In “New evidence backs dark energy” (ABC, 16 April 2012). Stuart Gary reports,
A new study of quasars has provided further evidence that dark energy is accelerating the expansion of the universe.
The study to be published in the Astronomical Journal supports earlier work by scientists including Nobel Laureates Professor Brian Schmidt from the Australian National University, Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess.
Their discovery was based on the measurement of exploding stars called Type 1a supernovae.
Here’s a physicist panel discussion on the subject:
OT: Biologic Institute is soliciting participation in answering a challenge-type question:
The image is quite stunning. Anyone interested in posting comments or “liking” them would be doing them a favor, as they’re just getting started on Facebook.
Visit their Facebook page here.
You can also see it posted on their blog here: Real World Connections
Following up, here’s the metabolic pathways chart (click on a section to zoom). It’s all pretty simple, really.
Re the video on Dark Energy and the expansion of the cosmos. Brian Greene in his book ‘the Fabric of the cosmos’ pg 301 says, ‘About 100 billion light years from now, all but the closest galaxies will be dragged away by the swelling of space at faster-than-light speed and so would be impossible for us to see, regardless of the power of telescopes used.’ The video did not mention this faster-than-light stuff. Is that still the accepted understanding? And how can it be that space-time can expand faster than light when nothing can do so. Is it an exception to Einstein’s law that space-time itself can expand at such a rate? How was this idea discovered? A second question – is it being proposed that dark energy is the energy of the dimensions themselves? It would make sense that the dimensions themselves have some of their own energy.