Discovery Channel compiled a mind-frakking list of 10 things you didn’t know about antimatter—the stuff that, when mixed with matter, powers the warp engines of Star Trek. And this excerpt made my brain dizzy:
Whats that smell? Why, it’s a 500 trillion watt mega laser deciphering the mysteries of space’s gas giants, that’s what that smell is. Get a good whiff, because you’re about the learn something.
The #5 Universe Ring is a beautiful piece based on a theory that our universe is actually shaped like a donut. See that tiny little speck on its side? That imperfection is us.
It’s not until you acknowledge the world’s greatest physicists do you realise how fundamentally useless our role here is. You and I will not uncover the secrets of the Universe. Luckily, someone’s working on it.
The “many worlds interpretation”, parallel universes, the Trousers of Time: call it what you will, but quantum theory has some surprising ideas about what happens after a quantum event, which artist Jonathan Keats is exploring in this new “toy”. It’s a ball of uranium-doped glass (no, really—it’s uranium!) next to a scintillation detector crystal inside a jar. The idea is that as the uranium decays and emits particles, the detector “observes” this event, and splits off new universes as it goes. It’s all quantum. And it’s pretty crazy. But if the god-like novelty of having a universe creation kit on your desk tickles your fancy, you can buy one for $US20. [OhGizmo]
This is the Roden Crater, a inactive volcano northeast of Flagstaff, on the calm, dry plains of Arizona. In its sleep, it looks peaceful, harmless. Until you start climbing and reach the top of the 3-kilometer-wide mountain. Then you will be able to see the platform for extraterrestrial spaceships on its centre. James Turrell says it’s a large-scale art installation that will open in 2012, but he’s not fooling us. This is not an art installation. This has to be a spaceport.
PopSci has a great article about scientists who are trying to recreate the events of the Universe, such as the big bang and black holes, with controlled lab experiments. The Universe in a Teacup, shown above, cools Helium to 0.0003°F above absolute zero, and moves around the particles so that little whirlpools remain after the Helium settles. The state inside this pinky-sized tube is thought to be the condition of the universe just after the big bang.
You may have heard that at 7pm EST on Feb. 4, NASA plans to blast The Beatles’ song “Across the Universe” into deep space in order to serenade otherworldly beings hundreds, thousands or millions of light years away with our very best pop music. I have several problems with this.
