The Big Questions Explored

by | Jan 26, 2007 | Culture and Society, Exotic Physics | 1 comment

Sometimes what we don’t know is more interesting than what we do. I’m always confounded when I hear people lay out confident scenarios for the human future, each different from the next, when we’re still at a stage where we don’t even know what the universe is made of. While we’re figuring out dark matter and (even worse) dark energy, we can answer some of the other big questions looked at in this article in Wired. What happens to information in a black hole? What causes gravity? How do entangled particles communicate? Some significant names tackle these questions — not all cosmological by any means — in entertaining form.

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1 Comment

  1. ljk on May 15, 2007 at 11:45

    Title: Astrophysics in 2006

    Authors: Virginia Trimble, Markus J. Aschwanden, Carl J. Hansen

    (Submitted on 11 May 2007)

    Abstract: The fastest pulsar and the slowest nova; the oldest galaxies and the youngest stars; the weirdest life forms and the commonest dwarfs; the highest energy particles and the lowest energy photons. These were some of the extremes of Astrophysics 2006. We attempt also to bring you updates on things of which there is currently only one (habitable planets, the Sun, and the universe) and others of which there are always many, like meteors and molecules, black holes and binaries.

    Comments:

    244 pages, no figures

    Subjects:

    Astrophysics (astro-ph)

    Cite as:

    arXiv:0705.1730v1 [astro-ph]

    Submission history

    From: Markus Aschwanden [view email]

    [v1] Fri, 11 May 2007 20:56:11 GMT (269kb)

    http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1730

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In Centauri Dreams, Paul Gilster looks at peer-reviewed research on deep space exploration, with an eye toward interstellar possibilities. For many years this site coordinated its efforts with the Tau Zero Foundation. It now serves as an independent forum for deep space news and ideas. In the logo above, the leftmost star is Alpha Centauri, a triple system closer than any other star, and a primary target for early interstellar probes. To its right is Beta Centauri (not a part of the Alpha Centauri system), with Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon Crucis, stars in the Southern Cross, visible at the far right (image courtesy of Marco Lorenzi).

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