[stelliosk]

There was a time not so long ago that people thought the Sun's heat came from burning a vast amout of coal and did not understand the concept of nuclear energy... today we know better. So by exploring the unknown we may unravel a mystery or discover something that improves the lives of mankind.

[stelliosk]

"Experts Doubt the Sun Is Actually Burning Coal Originally published in August 1863"

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-doubt-the...

[xref]

> is impossible that the sun should constantly be giving out heat, without either losing heat or being supplied with new fuel. Assuming that the heat of the sun has been kept up by meteoric bodies falling into it…

Neat article, they were asking all the right questions. Calculating how long a coal body could burn, and a mechanism/quantity required to refuel it based on the mass of the solar system

[anigbrowl]

Well, you don't need to persuade me. I love science and hanging out at a science museum or curling up on the couch with some new papers is my idea of a good time. But there are people that just don't get it.

A year or two back I was at a lecture about hummingbirds and the shockingly weird ways they fly and during the Q&A some lady kept asking 'but what's the point of this? Why does it matter?' leaving the lecturer (and everyone else) deeply confused.