Curiosity (from Latin cūriōsitās , from cūriōsus "careful, diligent, curious", akin to cura "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking , such as exploration, investigation, and learning , evident in humans and other animals. Curiosity helps human development , from which derives the process of learning and desire to acquire knowledge and skill .
109-640: Pacific Science Center is an independent, nonprofit science center in Seattle with a mission to ignite curiosity and fuel a passion for discovery , experimentation , and critical thinking . Pacific Science Center serves more than 1 million people each year at its campus adjacent to Seattle Center , at the Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center in Bellevue, Washington , and in communities and classrooms across
218-531: A human mission to Mars . Over the last decade, flight surgeons and scientists at NASA have seen a pattern of vision problems in astronauts on long-duration space missions. The syndrome, known as visual impairment intracranial pressure (VIIP) , has been reported in nearly two-thirds of space explorers after long periods spent aboard the International Space Station (ISS). On 2 November 2017, scientists reported that significant changes in
327-724: A "spacewalk"), on 18 March 1965, on the Soviet Union's Voskhod 2 mission. This was followed two and a half months later by astronaut Ed White who made the first American EVA on NASA's Gemini 4 mission. The first crewed mission to orbit the Moon, Apollo 8 , included American William Anders who was born in Hong Kong, making him the first Asian-born astronaut in 1968. The Soviet Union, through its Intercosmos program, allowed people from other " socialist " (i.e. Warsaw Pact and other Soviet-allied) countries to fly on its missions, with
436-451: A 33.1% variation in math scores and 15.5% variation in science scores when tested on a standardized academic exam. Other measures of childhood curiosity used exploratory behaviour as a basis but differed on which parts of this behaviour to focus on. Some studies examined children's preference for complexity/the unknown as a basis for their curiosity measure; others relied on novelty preference as their basis. Researchers also examined
545-534: A bin of balls. The entire exhibition had been originally designed as an exhibit for the IBM Pavilion at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair . It was permanently removed around 1980. An aerospace building contained a full-sized lunar module mockup from which suited astronauts would climb out. The Life Building contained the Sea Monster House , a replica of a First Nations longhouse , as well as
654-495: A call for public art which would demonstrate the use of solar energy. The resulting installation was designed by Seattle artist Dan Corson and involves five 10 meter (33 ft) tall sculptures of flowers, inspired by the Australian firewheel tree . The work is titled Sonic Bloom and generates electricity using solar panels mounted in the flower heads. The flowers hum when people approach them and light up at night. Today,
763-549: A crewed spacecraft, several other nations have sent people into space in cooperation with one of these countries, e.g. the Soviet-led Interkosmos program. Inspired partly by these missions, other synonyms for astronaut have entered occasional English usage. For example, the term spationaut (French: spationaute ) is sometimes used to describe French space travelers, from the Latin word spatium for "space";
872-672: A fleet of vans that bring hands-on science education to schools throughout the Pacific Northwest. The center also has a division of staff whose purpose is to assist teachers in teaching science to their students. The center's original buildings were the United States Science Pavilion designed by Minoru Yamasaki for the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle . The World of Science, along with the Worlds of Art, Entertainment, Commerce and Industry, and Tomorrow were
981-470: A longer period of time than neutral or positive images. Curiosity can be a temporary state of being, or a stable trait in an individual. State curiosity is external—wondering why things happen just for the sake of curiousness, for example wondering why most stores open at 8 a.m. Trait curiosity describes people who are interested in learning, for example by trying out a new sport or food, or traveling to an unfamiliar place. One can look at curiosity as
1090-399: A more comprehensive theory for curiosity. Research suggests that desiring new information involves mesolimbic pathways of the brain that account for dopamine activation. The use of these pathways, and dopamine activation, may be how the brain assigns value to new information and interprets this as reward. This theory from neurobiology can supplement curiosity-drive theory by explaining
1199-500: A motivated desire for information. This motivational desire has been said to stem from a passion or an appetite for knowledge, information, and understanding. Traditional ideas of curiosity have expanded to consider the difference between perceptual curiosity , as the innate exploratory behavior that is present in all animals, and epistemic curiosity , as the desire for knowledge that is specifically attributed to humans. Daniel Berlyne recognized three classes of variables playing
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#17327719500551308-452: A need to understand or make sense of topics that surround harm, violence, or death. This can be attributed to one's need to relate unusual and often difficult circumstances to a primary emotion or experience of one's own, described as meta-emotions . One explanation evolutionary biologists offer for curiosity about death is that by learning about life-threatening situations, death can be avoided. Another suggestion some psychologists posit
1417-499: A previous movie theater there showed films such as NASA's Apollo 8 (to the soundtrack of Yellow Submarine) and The 21st Century with Walter Cronkite . Before being elected governor of the state of Washington, Dixy Lee Ray , served as Science Center director for many years. Ray helped promote the Science Center among school children by hosting a school-age geared science program televised on Seattle PBS station KCTS-9 . In
