Life in outer space

Many people fail to understand how life originated here on Earth, or in the Universe, for that matter. They attribute the beginning to someone they believe has supreme power and capability.
This only tells us about one basic character of human nature, that we human yearn for protection. We want someone to be there who can be held responsible for what we do. We want someone who listens to us, who will hear when we ask him to get us what we want. In other words, we want a parent. That is why every religion calls him the father. Or the mother.

The existence of life is a mere coincidence. The Earth was just at the right place at the right time. It could have happened with any planet anywhere in the whole universe. Then the life on that planet would have given itself and the planet a name, and would have tried to advance technologically.
This process could have happened anywhere. It might have happened at some other place too!

Drake's Equation predicts that given the uncertainties, there are probably between 1000 and 100,000,000 civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy.
How come we didn't find them , you might ask. The answer is very simple. The distance. All kind of communication methods require some time, which depends on the distance the carrier has to cover. Also, other civilizations may not be advanced enough to detect, let alone interpret any signal we send.

VLC hidden tips and tricks

Most of us use VLC media player to play our media files in our computers, but we still fail to make use of it to it's full potential. This is a list of the features of VLC which mostly go unnoticed :

1)Convert Media Files
2)Stream Media Over the Network or Internet
3)Record Your Desktop
4)Watch YouTube Videos
5)Apply Video and Audio Effects
6)Record Directly From Webcam

The human brain: Top 7 Myths

1) Your Brain Is Gray

2) We use only 10 percent of our brains.

3) You Get New Brain Wrinkles When You Learn Something

4) The Human Brain Is the Biggest Brain

5) A conk on the head can cause amnesia. 

6) Brain damage is permanent.

7) Drinking alcohol kills brain cells.

The more you know...

Myths about Dreams and Sleep

1) Everyone Needs Eight Hours of Sleep a Night

Eight hours has long been touted as the gold standard of sleep time, but this number is an average: Most people need seven to nine hours. Some can get by on four hours a night, but others need as many as 12.

Some People Are Fine With Only a Few Hours of Sleep.

2) You can catch up with your sleep on weekends
No and no. Individuals who get too little sleep during the work or school week but try to catch up on weekends may not realize that they are accumulating a chronic sleep debt.

3)Teenagers like to stay in bed because they are lazy

 During the years of adolescence, a change occurs in the body clock. During the years of puberty, a 2-3 hours delay occurs in the circadian rhythms and children of this age, particularly males, gradually become more ‘evening types’. This phenomenon is known as delayed sleep phase disorder, and is characterized by a delayed sleep-wake timing.

4)Dreaming has no Importance/Significance

REM sleep, aka dreaming is of very high significance for the brain and the body. It prepares the brain of emergency conditions, and provides stimulation to the nervous system during development.

5) Stay at one place and you will drop off again
This might happen, but a better way is to get out of bed and try some relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, meditation or listen to some soothing music.

6)Sleep is a passive activity
Some brain activities, such as delta waves actually increase when we are asleep. Also sleep is a time when the endocrine system increases production of human growth hormone and prolactin.

7) Sleeping pills are harmless
Receiving hypnotic prescriptions was associated with greater than threefold increased hazards of death even when prescribed <18 pills/year.

8) Day naps are a waste of time

It has now been scientifically proven that Day Dreaming can improve your performance at your workplace.

9) Yawning is an indicator of Tiredness
Even after so many years of research in this field, the real causes of yawning remain a mystery even after continued scientific scrutiny. Although, it is now known that it is not even remotely related to tiredness

10) Don't drink coffee 
 Research in recent years suggests that caffeine could actually help in preventing serious conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson’s disease.