Maybe I should wear a hard hat to guard against falling asteroids.
They are working on solving that problem as well. Could be dicey. Scientists like Freeman Dyson, Nikolai Kardashev, etc, envisioned that an advanced "type II civilization" could not only save themselves from such an extinction event, they could also save themselves from a solar catastrophe on the order of a super nova. ie, Star Trek and the federation of planets
Planet Quest: Exoplanet Exploration Widget
This image shows a large impact shown on the bottom left on Jupiter’s south polar region captured on July 20, 2009, by NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility in Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Infrared Telescope Facility See: The Lowdown on Jupiter’s Black Eye
Way cool widget, Spectrum. Thanks!
And, although it's passed the peak on sunday, some Geminid meteors might still be visible. Look, of course, at the constellation Gemini.
I looked forward to seeing them Sunday night/monday morning, so of course it was cloudy.
My current planet counter widget says 403 CoRoT 7-c
Chris Hadfield and NASA people talked recently about the need to fund NASA, and how to go about getting off this planet sometime in the future when it becomes uninhabitable. Which could be a result of anything from a catastrophic meteor sighting to our sun turning into a red giant billions of years from now. Someone will have to think about an exodus plan. Hadfield or one of his colleagues talked about inter-generational space voyages and hopping to any rock that is stable.
And physicist Michio Kaku writes about and discusses topics concerning physics of the impossible - impossible for us at this stage of technological development. Kaku goes further than Hadfield and NASA officials with mention of an inter-dimensional escape voyage. Apparently in just a trillion years' time or so, this universe will become cold and dark. Kaku says that advanced civilizations of the distant future may develop technology to escape to a parallel universe. For Kaku, and former scientists: Nikolai Kardashev, Freeman Dyson, Carl Sagan etc, such technological advances are merely a matter of time.
ET, come home.
New planets found around sun-like stars
Astronomers have found as many as six new planets orbiting nearby stars that are very similar to our sun.
Two of the planets are "super-Earths," rocky planets with masses five and 7.5 times the mass of Earth. They are the first super-Earths to be found around a sun-like star, the researchers say.
"These detections indicate that low-mass planets are quite common around nearby stars. The discovery of potentially habitable nearby worlds may be just a few years away," said Steven Vogt of the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Australian, American and British astronomers found the planets using the Anglo-Australian Telescope in New South Wales, Australia, and the Keck Telescope in Hawaii.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/12/15/tech-space-planet-super-earth.html
I think our planet will become unable to sustain life shorter than a few billion more years. Though, we still have lots of time. Before the sun actually starts expanding, other things happen that will make life impossible.
I don't think trying to sell an increase to NASA's budget by such techniques is a good way to go. Rather, we should concentrate on how this "pure science" has and can make our lives better.
Advanced weather reporting through satelites, GPS and communication alone has probably created enough "pay back" in terms of money and lives that it eclipsed whatever the U.S. has spent on space since Sputnik long ago.
GPS and weather reporting for sure, Tommy. Anything other than Obama's humungous military budget, which is really a job-killer stifles what could be a peaceful and sustainable economic recovery if there was the political will to do so minus the corruption.
The US economy used to be driven by big budget public enterprise, like NASA. We could create a high tech green economy, and have something like a space race to Mars but with international cooperation instead of the cold war baloney. And something like a medical research effort on a scale with NASA level funding could lead to great and wonderous achievements in health care and improving quality of life around the world. Finance and business schools have attracted too many of the best minds over the last 30 years or so. And what a waste it was. Their mamas paid for all those books and pencils, and they're still no wiser.
There are other earth like planets? DRILL BABY DRILL! Party likes it's 2012.
There are other earth like planets? DRILL BABY DRILL! Party likes it's 2012.
We'd need five or six more earths to carry on like this, and more if we exported middle class capitalism to the other 85% of humanity. It was a cold war era lie of galactic proportion.
And something like a medical research effort on a scale with NASA level funding could lead to great and wonderous achievements in health care and improving quality of life around the world. Finance and business schools have attracted too many of the best minds over the last 30 years or so. And what a waste it was.
I read Iacoca's book years ago, and he remarked that one advantage the Japanese had over American car makers was that the Japanese had no military industrial complex to siphon off all the best engineers from auto manufacturing.