1526-625: A researcher from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who flew on STS-9 in 1983. In December 1990, Toyohiro Akiyama became the first paying space traveler and the first journalist in space for Tokyo Broadcasting System , a visit to Mir as part of an estimated $ 12 million (USD) deal with a Japanese TV station, although at the time, the term used to refer to Akiyama was "Research Cosmonaut". Akiyama suffered severe space sickness during his mission, which affected his productivity. The first self-funded space tourist
1635-416: A reward value associated with them, the anticipated reward of what learning that new information may bring. With stronger associations and more attention devoted to a stimulus, it is probable that the memory formed from that stimulus will be longer lasting and easier to recall, both of which facilitate better learning . The hippocampus is important in memory formation and recall and therefore in determining
1744-718: A role in evoking curiosity: psychophysical variables, ecological variables, and collative variables. Psychophysical variables correspond to physical intensity , ecological variables to motivational significance and task relevance. Collative variables involve a comparison between different stimuli or features, which may be actually perceived or which may be recalled from memory. Berlyne mentioned four collative variables: novelty , complexity , uncertainty , and conflict (though he suggested that all collative variables probably involve conflict). Additionally, he considered three variables supplementary to novelty: change, surprisingness , and incongruity . Finally, curiosity may not only be aroused by
1853-408: A role in one's ability to successfully navigate social interactions by perceiving and processing one's own behavior and the behavior of others. It also plays a role in helping one adapt to varying social situations. Morbid curiosity is focused on death, violence, or any other event that may cause harm physically or emotionally. It typically is described as having an addictive quality, associated with
1962-439: A sensation of uncertainty or perceived unpleasantness. Curiosity then acts to dispel this uncertainty. By exhibiting curious and exploratory behavior, one is able to gain knowledge of the unfamiliar and thus reduce the state of uncertainty or unpleasantness. This theory, however, does not address the idea that curiosity can often be displayed even in the absence of new or unfamiliar situations. This type of exploratory behavior, too,
2071-459: A traveling robotic dinosaur exhibit, which led to the center eventually installing a permanent dinosaur display in the 1990s. Pacific Science Center hosted the annual Association of Science and Technology Centers conference in October 1987 and opened several major exhibits in the same period, including Kids Works , Body Works , an animal area, and a tide pool. The Pacific Science Center complex
2180-509: A working hydraulic model of Puget Sound and the Mount Baker volcanic exhibit. With the physical sciences, the physics witch on Halloween would ask "Would you like to boil blood in a paper cup?" or Groucho Marx would dump liquid nitrogen on the ponds after a demo. The presenters in question here were Janie Mann, who did dynamic combustion shows dressed as a witch circa 1977–78, and Dan Cox, who did physics demos as Groucho Marx in
2289-584: Is John Glenn , one of the Mercury 7 , who was 77 when he flew on STS-95 . The longest time spent in space was by Russian Valeri Polyakov , who spent 438 days there. As of 2006, the most spaceflights by an individual astronaut is seven, a record held by both Jerry L. Ross and Franklin Chang-Diaz . The farthest distance from Earth an astronaut has traveled was 401,056 km (249,205 mi), when Jim Lovell , Jack Swigert , and Fred Haise went around
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#17327719500552398-413: Is a neurodegenerative disease that degrades memory. Depression is a mood disorder that is characterized by a lack of interest in one's environment and feelings of sadness or hopelessness. A lack of curiosity for novel stimuli might be a predictor for these and other illnesses. Social curiosity is defined as a drive to understand one's environment as it relates to sociality with others. Such curiosity plays
2507-570: Is a part of the brain that coordinates motivation with body movement. The striatum likely plays a role in attention and reward anticipation, both of which are important in provoking curiosity. The precuneus is a region of the brain that is involved in attention, episodic memory, and visuospatial processing. There is a correlation between the amount of grey matter in the precuneus and levels of curious and exploratory behaviors. This suggests that precuneus density has an influence on levels of curiosity. Memory plays an important role in curiosity. Memory
2616-433: Is a primary or secondary drive and if this curiosity-drive originates due to one's need to make sense of and regulate one's environment or if it is caused by an external stimulus. Causes can range from basic needs that need to be satisfied (e.g. hunger, thirst) to needs in fear-induced situations. Each of these derived theories state that whether the need is primary or secondary, curiosity develops from experiences that create
2725-863: Is also where the Shuttle Training Aircraft is maintained and developed, although most flights of the aircraft are conducted from Edwards Air Force Base . Astronauts in training must learn how to control and fly the Space Shuttle; further, it is vital that they are familiar with the International Space Station so they know what they must do when they get there. The master's degree requirement can also be met by: Mission Specialist Educators , or "Educator Astronauts", were first selected in 2004; as of 2007, there are three NASA Educator astronauts: Joseph M. Acaba , Richard R. Arnold , and Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger . Barbara Morgan , selected as back-up teacher to Christa McAuliffe in 1985,
2834-436: Is anticipated that remote guided ultrasound will have application on Earth in emergency and rural care situations, where access to a trained physician is often rare. A 2006 Space Shuttle experiment found that Salmonella typhimurium , a bacterium that can cause food poisoning , became more virulent when cultivated in space. More recently, in 2017, bacteria were found to be more resistant to antibiotics and to thrive in
