The Universe and Us
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If we think deeply, many aspects of this Universe will be seen to function in a way favourable to our life.
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Beginning of the Universe
In the Big Bang that happened 13.7 billion years ago, particles and antiparticles must have been produced in equal number. The antiparticles disappeared in some way. The particles alone composed this Universe.
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Everything that we see are made of just three particles u quark, d quark and electron. But in the Big Bang 6 kinds of quarks u,d,s,c,t and b, 3 kinds of electrons e, muon and tauon and 3 kinds of neutrinos were produced. But the s,c,t and b quarks and muon and tauon were heavy and so decayed. Finally only u,d,e and the neutrinos remained. Everything that we see, animate or inanimate are made of only u,d and e. Imagine - the whole Universe, stars, planets and living beings are made of only three fundamental particles.
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As already mentioned, all the antiparticles disappeared. If that had not happened, there would have been no Universe and we would not have existed.
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Einstein said that any intelligent person cannot but be mystified by the secrets of the Universe and the wonders of the Laws of Nature.
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The Earth and the Solar System
Although our Earth is only one of the many planets in the solar system, it has many features needed for life. It is situated at the right distance from the Sun,
neither too near nor too far. Otherwise the average temperature on the Earth would have been below the freezing point or above the boiling point of water.
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Many other parts of the solar system are favourable for life. Big planets like Jupiter and Saturn attract meteors and comets preventing their falling on the
Earth. Even then, such a thing does happen sometimes. Dinosaurs died millions of years ago because of the fall of a very big meteor.
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Energetic particles like electrons and protons come out of the Sun and affect our atmosphere. These might have changed the evolution of living beings and
killed them. But the magnetic field surrounding the Earth changes the direction of these particles and send them off towards the north and south poles. Living
beings escape.
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It is a great help to us that our satellite the Moon is so big. Because of that, the revolution of the Earth has become stabilized and our days are regular.
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Ozone is a molecule made of three oxygen atoms. The ozone sphere surrounds the Earth at a height of 5-10 km. This absorbs the gamma rays, X-rays and ultraviolet rays coming from the Sun. These rays would have attacked the cells of living bodies and cause cancer and other diseases. Therefore, without the ozone sphere, living beings would not be able to live on the Earth.
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The Sun
It is the Sun that gives us light and heat. Without the Sun there will not be any life on the Earth. The Sun has been shining for billions of years. Where
does it get this energy? It is from thermonuclear fusion reactions in the core of the Sun. It takes place through a series of reactions. All of it can be summed up by the following reaction:
Four protons combine to form a Helium nucleus. Two positrons, two neutrons and 27 MeV of energy come out.
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It is this energy that provides us light and heat. This nuclear reaction is the most important reaction for us. For, without it, there is no life on Earth.
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Stars
All the elements in our bodies are also made through nuclear reactions only. All our bodies are made of atoms such as carbon, nitrogen and oxygen. All of them are cooked in the stars. The first step in that is the reaction of protons combining to give Helium, that we described above. After that the heavier nuclei lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen ... iron are sequentially cooked. After iron, no more element will be made in stars. After that the star collapses due to gravitation and explodes as a Supernova. In that explosion, all the elements cooked inside the star spread all over the Universe. It is these elements that combine on the Earth and life originates.
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How were nuclei heavier than iron created? At the beginning of the Universe, the temperature and pressure were very high. All the elements were cooked at that time.
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The speciality of carbon atoms
The cells of all living beings contains a molecule called DNA. It is DNA that is the basis for all life. DNA is a double stranded long chain molecule. Both these strands are made of four types of molecules named C, G, A and T arranged like pearls in a necklace. Just like the order of letters form a sentence or an
essay, it is the order of these four molecules that decides the fate of that living being.
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In this double helix, G sits in one strand opposite to C in the other strand and T is opposite A. That is, C-G and A-T are two pairs. Because of this paired structure, DNA is able to replicate itself. The two strands separate and each strand makes a new strand that matches with itself. Thus a new DNA which is a copy of the older one is obtained. This is the basis for the growth and reproduction of living beings.
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The sentence made of C,G,A and T informs the cell what kind of proteins must be made. It is the proteins which are responsible for the metabolism and actions
of the various parts of the body.
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DNA and proteins are made of thousands of atoms. It is the speciality of Carbon atom that makes these long chain molecules possible. So Carbon atom is essential
for the existence of life on Earth.
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Light
If there were no light, our life would become dark. Light is nothing but a very small part of the spectrum of electromagnetic waves in the electromagnetic field
discovered by Faraday and Maxwell. This small part alone comes to us from the Sun unimpeded by the atmosphere. Most of the electromagnetic spectrum is absorbed by the atmosphere. Therefore it has been arranged so that our eyes are sensitive to this small part. This is a very wonderful thing that happened during evolution.
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Air
In a music concert, a famous singer is singing a Keerthanai of Saint Thiagaraja or Gopalakrishna Bharathi with great devotion. We listen to it and get transported to another world. How do the vibrations of that music float in air and enter our ears? How do the tiny pressure variations travel as sound wave and come towards us? No other organ in our body feels these vibrations. They touch only our ear-drums and give the song to us with the music. Is this not a wonder of wonders? If this were not there, how empty our life would be - imagine that. The atmosphere surrounding the Earth gives us not only oxygen, but also all kinds of sound including music.
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Brain
Brain is the climatic organ. It is brain that converts the light that enters through our eyes into vision and the sound vibrations that enter through our ears into speech or music. It is the brain that controls all our other organs.
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The brain which is the apex of evolution is now wondering about evolution and the the Laws of Nature. It generates many thought processes.
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What are these thought processes? All these are tiny electrical signals. Brain is a powerful computer made of billions of neurons. The electrical signals running between these neurons are the thought processes.
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Conclusion
Most scientists believe that the Universe and life originated according to the Laws of Science. The evolutionary path on the Earth was not a straight line. Many random changes, many destructions and regenerations - all these made the trajectory of evolution into a rough one. The changes that happened were like the
results of a game of chance. The world that we are enjoying now is the result of this game played by Nature. This is the view of scientists.
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This wonderful body of ours, the eyes, the ears, and above all, the brain that tops the list of wonders - can all this come about as a result of the random changes generated by Nature's game? If we ponder deeply about all these things, this question will definitely arise. It would appear more plausible that the Universe and the Laws of Nature have been created with a purpose.