Developing a real plan to not just go to Mars, but live there, would have innumerable applications here on earth in terms of technology and sustainable living. Sure, you could argue that you don't need Mars to do that, but we do. We need an environment where error causes death, and not just having to open the door to the biosphere located in the most hospitable part of the planet one could find.
Speaking of what's out there, this is kind of nifty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh1BH34Q
We need an environment where error causes death, and not just having to open the door to the blogosphere ...
I like it better that way.
Where does the universe end?
Image shows multiwavelength composite of Messier 81, a nearby galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major, one of the first images from the Spitzer Telescope released by NASA on December 18, 2003. Unlike the Hubble Space Telescope, which takes pictures of the universe from high in Earth orbit, Spitzer makes its observations as it trails behind Earth as our planet circles the sun Image shows multiwavelength composite of Messier 81, a nearby galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major, one of the first images from the Spitzer Telescope released by NASA on December 18, 2003. Unlike the Hubble Space Telescope, which takes pictures of the universe from high in Earth orbit, Spitzer makes its observations as it trails behind Earth as our planet circles the sun multiwavelength composite of Messier 81, a nearby galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major, one of the first images from the Spitzer Telescope released by NASA on December 18, 2003. Unlike the Hubble Space Telescope, which takes pictures of the universe from high in Earth orbit, Spitzer makes its observations as it trails behind Earth as our planet circles the sun.
Handout released by ESA on December 8, 2009 shows the deepest image yet of the Universe in near-infrared light taken by the new Wide Field Camera 3 aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The faintest and reddest objects in the image are likely the oldest galaxies ever identified, having formed between only 600 to 900 million years after the Big Bang.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/where-does-the-universe-end/article1399573/
I would have said north of Eglinton, but that'll do. :)
Ocean planet discovered - but don't dive in, it's hot water!
I read Iacoca's book years ago, and he remarked that one advantage the Japanese had over American car makers was that the Japanese had no military industrial complex to siphon off all the best engineers from auto manufacturing.
Yes, and another was that US car companies are paying anywhere from $1000 to $1600 more per car when group health insurance premiums for workers are factored in. Someone said that GM and Ford can compete with Toyota and VW, but they can't compete with Japan and Germany. Of course, the Yanks have used socialism to compete with other countries all the time, but not when it comes to making cars. Car companies were a capitalist ideal for them a long time.
There are apparently two or three different views on how to get to Mars and colonize it. One group says they have to learn everything they can about living in space with the international space station. Better to learn first before arriving on Mars and realizing they neglected to deal with some issue or another.
Another group says that the best way to get to Mars is to start preparing for it right away and focussing hard on getting there asap. And there will be no shortage of colonizers and people willing to leave everything they've ever known for the rest of their lives. People have done it before in the name of king and queen and other flimsy reasons.
The water world article didn't really detail what measurements lead them to conclude the planet's make up. Can they detect all that from it's orbit and wobble?
[url=http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/132133]Forget Climategate: Hacking the Multiverse[/url]
At the heart of the problem is a fuzzy dividing line between the reality of daily experience and a deterministic and fundamental quantum reality -- a theory that was worked out in the early years of modern physics by the greatest minds of the 20th Century.As the years grow between the foundation of modern quantum physics, which brought about solid-state electronics and atomic bombs, and our latest efforts to understand the universe, physicists have been forced to confront the failure of a search for a Theory of Everything. Instead, their efforts have dragged them, often kicking and screaming along the way, into a multiverse of parallel worlds and superstring theory landscapes which far exceed all of the atoms and atomic particles in the entire universe.
"To infinity and beyond" - Buzz Lightyear
Just to be on the safe side we need to create a carade of space soldiers and a fleet of warships.
Just kidding...mostly
I wonder if any sci-fi fans will place this quote.
They shall be my finest warriors, these men who give of themselves to me. Like clay I shall mould them, and in the furnace of war forge them. They will be of iron will and steely muscle. In great armour shall I clad them and with the mightiest guns will they be armed. They will be untouched by plague or disease, no sickness will blight them. They will have tactics, strategies and machines so that no foe can best them in battle. They are my bulwark against the Terror. They are the Defenders of Humanity. They are my Space Marines and they shall know no fear.