2943-800: Is associated with their curiosity development. Several studies of children's curiosity simply observe their interaction with novel and familiar toys. Evidence suggests a relationship between the anxiety children might feel and their curiosity. One study found that object curiosity in 11-year-olds was negatively related to psychological maladjusted so children who exhibit more anxiety in classroom settings engage in less curious behaviour. Certain aspects of classroom learning may depend on curiosity, which can be affected by students' anxiety. An aptitude for curiosity in adolescents may produce higher academic performance. One study revealed that, of 568 high school students, those who exhibited an aptitude for curiosity, in conjunction with motivation and creativity, showed
3052-522: Is called an astronaut . The first known use of the term "astronaut" in the modern sense was by Neil R. Jones in his 1930 short story "The Death's Head Meteor". The word itself had been known earlier; for example, in Percy Greg 's 1880 book Across the Zodiac , "astronaut" referred to a spacecraft. In Les Navigateurs de l'infini (1925) by J.-H. Rosny aîné , the word astronautique ( astronautics )
3161-438: Is common in many species. A human toddler, if bored in his current situation devoid of arousing stimuli, will walk about until he finds something interesting. The observation of curiosity even in the absence of novel stimuli pinpoints one of the major shortcomings in the curiosity-drive model. Optimal-arousal theory developed out of the need to explain this desire to seek out opportunities to engage in exploratory behaviors without
3270-644: Is considered to be the first Educator astronaut by the media, but she trained as a mission specialist. The Educator Astronaut program is a successor to the Teacher in Space program from the 1980s. Astronauts are susceptible to a variety of health risks including decompression sickness , barotrauma , immunodeficiencies , loss of bone and muscle , loss of eyesight , orthostatic intolerance , sleep disturbances , and radiation injury. A variety of large scale medical studies are being conducted in space via
3379-472: Is defined as the positive reinforcement of an action, reinforcement that encourages a particular behavior by means of the emotional sensations of relief, pleasure, and satisfaction that correlate with happiness. Many areas in the brain process reward and come together to form what is called the reward pathway. In this pathway many neurotransmitters play a role in the activation of the reward sensation, including dopamine , serotonin , and opioids . Dopamine
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3488-458: Is how the brain stores and accesses stored information. If curiosity is the desire to seek out and understand unfamiliar or novel stimuli, memory helps determine if the stimulus is indeed unfamiliar. In order to determine if a stimulus is novel, an individual must remember if the stimulus has been encountered before. Curiosity may also affect memory. Stimuli that are novel tend to capture more of our attention. Additionally, novel stimuli usually have
3597-402: Is important in development, as curiosity and exploratory behavior are the largest facilitators of learning during early years. The sensation pleasure of "liking" can occur when opioids are released by the nucleus accumbens. This helps someone evaluate the unfamiliar situation or environment and attach value to the novel object. These processes of both wanting and liking play a role in activating
3706-552: Is important in processing emotional reactions towards novel or unexpected stimuli and the induction of exploratory behavior. This suggests a connection between curiosity levels and the amygdala. However, more research is needed on direct correlation. Jean Piaget argued that babies and children constantly try to make sense of their reality and that this contributes to their intellectual development. According to Piaget, children develop hypotheses, conduct experiments, and then reassess their hypotheses depending on what they observe. Piaget
3815-403: Is increased, which activates processes with the expected consequence of increasing consistency and decreasing arousal." Similar to optimal-arousal theory, cognitive-consistency theory suggests that there is a tendency to maintain arousal at a preferred, or expected, level, but it also explicitly links the amount of arousal to the amount of experienced inconsistency between an expected situation and
3924-524: Is linked to curiosity, as it assigns and retains reward values of information gained. Research suggests higher amounts of dopamine are released when the reward is unknown and the stimulus is unfamiliar, compared to activation of dopamine when stimulus is familiar. The nucleus accumbens is a formation of neurons that is important in reward pathway activation—such as the release of dopamine in investigating response to novel or exciting stimuli. The fast dopamine release observed during childhood and adolescence
4033-484: Is linked with exploratory behavior and experiences of reward. Curiosity can be described in terms of positive emotions and acquiring knowledge; when one's curiosity has been aroused it is considered inherently rewarding and pleasurable. Discovering new information may also be rewarding because it can help reduce undesirable states of uncertainty rather than stimulating interest. Theories have arisen in attempts to further understand this need to rectify states of uncertainty and
4142-460: Is strictly defined as the navigation of outer space within the local star system , i.e. Solar System . The phrase tàikōng rén ( 太空人 , "spaceman") is often used in Hong Kong and Taiwan . The term taikonaut is used by some English-language news media organizations for professional space travelers from China . The word has featured in the Longman and Oxford English dictionaries, and
4251-466: Is termed neophilia , the love of new things. For animals, a fear of the unknown or the new, neophobia , is much more common, especially later in life. Many species display curiosity including apes , cats , and rodents . It is common in human beings at all ages from infancy through adulthood . Research has shown that curiosity is not a fixed attribute amongst humans but rather can be nurtured and developed. Early definitions of curiosity call it
4360-404: Is that as spectators of gruesome events, humans are seeking to empathize with the victim. Alternatively, people may be trying to understand how another person can become the perpetrator of harm. According to science journalist Erika Engelhaupt, morbid curiosity is not "a desire to be sad", instead it "has the ability to set our minds ... at ease be reassuring us that even death follows the rules of
