Nov 6, 2019 11:51 PM
(This post was last modified: Nov 7, 2019 06:20 PM by C C.)
The Universe May Be Round—and That Would Be Bad News for Physicists
https://gizmodo.com/a-round-universe-wou...1839647806
Live Science: Everything we think we know about the shape of the universe could be wrong. Instead of being flat like a bedsheet, our universe may be curved, like a massive, inflated balloon, according to a new study. That's the upshot of a new paper published ... in the journal Nature Astronomy, which looks at data from the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the faint echo of the Big Bang. But not everyone is convinced; the new findings, based on data released in 2018, contradict both years of conventional wisdom and another recent study based on that same CMB data set. If the universe is curved, according to the new paper, it curves gently. That slow bending isn't important for moving around our lives, or solar system, or even our galaxy... (MORE)
[...Gizmodo...] Current theories of the universe, which describe its age, size, and how it evolves over time, are built around a flat spacetime. A new paper reiterates that data from the final Planck satellite release might be better explained by a round universe than a flat universe. Though not everyone agrees with the paper’s conclusions, the authors write that the consequences of assuming a flat universe when the universe is actually round could be dire.
“The point isn’t really that the universe is closed,” or round, the study’s corresponding author Alessandro Melchiorri from Sapienza University of Rome told Gizmodo. Instead, he explained that if Planck data seems to prefer a closed universe, then the potential consequences and how they might butt up against cosmologists’ most popular theory of the universe must be “seriously investigated,” lest the theory fall apart.
The universe might come in one of three shapes: open, closed, or flat. Parallel lines in an open universe will always move farther apart; parallel lines in a closed universe will eventually meet (and single lines will eventually meet up with themselves); and parallel lines in a flat universe will stay parallel forever. [...] Melchiorri told Gizmodo that questioning prevailing theories is simply science, especially when, to his group, such a discrepancy appears to exist. “The point is to have an open mind,” he said. (MORE - details)
INTRO: This week on Reactions, we unpack the chemistry that may have inspired one of our favorites: the vampire...
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/hTtitLeGvV0
https://gizmodo.com/a-round-universe-wou...1839647806
Live Science: Everything we think we know about the shape of the universe could be wrong. Instead of being flat like a bedsheet, our universe may be curved, like a massive, inflated balloon, according to a new study. That's the upshot of a new paper published ... in the journal Nature Astronomy, which looks at data from the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the faint echo of the Big Bang. But not everyone is convinced; the new findings, based on data released in 2018, contradict both years of conventional wisdom and another recent study based on that same CMB data set. If the universe is curved, according to the new paper, it curves gently. That slow bending isn't important for moving around our lives, or solar system, or even our galaxy... (MORE)
[...Gizmodo...] Current theories of the universe, which describe its age, size, and how it evolves over time, are built around a flat spacetime. A new paper reiterates that data from the final Planck satellite release might be better explained by a round universe than a flat universe. Though not everyone agrees with the paper’s conclusions, the authors write that the consequences of assuming a flat universe when the universe is actually round could be dire.
“The point isn’t really that the universe is closed,” or round, the study’s corresponding author Alessandro Melchiorri from Sapienza University of Rome told Gizmodo. Instead, he explained that if Planck data seems to prefer a closed universe, then the potential consequences and how they might butt up against cosmologists’ most popular theory of the universe must be “seriously investigated,” lest the theory fall apart.
The universe might come in one of three shapes: open, closed, or flat. Parallel lines in an open universe will always move farther apart; parallel lines in a closed universe will eventually meet (and single lines will eventually meet up with themselves); and parallel lines in a flat universe will stay parallel forever. [...] Melchiorri told Gizmodo that questioning prevailing theories is simply science, especially when, to his group, such a discrepancy appears to exist. “The point is to have an open mind,” he said. (MORE - details)
INTRO: This week on Reactions, we unpack the chemistry that may have inspired one of our favorites: the vampire...