Big Bang simulation shows time travel is impossible Physicists from the University of Maryland have created a specialized kind of material, called a "metamaterial," that mimics the mathematics of the Big Bang when light is beamed through it, reports Wired. The breakthrough invention is a simulated glance at how the universe expands, and also gives invaluable clues about the nature of time. For instance, the results have already provided a better understanding for why time only moves in one direction and that time travel into the past may be impossible. "What we have done, with simple experimental geometry, is reconstruct the way that space-time expands," said Igor Smolyaninov, one of the lead researchers on the project. Smolyaninov and his colleague, Yu-Ju Hung, utilized exotic substances called "metamaterials," which are specialized materials capable of twisting light in unusual ways. Most physical laws work just as well whether time moves forward or backward, but not so with the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Awesome death spiral of a bizarre star I sometimes think I’ve seen everything there is in the sky, with nothing new left to see. Then I get a rude — but welcome — wake-up call. Check. [Click to enspiralnate.] When I first saw this picture, my reactions, in order, were: 1) What the frak is that? followed immediately by 2) This must be a fake! But it’s not fake. The name of this thing is AFGL 3068. So what’s going on here? Red giants tend to blow a lot of their outer layers into space in an expanding spherical wind; think of it as a super-solar wind. AFGL 3068 is a carbon star and most likely evolved just like this, but with a difference: it’s a binary. This is called the sprinkler-head effect. Going back to our sprinkler analogy, if you’re standing in the yard as the sprinkler spins, you get hit with a blast of water. The expansion rate of the spiral material is about 15 km/sec (9 miles/sec). But there’s more! Coooool. I think I know why. And also… this thing is faint. All in all, this is an amazing system. Related posts:
13 more things that don't make sense Cookies on the New Scientist website close Our website uses cookies, which are small text files that are widely used in order to make websites work more effectively. To continue using our website and consent to the use of cookies, click away from this box or click 'Close' Find out about our cookies and how to change them Log in Your login is case sensitive I have forgotten my password close My New Scientist Look for Science Jobs 13 more things that don't make sense (Image: Loungepark / The Image Bank / Getty) Strive as we might to make sense of the world, there are mysteries that still confound us. Axis of evil Radiation left from the big bang is still glowing in the sky – in a mysterious and controversial pattern Dark flow Something unseeable and far bigger than anything in the known universe is hauling a group of galaxies towards it at inexplicable speed Eocene hothouse Tens of millions of years ago, the average temperature at the poles was 15 or 20 °C. Fly-by anomalies Hybrid life Morgellons disease
Hubble captures picture of asteroid collision! Last week, the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) sky survey program, designed to sweep the heavens looking for near-Earth asteroids, spotted something really weird; an elongated streak that looked as if two asteroids had collided. Just days later, Hubble was pointed at the object, and what it saw was really really weird: [Click to armageddonate.] This is a false-color image showing the object, called P/2010 A2, in visible light. The long tail of debris is obvious; this is probably dust being blown back by the solar wind, similar to the way a comet’s tail is blown back. Now, let me just take a moment and say HOLY HALEAKALA WHAT WE’RE SEEING HERE IS THE COLLISION BETWEEN TWO PREVIOUSLY UNDISCOVERED ASTEROIDS THAT EXPLODED LIKE THERMONUCLEAR WEAPONS WHEN THEY IMPACTED!!! Phew. First off, to be clear we’re in no danger from this event. Nothing like this has ever been seen before. And we’d better.
Scientists Now Know: We're From Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy! Scientists Now Know: We're Not From Here! Summary & comments by Dan Eden for Viewzone Imagine the shock of growing up in a loving family with people you call "Mum" and "Dad" and then, suddenly, learning that you are actually adopted! This same sense of shock came as scientists announced that the Sun, the Moon, our planet and its siblings, were not born into the familiar band of stars known as the Milky Way galaxy, but we actually belong to a strange formation with the unfamiliar name of the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy! How can this be? Using volumes of data from the Two-Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), a major project to survey the sky in infrared light led by the University of Massachusetts, the astronomers are answering questions that have baffled scientists for decades and proving that our own Milky Way is consuming one of its neighbors in a dramatic display of ongoing galactic cannibalism. A new infra red digital survey of the entire sky was made in 2003. Not any more. Viewzone || Comments?