Cosmology

Max “Multiverse” Tegmark:

To me, the key point is that if theories are scientific, then it’s legitimate science to work out and discuss all their consequences even if they involve unobservable entities. For a theory to be falsifiable, we need not be able to observe and test all its predictions, merely at least one of them.

– in “The Case for Parallel Universes: Why the multiverse, crazy as it sounds, is a solid scientific idea” (Scientific American, July 19, 2011)

Good news! The Toronto Crystal Ball Association predicts a number of things, including the end of the world, the landing of the space aliens, the discovery of the origin of life, and that Read More ›

This is a serious science story, not like this one.

From MSNBC, we learn: “Breathe easier: Oxygen molecules found in deep space: For first time, after nearly 230-year search, they turn up in region of Orion nebula.” Which solves a mystery:

“Oxygen is the third-most-common element in the universe and its molecular form must be abundant in space,” said Bill Danchi, Herschel program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

So where is it? Read More ›

So says Ars Technica at Wired (August 1, 2011)

“Hawking used quantum theory to derive a result that was at odds with quantum theory,” as Nobel Laureate Gerard ‘t Hooft described the situation. Still, that wasn’t all bad; it created a paradox and “Paradoxes make physicists happy.”

“It was very hard to see what was wrong with what he was saying,” Susskind said, “and even harder to get Hawking to see what was wrong.” Read More ›

In “Existence: Are we alone in the universe?” (New Scientist, 25 July, 2011), Valerie Jamieson offers explanations for why space aliens just do not show:

But that doesn’t mean ET isn’t there. It just might not know we’re here. The only evidence of our existence that reaches beyond the solar system are radio signals and light from our cities. “We’ve only been broadcasting powerful radio signals since the second world war,” says Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. So our calling card has leaked just 70 light years into space, a drop in the ocean. If the Milky Way was the size of London and Earth was at the base of Nelson’s Column, our radio signals would still not have left Trafalgar Square (see diagram).

Maybe, but why do these people always sound a dumped girlfriend explaining why he never phones? Read More ›

In “Existence: Why is there a universe?” (New Scientist, 26 July 2011), Amanda Gefter asks,

Might something similar account for the origin of the universe itself? Quite plausibly, says Wilczek. “There is no barrier between nothing and a rich universe full of matter,” he says. Perhaps the big bang was just nothingness doing what comes naturally.

This, of course, raises the question of what came before the big bang, and how long it lasted. Unfortunately at this point basic ideas begin to fail us; the concept “before” becomes meaningless. In the words of Stephen Hawking, it’s like asking what is north of the north pole.

Even so, there is an even more mind-blowing consequence of the idea that something can come from nothing: perhaps nothingness itself cannot exist.

Indeed, Read More ›

In all seriousness, Michael Brooks asks , “Existence: Am I a zombie?” (New Scientist , 25 July 2011):

It is not so long ago that computers became powerful enough to let us create alternative worlds. We have countless games and simulations that are, effectively, worlds within our world. As technology improves, these simulated worlds will become ever more sophisticated. The “original” universe will eventually be populated by a near-infinite number of advanced, virtual civilisations. It is hard to imagine that they will not contain autonomous, conscious beings. Beings like you and me.

Okay, Brooks, how about this. Read More ›

At New Scientist (25 July 2011), Richard Webb asks, “Should we worry about what the LHC is not finding?” Skeptical math guy Peter Woit certainly thinks so (here). Webb reports,

Supersymmetry proposes that every particle predicted by the standard model has a meatier cousin that turns up only at extremely high energies. But the LHC has not found any such super-particles. “Squarks” and “gluinos”, partners of the standard-model quarks and gluons, have been ruled out at energies up to 1 teraelectronvolts (TeV), according to an analysis of the LHC’s first year of collisions.

Besides, Read More ›

In “Existence special: Cosmic mysteries, human questions,” New Scientist grapples with critical questions like Marcus Chown’s “Am I a hologram? (25 July, 2011):

It sounds preposterous, yet there is already some evidence that it may be true, and we could know for sure within a couple of years. If it does turn out to be the case, it would turn our common-sense conception of reality inside out.

Whose hologram? Read More ›