What begot these vast latent nebulae? What created these scattered elements that make up us? The Entire History of the Universe e18: How Did Our Universe Emerge from Chaos
The most catastrophic events in the galaxy are responsible for at least some of the heavier elements. ibid.
One of the odd quirks of an infinite universe is that aliens would most definitely be real. ibid.
Is the universe itself infinite? And what would it mean to live in a universe that never ended? The Entire History of the Universe e19: What is Beyond the Edge?
Of all numbers, none was more disturbing than infinity … the concept of the truly limitless. ibid.
Scientists and philosophers have long grappled with the concept of an observable universe and what if anything lies beyond. ibid.
The edge of our observable universe is therefore defined as much by time as it is by space. ibid.
There is still an overriding aversion to the concept of an infinite universe. ibid.
But how can you build a finite universe without invoking something ‘beyond’? How can there be limits without an edge? ibid.
Cosmologists suggest that the 3D universe is also curved, and is similarly limited without margins. ibid.
The universe appears to be flat. It extends off in all directions with no hint of hill or valley. ibid.
The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy with beautiful sweeping arms of millions of stars. The Entire History of the Universe e20: Why Does the Universe Look Like This?
What is responsible for these shifting regimes of expansion? ibid.
You can’t start this process with a totally even universe. ibid.
There is no such thing as truly empty space. ibid.
The inherent noisiness of the universe. ibid.
Rules fundamental to the functioning of reality. They knew that these rules were built into many of the universe’s processes. The Entire History of the Universe s21: What Are the Hidden Rules of the Universe?
The past where the action is most minimized is always taken by Nature. ibid.
We are only here because of this tiny asymmetry. ibid.
These bizarre atoms are the universe’s Lego bricks … There’s an entire cosmos inside you. The Entire History of the Universe e22: Why is Everything Made of Atoms?
Where did the first atom come from? ibid.
The most energetic the light, the higher the likelihood that it will change to matter. ibid.
The inside of an atom is like a giant hall of mirrors. ibid.
Formation of the first atoms some 380,000 years after the Big Bang set light free. ibid.
Most scientific theories do end up dead and forgotten. The Entire History of the Universe e23: Have We Really Found the Theory of Everything?
Gradually, the lights went out for Steady State.
Regular conferences are being held packed with both young and old attendees, all chasing the holy grail of physics – a unified theory that explains it all. ibid.
What was more, said Witten, M Theory was 11 dimensional, not 10, and the fundamental objects of this 11 dimensional theory were no longer strings, but a mysterious object taken from supergravity, the sixth theory. The fundamental objects of M Theory were branes – more specifically M-branes. ibid.
M Theory: A world of strings born from wrapping higher dimensional branes around minuscule extra dimensions. ibid.
For there is absolutely zero direct experimental evidence for M or String theory. ibid.
Time travel: some incredibly profound questions begin to emerge … The bootstrap paradox … The restoration paradox … The ex nihilo paradox … The pre-destination paradox … The autoinfanticide paradox … Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of time travel. The Entire History of the Universe e25: Is Time Travel Possible In Our Universe?
Despite its myriad impracticalities, there are slivers of possibility lurking at the edge of physics, temporal loopholes lying just out of reach. ibid.
If time travel is possible, just how could we do it? ibid.
Debates between eternalist and presentist philosophers have raged since the days of ancient Greece. ibid.
Rossi had provided the first experimental evidence that time travel to the future is possible. But does this really count as time travel? ibid.
An endless array of yous, each a little different from the next, playing out every possible outcome of every possible event in constantly fracturing streams along the great river of time. ibid.