[PatrickHenry]

I like this theory. Donno why, but I like it.

[PatrickHenry]

SciencePing

An elite subset of the Evolution list. See the list's explanation at my freeper homepage. Then FReepmail to be added or dropped.

[Brilliant]

"we live in a preposterous universe", says cosmologist Sean Carroll....



You wonder, then, why scientists have such a problem with religion. Why is one brand of incredulity better than another?

[AnotherUnixGeek]

I like this theory. Donno why, but I like it.

I lack the Ph.D level mathematics skill needed to understand modern theories about cosmology in any real way. Any language short of high-level mathematics is going to have trouble expressing the basis for these concepts.

[Red Badger]

So, the universe is like Swiss cheese?..........

[ToryHeartland]

Steinhardt and Turok say that their idea is testable. The cyclic model predicts that the Big Bang induces gravity waves in space, which physicists are now hunting for. And the decay of the vacuum energy predicts new types of fundamental particles called axions, which may also be detectable.

Big Science at its best! This is very interesting as it stands, I'm keen to see how the axion hunt goes!

[SittinYonder]

"we live in a preposterous universe", says cosmologist Sean Carroll

After that verdict yesterday, who can argue?

[King Prout]

the bouncing ball theory (or, at least, hypothesis) has been around my whole life.

I keep wondering whether there's any evidence supporting the possibility that this sidereal reality is actually a composite of multiple contemporary or overlapping matter-energy eruptions at different loci.

[Publius6961]

I dimly recall reading this many years ago, perhaps as early as the 60s.
It was referred to as the oscillating Universe and was another alternative to the "Big Bang".

Bottom line, it's not new and, still, no one has a clue.

[OSHA]

They have seized on an idea first proposed by physicist Larry Abbott in 1985: that maybe the vacuum energy was once big but has declined to ever smaller values.

Maybe I shouldn't have invested in this.

[hang 'em]

Any theory of cosmology that doesn't predict the the magic number Nv = 72, (where Nv = number of Allah's virgins), is incomplete.

[gondramB]

Basically, this question comes down to whether or not there is enough mass in the universe for gravity to reverse the expansion ofg the big bang.

[Old Professer]

Trying to figure out the origins of the universe is like sweeping a dirt floor.

[GourmetDan]

There used to be the Strong Anthropic Principle and the Weak Anthropic Principle.

The Strong Anthropic Principle said that the universe appeared to be designed for life because it was designed.

The Weak Anthropic Principle said that the universe appeared appeared to be designed for life because it was the only way that life could have appeared.

There used to be a reason that the one was named 'Strong' and the other 'Weak'.

Now however, the revisionists have dropped the 'Strong' principle and only the 'Weak' principle remains, without the 'weak', of course.

That's so you won't think outside the box you are given so quickly (The Weak Anthropic Principle).

[GourmetDan]

Setterfield explains why a misinterpretation of redshift data leads astronomers to propose 'dark energy' and an 'increasing expansion'.

http://www.setterfield.org/AstronomicalDiscussion.htm#missingmass

[Chili Girl]

But it still does not explain how or why Venus rotates in a different direction than the rest of the planets in our solar system rotate. We cannot explain a creation without a creator...but it appears we keep trying!

[VadeRetro]

The observed vacuum energy, in contrast, is smaller by a factor of 10120 - 1 followed by 120 zeros.

10,120 isn't that big a number really. The IRS might disagree, of course.

[TASMANIANRED]

"cyclic model of the Universe, it expands and contracts repeatedly over timescales that make the 13.7 billion years that have passed since the Big Bang seem a mere blink."

This is not what makes time seem like a mere blink.

Time seeming short is due to the lifespan of man.

[wolfcreek]

As Clayton Williams once said; Just lay back and enjoy the ride.

[tomzz]

Wouldn't a yo-yo universe violate the second law of thermodynamics? Basically, you'd have to figure that either the expanded or the contracted state would represent the state of max entropy, and there the whole deal would stay.

[RightWhale]

Steinhardt and Turok say that their idea is testable

They always say that. Of course it is testable, so is gravitational blue-shift. If nothing else we can wait and see what happens.