[url=http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/in-search-of-god-parti... search of God particles[/url] [i][b]Large Hadron Collider attempts to unlock mysteries of the universe[/b][/i]
More widely anticipated is the discovery of the Higgs particle -- sometimes inaptly called the God particle -- whose existence is postulated to explain why some matter has mass. Were it not for the Higgs, or something like it, the electrons in our bodies would behave like light beams, shooting into space, and we would not exist [. . .]More profound still, the LHC may reveal extra dimensions of space, beyond the three that we see. The existence of a completely new type of dimension -- what is called "supersymmetry" -- means that all known particles have partner particles with related properties. Supersymmetry could be discovered by the LHC producing these "superpartners," which would make characteristic splashes in its detectors. Superpartners may also make up dark matter -- and two great discoveries would be made at once.
Or, the LHC may find evidence for extra dimensions of a more ordinary type, like those that we see -- still a major revolution. If these extra dimensions exist, they must be wound up into a small size, which would explain in part why we can't see or feel them directly. The LHC detectors might find evidence of particles related to the ones we know but shooting off into these dimensions.
Even more intriguing, if these extra dimensions are configured in certain ways, the LHC could produce microscopic black holes. As first realized by Stephen Hawking, basic principles of quantum physics tell us that such black holes evaporate in about a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a second -- in a spectacular spray of particles that would be visible to LHC detectors.
This would let us directly probe the deep mystery of reconciling two conflicting pillars of 20th-century physics: Einstein's theory of general relativity and quantum mechanics. This conflict produces a paradox -- related to the riddle of what happens to stuff that falls into a black hole -- whose resolution may involve ideas more mind-bending than those of quantum mechanics or relativity.
Other possible discoveries include new forces of nature, similar to electric or magnetic forces. Any of these discoveries would represent a revolution in physics, though one that had been already considered. We may also discover something utterly new and unexpected -- perhaps the most exciting possibility of all. Even not discovering anything is important -- it would tell us where phenomena we know must exist are not to be found.
Dark matter, dark energy, extra dimensions, and it's possible that additional forces of nature will be discovered. Fascinating.
If these extra dimensions exist, they must be wound up into a small size, which would explain in part why we can't see or feel them directly. The LHC detectors might find evidence of particles related to the ones we know but shooting off into these dimensions.
Years ago, I got into a smallish Yahoo group with a bunch of people just interested in books, and one of the members was Richard Morris, a Physics Phd and writer of science for the layman type books. Interesting fellow, many experiences outside the world of acedemia and physics ... he passed away a few years ago.
Anyway, he described that scenario of dimensions wound or wrapped up into a small size, and I suspect that he thought, as far as what evidence there was back then, that this was the most likely explanation for things. But since the evidence was so sparse, he certainly wouldn`t say so directly.
I like this explanation-- but only because it`s the easiest one for me to wrap my brain around. :)
Here`s a link to some remarkable Hubble pictures.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/12/hubble_space_telescope_advent_1...
And apparently it's possible that extra dimensions have been expanding into other universes since big bang, like expanding bubbles. They're saying that further proof of dark matter will point theoretical physicists in a several directions. Supersymmetry and string theory for example.
I'm sure it's a long way off, but ideas like being able to store information in one of those rolled up or folded dimensions might someday mean having unlimited computing power. Or, maybe a full understanding of all this means we will patch into a communication web where we can communicate with older civilizations in "real time", and not be constrained by the slow pace of radio waves at light speed.
It strikes us as estoteric "pure science" but then, so did satelites in the 50's.
[url=http://www.nonequilibrium.net/quantum-tunneling-flux-compactifications/]... a quantum theorist at Tufts U wrote:
But why do we care about bubble nucleations, extra dimensional theories and compactification? To help set the mood, let's come down to earth and think about a vanilla galaxy . Mmm, nice. How about the Hubble deep field? Mmmm - very nice! We can see thousands of galaxies effortlessly suspended in space billions of light years away. The universe we see is undeniably beautiful and incomprehensibly vast. But still, we can't help but notice that our laws of physics are telling us that there may be more to the story - infinitely more!For over two decades eternal inflation has been telling us that our entire observable universe is just a small part of an infinitely large universe (that was spawned some 13.7 billion years ago in the Big Bang), which itself is only one out of an infinite number of other universes (each the product of their own "local" big bang). Here's the thing: once inflation starts it never ends!...
