Tenzing Pixley
Core Biology C ODD
Current Event Review 7
Thursday, March 28th, 2019
Overbye, Dennis. “Stephen Hawking's Final Paper: How to Escape From a Black Hole.” The
New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Oct. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/10/23/science/stephen-hawking-final-paper.html.
“Stephen Hawking's Final Paper: How to Escape From a Black Hole.” by New York Times science writer Dennis Overbye ponders on one of the most polarizing questions in science. Is it possible to escape from a black hole? Since the idea was first proposed by acclaimed scientist Stephen Hawking, black holes have been “explored” numerous times in science-fiction media. From Star Trek to Interstellar it seems that they have become a staple of pop culture over the past few decades. However, humanity has never even been inside one, more or less seen one of these fabled calamities.
Overbye begins his essay by going over the storied career of the titular scientist, Stephen Hawking. He writes about how Hawking proposed the idea and how black holes function outside of both space, time and gravity. The author states that “Black holes are objects so dense that, according to Einstein’s law of general relativity, not even light can escape.” Scientist Andrew Strominger has also discovered that there are small light rays emanating from a black hole, allowing for it to possibly be analyzed in the future.
These small light rays, called “soft hairs” by Strominger, are crucial in finding out more information on black holes. Since they warp the perception of gravity, space, time and light, making them virtually invisible, these soft hairs may be the key in figuring out how they work and what can possibly lay inside of a black hole. Due time, once these soft hairs are analyzed, they can provide greater answers for how gravity and black holes operate. They may also debunk or prove many fictitious renditions of black holes in media and pop culture.
All in all, Overbye did a good job conveying his points in the article. I found it to be very informative as I thought that black holes would remain shrouded under a veil of mystique without their workings ever being exposed. Overbye also includes quotes from Stephen Hawking and many other scientists, furthering the context. However, it takes him a while to introduce the new discovery of soft hairs. In fact, this is revealed at about halfway through, causing me to lose my interest to a certain degree until reaching that point.
Will Grant 3/28/19
ReplyDeleteCore Biology Current Event 7
Overbye, Dennis. “Stephen Hawking's Final Paper: How to Escape From a Black Hole.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Oct. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/10/23/science/stephen-hawking-final-paper.html.
Tenzing's review of Dennis Overbye’s, “Stephen Hawking’s Final Paper: How To Escape a Black Hole.” was a fun read. Tenzing introduced his topic very well. His intro was intriguing and was the reason I choose to read his review. The second thing Tenzing does well is his explaining of the article. Tenzing tells us about Black Holes as they are explained in the story. The last thing he did well was the use of quotes in the story. He used quotes from the article to improve his review as it had direct sources.
There are two big things though that Tenzing needs to improve on. The first of these being that he needs to relate the importance of his topic to society today better. The article was interesting but I do not know its importance to us. The second thing that he needs to improve on is his explanation of “soft hairs”. Tenzing could have definitely gone more into detail on these as it was very hard to follow what their importance was.
Tenzing’s review taught me about how our view on Black Holes is much different then what is commonly thought. I learned that you can’t see Black Holes as light cannot escape them. I choose Tenzing’s review because I did not know much about them and I learned a lot about them.
Megan Barker 3/28/19
ReplyDeleteBio 10H C Odd Current Event 7 (Comment)
Overbye, Dennis. “Stephen Hawking's Final Paper: How to Escape From a Black Hole.” The
New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Oct. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/10/23/science/stephen-hawking-final-paper.html.
In Tenzing’s review of the article “Stephen Hawking's Final Paper: How to Escape From a Black Hole” by Dennis Overbye, there were many positives. Firstly, the review was well-written, and explained a very scientific and hypothetical paper in a way that was engaging and entertaining to read. Additionally, the review was well explained and clear. For example, Tenzing explained black holes and how the light rays emanating from them could help scientists understand black holes more than they currently do. In this way, the reader of the review was able to understand complex terms. Furthermore, Tenzing’s critiques and compliments of the article are very specific. His points of view are all logical and well-supported.
However, there were a few aspects of Tenzing’s review that could be improved upon. Firsty, his review did not include a connection to the world. A real-world connection could have strengthened his review. Also, it may have been unnecessary to include a paragraph-long intro to the review, along with the summary. If the intro was condensed or added to the summary, this might have helped the review to be more succinct.
A major learning point for me in this review was about the learning of black holes. Black holes have always been mysterious to me, and I have always considered it impossible to escape from one. This review, though, taught me more about black holes. I was unaware of even the existence of ‘soft hairs’, or how they helped scientists to learn more about black holes. Tenzing’s review had many positives, and though there could have been a few improvements, it was very informative.
Griffin Patterson April 7th 2019
ReplyDeleteBiology HW
Overbye, Dennis. “Stephen Hawking's Final Paper: How to Escape From a Black Hole.” The
New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Oct. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/10/23/science/stephen-hawking-final-paper.html.
I just read Tenzing's review of Dennis Overbye, “Stephen Hawking’s Final Paper: How To Escape a Black Hole.” this was overall a very fun read and I enjoyed steven hawkings final paper. Tenzing did a wonderful jo introducing all of his information on this topic. his introduction provided background on the topic which overall made me intrigued. Also the information provided in the introduction also intrigued me as well. The second thing tenzing did well was he explained his information very well. For example, Tenzing explained black holes and how the light rays emanating from them could help scientists understand black holes more than they currently do. The last thing Tenzing did well was that he used in text citations and in text quotes. This really expanded the review and improved it alot.
Although, this review was written very well there was some things he could improve on. The first thing he needed to improve on was using a real world connection in his review. A real world connection could have improved this articles outside information use and also the use of information from outside sources. The second thing Tenzing could improve on he needs to improve on is his explanation of “soft hairs”. Tenzing could have definitely gone more into detail on these as it was very hard to follow what their importance was.
Tenzing's review overall showed me how comlex Black holes are and how Black holes affect the universe. Tenzings article was very informative and showed me and helped me learn about how black holes should be taken seriously and the damage that they could do. . I also learned that you can’t see Black Holes as light cannot escape them. To conclude, This was overall a very well written article and helped me learn alot about Black holes.