A man sits down before a gun, which is pointed at his head. This is no ordinary gun; i­t's rigged to a machine that measures the spin of a quantum particle. Each time the trigger is pulled, the spin of the quantum particle -- or quark -- is measured. Depending on the measurement, the gun will either fire, or it won't. If the quantum particle is measured as spinning in a clockwise motion, the gun will fire. If the quark is spinning counterclockwise, the gun won't go off. There'll only be a click.

Chances are your experiences with the phrase "fight fire with fire" have more to do with the opening track on Metallica's 1984 album "Ride the Lightning" than they do with actual flames. Or when your closest friend hears about your nasty breakup and says, "Girl, you better fight fire with fire," this usually isn't encouragement to purchase a flamethrower. Likewise, don't take that halftime pep talk too seriously. Your football coach isn't suggesting a fourth-quarter napalm strike on the home team.

Fractals are a paradox. Amazingly simple, yet infinitely complex. New, but older than dirt. What are fractals? Where did they come from? Why should I care?

The contributions in the subject of mathematics of some famous mathematicians are furnished below.

One can live without food for almost a month but survive no longer than a week without water. Yet, although almost half of the world’s population live in water-scarce countries, there actually is enough of this precious liquid for everyone.

Nanotechnology

Let's be clear here: nanotechnology is nothing more than a means to an end. Programming some sort of self-replicating von Neumann machine to eat the entire Earth up has its own massive problems (like, won't the ones at the bottom be crushed into their constituent atoms?), but even if it worked - you haven't destroyed the Earth. You've just got a planet made of nanobots that still needs destroying somehow. Program them to hurl themselves into space? Well, that's Meticulous Deconstruction, above.

To be listed here, a method must actually work. That is, according to current scientific understanding, it must be possible for the Earth to actually be destroyed by this method, however improbable or impractical it may be.

Skywatchers have been trying to gauge the sun-Earth distance for thousands of years. In the third century BC, Aristarchus of Samos, notable as the first to argue for a heliocentric solar system, estimated the sun to be 20 times farther away than the moon. It wasn't his best work, as the real factor is more like 400.

All the planets in the solar system rotate anticlockwise, except one. Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise. Venus (radius 3,760.4 miles) is similar to Earth (radius 3,963.19 miles) in size and structure but spins very slowly; a day on Venus is 243 Earth days long.

On 22 February 2003, the Daily Telegraph (London, England) published a front-page story announcing Isaac Newton's prediction that the world would end in 2060.  Although the 2060 date was not news to the small community of scholars who study Newton's theology, this was the first time the wider public became aware of Newton's prophetic views.

Irish scientist, Dr. Dionysius Lardner (1793 – 1859) didn’t believe that trains could contribute much in speedy transport. He wrote: “Rail travel at high speed is not possible, because passengers ‘ would die of asphyxia’ [suffocation].” Today, trains reach speeds of 500 km/h.

While the movies and YouTube videos might have you believe that asteroids are heading straight toward Earth the European Space Agency, who monitor thousands of nearby stars, asteroids and comets, says it is highly unlikely that any sizable space object will hit earth during the next half-million years.

There are many examples of inventions that were way ahead of their time. So much so that some would not come into use for another thousand years and some would only come into general use almost 100 years after they were designed.

The landscape after Pinatubo's eruption may give a glimpse of what early humans experienced.

The first sign that something had gone terribly wrong was a deep rumbling roar. Hours later the choking ash arrived, falling like snow in a relentless storm that raged for over two weeks. Despite being more than 2000 kilometres from the eruption, hominins living as far away as eastern India would have felt Toba's fury.

Being a scientist, doctor or a researcher takes dedication and a sometimes a thirst for knowledge…at any price. These ten researchers took the ultimate challenge and tested their theories on themselves, sometimes with fatal results. Here are the top 10 researchers who used themselves as lab rats.

Have you ever wondered what would happen if our life cycles were reversed, that is if we were born old and died young?

In 1637 Rene Descartes, the French mathematician and philosopher, predicted that it would never be possible to make a machine that thinks as humans do.

One of the best aspects of science has always been its readiness to admit when it got something wrong.

Do you think Russia and the USA are enemies? Check this out!