Well so much for a flat vanilla universe. Apparently it's looking more like bubble gum flavour.
In his book, Hyperspace:A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension, leading string theorist Michio Kaku says that in about a trillion years from now, this universe will become cold and dark. An advanced civilization of the distant future might develop technology that will allow them to escape to a parallel universe. The technology is just a matter of time according to Kaku.
There was a time, not really that long ago, when this kind of science was driven by chemists and not physicists. Chemists, remember, have to deal with electrons, protons and nuetrons. Perhaps one of the last of that generation was Fritz Haber, an interesting character that everyone should be aquianted with, but that's a digression right now. But, after the chemists the engineering type physicists took over cosmology. But the real revolution that Einstien kicked off was theoretical physicists taking over this pursuit.
The interesting thing is that no matter how wacky the theories seem to be, or how counter intuitive they seem to be, when the engineers catch up and develop a way to test these hypothesis, they are often proven to be observably correct. So, it's hard for me to pooh pooh extra dimensions and universes and such, as this Newtonian mind is often tempted to do.
But as it stands now, string theory still has some fleshing out to do.
Some fleshing out to do for sure, Tommy. And if there are multiple universes, how old is this one in relation to the singularity that spawned it ? What the heck is dark matter and mysterious dark energy? Some physicists describe it as a cosmic dance of energy with material particles interacting with other particles through other types and so on. Dark matter is apparently invisible to us except by its observable influence on galaxies and other things expelled by the big bang, or at least our local version of it. Former Anglican priest Tom Harpur says they approach the language of mysticism at times. Theoretical physicist Fritjof Capra wrote in Tao of Physics:
I 'saw' cascades of energy coming down from outer space, in which particles were created and destroyed in rhythmic pulses; I 'saw' the atoms of the elements and those of my body participating in this cosmic dance of energy; I 'felt' its rhythm and I 'heard' its sound, and at the moment I knew that this was the dance of Shiva, the Lord of Dancers, worshipped by the Hindus
Capra supposes it possible that the human mind may interact with parallel worlds as sources of creativity, intuition, dreams, and even on psychic levels. I think Jung might have found this idea to be compatible with his own theory that our physical brains are transformers allowing cosmic consciousness to manifest. Apparently the scientific notion of scientist as unobserved observer looking on of Newtonian thought was discarded since Bohr, Heisenberg and Einstein. Some go so far as to suggest that our universe seems to know when it is being observed.
The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us. ~Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes
dp
Dark matter is apparently invisible to us except by its observable influence on galaxies and other things expelled by the big bang, or at least our local version of it. Former Anglican priest Tom Harpur says they approach the language of mysticism at times.
Well, I think it's appropriate that we use the language of mysticism when we're dealing with something that is at this moment, a mystery. If for example, dark matter connects sub atomic particles, and we can "see" why spooky action at a distance works, the mysticism will evaporate.
When Einstien said "God does not play dice with the universe", and later when Hawking said "Not only does God play dice with the universe-- sometimes he hides the dice", neither meant the old man in a long white beard who asked Abraham to sacrifice his first born, or he that slew the innocent first born of Egypt during Passover. It was a figure of speech, trying to communicate to people who don't have the mathematical background to understand things in a non mysterious language.
Thanks Tommy. Michio Kaku talks about mystics in 19th century London who claimed they could speak with the dead. When it was suggested by a few scientists that many worlds might be a reality, scam artists came out of the woodwork. Charged with fraud by a concerned citizens group, one mystic appealed to a scientific authority of the day who suggested that other parallel dimensions may exist, but that it was unprovable by science then. The mystic was released on that testimony apparently.
A modern era British mystic made some impression on US talk show host Larry King in recent times. I remember watching that show. Just before they went for commercial break, she told Larry that his long dead father was standing near him and had something to say to him. His facial expression and manner didn't change after the break, and I assumed whatever it was Larry was told was off by a mile.
The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us. ~Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes
String theorist Michio Kaku ponders the possible existence of a highly evolved species in this way. He says, what if an ant colony suddenly arises near a twelve lane highway? Would the ants know that it was a highway nearby? And what would builders of the highway have to say to the ants?
