Why Space and Time Might Be an Illusion This past fall, the world of physics celebrated the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which forms the foundation of our modern understanding of the force of gravity. Einstein’s creation has been the ultimate antidote to a blasé, seen-it-all attitude that sometimes infects even scientists. It opened up a universe that never ceases to surprise — black holes, the big bang, dark energy, gravitational waves — jolting us out of the grooves of thought that we fall into all too easily. Yet the ink was barely dry on the theory when Einstein saw a problem. A theory of gravity is also a theory of space and time. Whereas general relativity took a single genius a decade to create, that deeper theory — known as a quantum theory of gravity — has flummoxed generations of geniuses for a century. So, a theory of gravity swallows its own tail. Eagle Nebula’s Pillars of Creation. These “atoms” are clearly nothing like ordinary atoms such as hydrogen or oxygen. Enceladus
Parallel Universes: Theories & Evidence Parallel universes are no longer just a feature of a good sci-fi story. There are now some scientific theories that support the idea of parallel universes beyond our own. However, the multiverse theory remains one of the most controversial theories in science. Our universe is unimaginably big. But is it all that's out there? Multiverses and parallel worlds are often argued in the context of other major scientific concepts like the Big Bang, string theory and quantum mechanics. Related: How big is the universe? Eternal inflation, the Big Bang theory and parallel universes Around 13.7 billion years ago, everything we know of was an infinitesimal singularity. Related: How an inflating universe could create a multiverse That mysterious process of inflation and the Big Bang have convinced some researchers that multiple universes are possible, or even very likely. Those bubble universes can't contact each other because they continue to expand indefinitely. Quantum mechanics and parallel universes
The Life of Pi, and Other Infinities Then again, a very different sort of infinity may well be freewheeling you. Based on recent studies of the cosmic microwave afterglow of the Big Bang, with which our known universe began 13.7 billion years ago, many cosmologists now believe that this observable universe is just a tiny, if relentlessly expanding, patch of space-time embedded in a greater universal fabric that is, in a profound sense, infinite. It may be an infinitely large monoverse, or it may be an infinite bubble bath of infinitely budding and inflating multiverses, but infinite it is, and the implications of that infinity are appropriately huge. “If you take a finite physical system and a finite set of states, and you have an infinite universe in which to sample them, to randomly explore all the possibilities, you will get duplicates,” said Anthony Aguirre, an associate professor of physics who studies theoretical cosmology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Not just rough copies, either.
Quantum Entanglement harvesting in a vacuum Entanglement is an extremely strong correlation that can exist between quantum systems. These correlations are so strong that two or more entangled particles have to be described with reference to each other, even though the individual objects may be spatially separated. It has been shown that even if two uncorrelated quantum systems that don’t know anything about each other can still become entangled in a quantum vacuum without being limited by the speed of light. Quantum theory states that the quantum vacuum isn’t really empty. Quantum fluctuations of the electro-magnetic field vacuum are entangled. These fluctuations can interact locally with two space-like separated atoms and entangle them even if the two atoms never communicated with one another, or even if they never exchanged any information at all. Researchers explored the crucial role of relative space-time positioning between the two detectors in an operational two-party entanglement-harvesting protocol.
Why Can’t You Remember Your Future? Physicist Paul Davies on the Puzzlement of Why We Experience Time as Linear “If our heart were large enough to love life in all its detail,” French philosopher Gaston Bachelard wrote in his 1932 meditation on our paradoxical experience of time, “we would see that every instant is at once a giver and a plunderer.” Nowhere is this duality of time more disorienting than in the constant mental time travel we perform between what has been and what will be in order to anchor ourselves to what is. As our lives tick on, gradually robbing the future of potential and robbing the past of relevance, we trudge along the arrow of time dragging with us this elusive curiosity we call a self — an ever-shifting packet of personal identity, mystifying in how it links us to our childhood selves and misleading in how it maps out our future selves. Davies writes: With these buttons, gone would be the orderly procession of events that apparently constitutes my life. Complement it with T.S.
Mathematics, More than Theology, Helps Us Know God Classical theology begins with the premise that God is infinite, but how can humans possibly have knowledge of God when infinity is by definition beyond the bounds of human imagination? First Things columnist Stephen Webb takes up the issue of an infinite God, comparing the deity to a mathematical expression called Graham's number, a massively large number that approaches infinity (as much as one can), but still describes a real-world phenomenon (the number of dimensions inside a geometric shape known as a hypercube). Webb argues that if God is infinite, as theologians insist, then mathematics may aid our understanding more than theology. That's a sentiment echoed by theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, who explained during a Big Think interview that physics may be the literal mind of God: "The goal of physics, we believe, is to find an equation perhaps no more than one inch long which will allow us to unify all the forces of nature and allow us to read the mind of God.
