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Nature



Salmon fry hatching. The root of the Latin "natura" {"nature") is "natus," from "nasci" ("to be born").
Salmon fry hatching. The root of the Latin "natura" {"nature") is "natus," from "nasci" ("to be born").[66]
Painting by Song Dynasty artist Fan Kuan (c. 970–1020).
Painting by Song Dynasty artist Fan Kuan (c. 970–1020).

Beauty in nature has long been a common theme in life and in art, and books emphasizing beauty in nature fill large sections of libraries and bookstores. That nature has been depicted and celebrated by so much art, photography, poetry and other literature shows the strength with which many people associate nature and beauty. Why this association exists, and what the association consists of, is studied by the branch of philosophy called aesthetics. Beyond certain basic characteristics that many philosophers agree about to explain what is seen as beautiful, the opinions are virtually endless.[67]

Looked at through the lens of the visual arts, nature and wildness have been important subjects in various epochs of world history. An early tradition of landscape art began in China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The tradition of representing nature as it is became one of the aims of Chinese painting and was a significant influence in Asian art. Artists learned to depict mountains and rivers "from the perspective of nature as a whole and on the basis of their understanding of the laws of nature … as if seen through the eyes of a bird." In the 13th century, the Song Dynasty artist Shi Erji listed "scenes lacking any places made inaccessible by nature," as one of the 12 things to avoid in painting.[68]

In the Western world the idea of wilderness having intrinsic value emerged in the 1800s, especially in the works of the Romantic movement. British artists John Constable and JMW Turner turned their attention to capturing the beauty of the natural world in their paintings. Before that, paintings had been primarily of religious scenes or of human beings. William Wordsworth’s poetry described the wonder of the natural world, which had formerly been viewed as a threatening place. Increasingly the valuing of nature became an aspect of Western culture.[69] This artistic movement also coincided with the Transcendentalist movement in the Western world.

Many scientists, who study nature in more specific and organized ways, also share the conviction that nature is beautiful; the French mathematician, Jules Henri Poincaré (1854-1912) said:

The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful.
If nature were not beautiful, it would not be worth knowing, and if nature were not worth knowing, life would not be worth living. Of course I do not here speak of that beauty which strikes the senses, the beauty of qualities and of appearance; not that I undervalue such beauty, far from it, but it has nothing to do with science; I mean that profounder beauty which comes from the harmonious order of the parts and which a pure intelligence can grasp.[70]

A common classical idea of beautiful art involves the word mimesis, the imitation of nature. Also in the realm of ideas about beauty in nature is that the perfect is implied through symmetry, equal division, and other perfect mathematical forms and notions.

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Matter and energy

Main articles: Matter and Energy
The first few hydrogen atom electron orbitals shown as cross-sections with color-coded probability density
The first few hydrogen atom electron orbitals shown as cross-sections with color-coded probability density

Some fields of science see nature as matter in motion, obeying certain laws of nature which science seeks to understand. For this reason the most fundamental science is generally understood to be "physics"—the name for which is still recognizable as meaning that it is the study of nature.

Matter is commonly defined as the substance of which physical objects are composed. It constitutes the observable universe. The visible components of the universe are now believed to compose only 4 percent of the total mass. The remainder is believed to consist of 23 percent cold dark matter and 73 percent dark energy.[71] The exact nature of these components is still unknown and is currently under intensive investigation by physicists.

The behavior of matter and energy throughout the observable universe appears to follow well-defined physical laws. These laws have been employed to produce cosmological models that successfully explain the structure and the evolution of the universe we can observe. The mathematical expressions of the laws of physics employ a set of twenty physical constants[72] that appear to be static across the observable universe.[73] The values of these constants have been carefully measured, but the reason for their specific values remains a mystery.

