Gleiser's Latest

For the cosmology readers out there, a couple of Web reviews of physicist Marcelo Gleiser's latest book, "A Tear At the Edge of Creation" below.

(This is Gleiser's account of his journey from string theorist and unification seeker to a totally different and "radical" view of the nature of the Universe, wherein a "Theory of Everything" is likely not achievable.)

http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=2865

http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2010/04/a_tear_at_the_edge_of_creation.html

An Alternative to the Big Bang Theory

 A theory of a cyclic "endless" Universe, without beginning:

http://endlessuniverse.net/

Cosmos Courtesy of Hubble

Deep space elicits deep thoughts.....

More wonder from Hubble here:

http://tinyurl.com/ylrfwzg

"...craziness has a fine history in physics"

...so says a NY Times piece on the start-up attempts for the Large Hadron Collider, and a new theory pushed by some that the device is doomed or at least jinxed, by the very Higgs boson for which it is searching... this is cosmology gone wild... but, hey, that's almost the normal state for cosmology, so read all about it:

http://tinyurl.com/yhh7b6d

What A View!

"Cosmic web" of galaxies viewed for first time:

http://ow.ly/zFls

Physicists Pondering

From the recent "Quantum To Cosmos" conference this nice summary of things buggin' current day physicists (from fundamental laws, to the singularity, to the nature of reality...):

http://tinyurl.com/yjjup7j

Video here: http://www.q2cfestival.com/play.php?lecture_id=7976

32 Out of Billions and B-B-Billions

Astronomers announce they have found 32 new planets (although none deemed likely habitable) outside of our own solar system.

Physics Talking Heads

For the Friday video, more cosmology from "BloggingHeads.TV" with physicists Sean Carroll and Mark Trodden:

The Cosmos

For this week's Friday video two physicists discuss cosmology on "Bloggingheads.TV":

"Death From the Skies"

A Bad Astronomer (...and Punster)


Phil Plait is an astronomer and writer who runs one of the most popular (and award-winning) science blogs on the Web, "Bad Astronomy." When I stumbled across his book "Death From the Skies!" in my local library I was so put off by the National Enquirer-like title and cover (...I can only imagine that the publisher was trying to appeal to a teenage audience???), I almost ignored it, but luckily did relent and check the volume out.
The writing is interesting, lively and fluid, even playful (especially for a book basically informing us that we're all eventually doomed!), touching upon much science, but at a level that the astronomy amateur or even lay reader can readily follow. To a total novice, unfamiliar with modern day physics the topics and content may seem almost unreal, and thus some background in the physical sciences is helpful.
For wordsmiths the writing is peppered with puns and word-plays (who knew physics could be so funny), almost to the point of sometimes taking away from the seriousness of what is being discussed. Lots of facts and figures here as well, and lots of science, but amidst much cleverness and wit. Plait's passion for his subject rings through on every page. Each chapter is well-written with somewhat stand-alone material (that need not be read in sequential order), covering a variety of basic cosmological subjects: the sun (and its death)/stars/galaxies, asteroids, supernovae, black holes, gamma rays, the possibility of alien life; all with an aim of showing how these might be agents for our world's demise in the distant future.

I likely enjoyed chapter 4 on gamma rays the most, if only because much of the content was new to me (chapter 9, "The End of Everything" is a particularly fun read as well). Chapter 6 on alien existence was possibly the weakest in my view. I'd fall in the camp that thinks probabilistically there are 1000s (maybe millions) of planets with advanced life (that may differ tremendously from us), but Plait seems to downgrade that possibility with what I think are weakly parochial or myopic arguments, while granting too much seriousness to what many perceive as an infinitesimal possibility that we Earthlings might be alone in the Universe. But we won't settle that debate here.
The very last chapter (epilogue) reviews the probabilities that any of the scenarios outlined will actually bring about the world's end, with an asteroid at 1 in 700,000 being the best bet... if that helps you to sleep better at night.

Richard Feynman was fond of saying that he wasn't absolutely certain of anything, but he just held beliefs based on the preponderance of the evidence. My one concern with Plait (and many scientists for that matter) is that he actually believes that much of what he states (the underlying science) is certain (because it currently seems so) when in fact, especially in the sort of time-frames he is discussing, our understanding/beliefs of physical law, the Universe, and life could change in unforeseeable ways, no matter how 'certain' they may seem at this moment. All black-and-white "facts" are actually strongly-held and supported 'beliefs,' still subject to possible, even if unlikely, change --- what we currently view as 'modern' science, will, 1000 years from now, no doubt appear very primitive and naive. Some folks worship God, and some worship empiricism, but both do so at the risk of putting blinders on to the extent that they accept/assume any human logic as 'certain.' But so much for philosophical quibbles...

If you already like Plait's blog you will almost certainly enjoy this book where he has the freedom to write more extensively on his subjects. If you're unfamiliar with him but interested in astronomical matters this book is a fine place to start. But a warning: for those of you with a long-term, 6 billion-year-or-so horizon, this could be a verrrrry gloomy, depressing, scary read given what it foretells... but as long as you're more short-term in your outlook (say the next 10,000-or-so years), feel free to give it a whirl! For the price of admission you'll get both some laughs and some chills, along with a healthy dose of science. (I just hope that for his next publishing effort Plait selects a more adult title and cover! ;-)

B+

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Black Hole Photography

Getting a picture of a black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy... New Scientist article HERE.

Does Life Create Time and Space

Is the universe "biocentric"? One more theory for cosmologists to play with:

http://discovermagazine.com/2009/may/01-the-biocentric-universe-life-creates-time-space-cosmos

The Size of the Universe

Friday video: The Hubble deep field and the size of the universe:

The 'Many-Worlds' Postulation

A blog post HERE about quantum mechanics and the 'many-worlds' interpretation of 'reality'... whatever THAT is.

Imagining 10 Dimensions

Cosmologists tell us the universe must (mathematically) have at least 8 dimensions, if not in fact 10 or 11; hard to imagine for us 3-dimensional types. But this Friday video purports to help you conceptualize what the cosmologists are talking about:

Theory of Everything

Totally over my head... yet still interesting:
Physicist Garrett Lisi on a "new theory of everything":



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English Major Turned Physics Geek

Some of the most engaging popular science writing on physics on the Web comes from... dr-r-r-rumroll... a former English major (exactly how that happens I've never quite understood, but I ain't complainin')... Jennifer Ouellette. She blogs at two sites worth checking out if physics rocks you:

http://blogs.discovery.com/twisted_physics/

http://twistedphysics.typepad.com/

And her books are listed on Amazon here.

"The Age of Entanglement"

Don't know when I'll find time to sit down myself and read the 400+ pages of "The Age of Entanglement: When Quantum Physics Was Reborn" by Louisa Gilder (here and here), but feel like I shouldn't delay any longer citing it on this blog.

The book (8+ years in the writing) has been receiving generally excellent reviews around the bookworld; especially excellent for a first-time author; especially for a first-time author tackling a difficult subject (quantum theory); and ESPECIALLY for a young (20-something) first-time author, tackling a difficult subject and trying to make it interesting, lively, and comprehensible for a lay audience. All of which she seems to accomplish, turning what is often treated as strictly a technical or scientific story into very much a human story through the creative use of a conversational mode. If you've shied away from the quantum theory book genre before, this might be the volume to entice you in.

Washington Post review of the book is here.

And an interview with Louisa Gilder here (in text form).