Within a sliver of a second after it was born, our universe expanded staggeringly in size, by a factor of at least 10^26. That’s what most cosmologists maintain, although it remains a mystery as to what might have begun and ended this wild expansion. Now scientists are increasingly wondering if the most powerful particle collider…
Scientists from CERN will announce on July 4 whether the tantalizing “hints” of the Higgs Boson which they presented in December have been strengthened or grown weaker over the past six months. Although the results may not be strong enough to declare an official discovery, they are rumored to show very similar signals to those…
Over at Ars Technica, Matt Francis has the scoop on a nifty new quantum interference experiment using large molecules of phthalcyanine and its derivatives. The molecules are quite large — comprised of more than 100 atoms — which means this experiment is approaching that critical threshold where quantum effects (the subatomic realm) give way to…
E.O. Wilson reflects on evolution and the human condition over at the New York Times blog The Stone: Are human beings intrinsically good but corruptible by the forces of evil, or the reverse, innately sinful yet redeemable by the forces of good? Are we built to pledge our lives to a group, even to the…
The discovery of life beyond Earth would shake up our view of humanity’s place in the universe, but it probably wouldn’t seriously threaten organized religion, experts say. The Bible, Koran and other sacred texts of the world’s major religions stress God’s special concern for humanity and for Earth. So the discovery of aliens — microbes…
The Wow! signal, a mysterious radio transmission detected in 1977 that may or may not have come from extraterrestrials, is finally getting a response from humanity. Anyone can contribute his or her two cents — or 140 characters, to be exact — to the cosmic reply via Twitter. All tweets composed between 8 p.m. EDT…
Our universe could have popped into existence 13.7 billion years ago without any divine help whatsoever, researchers say. That may run counter to our instincts, which recoil at the thought of something coming from nothing, but scientists say, we should trust the laws of physics. In the very weird world of quantum mechanics, which describes…
The amount of water in places of the Martian mantle is vastly larger than previous estimates and is similar to that of Earth’s, scientists have found. The finding is based on the analysis of the water content of two Martian meteorites originating from inside the Red Planet. The results not only affect what we know…
One of the biggest debuts in the science world could happen in a matter of weeks: The Higgs boson may finally, really have been discovered. Ever since tantalizing hints of the Higgs turned up in December at the Large Hadron Collider, scientists there have been busily analyzing the results of their energetic particle collisions to…
Physicists investigating the make-up of the universe are closing in on the Higgs boson, an elusive particle thought to have been key to turning debris from the Big Bang into stars, planets and finally life, scientists said. Researchers at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) are using their large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s…