The huge mysteries we still can’t explain

In this season of reflection, it's awe-inspiring to consider how so much is still beyond our scientific understanding — from the big questions of the origins of the universe and life, to the more mundane.  

Scientists have long been admirably striving in the hugely important work of curing many diseases, but have a long way to go. They don’t know what causes aging at a fundamental level, or if it can be reversed. 

Scientists only partially understand what causes intelligence or consciousness. They have a limited understanding of why people sleepwalk, talk in their sleep, dream, often can’t remember dreams, or sometimes get déjà vu. They don’t fully understand how memories are stored, retrieved, altered and erased, and how memory works at a molecular level. 

Scientists have many theories, but aren’t completely sure why humans hiccup, yawn, blush, laugh or cry tears. For example, why when we find something funny do we physically express it by rhythmically expelling air? It’s funny when you think about it.

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We haven’t ascertained exactly why placebos work even when people know they are getting a placebo. Or why we get songs stuck in our heads. And so much more. 

On a larger, planetary scale, we don’t know what triggers the Earth’s magnetic field to reverse — with the magnetic north and south poles switching places — roughly every 250,000 years. (We know that swirling liquid iron in our planet’s core generates magnetic fields, but we don’t understand what gets the pole reversal started.) 

Some scientific questions are truly vast and hard to fathom. Obviously, we don’t know if the universe is infinite, or if we are alone here. We don’t know what happened before the Big Bang (which is compatible with religious creation stories) or if there are dimensions beyond space and time.

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In fact, scientists are still figuring out the majority of the universe. They estimate that about 70% of the entire universe is "dark energy," a mysterious form of energy that seems to be making the universe’s expansion accelerate, rather than slow down, over time. A repulsive force that counteracts gravity, dark energy is invisible and everywhere. "The nature of dark energy is still not well understood," Britannica explains. 

Also mind-boggling, about 85% of all matter in the universe is "dark matter" — invisible particles that scientists have yet to identify. Dark matter is invisible too, as it doesn’t emit, absorb, or reflect light. We know it exists because of the way it influences things we can see: Stars orbit around galaxies too fast for the visible mass to keep them from flying apart, so some invisible mass is at work. One candidate particle is the tiny axion, a particle with ten-trillionth of the mass of an electron. 

We don’t know how the universe will end, but the most widely supported theory is "The Big Freeze," in which it expands forever, with stars burning out, matter decaying, and the universe becoming cold, dark and empty. Or it could collapse or be torn apart.

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One of the biggest unsolved questions in theoretical physics is whether there is a unified theory, sometimes called "A Theory of Everything," that combines quantum mechanics (think atoms, particles and electromagnetism) and general relativity (Albert Einstein’s theory of gravity). 

Suffice to say that the humble human, despite all of our learning, has a lot to figure out. We have yet to see what level of intelligence machines will reach and how far we can go in creating new life-forms. As much as we have explored our planet, scientists estimate that probably around 6 million to 10 million species are undiscovered — far more species than discovered.

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Not only do humans have many unanswered scientific questions, but, of course, science can’t answer big questions beyond observable reality, such as: Why is there something rather than nothing? Why does the universe have its specific physical laws? Do we have free will? What is the meaning of life? 

Contemplating creation, the infinite and the invisible, energy and mass, and our own consciousness, inspires awe and humility.

For some, the answer to the wonder is worship. 

David says in Psalm 19:1, NIV, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." And as 1 Corinthians 13:12, KJV, puts it, "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."