Inspiring Video: The Biological Advantage of Being Awestruck

By Nancy Atkinson - July 31, 2012 at 2:46 PM UTC | Astrobiology
Hubble-centaurus-a.jpg

[embed]http://player.vimeo.com/video/46264514[/embed]

How many times a week do we use the word "awesome" here on Universe Today? While we haven't kept track, we admit it's quite often. We feel privileged to be able to share with you the incredible -- yes, awesome -- images, videos and stories of our exploration of space. And it turns out, being awestruck could actually be good for us.

"Our ability to awe was biologically selected for us by evolution because it imbues our lives with a sense of cosmic significance that has resulted in a species that works harder not just to survive but to flourish and thrive," writes filmmaker

Jason Silva

, who has produced this awesome new video about being awestruck.

Based on three different researcher's work, Silva's film highlights how having regular experiences of awe makes us feel good, provides a reason to live and love, spurs us to keep exploring and pushing onward, and provides an "unprecedented expansion of human vision." The video shows many images from space, especially pictures produced by the Hubble Space Telescope, and Silva told Universe Today that this video is actually dedicated to the HST.

Sit back and enjoy the wonder of being awestruck!

Caption: A firestorm of star birth in the active galaxy Centaurus A. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration

The Biological Advantage of Being Awestruck - by @Jason_Silva

from

Jason Silva

on

Vimeo

.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com