What if this universe is teeming with life, and that they are communicating across vast distances using something like our own internet protocols to send packetized streams of information superimposed over not just one frequency but a range of frequencies to avoid collisions with planets, stars, black holes etc. And why is SETI searching only the frequencies near hydrogen? It's as if someone has lost their keys at night, and they've chosen only to look near the street lamp where it's illuminated.
This Satellite Could Help Save Humanity at the tyee. pressing problems and local area. It's great space science.
[url=http://www.slipstring.com/]SlipString Drive[/url] String Theory, Gravity, and "Faster Than Light" Travel in 50 years time.
"Intelligent life seems to be fleeting," he said. "In terms of the universe it only exists for a fraction of time."
This I find the most interesting.
Darwin would probably suggest that this universe is teeming with life. And if SETI does receive a phone call from another species, [url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7066554/Aliens-might-not... we pick up?[/url]
We've been broadcasting for a long time. They may not like the neighbors. Bombs, rockand roll at all hours; we maybe proof there is no intellegent life out there.
There is science life here! You Tube "BBCTHE SECRET LIFE OF CHAOS" Science vid of the year, maybe 12 hrs. old.
We've been broadcasting for a long time.
A long time for us, sure. Man has existed for a few million years, and we've had the technology for broacdasting radio transmissions for a relatively short amount of time. The universe is billions of years old, and we've existed for a very tiny slice of total time since the singularity, or the beginning of this universe. Some scientists are saying there could be many universes.
Classical physicist Lawrence Krauss has been criticizing string theory for a number of years. [url=http://www.slate.com/id/2131014/]Theory of Anything?[/url] Physicist Lawrence Krauss turns on his own
Fidel, It is important to undestand these distinctions below and what they are referring too.
Approaches to the Quantum Theory of Gravity by the PI Institute
Two methods evolved in the theory of elementary particles to describe such quantized flux tubes. The one, called the loop method, studies them using the basic laws of electricity and magnetism, combined with quantum theory. The second, called string theory, postulates that the quantized flux tubes may be treated as fundamental in their own right, and the laws of electricity and magnetism derived from them.Many theorists believe that these two points of view are actually equivalent—just different ways of studying the same thing from different points of view. The idea that they are the same is called duality, which here, as in other areas, signals that the same object is being studied with different ideas and methods.
For those moving forward and not caught in the distinctions "to separate" but more toward resolutions of the issues of quantum gravity, I thought would help in that direction. So with that in mind and whether you believe in gravitons or not or issues with the bulk, it behooves some to understand these distinctions
The jump from conventional field theories of point-like objects to a theory of one-dimensional objects has striking implications. The vibration spectrum of the string contains a massless spin-2 particle: the graviton. Its long wavelength interactions are described by Einstein's theory of General Relativity. Thus General Relativity may be viewed as a prediction of string theory!
How one can see then in relation to bulk views is part of the distinction to be made, I feel, in relation to how one will approach the topic full well aware that there are indeed different methods which one can approach this issue of quantum gravity.
Fidel, Quantum Gravity is what the theoretics is about.
[i]However, Kapusta also notes that a sufficiently advanced civilization might use pulses of neutrino superfluid for long-distance communications.[/i]
Galactic Neutrino Communication by John G. Learned, Sandip Pakvasa, A. Zee
[i]We examine the possibility to employ neutrinos to communicate within the galaxy. We discuss various issues associated with transmission and reception, and suggest that the resonant neutrino energy near 6.3 PeV may be most appropriate. In one scheme we propose to make Z^o particles in an overtaking e^+ - e^- collider such that the resulting decay neutrinos are near the W^- resonance on electrons in the laboratory. Information is encoded via time structure of the beam. In another scheme we propose to use a 30 PeV pion accelerator to create neutrino or anti-neutrino beams. The latter encodes information via the particle/anti-particle content of the beam, as well as timing. Moreover, the latter beam requires far less power, and can be accomplished with presently foreseeable technology. Such signals from an advanced civilization, should they exist, will be eminently detectable in neutrino detectors now under construction.[/i]
A video tour of the International Space Station.
The most immediately thing you notice is because there's no gravity, there's no floor, only walls - walls with lots and lots of equipment.