Hubble identifie des étoiles "monstrueuses" 30 millions de fois plus brillantes que le Soleil En utilisant le télescope spatial Hubble, des astronomes ont réussi à identifier neuf étoiles inconnues. Réunis dans un seul amas, ces astres sont de vrais mastodontes qui brilleraient ensemble 30 millions de fois plus que le Soleil. Avec ses 1,3 million de kilomètres de diamètre, le Soleil peut paraitre très impressionnant. Pourtant, il n'est pas grand chose face à certaines étoiles de l'Univers. Le télescope spatial Hubble vient une nouvelle fois d'en apporter la preuve, en découvrant de véritables "monstres" à 170.000 années-lumière de la Terre. Au nombre de neuf, les astres se situent plus précisément dans la nébuleuse de la Tarentule au sein du Grand Nuage de Magellan. De multiples mastodontes au sein d'un même amas Les neuf étoiles identifiées présentent toutes une masse 100 fois supérieure à celle du Soleil. En 2010, des scientifiques ont en effet montré l'existence de quatre étoiles dans R136 dont la masse équivaut à 150 fois celle du Soleil. Une formation qui reste floue
Elon Musk Says There’s a ‘One in Billions’ Chance Reality Is Not a Simulation Wednesday night, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk did that thing he does every so often, which is take wild questions from an audience and answer them as if he’s been thinking about them for years, usually because he has. Pick a random quote out of a bag and you can turn Musk’s statements at the Recode Code Conference into a piece of news: He wants to put humans on Mars by 2025, said SpaceX is still on track to test the most powerful rocket in the world this year, said Mars isn’t a “bad choice” for a place to die, wants to relaunch a used Falcon 9 rocket in a few months, said we’re already cyborgs, discussed why a direct democracy would be the best political system for a Mars colony and then went into specifics of how that democracy would work, etc. Depending on the question, the resulting discussions are ones philosophy or engineering students have probably had while they’re flying high on an illicit substance. "There’s a one in billions chance we’re in base reality"
Il Multiverso e la Tempesta di Shakespeare Non ci sono parole per descrivere quanto misterioso sia il "nostro" Universo. Attualmente conosciamo solamente il 4% d'esso e le sfide non mancano. Fatto ancora più interessante è il Multiverso, un insieme di universi coesistenti e alternativi al di fuori del nostro spaziotempo, che nascono come possibile conseguenza di alcune teorie scientifiche. Tempo fa avevo scritto un articolo riguardo la nascita dell'universo. E' venuto il momento di parlare della forma del nostro universo e del multiuniverso (abbreviato con multiverso). La cosmologia contemporanea ci ha aperto molte finestre importanti su come il nostro universo è nato e si è evoluto nel tempo. Secondo il modello ekpirotico, che prevede una collisione, quello che è in collisione sono essenzialmente i "muri di dominio di Minkowski" (Minkowski domain walls), non altro che i margini degli universi con differenti dimensioni spaziali (la Tempesta). L'idea di un mondo-brana deriva dalla Teoria delle Stringhe.
Visions of the Future Imagination is our window into the future. At NASA/JPL we strive to be bold in advancing the edge of possibility so that someday, with the help of new generations of innovators and explorers, these visions of the future can become a reality. As you look through these images of imaginative travel destinations, remember that you can be an architect of the future. Click on any of the thumbnails below to learn more and download a free poster sized image. › Learn more about the posters Can I get copies of these posters from NASA or JPL?
Gravitational Waves Explained THE 2016 PHD Comics Calendar is here! - Adorn your dreary lab or desk with this fun calendar designed by Jorge himself: Watch the new movie! - The PHD Movie 2 screenings are in full swing! Summer Hiatus - PHD has been on Summer Hiatus while Jorge finishes the new PHD Movie. The PHD Movie 2 OFFICIAL TRAILER - is out!! Filming is done! Coming to Campuses this Fall! The PHD Movie 2 - starts filming today!! Happy New Year, everyone. - Thanks for another year of reading and supporting PHD Comics! Holiday Shopping? The 2015 PHD Calendar! Limited Quantity! POWER UP - The Thesis Fuel mugs are back in stock!