4469-633: The Ancient Greek ἄστρον ( astron ), meaning 'star', and ναύτης ( nautes ), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft . Although generally reserved for professional space travelers, the term is sometimes applied to anyone who travels into space, including scientists, politicians, journalists, and tourists . "Astronaut" technically applies to all human space travelers regardless of nationality. However, astronauts fielded by Russia or
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4578-575: The International Space Station : The first NASA astronauts were selected for training in 1959. Early in the space program, military jet test piloting and engineering training were often cited as prerequisites for selection as an astronaut at NASA, although neither John Glenn nor Scott Carpenter (of the Mercury Seven ) had any university degree, in engineering or any other discipline at the time of their selection. Selection
4687-604: The Kármán line , at an altitude of 100 kilometers (62 mi). In the United States, professional, military, and commercial astronauts who travel above an altitude of 80 kilometres (50 mi) are awarded astronaut wings . As of 17 November 2016 , 552 people from 36 countries have reached 100 km (62 mi) or more in altitude, of whom 549 reached low Earth orbit or beyond. Of these, 24 people have traveled beyond low Earth orbit, either to lunar orbit,
4796-693: The Malay term angkasawan (deriving from angkasa meaning 'space') was used to describe participants in the Angkasawan program (note its similarity with the Indonesian term antariksawan ). Plans of the Indian Space Research Organisation to launch its crewed Gaganyaan spacecraft have spurred at times public discussion if another term than astronaut should be used for the crew members, suggesting vyomanaut (from
4905-846: The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) to address these issues. Prominent among these is the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity Study in which astronauts (including former ISS commanders Leroy Chiao and Gennady Padalka ) perform ultrasound scans under the guidance of remote experts to diagnose and potentially treat hundreds of medical conditions in space. This study's techniques are now being applied to cover professional and Olympic sports injuries as well as ultrasound performed by non-expert operators in medical and high school students. It
5014-474: The People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps astronauts and their foreign counterparts are all officially called hángtiānyuán ( 航天员 , meaning "heaven navigator" or literally " heaven-sailing staff"). Since 1961, 600 astronauts have flown in space. Until 2002, astronauts were sponsored and trained exclusively by governments, either by the military or by civilian space agencies. With the suborbital flight of
5123-724: The Sanskrit word vyoman meaning 'sky' or 'space') or gagannaut (from the Sanskrit word gagan for 'sky'). In Finland , the NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra , a Finnish American , has sometimes been referred to as sisunautti , from the Finnish word sisu . Across Germanic languages, the word for "astronaut" typically translates to "space traveler", as it does with German's Raumfahrer , Dutch's ruimtevaarder , Swedish's rymdfarare , and Norwegian's romfarer . As of 2021 in
5232-611: The Shenzhou 5 spacecraft. On 30 May 2020, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken became the first astronauts to launch on a private crewed spacecraft, Crew Dragon . The youngest person to reach space is Oliver Daemen , who was 18 years and 11 months old when he made a suborbital spaceflight on Blue Origin NS-16 . Daemen, who was a commercial passenger aboard the New Shepard , broke the record of Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov , who
5341-572: The Soviet Union are typically known instead as cosmonauts (from the Russian "kosmos" (космос), meaning "space", also borrowed from Greek κόσμος ). Comparatively recent developments in crewed spaceflight made by China have led to the rise of the term taikonaut (from the Mandarin "tàikōng" ( 太空 ), meaning "space"), although its use is somewhat informal and its origin is unclear. In China,
5450-413: The anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex correspond to both conflict and arousal and, as such, seem to reinforce certain exploratory models of curiosity. Cortisol is a chemical known for its role in stress regulation. However, cortisol may also be associated with curious or exploratory behavior. Studies suggesting a role of cortisol in curiosity support optimal arousal theory. They suggest
5559-498: The planet Mars , may substantially damage the gastrointestinal tissues of astronauts. The studies support earlier work that found such journeys could significantly damage the brains of astronauts, and age them prematurely. Researchers in 2018 reported, after detecting the presence on the International Space Station (ISS) of five Enterobacter bugandensis bacterial strains, none pathogenic to humans, that microorganisms on ISS should be carefully monitored to continue assuring
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#17327719500555668-450: The reward system of the brain, and perhaps in the stimulation of curious or information-seeking tendencies as well. The caudate nucleus is a region of the brain that is highly responsive to dopamine, and is another component of the reward pathway. Research suggests that the caudate nucleus anticipates the possibility of and reward of exploratory behavior and gathered information, thus contributing to factors of curiosity. Regions of
5777-543: The " Vomit Comet ," the nickname given to a pair of modified KC-135s (retired in 2000 and 2004, respectively, and replaced in 2005 with a C-9 ) which perform parabolic flights. Astronauts are also required to accumulate a number of flight hours in high-performance jet aircraft. This is mostly done in T-38 jet aircraft out of Ellington Field , due to its proximity to the Johnson Space Center . Ellington Field
5886-546: The 100 kilometers (54 nautical miles) line, qualifying him by the international definition of spaceflight. Walker had joined the US Army Air Force but was not a member during his flight. The first people in space who had never been a member of any country's armed forces were both Konstantin Feoktistov and Boris Yegorov aboard Voskhod 1 . The first non-governmental space traveler was Byron K. Lichtenberg ,
