Cosmology – Page 24

VIEW HEADLINES ONLY

Cosmologist Has a Sobering Thought: We Are Forever in the Dark About Dark Energy

August 3, 2009

An evangelist for the standard model of cosmology is having a moment of penitence. He is admitting to himself, and to the world, that “we will remain resolutely in the dark about dark energy.” In a piece in New Scientist, Pedro Ferreira [Oxford] has revealed the vicious circle of assumptions that undermine confidence […]

Cosmology

Dark Matter: Where Is It?

July 30, 2009

If physicists and astronomers are going to continue to tell us that 95% of the mass in the universe is hidden in some unobservable dark matter, they had better find it soon. Two articles on PhysOrg (#1, #2) reported on continuing efforts to find the elusive stuff – if it exists at all. The first […]

Cosmology

We Know Less Than We Think

June 23, 2009

Strange reports come from science news outlets on occasion that call into question facts we thought we understood. These raise a question: do we really know what we think we know? Cutting dinosaurs down to size: Dinosaurs may have been half as heavy as thought, said Science Daily. Some paleontologists are claiming that widely-used methods […]

Cosmology

Gravity: A Theory in Crisis

May 5, 2009

Note: This is **not** a joke. How could gravity be a theory in crisis? Isn’t gravity one of the best-understood facts of nature? Don’t we all avoid jumping off cliffs because of the law of gravity? Gravity is doing just fine, thank you. It’s our theory of gravity, and the cosmology built on it, that […]

Bible and Theology

A Darwinist Religious Experience Described

April 11, 2009

As millions of Jews celebrate Passover, and as millions of Christians gather to celebrate Easter, a Darwinist reporter was experiencing “existential vertigo” – a sweeping sense of dizziness as her imagination zoomed in and out of the implications of her faith. It may be the closest thing that a secular materialist can call a religious […]

Astronomy

Early Large Galaxies Stun Cosmologists

April 2, 2009

Cosmology has a kind of Cambrian Explosion of its own to grapple with. Contrary to expectations, some of the earliest galaxies appear as large as current ones, if not larger. Astronomers, using the Subaru telescope in Hawaii, examined five galaxy clusters with ages estimated at 5 billion years after the Big Bang. Statements in a […]

Bible and Theology

Kepler On the Way to Search for Earth-Size Planets

March 7, 2009

The long-awaited launch of the planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft was successful Friday night, announced the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Named for the 17th-century German astronomer-mathematician Johannes Kepler, the spacecraft will stare at 100,000 stars for over three years, looking for variations in their light that indicate the presence of planets. Follow-up studies may determine if some of […]

Cosmology

Evidence for Inflation, or Inflating the Evidence?

February 24, 2009

Cosmic inflation has become an accepted truth in cosmology, but its appeal is primarily philosophical and theoretical. Something as weird as a universe jumping 26 orders of magnitude in size in one trillion trillion trillionth of a second (see 02/21/2005) should raise eyebrows in any scientific circle. Is there any evidence for it? Live Science […]

Astronomy

2009 Is Looking Up

January 8, 2009

Astronomy is looking up this year; in fact, it’s looking heavenly. The United Nations and the International Astronomical Union have designated 2009 the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009). The IYA2009 website explains, The International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) will be a global celebration of astronomy and its contributions to society and culture, highlighted by the […]

Cosmology

Dream On, Astrobiology

December 22, 2008

An astrobiologist at Open University (UK) has classified habitable worlds into four types, even though only one of them is known to have life. Astrobiology Magazine reported the list by Jan Hendrik Bredeh?ft: earth-like, Mars-like, Venus-like and water-worlds. After considering all the facts, Bredeh?ft says our best bet to find extraterrestrial ecosystems is to hunt […]

Astronomy

Water, Water Everywhere

December 21, 2008

A press release from the Max Planck Institute says that water has been detected at a distant quasar 11.1 billion light-years away – the farthest detection of water yet. “The water vapour is thought to exist in clouds of dust and gas that feed the supermassive black hole at the centre of the distant quasar,” […]

Cosmology

Cosmologists Taste the Forbidden Fruit

December 5, 2008

Everyone agrees: our universe appears fine-tuned for human existence. You have two choices: it was designed by God, or there is a multiverse (other universes we cannot detect). Amanda Gefter is unhappy with that choice. In New Scientist, she asked, why can’t we have more options? Calling the God-vs-multiverse choice a false dichotomy, […]

Astronomy

It Takes a Stellar Village

November 27, 2008

Do galaxies embark on a purpose-driven life? The language in an article about galaxy evolution in Science Daily makes such seamless use of personal terms with natural processes, it’s hard to know where the data ends and the interpretation begins. “Galaxy Zoo, which uses volunteers from the general public to classify galaxies, and […]

Cell Biology

Far-Out Science

November 25, 2008

The following list of bizarre stories coming from science news outlets is jarring on two fronts: it shows how little scientists understand, and calls into question what counts as science these days. Some stories illustrate one or the other; some both. Roar of the aurora aura: Both Saturn and Mars turned up auroras that are […]

Cosmology

Desperately Fleeing God in Cosmology

November 17, 2008

Does the fine-tuning of the universe require belief in God? Or will multiverse theory allow for a self-perpetuating, eternal, godless cosmos? Tim Folger explored this topic in an interview with Andrei Linde, a cosmologist currently at Stanford, in Discovery Magazine. The opening line sums up the controversy: “Our universe is perfectly tailored for life. That […]

All Posts by Date

[archives type="yearly" cat_id="28"]