Brain Storming at its best....

Hi,
I know this post of mine could be of least interest to many, especially those who consider giving thought to anything GEEKY the biggest sin one can commit! But for all the scientists and engineers (and definitely anyone with an OPEN MIND) out there, the following could be a great alternative to your sunday's crossword solving. The only catch being that the questions herein are provided with the answers..... yet could give any EINSTEIN a much required shake-off! For all the lazy lumps who didn't bother to navigate through the links in my previous post.. here's an assortment of many intriguing questions...

NB: People with an immunity to logic, science or frequent acts of knowledge gaining may only proceed!

• Is ours the only universe?
  A number of quantum theorists and cosmologists are trying to figure out whether our universe is part of a bigger "multiverse." But others suspect that this hard-to-test idea may be a question for philosophers.
  

• What drove cosmic inflation?
  In the first moments after the big bang, the universe blew up at an incredible rate. But what did the blowing? Measurements of the cosmic microwave background and other astrophysical observations are narrowing the possibilities.
  

• When and how did the first stars and galaxies form?
  The broad brush strokes are visible, but the fine details aren't. Data from satellites and ground-based telescopes may soon help pinpoint, among other particulars, when the first generation of stars burned off the hydrogen "fog" that filled the universe.
  

• Where do ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays come from?
  Above a certain energy, cosmic rays don't travel very far before being destroyed. So why are cosmic-ray hunters spotting such rays with no obvious source within our galaxy?
  

• What is the nature of black holes?
  Relativistic mass crammed into a quantum-sized object? It's a recipe for disaster--and scientists are still trying to figure out the ingredients.
  

• What is the nature of gravity?
  It clashes with quantum theory. It doesn't fit in the Standard Model. Nobody has spotted the particle that is responsible for it. Newton's apple contain ned a whole can of worms.
  

• Why is time different from other dimensions?
  It took millennia for scientists to realize that time is a dimension, like the three spatial dimensions, and that time and space are inextricably linked. The equations make sense, but they don't satisfy those who ask why we perceive a "now" or why time seems to flow the way it does.
  

• Is superfluidity possible in a solid? If so, how?
  Despite hints in solid helium, nobody is sure whether a crystalline material can flow without resistance. If new types of experiments show that such outlandish behavior is possible, theorists would have to explain how.
  

• What is the structure of water?
  Researchers continue to tussle over how many bonds each H₂O molecule makes with its nearest neighbors.
  

• What is the nature of the glassy state?
  Molecules in a glass are arranged much like those in liquids but are more tightly packed. Where and why does liquid end and glass begin?

• How do planets form?
  How bits of dust and ice and gobs of gas came together to form the planets without the sun devouring them all is still unclear. Planetary systems around other stars should provide clues.
  

• What causes ice ages?
  Something about the way the planet tilts, wobbles, and careens around the sun presumably brings on ice ages every 100,000 years or so, but reams of climate records haven't explained exactly how.
  
  

• Is there--or was there--life elsewhere in the solar system?
  The search for life--past or present--on other planetary bodies now drives NASA's planetary exploration program, which focuses on Mars, where water abounded when life might have first arisen.

• How many proteins are there in humans?
  It has been hard enough counting genes. Proteins can be spliced in different ways and decorated with numerous functional groups, all of which makes counting their numbers impossible for now.
• How do organs and whole organisms know when to stop growing?
  A person's right and left legs almost always end up the same length, and the hearts of mice and elephants each fit the proper rib cage. How genes set limits on cell size and number continues to mystify.

• How do limbs, fins, and faces develop and evolve?
  The genes that determine the length of a nose or the breadth of a wing are subject to natural and sexual selection. Understanding how selection works could lead to new ideas about the mechanics of evolution with respect to development.
  

• What triggers puberty?
  Nutrition--including that received in utero--seems to help set this mysterious biological clock, but no one knows exactly what forces childhood to end.
  

• Are stem cells at the heart of all cancers?
  The most aggressive cancer cells look a lot like stem cells. If cancers are caused by stem cells gone awry, studies of a cell's "stemness" may lead to tools that could catch tumors sooner and destroy them more effectively.

• Can cancers be controlled rather than cured?
  Drugs that cut off a tumor's fuel supplies--say, by stopping blood-vessel growth--can safely check or even reverse tumor growth. But how long the drugs remain effective is still unknown.
• Why doesn't a pregnant woman reject her fetus?
  Recent evidence suggests that the mother's immune system doesn't "realize" that the fetus is foreign even though it gets half its genes from the father. Yet just as Nobelist Peter Medawar said when he first raised this question in 1952, "the verdict has yet to be returned."