5995-461: The Earth was John Glenn , aboard Friendship 7 on 20 February 1962. The first American woman in space was Sally Ride , during Space Shuttle Challenger 's mission STS-7 , on 18 June 1983. In 1992, Mae Jemison became the first African American woman to travel in space aboard STS-47 . Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov was the first person to conduct an extravehicular activity (EVA), (commonly called
6104-533: The European Space Agency envisioned recruiting an astronaut with a physical disability, a category they called "parastronauts", with the intention but not guarantee of spaceflight. The categories of disability considered for the program were individuals with lower limb deficiency (either through amputation or congenital), leg length difference, or a short stature (less than 130 centimetres or 4 feet 3 inches). On 23 November 2022, John McFall
6213-514: The Moon during the Apollo 13 emergency. The first civilian in space was Valentina Tereshkova aboard Vostok 6 (she also became the first woman in space on that mission). Tereshkova was only honorarily inducted into the USSR's Air Force, which did not accept female pilots at that time. A month later, Joseph Albert Walker became the first American civilian in space when his X-15 Flight 90 crossed
6322-548: The Pacific Science Center is composed of eight buildings, including two IMAX theaters (one of only a few places in the world with more than one IMAX theater), one of the world's largest Laser Dome theaters, a tropical butterfly house, a planetarium , and hundreds of hands-on science exhibits. In addition to a number of permanent exhibits the center also hosts a variety of traveling and temporary exhibits. Curiosity The term curiosity can also denote
6431-455: The Russian kosmonavt, such as the Polish : kosmonauta (although Poles also used astronauta , and the two words are considered synonyms). Coinage of the term космонавт has been credited to Soviet aeronautics (or " cosmonautics ") pioneer Mikhail Tikhonravov (1900–1974). The first cosmonaut was Soviet Air Force pilot Yuri Gagarin , also the first person in space. He was part of
6540-607: The United States, astronaut status is conferred on a person depending on the authorizing agency: On July 20, 2021, the FAA issued an order redefining the eligibility criteria to be an astronaut in response to the private suborbital spaceflights of Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson . The new criteria states that one must have "[d]emonstrated activities during flight that were essential to public safety, or contributed to human space flight safety" to qualify as an astronaut. This new definition excludes Bezos and Branson. The first human in space
6649-614: The World's Fair are the Lens and Mirror Machine and a suspended model of the Earth's moon. One of the more notable science exhibits during the World's Fair was a ramp where the buildings were built at a tilt (the "illusion ramp"); this exhibit was reproduced in the late 1990s. The domed Spacerium, now known as the Seattle Laser Dome and used for laser light show , was designed for a wide-angle movie journey through space. Before IMAX ,
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#17327719500556758-407: The actually perceived situation. When this inconsistency is small, exploratory behavior triggered by curiosity is employed to gather information with which expectancy can be updated through learning to match perception, thereby reducing inconsistency. This approach associates curiosity with aggression and fear . If the inconsistency is larger, fear or aggressive behavior may be employed to alter
6867-573: The behavior, characteristic, or emotion of being curious, in regard to the desire to gain knowledge or information . Curiosity as a behavior and emotion is the driving force behind human development, such as progress in science , language , and industry. Curiosity can be considered to be an evolutionary adaptation based on an organism's ability to learn. Certain curious animals (namely, corvids , octopuses , dolphins , elephants , rats , etc. ) will pursue information in order to adapt to their surrounding and learn how things work. This behavior
6976-433: The center for the next two decades. His leadership team in the 1980s included Diane Carlson in public programs, Dennis Schatz in education and exhibits, and Dave Taylor in exhibits. In 1984 the science center took a gamble on hosting the exhibit China: 7000 Years of Discovery . The success of the exhibit helped put PSC on the map as a leading science center. Other notable successes later in the decade were several iterations of
7085-500: The desire to participate in pleasurable experiences of exploratory behaviors. Curiosity-drive theory posits undesirable experiences of " uncertainty " and " ambiguity ". The reduction of these unpleasant feelings is rewarding. This theory suggests that people desire coherence and understanding in their thought processes. When this coherence is disrupted by something that is unfamiliar, uncertain, or ambiguous, an individual's curiosity-drive causes them to collect information and knowledge of
7194-498: The environment is boring and lacks excitement, arousal is reduced below the optimal point and exploratory behavior is employed to increase information input and stimulation, and thereby increasing arousal again. This theory addresses both curiosity elicited by uncertain or unfamiliar situations and curiosity elicited in the absence of such situations. Cognitive-consistency theories assume that "when two or more simultaneously active cognitive structures are logically inconsistent, arousal
7303-653: The first Asian in space when he flew aboard Soyuz 37 . Also in 1980, Cuban Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez became the first person of Hispanic and black African descent to fly in space, and in 1983, Guion Bluford became the first African American to fly into space. In April 1985, Taylor Wang became the first ethnic Chinese person in space. The first person born in Africa to fly in space was Patrick Baudry (France), in 1985. In 1985, Saudi Arabian Prince Sultan Bin Salman Bin AbdulAziz Al-Saud became
7412-437: The first American to ride to space on board a Russian launch vehicle, and thus became the first "American cosmonaut". In Chinese, the term Yǔ háng yuán ( 宇航员 , "cosmos navigating personnel") is used for astronauts and cosmonauts in general, while hángtiān yuán ( 航天员 , "navigating celestial-heaven personnel") is used for Chinese astronauts. Here, hángtiān ( 航天 , literally "heaven-navigating", or spaceflight )