See also: Chemistry and Physics

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Nature beyond Earth

NGC 4414, a typical spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices, is about 56,000 light years in diameter and approximately 60 million light years distant.
NGC 4414, a typical spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices, is about 56,000 light years in diameter and approximately 60 million light years distant.
The deepest visible-light image of the universe, the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, contains an estimated 10,000 galaxies in a patch of sky just one-tenth the diameter of the full moon. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF team.
The deepest visible-light image of the universe, the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, contains an estimated 10,000 galaxies in a patch of sky just one-tenth the diameter of the full moon. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF team.
Main articles: Outer space and Universe

Outer space, also simply called space, refers to the relatively empty regions of the universe outside the atmospheres of celestial bodies. Outer space is used to distinguish it from airspace (and terrestrial locations). There is no discrete boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and space, as the atmosphere gradually attenuates with increasing altitude. Outer space within the solar system is called interplanetary space, which passes over into interstellar space at what is known as the heliopause.

Outer space is certainly spacious, but it is far from empty. Outer space is sparsely filled with several dozen types of organic molecules discovered to date by microwave spectroscopy, blackbody radiation left over from the big bang and the origin of the universe, and cosmic rays, which include ionized atomic nuclei and various subatomic particles. There is also some gas, plasma and dust, and small meteors. Additionally, there are signs of human life in outer space today, such as material left over from previous manned and unmanned launches which are a potential hazard to spacecraft. Some of this debris re-enters the atmosphere periodically.

Although the planet Earth is currently the only known body within the solar system to support life, current evidence suggests that in the distant past the planet Mars possessed bodies of liquid water on the surface.[74] For a brief period in Mars' history, it may have also been capable of forming life. At present though, most of the water remaining on Mars is frozen. If life exists at all on Mars, it is most likely to be located underground where liquid water can still exist.[75]

Conditions on the other terrestrial planets, Mercury and Venus, appears to be too harsh to support life as we know it. But it has been conjectured that Europa, the fourth-largest moon of Jupiter, may possess a sub-surface ocean of liquid water and could potentially host life.[76]

Recently, the team of Stéphane Udry have discovered a new planet named Gliese 581 c, which is an extrasolar planet orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 581. Gliese 581 c appears to lay in the habitable zone of space surrounding the star, and therefore could possibly host life as we know it.