[url=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126911.300-our-world-may-be-a-gi... world may be a giant hologram[/url] Yep, just as we've suspected all along.
That's truly, truly, truly outrageous! 
"Raffiniert ist Der Herr Gott, aber Boschaft ist Er nicht."
In 1972 I was laying in a hospital, dying. They put 5 litres of blood into me but it seemed still I wasn't going to continue to exist. Someone handed me a science magazine with an article by Albert Einstein in it. Therein was the quote above. God is sophisticated but He is not malicious.
I have thought about that a thousand times since then. I would like to say that every time I've thought about it came out different, but of course that's not so. At this point, what does it mean?
I don't know.
Also.. why did Schrodinger's chicken cross the road? Oh.. did it?
[url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iFngOTfNSw21ce_26N1Ezf... smasher will help reveal 'the beginning'[/url]
GENEVA — The world's largest atom smasher threw together minuscule particles racing at unheard of speeds in conditions simulating those just after the Big Bang — a success that kick-started a mega-billion dollar experiment that could one day explain how the universe began.Scientists cheered Tuesday's historic crash of two proton beams, producing three times more force than researchers had created before and marking a milestone for the $10 billion Large Hadron Collider...
"In the past, every time we unraveled a force (of physics) it changed human history," Kaku said. "Now we're talking about all forces."
He compared it to events such as the Industrial Revolution, the electric and the nuclear age. Such events followed breakthroughs made by Isaac Newton, Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein.
It won't happen immediately, maybe centuries down the line, but it could answer questions about the Big Bang, alternate universes and whether time travel is possible, Kaku said.
"It would change people's philosophy," he said.
Important historic event unfolding in Switzerland. What was the big bang? And if time was produced from a primordial singularity, then where did it come from? What existed before genesis of the universe?
And, what's pulling galaxies along some path at a million miles per hour? Another universe? There's something out there - way, way out there.
What a waste of money, seriously.
What a waste of money, seriously.
I think this will eventually put Europe at the leading edge of basic research in science and technology. Big time. The Americans lost out when Republicans cancelled Reagan's multi-billion dollar investment into high energy physics in the 1980s in favour of increased military spending. Scientists in the US are still livid over that.
[url=http://news.stv.tv/scotland/152841-man-must-prepare-to-meet-alien-life-f... 'must prepare to meet alien life forms'[/url] St Andrews University scientist tells conference that man now has more chance than ever of discovering life on other planets. - from January 2010
Man has more chance than ever of discovering life on other planets - and mankind needs to prepare itself for meeting alien life forms for the first time, a Scots scientist is to tell a conference on Monday.The conference – The Detection of Extra-Terrestrial Life and the Consequences for Science and Society – is taking place at the Royal Society in London on January 25 and 26 and has brought together leading astronomers and scientists from around the world.
One of lead organisers – Dr Martin Dominik of the School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews – says rapid advances in deep-space exploration techniques mean the discovery of life on other worlds in our lifetime is now a real possibility. . .
Yew! Yes, you behind the bikes shed on OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb! Stand still laddy!
[url=http://cerncourier.com/cws/article/cern/28870]Physics in a knowledge based economy[/url] CERN Courier 2003
The structure and pace of change of modern economies is such that wealth and power are no longer found in the abundance of available minerals, fossil fuels and raw materials, but lie instead with the ability and know-how to process these commodities into high-technology products that bring a high added value. A competitive economy thrives on innovations, displacing older products with better and more efficient new ones. It is clear that important innovations no longer come from well-targeted inventions, but result from new knowledge and know-how.[...] The succession of discovery and innovation phases seen over the past two centuries in the world economy is a well-documented fact. Nevertheless, if one is to base future success on innovations to come, it is worth preparing for them through a healthy research effort in which physics should provide its share of acquired new knowledge. However, one cannot use knowledge as a mere commodity, called upon when needed. We should instead consider it as a constantly developing entity, bringing new insight, new facts and, sometimes, providing new ways of thinking, as nature is much richer than our imagination. One may safely assume that in future the most innovative pieces of new knowledge will come from open research driven basically by human curiosity and yielding unexpected results[url=http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/13995.html]Does our universe exist inside a wormhole?[/url]
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Could our universe be located within the interior of a wormhole which itself is part of a black hole that lies within a much larger universe?
