If we want our conclusions to be meaningful, our data had better be robust. When it comes to the Universe, there’s a whole lot that doesn’t add up. All the matter […]
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Zeno’s paradox stumped philosophers, mathematicians, and intellectuals for millennia. It took physics to finally solve it. The fastest human in the world, according to the Ancient Greek legend, was the heroine […]
The history of the Universe is forever imprinted in our own bodies. We can learn a lot about the history of the Universe just by looking at each of our own […]
When one group says “A” and another group says “B,” consider that everyone might be wrong. One of the biggest enemies of scientific truth is the setup of a false dichotomy. […]
We might live in a quantum Universe, but we’ll violate the principle of relativity if space is discrete. If you try and divide matter into smaller and smaller chunks, you’ll […]
If they saw us as we were before the recent industrial revolution, would there be any reason to particularly care about us? All across the Universe, trillions of galaxies can be […]
And what might we learn as we collect new, never-before-seen data? If you took one of history’s top scientists from 100 years ago and dropped them into today’s world, what […]
In the aftermath of everything we’ve learned about what’s in the Universe, we can make much better estimates of how many alien civilizations are out there. In 1961, scientist Frank Drake […]
There have been a lot of public advocates from the “no dark matter” camp, getting lots of popular attention. But the Universe still needs dark matter. Here’s why. If you took […]
It’s the most fundamental fabric of the Universe itself. But how does it work? “‘Space-time’ — that hideous hybrid whose very hyphen looks phoney.” –Vladimir Nabokov When it comes to understanding the Universe, there […]
No one is right 100% of the time. Even the greatest genius of all. “The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.” –Theodore Roosevelt […]
What’s the difference between “point-like” and what we can actually state? “When we think about the present, we veer wildly between the belief in chance and the evidence in favour of […]
And just what did come before — way before — the Big Bang? “We are part of the universe that has developed a remarkable ability: We can hold an image of the world in our […]
And can we even agree on the definition of ‘nothingness’? “Alone, I often fall down into nothingness. I must push my foot stealthily lest I should fall off the edge […]
Some fear we are meddling with forces too powerful for human control.
If you’re looking for a point in space, the answer is going to shock you. “The world you see, nature’s greatest and most glorious creation, and the human mind which gazes […]
An awful op-ed about how science is no different than other disciplines misses some fundamental facts. “Philosophy of science is about as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds.” […]
Einstein’s most famous equation didn’t have to be this way, but it is, all the same. “Science is global. Einstein’s equation, E=mc^2, has to reach everywhere. Science is a beautiful gift […]
It’s getting bigger over time, but is there anything it’s displacing, or expanding into? “Mathematicians deal with possible worlds, with an infinite number of logically consistent systems. Observers explore the […]
Even most of the pros don’t know all 10. This post was contributed to Starts With A Bang by Sabine Hossenfelder. Sabine is a theoretical physicist specialized in quantum gravity […]
It’s not in any form of light, and yet here we are, “seeing” the Universe all the same. “If the imprint is really due to gravitational waves from the big […]
And could what we see over there spell disaster for Earth? “An asteroid or a supervolcano could certainly destroy us, but we also face risks the dinosaurs never saw: An engineered […]
Hawking’s greatest achievement is also the greatest source of misunderstanding. “Maybe that is our mistake: maybe there are no particle positions and velocities, but only waves. It is just that […]
Scientists work on it, it’s consistent with science, and it hopes to be the biggest scientific breakthrough of all. But it’s missing one key ingredient. “As of now, string theorists […]
The most powerful accelerator in the world found the Higgs, but might not find anything else. What should come next? “It is no good to try to stop knowledge from […]
We know that Einstein’s general relativity is superior to Newton’s gravity, but where did Newton go wrong? “To me there has never been a higher source of earthly honor or […]
Or if it were perfectly smooth, instead, could we have still had stars and galaxies by today? “First, you should check out my house. It’s, like, kinda lame, but way […]
How do we know that the fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background aren’t polluted by everything Hubble reveals? “Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven,Blossomed the lovely […]
Einstein’s most famous equation works out more neatly than you’d expect. “It followed from the special theory of relativity that mass and energy are both but different manifestations of the […]
What happened when things were hot enough to spontaneously create matter and antimatter? “It followed from the special theory of relativity that mass and energy are both but different manifestations […]