See also: Extraterrestrial life

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Notes and references

  1. ^ Harper, Douglas. Nature. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved on September 23, 2006.
  2. ^ A useful though somewhat erratically presented account of the pre-Socratic use of the concept of φύσις may be found in Naddaf, Gerard The Greek Concept of Nature, SUNY Press, 2006. The word φύσις, while first used in connection with a plant in Homer (as we have seen), occurs very early in Greek philosophy, and in several senses. Generally, these senses match rather well the current senses in which the English word nature is used, as confirmed by Guthrie, W.K.C. Presocratic Tradition from Parmenides to Democritus (volume 2 of his History of Greek Philosophy), Cambridge UP, 1965.
  3. ^ The first known use of physis was by Homer in reference to the intrinsic qualities of a plant: ὣς ἄρα φωνήσας πόρε φάρμακον ἀργεϊφόντης ἐκ γαίης ἐρύσας, καί μοι φύσιν αὐτοῦ ἔδειξε. (So saying, Argeiphontes [=Hermes] gave me the herb, drawing it from the ground, and showed me its nature.) Odyssey 10.302-3 (ed. A.T. Murray). (The word is dealt with thoroughly in Liddell and Scott's Greek Lexicon.) For later but still very early Greek uses of the term, see related below.
  4. ^ Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687), for example, is translated "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy", and reflects the then-current use of the words "natural philosophy", akin to "systematic study of nature"
  5. ^ The etymology of the word "physical" shows its use as a synonym for "natural" in about the mid-15th century: Harper, Douglas. Physical. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved on September 20, 2006.
  6. ^ Harper, Douglas, Nature, <http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=nature>. Retrieved on 23 September 2006 
  7. ^ Naddaf, Gerard (2006-02-09), The Greek Concept of Nature (New ed.), New York: State University of New York Press, ISBN 0791463745 
  8. ^ Guthrie, W.K.C. (1965-01-02), Presocratic Tradition from Parmenides to Democritus, vol. 2, History of Greek Philosophy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521051606 
  9. ^ Homer (1995-02-20). "10.302-3", in A.T. Murray: Odyssey, 2nd rev (in Homeric Greek), LOEB. ISBN 0674995619. “ὣς ἄρα φωνήσας πόρε φάρμακον ἀργεϊφόντης ἐκ γαίης ἐρύσας, καί μοι φύσιν αὐτοῦ ἔδειξε. (Argeiphontes [=Hermes] gave me the herb, drawing it from the ground, and showed me its nature.)” 
  10. ^ Harper, Douglas, Physical, <http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=physical>. Retrieved on 20 September 2006 
  11. ^ World Climates. Blue Planet Biomes. Retrieved on 2006-09-21.
  12. ^ Calculations favor reducing atmopshere for early Earth. Science Daily (2005-09-11). Retrieved on 2007-01-06.
  13. ^ Past Climate Change. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved on 2007-01-07.
  14. ^ Hugh Anderson, Bernard Walter (March, 28 1997). History of Climate Change. NASA. Retrieved on 2007-01-07.
  15. ^ Weart, Spencer (June, 2006). The Discovery of Global Warming. American Institute of Physics. Retrieved on 2007-01-07.
  16. ^ Margulis, Lynn; Dorian Sagan (1995). What is Life?. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-81326-2. 
  17. ^ Dalrymple, G. Brent (1991). The Age of the Earth. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-1569-6. 
  18. ^ Morbidelli, A.; et al. (2000). "Source Regions and Time Scales for the Delivery of Water to Earth". Meteoritics & Planetary Science 35 (6): pp. 1309-1320. 
  19. ^ "Earth's Oldest Mineral Grains Suggest an Early Start for Life", NASA Astrobilogy Institute, 2001-12-24. Retrieved on 2006-05-24. 
  20. ^ Murphy, J.B.; R.D. Nance (2004). "How do supercontinents assemble?". American Scientist 92 (4): 324. doi:10.1511/2004.4.324. 
  21. ^ Colebrook, Michael. Chronology of Earth History. Cosmology and The Universe Story. Retrieved on September 21, 2006.
  22. ^ Stanley, Steven M. (1999). Earth System History. New York: W.H. Freeman. ISBN 0-7167-2882-6. 
  23. ^ Kirschvink, J.L. (1992). "Late Proterozoic Low-Latitude Global Glaciation: The Snowball Earth", in J.W. Schopf, C. Klein eds.: The Proterozoic Biosphere. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 51-52. ISBN 0-521-36615-1. 
  24. ^ Raup, David M.; J. John Sepkoski Jr. (March 1982). "Mass extinctions in the marine fossil record". Science 215 (4539): 1501. doi:10.1126/science.215.4539.1501. 
