Stars

What is a star? We see them every night, but do we really know what they are? Stars are massive clusters of plasma in space. The closest star to the earth is the Sun. The Sun is the center of our solar system in which all planets revolve around. Our Sun supports almost all life here on earth. Ultraviolet light from the Sun has antiseptic properties and can be used to sanitize tools and water. The Sun is a magnetically active star. It supports a strong, changing magnetic field that changes year to year and changes direction about every eleven years.
Another type of star is a Red Giant. It is of low or intermediate mass that is in a late phase of its evolution. The core matter doesn't have many electrons and is extremely compressed, so the outer atmosphere is inflate which makes the radius very large and the surface temperature low. Red Giant Branch stars or RGB stars are the most common type of Red Giant. Their shells fuse hydrogen while the core is inactive helium. The Sun is actually supposed to become a Red Giant sometime in the next 7.5 billion years...so that might take a while.
There are also White Dwarfs. A White Dwarf is a small star made up of mostly of electron degenerate matter. White Dwarfs are very dense. Their masses are much like our Sun's and their volume is a lot like our Earth's. They have a faint glow which is due to heat that they store. After a while a White Dwarf actually expands to become a Red Giant.
Now, there are also black holes in space. A black hole is an are in space in which the gravitational field is so powerful that nothing can escape once it has been sucked into it. However, Black Holes are able to be detected if they interact with matter outside, for example by sucking in gas from an orbiting star. The gas spirals inward towards the hole, heating up to very hot temperatures and giving out large amounts of radiation. Though many people believe that once something enters a black hole is gone forever, that may not be true. Research has shown that rather than holding captured matter forever, black holes may slowly leak a form of thermal energy called Hawking radiation.
All of these obviously have their differences and similarities. They are all in space and all have to do with each other. Like said before the Sun is the largest star and relates to a Red Giant by possibly turning into one one day. White Dwarfs also have the possiblity of turning into a Red Giant too. But they are similar to the Sun in the way that it has mass like the Sun. And researchers detect Black Holes by using stars. I find this very interesting, but I'm not sure what it has to do with physics?

Science vs. Pseudoscience

Nearly everyone knows the basic definition of science but not many have even heard of a pseudoscience, though many are involved in some form of a pseudoscience or another. Despite the lack of knowledge of the specific definition of a pseudoscience, many still get the two confused or simply ignore their difference. So what is the difference between the two? Science deals with facts and general laws. Science is the study of how natural things throughout history have worked and how they work now. For example, a biologist studies nature, animals, organisms and such then records his or her observations. They then try to come up with facts of what they are studying. Scientists form their own hypothesis but never state that their predictions are proven fact. Science is very logical, it takes precise steps and repeated experiments to find an interrelationship between somethings.

However, a pseudoscience may resemble a science in some ways but it is very different. Many people go and have their palms read, their future told or every month read horoscopes in their favorite magazines; these are all examples of a pseudoscience. A pseudoscience can be a simple theory or practice. It has no scientific basis. Though science and pseudosciences resemble each other, there are not any careful observations or controlled experiments to prove something as what will happen in your future as fact.

I personally find the difference between the two to be very interesting. It is true that so many people rely on pseudosciences to some how make life easier. A pseudoscience just seems like a quick fix, a simple answer in most cases. I think a lot of people take a pseudoscience like a horoscope and turn it into a huge deal, something that defines their life. Of course it is fun to see what your palm may have to say about you or what your future possibly holds, but I think people tend to take them too seriously. True science is reliable. Of course there will be flaws here and there because humans are the ones who are making the observations and conducting the experiments, but the majority of science is very reliable. A pseudoscience has nothing to support, exept maybe a few coincidences.