Jul 25, 2017 09:38 PM
Physics of bubbles could explain language patterns
http://uopnews.port.ac.uk/2017/07/24/phy...-patterns/
EXCERPT: Language patterns could be predicted by simple laws of physics, a new study has found. Dr James Burridge from the University of Portsmouth has published a theory using ideas from physics to predict where and how dialects occur. He said: “If you want to know where you’ll find dialects and why, a lot can be predicted from the physics of bubbles and our tendency to copy others around us. [...] The bubbles in the bath are like groups of people – they merge into the bigger bubbles because they want to fit in with their neighbours.... "
Ask Ethan: Could The Fabric Of Spacetime Be Defective?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswitha...b0bdcb281e
EXCERPT: The biggest lesson from Einstein's general theory of relativity is that space itself isn't a flat, unchanging, absolute entity. Rather it's woven together, along with time, into a single fabric: spacetime. This fabric is continuous, smooth, and gets curved and deformed by the presence of matter and energy. Everything present within this spacetime moves along the path defined by that curvature, and its propagation is limited by the speed of light. But what if this fabric had defects in it? This isn't science-fiction, but a bona fide idea in theoretical physics [...] As of today, there's no evidence for our Universe being defective, save for that one observation of a magnetic monopole some 35 years ago. While we can't disprove their existence (we can only constrain it), we have to keep our minds open to the possibility that these topological defects aren't forbidden, and that many extensions to the Standard Model of physics necessitate them. In many scenarios, if they don't exist, it's because something additional must be suppressing them. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but until we see something else that points to a topological defect being real in the Universe, we have to leave this idea in the realm of speculation....
http://uopnews.port.ac.uk/2017/07/24/phy...-patterns/
EXCERPT: Language patterns could be predicted by simple laws of physics, a new study has found. Dr James Burridge from the University of Portsmouth has published a theory using ideas from physics to predict where and how dialects occur. He said: “If you want to know where you’ll find dialects and why, a lot can be predicted from the physics of bubbles and our tendency to copy others around us. [...] The bubbles in the bath are like groups of people – they merge into the bigger bubbles because they want to fit in with their neighbours.... "
Ask Ethan: Could The Fabric Of Spacetime Be Defective?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswitha...b0bdcb281e
EXCERPT: The biggest lesson from Einstein's general theory of relativity is that space itself isn't a flat, unchanging, absolute entity. Rather it's woven together, along with time, into a single fabric: spacetime. This fabric is continuous, smooth, and gets curved and deformed by the presence of matter and energy. Everything present within this spacetime moves along the path defined by that curvature, and its propagation is limited by the speed of light. But what if this fabric had defects in it? This isn't science-fiction, but a bona fide idea in theoretical physics [...] As of today, there's no evidence for our Universe being defective, save for that one observation of a magnetic monopole some 35 years ago. While we can't disprove their existence (we can only constrain it), we have to keep our minds open to the possibility that these topological defects aren't forbidden, and that many extensions to the Standard Model of physics necessitate them. In many scenarios, if they don't exist, it's because something additional must be suppressing them. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but until we see something else that points to a topological defect being real in the Universe, we have to leave this idea in the realm of speculation....