Ah-oh, evidence of alternate universe found

[Frank Merton]

Maybe more carefully read.

[shrooma]

Those making points that this work could lead to all sorts of amazing things for the future need only point to how electromagnetic research was so pointless in the nineteenth century.

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this doesn't mean what you think it means frank.

what it means, is that electromagnetic research in the nineteenth century was pointless, which is why I asked if you were being sarcastic.

so please, stop trying to be a smart-ass, it doesn't suit you.

[SHaYap]

it is to stop more money from pouring into that bottomless F35 pit

where as this research would pave the path to the ultimate weapon of self defense, a weapon that will only kill enemies.

~edit : death of the grammarian

Edited February 24, 2013 by third_eye

[sepulchrave]

I would observe that this will be a quantum event, and therefore random. That they've made estimates of the time frame involved tells me they have some idea of the odds, but I did not actually see any given.

There doesn't seem to be much technical information on this story. The basis for the story is a talk given at the AAAS meeting, but there are no details other than an abstract

I imagine there will be a scientific article published soon though.

But basically this is just theorists doing what they are supposed to be doing; the standard model + string theory has lots of "bells and whistles", and at the moment there is not enough experimental evidence to rule out many of them. So when one new piece of information is learned (such as a plausible mass for the Higgs boson - and remember we are not completely sure that it WAS the Higgs boson that they saw in the LHC) theorists try to figure out all the ways this can impact their theories.

And if they find something dramatic, they report it. Dr. Lykken talked about his finding at an AAAS meeting (an appropriate venue for this sort of scientifically justified speculation, in my opinion), the BBC picked it up and reported it from there.

What is missing from the BBC article is the debate which almost certainly happened after Dr. Lykken's talk (during the formal question period and probably during subsequent coffee sessions) between Dr. Lykken and other theorists about whether his calculations were correct, or justified, or possible, etc.

[Horus Christos]

I postulate that the new bubble universe would expand greater than the speed of light by incorporating all or parts of the universe it was expanding into, which explains the inflationy-model of our own universe (it would be highly unlikely that we were the first cycle ever). I hereby patent calling this the "big gulp" theory of cyclical universes.....

[Professor T]

a quantum fluctuation of this type can happen at ANY time, not just billions of years into the future.

one could be happening right now.

one could've happened thousands of years ago, millions of light years away, and our universe is being swallowed up as we speak.

there ARE no time restrictions on events like these, or, by definition, they wouldn't BE quantum events.

OMG! what a mindbogglingly intelligent thing to say!

When we look to the stars each night we are in-fact looking into history.. The starlight has in some cases taken millions/billions of year to reach us. So is it not reasonable to say, that an alternate universe is already out there & speeding towards us at the speed of light..

[shrooma]

OMG! what a mindbogglingly intelligent thing to say!

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hahahahaha!

i'm not drunk ALL the time y'know professor!

:-)

[Professor T]

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hahahahaha!

i'm not drunk ALL the time y'know professor!

:-)

[Professor T]

This Video appears to be a good short explaination of string theory and why this discovery is so significant. Especially around 2 minutes in..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gOcxKm_Z4g

[Frank Merton]

I think the good Professor (T) has it right. If a fluctuation has already happening, it is heading our way at the speed of light. As a result we don't see it coming. What we see is light emitted by stars that may no longer exist before the quantum wave passed.

[Mikami]

I'm having trouple wrapping my head around this conundrum.... takes us to warp 9...

[Tutankhaten-pasheri]

I still think our entire universe is contained in the energy released by a match struck by somebody in an alternate universe, and who's own universe is contained in the energy released by a match being struck by........

Or everything is simply so big and complicated that we are really doing this which leads to this where I've been a long time now

[Ad hoc]

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this doesn't mean what you think it means frank.

what it means, is that electromagnetic research in the nineteenth century was pointless, which is why I asked if you were being sarcastic.

so please, stop trying to be a smart-ass, it doesn't suit you.

I don't think he was being a smartass at all. Made sense to me: He's instructing people who want to show that pure research is useful to employ the sarcastic example of electromagnetic research. The sarcasm in that example is so unavoidable that your question about whether he was being sarcastic was actually confusing, and seemed like you might be asking if his overall point was sarcastic. :/

Edited February 25, 2013 by Ad hoc

[shrooma]

The sarcasm in that example is so unavoidable that your question about whether he was being sarcastic was actually confusing

.

he he he he.....

i'm glad someone else around here has a sense of humour!

[Professor T]

I think the good Professor (T) has it right. If a fluctuation has already happening, it is heading our way at the speed of light. As a result we don't see it coming. What we see is light emitted by stars that may no longer exist before the quantum wave passed.

Hmmmm, I saw that quantumn bubble in the bathtub last night.... It smelled funny..

Seriously though, It is of course a possibility.. but then here we are, google scientist, wondering WTF would it be like to be consumed by an alternate universe.. there'd be no warning, it would be done in less than the blink of an eye and we would be nun-the-wiser if we had lived or died.

Which makes one wonder, has it not already happened, and are we the unwitting result.

Edited February 25, 2013 by Professor T

[Eldorado]

Which makes one wonder, has it not already happened, and are we the unwitting result.

Those 'alternative comedians' had to come from somewhere strange, so you could well be right.

[shrooma]

I think the good Professor (T) has it right.

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-''google scientist miscredited with someone elses comment'' shocker-

film at eleven.

;-)

[DingoLingo]

And this is why they've spent billions on this Higgs-Boson thing? What is the actual point of any of this?

The search for the Higgs Field was a important one.. the standard model equation basically explained everything.. but mass.. they could not explain mass.. and that is where the higgs boson came in..

it all comes down to particle physics .. every invention in the modern age has a starting point in particle physics.. Confirmation of the Higgs Boson will actually open a new branch of physics and invention..

[shrooma]

Hmmmm, I saw that quantumn bubble in the bathtub last night.... It smelled funny..

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don't be posting that man, you'll have creationists turning up worshipping you!!

(which won't be as nice as it sounds, trust me....)

:-)

[shrooma]

every invention in the modern age has a starting point in particle physics..

.

so now we know who to blame for the x-factor!

bloody stoopid scientists....

:-)