Mine’s physics! I enjoy it so much that I have a diploma in it 😃
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The study of psychopathology in any form, particularly of severe mental disorders such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder type I.
I like philosophy, mathematics, and arts more, but that would be my favorite field of science.
Probably zoology and neuroscience.
I enjoy some of the soft sciences as well but that feels a bit off topic.
Science-fiction
I’m a molecular biologist, but I’m into so many branches of science! I love maths (arguably not science) - the elegance, the consistency, and pi that pops up everywhere. Physics - the laws that actually govern the universe and it’s most basic level. Chemistry - the science of change where so much emergence happens. Biology - the science trying to solve the actual mysteries of life. Psychology, especially evolutionary psychology - understanding what makes us tick and how it came about. And linguistics - the science of the original sharing app.
Edit: typo.
Astronomy. I’ve had a good day.
Biology is amazing. Creatures are really complex machines built through trial and error. It’s amazing to see what nature has come up with.
Not a scientist, but I find astrophysics endlessly interesting. When daily life seems overwhelming it’s good to consider what an insignificant morsel I am, in fact the whole solar system is, in the scale of the known universe.
There’s a supermassive black hole aptly named TON 618 that’s 40 times larger than our solar system! Some of these sizes are incomprehensible but very sobering.
Astronomy is pretty neat. Took it in college and it’s always maintained my interest.
Astrology, biology, and geology. I find space, life, and the terrain very fascinating.
EDIT: Can’t forget about psychology! It’s interesting how the human brain works.
I kind of prefer neurology for brain stuff.
I love Physics, but mostly Classical Mechanics, especially Continuum Mechanics. I am also a sucker for Information Theory and Theory of Computation.
Classical mechanics, right from the first time i learned Newton’s laws, it was always so satisfying to me. Just pure and well rounded logic to explain everything, it’s so neat.
Best example for me was the 2 body problem. Going from the 6 degrees of freedom to a simple uniform rectilinear motion of the center of mass and then leaving us with only 2 degrees of freedom. Such a elegant solution, so satisfying.
Physics - didn’t finish my PhD but I did love it :)
Geology, it’s simply fascinating how much you can tell about our earth by holding a mere stone in your hands.
I wish it was easier to learn beyond the really basic “igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary” stage. Like, I have no idea what all is underneath me right now or why, and if you research it you’re instantly wading through papers written about some specific question, which assumes I know this or that craton and it’s history.
There’s a few levels down from each of those that you can get the broad strokes of fairly easily.
For igneous, you can broadly break it down into extrusive vs intrusive. Basically, did the magma slowly solidify underground, resulting in large grains like in granite, or did it come out in the form of lava that cools rapidly into fine grained or even glassy structures like obsidian. Then there’s the other axis of “how much silica is in there?” Really high silica content rocks are called “felsic” rocks. Granite is an example of a felsic intrusive rock, ryolite is an extrusive felsic rock; Basically the same minerals, but way smaller crystals. On the other end of the silica spectrum, there’s “mafic” and ultramafic rocks that have less silica and more iron and magnesium. The main example of a mafic rock you might know of is basalt. You can find charts like this one that break things down that way.
I bet you could find a professor near you that would let you attend office hours and ask whatever questions you have.
That would be cool. How do I approach that without seeming like a crank that wants to discuss flat Earth or something?
Don’t overthink it. Look up faculty and try to find one that teaches introductory courses. Send them an email stating something along the lines that you’re a non student looking to learn a little more than high school introductory terms. Ask if there’s a lecture you could audit or a time like office hours where you could ask questions. A bunch of professors would probably be willing to talk to a flat earther if they were approached on a polite and courteous manner.
If your interest can’t be satisfied with a question session, you could look into whether a local university has an option for non-degree students to enroll in classes. That’s an option that’s frequently not advertised but is pretty common (at least in the US.)
That would be an expensive hobby project, haha!
Some community and state colleges can be pretty cheap, and most schools offer night classes for those who work all day. A gen-ed like geology is likely to have such hours available for this community of night students, especially if you live in an area where geology is related to employment. Usually pretty cheap to take one class at a time through something like an Adult and Continuing Education program.
To be clear, I’m Canadian. As far as I’m aware big-boy colleges are the only option. They’re cheaper than the US ones, especially if you stay in province, but it’s still hundreds per credit.
Mines a toss up between microbiology and immunology, but I also totally get your favorite as it’s the basis for all sciences!
Awesome! What in particular draws you to microbiology and immunology, and what’s the most interesting thing that you’ve learned about it?
In the big picture, it’s due to the microscopic world having massive implications across life. I’ve also lost friends and family to autoimmune disorders and cancer, so my long term goal is to improve our understanding in the field. Immunology is super fascinating, but there’s more we don’t know than we know about the immune system. We don’t even understand how fever works or Tylenol from start to finish for example!
What makes you stoked about physics?
Autoimmune disorders and cancer are cruel diseases. The human body is essentially a universe of its own and there are so many things we’ve yet to understand about it. I’m sorry for your loss and I’m sure you’ll make some great contributions!
Physics gets me stoked because of these tiny particles and fields that have huge implications across the universe and life as we know it. For example if the proton were heavier than the neutron, the whole universe would be very different. Everything relies on such a delicate balance and there’s so many mysteries about physics that we’ve yet to uncover for instance dark matter and dark energy! Then there’s quantum physics, which is notoriously hard to describe but very interesting to learn about nonetheless!
Maths, because its maths all the way down/up.
If we can pick math, then I choose logic.
Logic is all the hard work without the fun, but sure!
Relevant xkcd
Yep. If you count math as a science, math is my favorite.
If not, probably geology.
My favorite field of science is… Field Science…
There’s honestly a ton of stuff out there in the natural world that we can’t get data about any other way other than having field scientists out in, you know, actual fields and rivers and forests.
I’m not a scientist, but I can get down with that.