  25. ^ Margulis, Lynn; Dorian Sagan (1995). What is Life?. New York: Simon & Schuster, p. 145. ISBN 0-684-81326-2. 
  26. ^ Margulis, Lynn; Dorian Sagan (1995). What is Life?. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-81326-2. 
  27. ^ Diamond J (1989). "The present, past and future of human-caused extinctions". Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 325 (1228): 469-76; discussion 476-7. doi:10.1098/rstb.1989.0100. PMID 2574887. 
  28. ^ Novacek M, Cleland E (2001). "The current biodiversity extinction event: scenarios for mitigation and recovery". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 98 (10): 1029. doi:10.1073/pnas.091093698. PMID 11344295. 
  29. ^ "The mid-Holocene extinction of silver fir (Abies alba) in the ..." pdf
  30. ^ See, e.g. [1], [2], [3]
  31. ^ Ideal Gases under Constant Volume, Constant Pressure, Constant Temperature, & Adiabatic Conditions. NASA. Retrieved on 2007-01-07.
  32. ^ Pelletier, Jon D. (2002). "Natural variability of atmospheric temperatures and geomagnetic intensity over a wide range of time scales". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 99: 2546-2553. doi:10.1073/pnas.022582599. 
  33. ^ "Tropical Ocean Warming Drives Recent Northern Hemisphere Climate Change", Science Daily, April 6, 2001. Retrieved on 2006-05-24. 
  34. ^ Definition of Life. California Academy of Sciences (2006). Retrieved on 2007-01-07.
  35. ^ The figure "about one-half of one percent" takes into account the following (See, e.g., Leckie, Stephen (1999). "How Meat-centred Eating Patterns Affect Food Security and the Environment", For hunger-proof cities : sustainable urban food systems. Ottawa: International Development Research Centre. ISBN 0-88936-882-1. , which takes global average weight as 60 kg.), the total human biomass is the average weight multiplied by the current human population of approximately 6.5 billion (see, e.g., World Population Information. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on September 28, 2006.): Assuming 60–70 kg to be the average human mass (approximately 130–150 lb on the average), an approximation of total global human mass of between 390 billion (390×109) and 455 billion kg (between 845 billion and 975 billion lb, or about 423 million-488 million short tons). The total biomass of all kinds on earth is estimated to be in excess of 6.8 x 1013 kg (75 billion short tons). By these calculations, the portion of total biomass accounted for by humans would be very roughly 0.6%.
  36. ^ Sengbusch, Peter V.. The Flow of Energy in Ecosystems - Productivity, Food Chain, and Trophic Level. Botany online. University of Hamburg Department of Biology. Retrieved on September 23, 2006.
  37. ^ Pidwirny, Michael (2006). Introduction to the Biosphere: Species Diversity and Biodiversity. Fundamentals of Physical Geography (2nd Edition). Retrieved on September 23, 2006.
  38. ^ How Many Species are There?. Extinction Web Page Class Notes. Retrieved on September 23, 2006.
  39. ^ "Animal." World Book Encyclopedia. 16 vols. Chicago: World Book, 2003. This source gives an estimate of from 2-50 million.
  40. ^ Just How Many Species Are There, Anyway?. Science Daily (May 2003). Retrieved on September 26, 2006.
  41. ^ Withers, Mark A.; et al. (1998). Changing Patterns in the Number of Species in North American Floras. Land Use History of North America. Retrieved on September 26, 2006. Website based on the contents of the book: (1998) in Sisk, T.D., ed.: Perspectives on the land use history of North America: a context for understanding our changing environment, Revised September 1999, U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division. USGS/BRD/BSR-1998-0003. 
  42. ^ Tropical Scientists Find Fewer Species Than Expected. Science Daily (April 2002). Retrieved on September 27, 2006.
  43. ^ Bunker, Daniel E.; et al. (November 2005). "Species Loss and Aboveground Carbon Storage in a Tropical Forest". Science 310 (5750): pp. 1029-31. doi:10.1126/science.1117682. 
  44. ^ Wilcox, Bruce A. (March 2006). "Amphibian Decline: More Support for Biocomplexity as a Research Paradigm". EcoHealth 3 (1): 1. doi:10.1007/s10393-005-0013-5. 
  45. ^ (2002) "Decline and loss of species", in Clarke, Robin, Robert Lamb, Dilys Roe Ward eds.: Global environment outlook 3 : past, present and future perspectives. London; Sterling, VA: Nairobi, Kenya : UNEP. ISBN 92-807-2087-2. 