7521-551: The first Arab Muslim astronaut in space. In 1988, Abdul Ahad Mohmand became the first Afghan to reach space, spending nine days aboard the Mir space station. With the increase of seats on the Space Shuttle, the U.S. began taking international astronauts. In 1983, Ulf Merbold of West Germany became the first non-US citizen to fly in a US spacecraft. In 1984, Marc Garneau became the first of eight Canadian astronauts to fly in space (through 2010). In 1985, Rodolfo Neri Vela became
7630-418: The first Mexican-born person in space. In 1991, Helen Sharman became the first Briton to fly in space. In 2002, Mark Shuttleworth became the first citizen of an African country to fly in space, as a paying spaceflight participant. In 2003, Ilan Ramon became the first Israeli to fly in space, although he died during a re-entry accident . On 15 October 2003, Yang Liwei became China's first astronaut on
7739-698: The first person in space twice. Space travelers have spent over 41,790 man-days (114.5-man-years) in space, including over 100 astronaut-days of spacewalks . As of 2024 , the man with the longest cumulative time in space is Oleg Kononenko , who has spent over 1100 days in space. Peggy A. Whitson holds the record for the most time in space by a woman, at 675 days. In 1959, when both the United States and Soviet Union were planning, but had yet to launch humans into space, NASA Administrator T. Keith Glennan and his Deputy Administrator, Hugh Dryden , discussed whether spacecraft crew members should be called astronauts or cosmonauts . Dryden preferred "cosmonaut", on
7848-507: The first six Soviet citizens, with German Titov , Yevgeny Khrunov , Andriyan Nikolayev , Pavel Popovich , and Grigoriy Nelyubov , who were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961. Valentina Tereshkova was the first female cosmonaut and the first and youngest woman to have flown in space with a solo mission on the Vostok 6 in 1963. On 14 March 1995, Norman Thagard became
7957-551: The five main theme areas that were installed the World's Fair. Located at the southernmost end of the fairgrounds and west of the Space Needle, the World of Science was located next to the arches, an easily-identifiable landmark. The fountains located at the entrance of the center appeared in the movie It Happened at the World's Fair with Elvis Presley . After the World's Fair closed, the US Science Pavilion
8066-434: The grounds that flights would occur in and to the broader cosmos , while the "astro" prefix suggested flight specifically to the stars . Most NASA Space Task Group members preferred "astronaut", which survived by common usage as the preferred American term. When the Soviet Union launched the first man into space, Yuri Gagarin in 1961, they chose a term which anglicizes to "cosmonaut". A professional space traveler
8175-514: The lunar surface, or, in one case, a loop around the Moon . Three of the 24— Jim Lovell , John Young and Eugene Cernan —did so twice. As of 17 November 2016 , under the U.S. definition, 558 people qualify as having reached space, above 50 miles (80 km) altitude. Of eight X-15 pilots who exceeded 50 miles (80 km) in altitude, only one, Joseph A. Walker , exceeded 100 kilometers (about 62.1 miles) and he did it two times, becoming
8284-538: The mid-1970s, the lower-level math area was dominated by the Mathematica: A World of Numbers... and Beyond exhibit, where demonstrators in orange jackets (known as "OJ"s) made soap bubbles and showed audiences how the stylish new Chevrolet Chevette was paving the way for the quick adoption of the Metric system . Upstairs, a giant apparatus known as the " probability machine " would ring an alarm before emptying out
8393-453: The most important or relevant of these stimuli. Individuals tend to focus on stimuli that are particularly stimulating or engaging. The more attention a stimulus garners, the more frequent one's energy and focus will be directed towards that stimulus. This suggests an individual will focus on new or unfamiliar stimuli in an effort to better understand or make sense of the unknown, rather than on more familiar or repetitive stimuli. The striatum
8502-513: The motivation of exploratory behavior. Although curiosity is widely regarded, its root causes are largely empirically unknown. However, some studies have provided insight into the neurological mechanisms that make up what is known as the reward pathway which may influence characteristics associated with curiosity, such as learning , memory , and motivation . Due to the complex nature of curiosity, research that focuses on specific neural processes with these characteristics can help us understand of
8611-488: The natural world." Interest in human curiosity about difficult circumstances dates back to Aristotle in his Poetics , in which he noted, "We enjoy and admire paintings of objects that in themselves would annoy or disgust us." In a 2017 paper, Suzanne Oosterwijk, a psychologist from the Netherlands , concluded that people choose to see graphic images even when presented the option to avoid them and look at them for
8720-459: The near-weightlessness of space. Microorganisms have been observed to survive the vacuum of outer space. On 31 December 2012, a NASA -supported study reported that human spaceflight may harm the brain and accelerate the onset of Alzheimer's disease . In October 2015, the NASA Office of Inspector General issued a health hazards report related to space exploration , including
8829-588: The notable exceptions of France and Austria participating in Soyuz TM-7 and Soyuz TM-13 , respectively. An example is Czechoslovak Vladimír Remek , the first cosmonaut from a country other than the Soviet Union or the United States , who flew to space in 1978 on a Soyuz-U rocket. Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian citizen to travel to space. He was launched aboard Soyuz T-11 , on 2 April 1984. On 23 July 1980, Pham Tuan of Vietnam became
8938-413: The novelty of various stimuli. Research suggests the hippocampus is involved in generating the motivation to explore for the purpose of learning. The parahippocampal gyrus (PHG), an area of grey matter surrounding the hippocampus, has been implicated in the amplification of curiosity. The amygdala is associated with emotional processing, particularly for the emotion of fear, as well as memory. It
