Dark Energy is causing the expansion of the universe to speed up – and not to slow down as everyone expected. This discovery overturns astronomers’ ideas about the history and the fate of the universe. Professor Brian Schmidt describes the discovery that won him the Nobel Prize in Physics last year.
Tagged with “cosmology”
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Allison-Levick Memorial Lecture: The accelerating universe
Tagged with science dark energy dark matter universe cosmology supernova physics astronomy
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Hugo de Garis on Singularity 1 on 1: Are We Building Gods or Terminators?
Hugo de Garis is the past director of the Artificial Brain Lab (ABL) at Xiamen University in China. Best known for his doomsday book The Artilect War, Dr. de Garis has always been on my wish-list of future guests on Singularity 1 on 1. Finally, a few weeks ago I managed to catch him for a 90 minutes interview via Skype.
During our discussion with Dr. de Garis we cover a wide variety of topics such as: how and why he got interested in artificial intelligence; Moore’s Law and the laws of physics; the hardware and software requirements for artificial intelligence; why cutting edge experts are often missing the writing on the wall; emerging intelligence and other approaches to AI; Dr. Henry Markram‘s Blue Brain Project; the stakes in building AI and his concepts of ArtIlects, Cosmists and Terrans; cosmology, the Fermi Paradox and the Drake equation; the advance of robotics and the political, ethical, legal and existential implications thereof; species dominance as the major issue of the 21st century; the technological singularity and our chances of surviving it in the context of fast and slow take-off.
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Cosmos: It’s Big, It’s Weird
It’s all about you. And you, and you, and you and you… that is, if we live in parallel universes. Imagine you doing exactly what you’re doing now, but in an infinite number of universes.
Discover the multiverse theory and why repeats aren’t limited to summer television.
Plus, the physics of riding on a light beam, and the creative analogies a New York Times science writer uses to avoid using the word “weird” to describe dark energy and other weird physics.
Also, people who concoct their own theories (some would say fringe) of the universe: is all matter made up of tiny coiled springs?
Guests:
Brian Greene – Physicist and mathematician, Columbia University, and author of The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos Dennis Overbye – Reporter, New York Times Simon Steel – Science educator at University College London Margaret Wertheim – Science writer, author of Physics on the Fringe: Smoke Rings, Circlons, and Alternative Theories of Everything
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Desperately Seeking Symmetry
This hour of Radiolab, Jad and Robert set out in search of order and balance in the world around us, and ask how symmetry shapes our very existence—from the origins of the universe, to what we see when we look in the mirror.
Along the way, we look for love in ancient Greece , head to modern-day Princeton to peer inside our brains, and turn up an unlikely headline from the Oval Office circa 1979.
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Richard Panek: ‘Let There Be Dark’
Everything that we know and can sense may only account for a measly 4 percent of the universe. Everything else? It’s dark. Either dark matter or dark energy. It can’t be seen or even sensed by any instrument that we’ve been able to design. So how do we know it’s there?
Richard Panek answers that question in his book "The 4 Percent Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality." Panek’s not a scientist, he’s a creative writer, meaning he focuses on the human narrative behind the discovery of the other 96 percent of the universe.
Richard Panek teaches creative writing at Goddard College in Vermont. He’s also a New York Foundation for the Arts Nonfiction Literature fellow and has received an Antarctic Artists and Writers Program grant from the National Science Foundation. He came to Town Hall on January 25, 2011. His talk focused on the story of who discovered the hidden universe, as well as the science itself.
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Why Not to Fear Black Holes with Astronomer Ian Morison
Black Holes seem to have bad press that is largely undeserved. This lecture with professor Ian Morison explains what Black Holes are, and how we can discover them even through they can’t be seen.
This program was recorded in collaboration with Gresham College, on October 27, 2010.
Gresham Professor of Astronomy Ian Morison made his first telescope at the age of 12 with lenses given to him by his optician. Having studied Physics, Maths and Astronomy at Oxford, he became a radio astronomer at the Jodrell Bank Observatory and teaches Astronomy and Cosmology at the University of Manchester.
Over 25 years he has also taught Observational Astronomy to many hundreds of adult students in the North West of England. An active amateur optical astronomer, he is a council member and past president of the Society for Popular Astronomy in the United Kingdom.
At Jodrell Bank he was a designer of the 217 KM MERLIN array and has coordinated the Project Phoenix SETI Observations using the Lovell Radio Telescope. He contributes astronomy articles and reviews for New Scientist and Astronomy Now, and produces a monthly sky guide on the Observatory’s website.
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Cafe Scientific -The Gloriously Messy Universe!
Is there an ultimate theory of everything? Could it be possible that after decades of searching, it may turn out that the universe is not perfectly and elegantly designed? According to author Marcelo Gleiser, the universe is gloriously messy and we hear his controversial views…. along with alternative views from our panel of astronomers. This forum was recorded at the 2010 Brisbane Writers festival and your host is Dr Paul Willis from ABC TV´s Catalyst program.
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Sean M Carroll on Origin of the Universe & the Arrow of Time
Sean M. Carroll of CalTech discusses how the direction of the arrow of time was defined by the Big Bang. He also speculates about what might have come before the Big Bang. The lecture is entitled The Origin of the Universe & the Arrow of Time.
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Stephen Hawking’s “The Grand Design”
Physicist Stephen Hawking got the world’s attention a long time ago. The brilliant scientist, trapped in wheel chair and Lou Gehrig’s disease, whose mind encompassed the cosmos.
In “A Brief History of Time”, Hawking laid out what we knew of the universe in compelling imagery and metaphor.
Now he’s back, with physicist Leonard Mlodinow, for a cosmic update. Not one universe out there, but many, they say. And no need now for God to explain the origin of everything. Science, they say, will do it.
http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/09/stephen-hawkings-grand-design
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Paul Davies | The Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence
The acclaimed British-born theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and astrobiologist Paul Davies is the director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science and co-director of the Cosmology Initiative, both at Arizona State University. He is also a member of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence’s (SETI) post-detection committee. Among his numerous scientific distinctions, Davies is a recipient of the prestigious Templeton Prize for his work on science and religion. His writings include the bestsellers The Mind of God, About Time, How to Build a Time Machine, The Fifth Miracle, and The Goldilocks Enigma. In his provocative new book, Davies challenges existing ideas of what form an alien intelligence might take, how it might try to communicate with us, and how we should respond if we ever do make contact. Free Library Festival (recorded 4/17/2010)
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