Astro-image of the day: Giant hole in universe = portal to another universe?

This article suggests that radio astronomers have discovered evidence of a billion-light-year-wide hole in our universe that leads to another, parallel universe.

No, this is not the high concept of an SF story; this is a real astrophysicist's theory. Here's the cool diagram:

Click the image to see the original (non-parallel-universe) story.

I dunno about this. I mean, as much as I want to live in an age where we discover evidence of cool stuff like superstrings, dark matter, and alternate universes, Occam's Razor suggests that perhaps leaping from "giant void in the universe" to "portal to a parallel universe" isn't the most reasonable thing to do.

Still, kewl. Thanks to gamera_spinning for the tip!

Chris

Astro-image of the day: Giant hole in universe = portal to another universe?

This article suggests that radio astronomers have discovered evidence of a billion-light-year-wide hole in our universe that leads to another, parallel universe.

No, this is not the high concept of an SF story; this is a real astrophysicist's theory. Here's the cool diagram:

Click the image to see the original (non-parallel-universe) story.

I dunno about this. I mean, as much as I want to live in an age where we discover evidence of cool stuff like superstrings, dark matter, and alternate universes, Occam's Razor suggests that perhaps leaping from "giant void in the universe" to "portal to a parallel universe" isn't the most reasonable thing to do.

Still, kewl. Thanks to gamera_spinning for the tip!

Chris

Astro-image of the day: Observing the universe accelerates the end

Don't you just hate it when your observing the universe hastens its doom? Yep, according to a couple of astronomers, a complex combination of our observing dark energy and the Big Bang and quantum physics results in our doom. Here's your gratuitous image of a huge ring of dark matter:

Click the image to see the story.

This reminds me a bit of my last astro-post: Sure, this is cool fodder for writing SF, but... really? They believe this? Does that mean when when a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, it makes no sound?

So: Yesterday's physics lesson was about Occam's Razor. Today's is about the anthropic principle.

Chris

Astro-image of the day: Observing the universe accelerates the end

Don't you just hate it when your observing the universe hastens its doom? Yep, according to a couple of astronomers, a complex combination of our observing dark energy and the Big Bang and quantum physics results in our doom. Here's your gratuitous image of a huge ring of dark matter:

Click the image to see the story.

This reminds me a bit of my last astro-post: Sure, this is cool fodder for writing SF, but... really? They believe this? Does that mean when when a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, it makes no sound?

So: Yesterday's physics lesson was about Occam's Razor. Today's is about the anthropic principle.

Chris