• Why do we sleep?
  A sound slumber may refresh muscles and organs or keep animals safe from dangers lurking in the dark. But the real secret of sleep probably resides in the brain, which is anything but still while we're snoring away.
  

• Why do we dream?
  Freud thought dreaming provides an outlet for our unconscious desires. Now, neuroscientists suspect that brain activity during REM sleep--when dreams occur--is crucial for learning. Is the experience of dreaming just a side effect?

• How do general anesthetics work?
  Scientists are chipping away at the drugs' effects on individual neurons, but understanding how they render us unconscious will be a tougher nut to crack.
  

• What causes schizophrenia?
  Researchers are trying to track down genes involved in this disorder. Clues may also come from research on traits schizophrenics share with normal people.

• To what extent can we stave off Alzheimer's?
  A 5- to 10-year delay in this late-onset disease would improve old age for millions. Researchers are determining whether treatments with hormones or antioxidants, or mental and physical exercise, will help.
  

• What is the biological basis of addiction?
  Addiction involves the disruption of the brain's reward circuitry. But personality traits such as impulsivity and sensation-seeking also play a part in this complex behavior.
  

• Is morality hardwired into the brain?
  That question has long puzzled philosophers; now some neuroscientists think brain imaging will reveal circuits involved in reasoning.
  

• What are the limits of learning by machines?
  Computers can already beat the world's best chess players, and they have a wealth of information on the Web to draw on. But abstract reasoning is still beyond any machine.
  

• How much of personality is genetic?
  Aspects of personality are influenced by genes; environment modifies the genetic effects. The relative contributions remain under debate.
  

• What is the biological root of sexual orientation?
  Much of the "environmental" contribution to homosexuality may occur before birth in the form of prenatal hormones, so answering this question will require more than just the hunt for "gay genes."

• How many species are there on Earth?
  Count all the stars in the sky? Impossible. Count all the species on Earth? Ditto. But the biodiversity crisis demands that we try.
• How did flowers evolve?
  Darwin called this question an "abominable mystery." Flowers arose in the cycads and conifers, but the details of their evolution remain obscure.

• What caused mass extinctions?
  A huge impact did in the dinosaurs, but the search for other catastrophic triggers of extinction has had no luck so far. If more subtle or stealthy culprits are to blame, they will take considerably longer to find.
  

• Can we prevent extinction?
  Finding cost-effective and politically feasible ways to save many endangered species requires creative thinking.
  

• Why were some dinosaurs so large?
  Dinosaurs reached almost unimaginable sizes, some in less than 20 years. But how did the long-necked sauropods, for instance, eat enough to pack on up to 100 tons without denuding their world?
  

• How will ecosystems respond to global warming?
  To anticipate the effects of the intensifying greenhouse, climate modelers will have to focus on regional changes and ecologists on the right combination of environmental changes.
  

• How many kinds of humans coexisted in the recent past, and how did they relate?
  The new dwarf human species fossil from Indonesia suggests that at least four kinds of humans thrived in the past 100,000 years. Better dates and additional material will help confirm or revise this picture.
  

• What gave rise to modern human behavior?
  Did Homo sapiens acquire abstract thought, language, and art gradually or in a cultural "big bang," which in Europe occurred about 40,000 years ago? Data from Africa, where our species arose, may hold the key to the answer.
  

• What are the roots of human culture?
  No animal comes close to having humans' ability to build on previous discoveries and pass the improvements on. What determines those differences could help us understand how human culture evolved.
  

• What are the evolutionary roots of language and music?
  Neuroscientists exploring how we speak and make music are just beginning to find clues as to how these prized abilities arose.
  

• What are human races, and how did they develop?
  Anthropologists have long argued that race lacks biological reality. But our genetic makeup does vary with geographic origin and as such raises political and ethical as well as scientific questions.
  

• Why do some countries grow and others stagnate?
  From Norway to Nigeria, living standards across countries vary enormously, and they're not becoming more equal.
  

• What impact do large government deficits have on a country's interest rates and economic growth rate?
  The United States could provide a test case.
  

• Are political and economic freedom closely tied?
  China may provide one answer.

• What causes reversals in Earth's magnetic field?
  Computer models and laboratory experiments are generating new data on how Earth's magnetic poles might flip-flop. The trick will be matching simulations to enough aspects of the magnetic field beyond the inaccessible core to build a convincing case.

• Are there earthquake precursors that can lead to useful predictions?
  Prospects for finding signs of an imminent quake have been waning since the 1970s. Understanding faults will progress, but routine prediction would require an as-yet-unimagined breakthrough

Shamelessly lifted from SO MUCH MORE TO KNOW :p

On a different note, i'm signing off for now to enjoy the lovely weather outside. Do respond.

Naveen