1+ day, 8+ hour ago  (1738+ words) Science and Culture Today This is the second of two installments on Roger Penrose's conformal cyclic cosmology (CCC), and the last in my discussion of bouncing and cyclic cosmologies. The first CCC essay set the stage by recounting the year-long public…...

3+ day, 11+ hour ago  (1703+ words) This brings us, at last, to the remaining "cyclic" proposal, that of Roger Penrose, which is perhaps the most quixotic of all. Source This is the third installment in my discussion of bouncing and cyclic cosmologies, and the first of…...

1+ week, 3+ day ago  (354+ words) I'll leave aside the obvious question of whether aliens from a distant planet, light years away, could get here on a reasonable timetable. But let's assume for the sake of the argument that somehow they figured out how to solve…...

2+ week, 2+ day ago  (322+ words) For comparison, how much bigger are you than just one of the atoms composing the first cells from which you were made? Only about 10 billion times bigger than an atom (or, just 10 thousand times bigger than a human egg cell)....

2+ week, 4+ day ago  (414+ words) The truth of a speculative theory is easily arbitrated when its predictions can be tested in the laboratory with existing technology. The situation becomes more problematic when experimental tests lie far beyond the limits of current technology (or funding). Another…...

4+ week, 1+ day ago  (1685+ words) Oscillating universes have been discussed in philosophy from time immemorial and in mathematical cosmology for over one hundred years. Source It would seem, on first consideration, that bouncing universes could have always existed and might continue to exist forever. If…...

1+ mon, 14+ hour ago  (1679+ words) The beginning of the universe doesn't need to be singular, so doubts about a singularity don't need to translate into doubts about a beginning. Source The rumblings and grumblings continue apace, some based on misunderstandings of Stephen Meyer's argument in…...

1+ mon, 2+ week ago  (391+ words) On a hike, you stumble upon a seemingly abandoned cabin in the woods. When you walk in, you notice a steaming cup of tea sitting on the table. Source On a hike, you stumble upon a seemingly abandoned cabin in…...

2+ mon, 1+ week ago  (867+ words) Science and Culture Today In their 2010 book, The Grand Design, Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow set out to answer a big question: "Is the apparent "grand design' of our universe evidence of a benevolent creator who set things in motion…...

2+ mon, 1+ week ago  (386+ words) Until the mid 20th century, the prevailing scientific narrative said that the universe was eternal and that the features we observe came about through slow, gradual, materialistic changes. As Carl Sagan intoned in the opening segment of his popular 1980s PBS series…...