Gleiser's Latest

For the cosmology readers out there, a couple of Web reviews of physicist Marcelo Gleiser's latest book, "A Tear At the Edge of Creation" below.

(This is Gleiser's account of his journey from string theorist and unification seeker to a totally different and "radical" view of the nature of the Universe, wherein a "Theory of Everything" is likely not achievable.)

http://www.math.columbia.edu/~

An Alternative to the Big Bang Theory

 


 

 A theory of a cyclic "endless" Universe, without beginning:

http://endlessuniverse.net/

http://endlessuniverse.net/var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));


try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-7602120

Cosmos Courtesy of Hubble

Deep space elicits deep thoughts.....

More wonder from Hubble here:

http://tinyurl.com/ylrfwzg
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));


try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-7602120-1");
pageTracker._

"...craziness has a fine history in physics"

...so says a NY Times piece on the start-up attempts for the Large Hadron Collider, and a new theory pushed by some that the device is doomed or at least jinxed, by the very Higgs boson for which it is searching... this is cosmology gone wild... but, hey, that's almost the normal state for cosmology, so read all about it:

http://tinyurl.com/yhh7b6d

 "...craziness has a fine history in a physics

What A View!

"Cosmic web" of galaxies viewed for first time:

http://ow.ly/zFls

http://ow.ly/zFlsvar gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));


try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-7602120-1");
pageTracker._trackPageview();
}

Physicists Pondering

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));

From the recent "Quantum To Cosmos" conference this nice summary of things buggin' current day physicists (from fundamental laws, to the singularity, to the nature of reality...)

32 Out of Billions and B-B-Billions

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));Astronomers announce they have found 32 new planets (although none deemed likely habitable) outside of our own solar system.try {var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-7602120-1");

Physics Talking Heads

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));For the Friday video, more cosmology from "BloggingHeads.TV" with physicists Sean Carroll and Mark Trodden:try {var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-7602120-1");pageTracker._

The Cosmos

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));For this week's Friday video two physicists discuss cosmology on "Bloggingheads.TV":try {var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-7602120-1");pageTracker._trackPageview();} catch(err)

"Death From the Skies"

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));A Bad Astronomer (...and Punster)Phil Plait is an astronomer and writer who runs one of the most popular (and award-winning) science blogs on the Web, "Bad Astronomy." When I

Black Hole Photography

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));Getting a picture of a black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy... New Scientist article HERE.try {var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-7602120-1");pageTracker._

Does Life Create Time and Space

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));Is the universe "biocentric"? One more theory for cosmologists to play with:http://discovermagazine.com/2009/may/01-the-biocentric-universe-life-creates-time-space-cosmostry {var

The Size of the Universe

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));Friday video: The Hubble deep field and the size of the universe:try {var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-7602120-1");pageTracker._trackPageview();} catch(err) {}

The 'Many-Worlds' Postulation

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));A blog post HERE about quantum mechanics and the 'many-worlds' interpretation of 'reality'... whatever THAT is.try {var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-7602120-1");pageTracker._

Imagining 10 Dimensions

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));Cosmologists tell us the universe must (mathematically) have at least 8 dimensions, if not in fact 10 or 11; hard to imagine for us 3-dimensional types. But this Friday video

Theory of Everything

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));Totally over my head... yet still interesting:Physicist Garrett Lisi on a "new theory of everything": ******************************try {var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-

English Major Turned Physics Geek

var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));Some of the most engaging popular science writing on physics on the Web comes from... dr-r-r-rumroll... a former English major (exactly how that happens I've never quite understood,

"The Age of Entanglement"

Don't know when I'll find time to sit down myself and read the 400+ pages of "The Age of Entanglement: When Quantum Physics Was Reborn" by Louisa Gilder (here and here), but feel like I shouldn't delay any longer citing it on this blog.The book (8+ years in the writing) has been receiving generally excellent reviews around the bookworld; especially excellent for a first-time author; especially