Time Travel

In the time it takes for you to finish reading this, you have traveled without moving. 

Even while not moving in what we perceive as fixed space, we have moved forward along the fourth dimension; time. 

We live in a world of three dimensions. Well, we only perceive three dimensions. We can hypothesize many more dimensions. But, they are difficult to imagine.

Because of Einstein, we often call time the fourth dimension. Special relativity shows that time behaves surprisingly like the three spatial dimensions. The Lorenz equations show this. Length contracts as speed increases. Time expands as speed increases.

Scientists have been graphing time, as if it were a length, for hundreds of years. To the left is a typical graph, showing two things in motion at the same speed, one to the left and one to the right. Time never behaves exactly like a spatial dimension. You cannot go backward in time. And you normally cannot go forward at different rates. But, there are surprising parallels. For some purposes, it is handy to call time a fourth dimension. For other purposes, it is not.

More: http://www.jimloy.com/physics/4d.htm

“Cold Spots” in Fabric of the Universe —Do They Exist or Not?

One of the most important space probes of the century is the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) launched in 2001 to measure the temperature differences in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation -the 14-billion year old Big Bang's remnant radiant heat. The anisotropies then in turn are used to measure the universe's geometry, content, and evolution; and, perhaps most importantly, to test the Big Bang model, and the cosmic inflation theory. WMAP data seem to support a universe that is dominated by dark energy in the form of a cosmological constant.

Using new data from NASA's WMAP satellite, researchers from UCL, Imperial College London and the Perimeter Institute have performed the first search for textures on the full sky, finding no evidence for knots, or "cold spots," in space. Theories of the primordial Universe predicted the existence of knots in the fabric of space - known as cosmic textures - which could be identified by looking at light from the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the relic radiation left over from the Big Bang.

What? No cold spots? What gives?

As the Universe cooled it underwent a series of phase transitions, analogous to water freezing into ice. Many transitions cannot occur consistently throughout space, giving rise in some theories to imperfections in the structure of the cooling material known as cosmic textures.

[...]

More: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheDailyGalaxyNewsFromPlanetEarthBeyond/~3/QbZPLNxICYc/cold-spots-in-fabric-of-space-appear-ruled-out-with-new-data-.html

Oh Balls

Space Shuttle Enterprise gets ride on barge

Space Shuttle Enterprise is carried by barge underneath the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge on June 3, 2012 in New York City. Enterprise is on it's way to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, where it will put on permanent display.

http://www.kvue.com/home/Space-Shuttle-Enterprise-gets-ride-on-barge-157021785.html

I am a science geek and a fan of scifi, but in a way it's good to see the shuttle program coming to an end. My greatest contention with taxpayer-funded programs like this is the necessities set aside for them. We could put that money toward housing, clothing, and feeding the world's poor, improving our global society. I am as efficient as possible in my own life and choices, I just wish governments operated more realistically as well. 

Imagine a world free of poverty, one that could give way to scientific endeavors like space exploration. That would be good for humanity. We should not have to sacrifice to gather rocks from distant celestial bodies. 

This Video WillWe Don't Need Space Exploration

"We went to the Moon, and we discovered Earth." So true. Listen to Neil deGrasse Tyson talking about the simple fact that "you can't put a price on space exploration." It will really give you chills. More »

While I really dig folks like Tyson, I think we need to fix our home before venturing out into the universe. The last thing we need to do is spread the problems that have destabilized our own world. You can't put a price on humanity. I'd rather feed the poor than take a step on a distant planet. That is hubris. 

---

Original Page: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/eItxxXqQtEo/this-video-will-remind-you-why-we-need-space-explorationbadly