9047-559: The perception in order to make it match expectancy, depending on the size of the inconsistency as well as the specific context. Aggressive behavior alters perception by forcefully manipulating it into matching the expected situation, while fear prompts flight, which removes the inconsistent stimulus from the perceptual field and thus resolves the inconsistency. Taking into account the shortcomings of both curiosity-drive and optimal-arousal theories, attempts have been made to integrate neurobiological aspects of reward , wanting, and pleasure into
9156-902: The perception of some stimulus associated with the aforementioned variables ("specific exploration"), but also by a lack of stimulation, out of " boredom " ("diversive exploration"). Curiosity-driven behavior is often defined as behavior through which knowledge is gained – a form of exploratory behavior. It therefore encompasses all behaviors that provide access to or increase sensory information. Berlyne divided curiosity-driven behavior into three categories: orienting responses , locomotor exploration, and investigatory responses or investigatory manipulation. Previously, Berlyne suggested that curiosity also includes verbal activities, such as asking questions, and symbolic activities, consisting of internally fueled mental processes such as thinking (" epistemic exploration"). Like other desires and need-states that take on an appetitive quality (e.g. food/hunger), curiosity
9265-399: The phenomenon of curiosity as a whole. The following are descriptions of characteristics of curiosity and their links to neurological aspects that are essential in creating exploratory behaviors: The drive to learn new information or perform some action may be prompted by the anticipation of reward . So what we learn about motivation and reward may help us to understand curiosity. Reward
9374-564: The position and structure of the brain have been found in astronauts who have taken trips in space , based on MRI studies . Astronauts who took longer space trips were associated with greater brain changes. Being in space can be physiologically deconditioning on the body. It can affect the otolith organs and adaptive capabilities of the central nervous system . Zero gravity and cosmic rays can cause many implications for astronauts. In October 2018, NASA -funded researchers found that lengthy journeys into outer space , including travel to
9483-449: The presence of uncertain or ambiguous situations. Optimal-arousal suggests that one can be motivated to maintain a pleasurable sense of arousal through such exploratory behaviors. When a stimulus is encountered that is associated with complexity, uncertainty, conflict, or novelty, this increases arousal above the optimal point, and exploratory behavior is employed to learn about that stimulus and thereby reduce arousal again. In contrast, if
9592-487: The privately funded SpaceShipOne in 2004, a new category of astronaut was created: the commercial astronaut . The criteria for what constitutes human spaceflight vary, with some focus on the point where the atmosphere becomes so thin that centrifugal force , rather than aerodynamic force , carries a significant portion of the weight of the flight object. The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) Sporting Code for astronautics recognizes only flights that exceed
9701-440: The relationship between a child's reaction to surprise and their curiosity. Children may be further motivated to learn when dealing with uncertainty. Their reactions to not having their expectations met may fuel their curiosity more than the introduction of a novel or complex object would. Curiosity has been of interest to philosophers. Curiosity has been recognised as an important intellectual (or "epistemic" ) virtue , due to
9810-450: The release of some cortisol, causing some stress, encourages curious behavior, while too much stress can initiate a "back away" response. Attention is important to curiosity because it allows one to selectively focus and concentrate on particular stimuli in the surrounding environment. As there are limited cognitive and sensory resources to understand and evaluate stimuli, attention allows the brain to better focus on what it perceives to be
9919-620: The right type of curiosity. Some believe that children's curiosity is discouraged throughout the process of formal education: "Children are born scientists. From the first ball they send flying to the ant they watch carry a crumb, children use science's tools—enthusiasm, hypotheses, tests, conclusions—to uncover the world's mysteries. But somehow students seem to lose what once came naturally." Neurodegenerative diseases and psychological disorders can affect various characteristics of curiosity. For example Alzheimer's disease 's effects on memory or depression affect motivation and reward. Alzheimer's
10028-474: The role that it plays in motivating people to acquire knowledge and understanding. It has also been considered an important moral virtue, as curiosity can help humans find meaning in their lives and to cultivate a sense of care about others and things in the world. When curiosity in young people leads to knowledge-gathering it is widely seen as a positive. Due to the importance of curiosity, people debate about whether contemporary societies effectively cultivate
10137-414: The same era. Cox would later go on to become a professor of physics. These staff were part of the "OJ" program (short for "Orange Jacket", the uniform of the time for Science Center tour guides and visitor assistants). The program consisted of 24 work study students, whose leader in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Carl Linde, set a format for the program that would last into the late 1990s. The Eames theater
10246-721: The state of Washington. Pacific Science Center sits on 7.1 acres (29,000 m) of land at the southwest corner of Seattle Center . A satellite campus, the Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center, is a collaboration between Pacific Science Center and the City of Bellevue, Washington with educational programming for all ages about environmental stewardship, wetland ecology and nature awareness. Pacific Science Center also offers year-round youth, teen, family and adult programs, including summer camps in various Puget Sound locations, science-themed 21+ events and research weekends. Pacific Science Center's outreach program, Science On Wheels, has
