result. I don't know that this is (or could even be) true, but it's quite the thought to consider in light of the very small corner of the universe we inhabit. Who's to say what is or isn't out there in the rest of it all?