We Are Made of Stardust
PERHAPS THE DEEPEST SPIRITUAL CONNECTION to the vast Universe that science has given us is an awareness that ancestral stars are part of our genealogy. We can now know and feel our connection to the heavens, for stars are among our ancestors. Every atom in our bodies, other than hydrogen, was forged in the fiery belly of a star who lived and died before our own star, the Sun, was born.
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I. Toward a New Periodic Table
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The Highlights (Lesson 1)
When the Siberian chemist, Mendeleev, conceived The Periodic Table of Elements around 1870, he catalogued atoms according to the number of protons in each nucleus and grouped the elements by chemical properties. This was a huge achievement. It has been the basis for the science of chemistry ever since. Today, however, we have an opportunity to construct another version of the Periodic Table of Elements — one that can highlight where each element arose.
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The Highlights (Lesson 2)
"Stars mimic living systems. They are born, live to maturity at metabolic rates determined by their masses, and die, spewing forth the matter by which their stellar offspring can take form. Throughout, they convert the light atoms of their birth into the heavier ones dispersed at death. The chemicals that constitute our beings were manufactured in the bowels of stars that today exist only as memories." — George A. Seielstad, "Cosmic Ecology," 1983.
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The Highlights (Lesson 3 VIDEO)
To further enhance what you read in lessons 1 & 2, please view this related video.
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