10355-600: The term astronaut for members of its Astronaut Corps . By convention, an astronaut employed by the Russian Federal Space Agency (or its predecessor, the Soviet space program ) is called a cosmonaut in English texts. The word is an Anglicization of kosmonavt (Russian: космонавт Russian pronunciation: [kəsmɐˈnaft] ). Other countries of the former Eastern Bloc use variations of
10464-616: The term became more common in 2003 when China sent its first astronaut Yang Liwei into space aboard the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft. This is the term used by Xinhua News Agency in the English version of the Chinese People's Daily since the advent of the Chinese space program. The origin of the term is unclear; as early as May 1998, Chiew Lee Yih ( 趙裡昱 ) from Malaysia used it in newsgroups . For its 2022 Astronaut Group ,
10573-402: The unfamiliar to restore coherent thought processes. This theory suggests that curiosity is developed out of the desire to make sense of unfamiliar aspects of one's environment through exploratory behaviors. Once understanding of the unfamiliar has been achieved and coherence has been restored, these behaviors and desires subside. Derivations of curiosity-drive theory differ on whether curiosity
10682-454: The urge that draws people out of their comfort zones and fears as the agents that keep them within those zones. AI agents can exhibit curiosity through intrinsic motivation . This can improve the success of an AI agent at various tasks. In artificial intelligence, curiosity is typically defined quantitatively, as the uncertainty the agent has in predicting its own actions given its current state. Astronaut An astronaut (from
10791-487: Was Dennis Tito on board the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TM-3 on 28 April 2001. The first person to fly on an entirely privately funded mission was Mike Melvill , piloting SpaceShipOne flight 15P on a suborbital journey, although he was a test pilot employed by Scaled Composites and not an actual paying space tourist. Jared Isaacman was the first person to self-fund a mission to orbit, commanding Inspiration4 in 2021. Nine others have paid Space Adventures to fly to
10900-456: Was 25 years old when he flew Vostok 2 . Titov remains the youngest human to reach orbit ; he rounded the planet 17 times. Titov was also the first person to suffer space sickness and the first person to sleep in space, twice. The oldest person to reach space is William Shatner , who was 90 years old when he made a suborbital spaceflight on Blue Origin NS-18 . The oldest person to reach orbit
11009-443: Was Soviet Yuri Gagarin , who was launched on 12 April 1961, aboard Vostok 1 and orbited around the Earth for 108 minutes. The first woman in space was Soviet Valentina Tereshkova , who launched on 16 June 1963, aboard Vostok 6 and orbited Earth for almost three days. Alan Shepard became the first American and second person in space on 5 May 1961, on a 15-minute sub-orbital flight aboard Freedom 7 . The first American to orbit
11118-530: Was designed by Minoru Yamasaki ; the design brought him international fame, and was featured on the front cover of Time magazine. He later became architect of the World Trade Center in New York City . The walls of each building, composed of many pre-cast concrete slabs, form an arch motif which was used by Yamasaki in a number of his other designs. In 2013 Pacific Science Center put out
11227-550: Was initially limited to military pilots. The earliest astronauts for both the US and the USSR tended to be jet fighter pilots, and were often test pilots. Once selected, NASA astronauts go through twenty months of training in a variety of areas, including training for extravehicular activity in a facility such as NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory . Astronauts-in-training (astronaut candidates) may also experience short periods of weightlessness ( microgravity ) in an aircraft called
11336-590: Was originally created for a special multi-screen IBM movie for the World Fair. It was later converted into an IMAX screen in 1979, the first of two IMAX theaters at the center. Pacific Science Center grew dramatically in the 1980s. A key step in its evolution was the hiring of George Moynihan as executive director in 1980. Moynihan, from the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley, California , would run
11445-498: Was re-opened as Pacific Science Center . The land and buildings were leased for $ 1.00 a year until 2004, when the title deed was signed over and the Pacific Science Center Foundation officially took ownership. During the 1960s, many of the center's exhibits were carried over from the original World's Fair exhibition; only a few of these original exhibits remain today. Currently, exhibits remaining from
11554-468: Was selected to be the first ESA parastronaut. With the rise of space tourism , NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency agreed to use the term " spaceflight participant " to distinguish those space travelers from professional astronauts on missions coordinated by those two agencies. While no nation other than Russia (and previously the Soviet Union), the United States, and China have launched
11663-515: Was the establishment of the annual International Astronautical Congress in 1950, and the subsequent founding of the International Astronautical Federation the following year. NASA applies the term astronaut to any crew member aboard NASA spacecraft bound for Earth orbit or beyond. NASA also uses the term as a title for those selected to join its Astronaut Corps . The European Space Agency similarly uses
11772-422: Was the first to closely document children's actions and interpret them as consistent, calculated efforts to test and learn about their environment. There is no universally accepted definition for curiosity in children. Most research on curiosity focused on adults and used self-report measures that are inappropriate and inapplicable for studying children. Exploratory behaviour is commonly observed in children and
11881-543: Was used. The word may have been inspired by "aeronaut", an older term for an air traveler first applied in 1784 to balloonists . An early use of "astronaut" in a non-fiction publication is Eric Frank Russell 's poem "The Astronaut", appearing in the November 1934 Bulletin of the British Interplanetary Society . The first known formal use of the term astronautics in the scientific community
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