Parallel Universes, Science That Can Be Tested?

[T]he idea that we live in a “multiverse” made up of an infinite number of parallel universes has long been considered a scientific possibility – although it is still a matter of vigorous debate among physicists. The race is now on to find a way to test the theory, including searching the sky for signs of collisions with other universes.

The Theory Of Parallel Universes Is Not Just Maths – It Is Science That Can Be Tested

Neil deGrasse Tyson: A Brief History of Everything

In an astonishingly short 8.5 minutes, Neil explains it all for us lay folks. Enjoy.

P.S. Major kudos to the sketch artist Henry Reich as well. The illustrations are amazing in their accuracy and simplicity.

Large Hadron Collider Could Detect Extra Dimensions

If String Hypothesis is correct, it is possible that the LHC at full power might actually detect it by creating mini black holes. This would be incredible.

Note that what this particular article is not discussing is the possibility of Kaluza-Klein particles which would, if detected, be able to tell us not only about the existence of extra dimensions, but about the shapes of the compactified dimensions. But, that will have to wait for another article.

Large Hadron Collider Could Detect Extra Dimensions

Light: Caught in the Act of Wave Particle Duality

It’s amazing that someone figured out a way to capture this. And, the image is quite beautiful as well.

http://phys.org/news/2015-03-particle.html

New Hypothesis Suggests Parallel Universes Interact With And Affect Our Own Universe

First, I hate when people call these brand new thoughts theories. Theory in science does not mean what it means in a court of law. It means something that is tried and at least fairly well proven. It makes predictions, can be used to do calculations, and may even have engineering applications.

Anyway, this is an interesting hypothesis. I wonder if it will make testable predictions, and if so, what they will be. Then, I will be very interested to hear whether the tests have been implemented and whether the hypothesis passes the tests.

Until then, this is merely an amusing thing to think about. Let’s see how this pans out.

http://www.iflscience.com/physics/physicist-predicts-parallel-universes-overlap-and-interact

This Little Higgy Gave Roast Beef Its Mass

OK. That sucks as a nursery rhyme. However, it is really cool science that they found the Higgs particle. Major kudos to Professor Peter Higgs for theorizing this decades ago and for his good luck in living to see the day the particle was found. Major kudos also to all of the theoretical and experimental scientists at CERN for working together to develop and run the experiments that finally found this elusive particle.

Higgs boson-like particle discovery claimed at LHC

And, for comic relief, here’s a related clip from the TV comedy The Big Bang Theory.

Why is there stuff in the universe?

Let there be stuff? I don’t think that’s a very satisfying answer. This one is much better.

This lecture is entitled ‘A Universe From Nothing’ by Lawrence Krauss. It is rather lengthy, but amusing throughout and not too technical for a lay audience, such as myself. The introduction is by Richard Dawkins, who if I remember correctly, at some point calls Lawrence Krauss the Woody Allen of physics. It’s a fairly apt description, and a high compliment IMHO.

I highly recommend this. If you’re thinking it’s not worth the time, just replace a couple of reruns of older TV shows with an hour of this. It’s better for your brain anyway and just as entertaining.