  46. ^ a b Line M (2002). "The enigma of the origin of life and its timing". Microbiology 148 (Pt 1): 21-7. PMID 11782495. 
  47. ^ Berkner, L. V.; L. C. Marshall (May 1965). "On the Origin and Rise of Oxygen Concentration in the Earth's Atmosphere". Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 22 (3): pp. 225–261. 
  48. ^ Schopf J (1994). "Disparate rates, differing fates: tempo and mode of evolution changed from the Precambrian to the Phanerozoic." (PDF). Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 91 (15): S14. doi:10.1073/pnas.91.15.6735. PMID 8041691. 
  49. ^ Szewzyk U, Szewzyk R, Stenström T (1994). "Thermophilic, anaerobic bacteria isolated from a deep borehole in granite in Sweden.". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 91 (5): 1810-3. doi:10.1073/pnas.91.5.1810. PMID 11607462. 
  50. ^ Wolska K (2003). "Horizontal DNA transfer between bacteria in the environment.". Acta Microbiol Pol 52 (3): 233-43. PMID 14743976. 
  51. ^ Horneck G (1981). "Survival of microorganisms in space: a review.". Adv Space Res 1 (14): 39-48. PMID 11541716. 
  52. ^ flora. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved on September 27, 2006.
  53. ^ (1998) "Glossary", Status and Trends of the Nation's Biological Resources. Reston, VA: Department of the Interior, Geological Survey. SuDocs No. I 19.202:ST 1/V.1-2. 
  54. ^ Adams, C.E. (1994). "The fish community of Loch Lomond, Scotland : its history and rapidly changing status". Hydrobiologia 290 (1-3): 91-102. 
  55. ^ Pidwirny, Michael (2006). Introduction to the Biosphere: Introduction to the Ecosystem Concept. Fundamentals of Physical Geography (2nd Edition). Retrieved on September 28, 2006.
  56. ^ Pidwirny, Michael (2006). Introduction to the Biosphere: Organization of Life. Fundamentals of Physical Geography (2nd Edition). Retrieved on September 28, 2006.
  57. ^ Pidwirny, Michael (2006). Introduction to the Biosphere: Abiotic Factors and the Distribution of Species. Fundamentals of Physical Geography (2nd Edition). Retrieved on September 28, 2006. esp. section on "Abiotic Factors and Tolerance Limits."
  58. ^ Bailey, Robert G. (April 2004). "Identifying Ecoregion Boundaries". Environmental Management 34 (Supplement 1). doi:10.1007/s00267-003-0163-6. 
  59. ^ Lawton, John (2001). "Earth System Science". Science 292 (5524): 1965. doi:10.1126/science.292.5524.1965. 
  60. ^ Harding, Stephan (2006). Earth System Science and Gaian Science. Schumacher College. Retrieved on 2007-01-07.
  61. ^ For an example of a range of opinions, see: On the Beauty of Nature. The Wilderness Society. Retrieved on September 29, 2006. and Ralph Waldo Emerson's analysis of the subject: Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1849). "Beauty", Nature; Addresses and Lectures. 
  62. ^ "Feedback Loops In Global Climate Change Point To A Very Hot 21st Century", Science Daily, May 22, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-01-07. 
  63. ^ Plant Conservation Alliance - Medicinal Plant Working Groups Green Medicine (English). US National Park Services. Retrieved on September 23, 2006.
  64. ^ Oosthoek, Jan (1999). Environmental History: Between Science & Philosophy. Environmental History Resources. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
  65. ^ "Wilderness", in The Collins English Dictionary (2000)
  66. ^ Harper, Douglas. Nature. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved on September 29, 2006.
  67. ^ For an example of a range of opinions, see: On the Beauty of Nature. The Wilderness Society. Retrieved on September 29, 2006. and Ralph Waldo Emerson's analysis of the subject: Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1849). "Beauty", Nature; Addresses and Lectures. 
  68. ^ Chinese brush painting Asia-art.net Accessed: May 20, 2006.
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  71. ^ Some Theories Win, Some Lose. WMAP Mission: First Year Results. NASA. Retrieved on 29, 2006.
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  75. ^ Malik, Tariq (2005-03-08). Hunt for Mars life should go underground (English). The Brown University News Bureau. Retrieved on September 4, 2006.
  76. ^ Scott Turner (1998-03-02). Detailed Images From Europa Point To Slush Below Surface (English). The Brown University News Bureau. Retrieved on September 28, 2006.

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