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Theories About the Universe

Why is the universe the way it is? Scientists have explored many ways to explain the cosmos, leading to some crazy-sounding ideas

Why is the universe the way it is? Over the years, scientists have explored many ideas to explain our cosmos and its future. Here are some of the strangest ideas, from a braneworld scenario that involves the universe floating in a higher dimensional space, to the "Big Splat" that describes such a brane colliding with another to form an entirely new universe.

1. Braneworld

An aspect of the universe we take for granted is that it's three dimensional — there are three perpendicular directions you can move in. Some theories, however, suggest another spatial dimension — which we can't perceive directly — in another perpendicular direction. This higher dimensional space is referred to as "the bulk," while our universe is a three-dimensional membrane — or "brane" — floating inside the bulk.

As complicated as it sounds, the braneworld picture solves several problems in physics. For example, theoretical physicists Lisa Randall, of Harvard University, and Raman Sundrum, of the University of Maryland, proposed a version of the braneworld that explains an asymmetry in subatomic forces by suggesting the existence of other branes parallel to our own. But it's not enough for a theory to explain facts we already know — it has to make new predictions that can be tested experimentally. In the case of the Randall-Sundrum model, such tests could involve measuring gravitational waves emitted by black holes linking one brane to another.  

TO READ ABOUT THE OTHER NINE WILD THEORIES, CLICK HERE...

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Multiverse Theory

Multiverse theory suggests that our universe, with all its hundreds of billions of galaxies and almost countless stars, spanning tens of billions of light-years, may not be the only one. Instead, there may be an entirely different universe, distantly separated from ours — and another, and another. 

Indeed, there may be an infinity of universes, all with their own laws of physics, their own collections of stars and galaxies (if stars and galaxies can exist in those universes), and maybe even their own intelligent civilizations.

It could be that our universe is just one member of a much grander, much larger multitude of universes: a multiverse.  The concept of the multiverse arises in a few areas of physics (and philosophy), but the most prominent example comes from something called inflation theory. 

Inflation theory describes a hypothetical event that occurred when our universe was very young — less than a second old. In an incredibly brief amount of time, the universe underwent a period of rapid expansion, "inflating" to become many orders of magnitude larger than its previous size, according to NASA.

Inflation of our universe is thought to have ended about 14 billion years ago, said Heling Deng, a cosmologist at Arizona State University and an expert in multiverse theory. "However, inflation does not end everywhere at the same time," Deng told Live Science in an email. "It is possible that as inflation ends in some region, it continues in others."

Thus, while inflation ended in our universe, there may have been other, much more distant regions where inflation continued — and continues even today. Individual universes can "pinch off" of larger inflating, expanding universes, creating an infinite sea of eternal inflation, filled with numerous individual universes.

In this eternal inflation scenario, each universe would emerge with its own laws of physics, its own collection of particles, its own arrangement of forces and its own values of fundamental constants. This might explain why our universe has the properties it does — particularly the properties that are hard to explain with fundamental physics, such as dark matter or the cosmological constant, Deng said.

"If there is a multiverse, then we would have random cosmological constants in different universes, and it is simply a coincidence that the one we have in our universe takes the value that we observed," he said.   READ MORE...

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LYING is an American Pastime

 Americans lie as if it is a hobby of theirs that they are trying to improve upon through practice...

As odd as that may seem, it is nonetheless true.

Parents lie to their children, to their neighbors, law enforlercement, and especially to the IRS.

Clergy lie to their congregations about what is or is not included inside  the covers of the Bible if it does not suit their purpose.

City Councils lie to their residents about future increases in taxes in order to divert anger down the road.

Sales people lie to their customers about the products that they are trying to sell hoping that nothing happens for a while.

Taxi cab drivers lie to their passengers to increase their fares especially if they are not local.

Husbands lie to their wives and wives lie to the husbands.  For every husband that cheats there has to be a corresponding female that cheats with him.

Plant managers lie to their workers regarding layoffs that are planned for the end of the month or the end of the year to keep productivity high.

Governors lie to their citizens about businesses that are planning to relocate there or those planning to leave the state.

And of course, most of us already know that our Congress men and women as well as our Senators, lie ALL THE TIME to get re-elected.

We do not think that Presidents lie, but since Jimmy Carter, we realize that President lie all the time in order to get what they want accomplished.

Government employees lie to the media about letting their political beliefs direct their actions.

And families lie to each other all the time in order not to hurt anyone's feelings.

AMERICANS HAVE GOTTEN VERY GOOD ABOUT LYING...

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Nuclear Powered Spacecraft by 2027

The top official at the United States space agency NASA has said the country plans to test a spacecraft engine powered with nuclear fission by 2027, an advancement seen as key to long-haul missions including a manned journey to Mars.

NASA will partner with the US military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop the nuclear thermal propulsion engine and launch it into space, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said on Tuesday. The project has been named the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislpaunar Operations or DRACO.

“With the help of this new technology, astronauts could journey to and from deep space faster than ever – a major capability to prepare for crewed missions to Mars,” Nelson said in a statement.

The announcement comes amid a new nuclear space race between the US, Russia and China, with the three superpowers working to expand their extraterrestrial nuclear capabilities, including for use propelling spacecraft and powering colonies on the moon.  READ MORE...

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Technologies of the Future

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence, or AI, and machine learning refer to the ability of machines to learn and act intelligently, meaning they can make decisions, carry out tasks, and even predict future outcomes based on what they learn from data.


AI and machine learning already play a bigger role in everyday life than you might imagine. Alexa, Siri, Amazon's product recommendations, Netflix’s and Spotify’s personalized recommendations, every Google search you make, security checks for fraudulent credit card purchases, dating apps, fitness trackers... All are driven by AI.

AI is going to revolutionize almost every facet of modern life. Stephen Hawking said, “Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history.” And Hawking immediately followed that up with, “Unfortunately, it might also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks."

There are potentially huge risks for society and human life as we know it, particularly when you consider some countries are racing to develop AI-enabled autonomous weapons. AI and machine learning are the foundation on which many other technologies are built. For instance, without AI, we wouldn't have achieved the amazing advances in the Internet of Things, virtual reality, chatbots, facial recognition, robotics, automation, or self-driving cars, just to name a few.  TO READ ABOUT THE OTHER FOUR, CLICK HERE...

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