Multiverses, Telescopes , Data Mining, and Mars

The much delayed James Webb Telescope   pic Chris Gunn / NASA

The Kepler spacecraft is running low on fuel, 94 million miles away, ending its years of data- gathering. A technical hitch in 2003 led to the previous mission ending, and Kepler being redesignated K2 , with a new mission of scanning the stars for evidence of exo-worlds.
It will be superceded by the James Webb Telescope, which promises to see further out in space (and back in time), than ever before.
Could be a real boon to testing the final theory of Stephen Hawking...

It is now just over a week since Stephen Hawking died, and we hear that his ashes will be interred in  historic Westminster Abbey.
I'm not sure how that sits with his belief that religion is for those who are scared of the dark, but then again, he also believed in multiple universes, which is like hedging your bets...
rather neatly, this brings us to the issue of his last paper, which was co - authored with Thomas Hertog. 
It posits that there was more than one Big Bang, and that a spacecraft equipped with the right sort of probe can conclusively prove the existence of multiple universes from readings in the cosmic microwave background radiation.
If this gets proven, it would change our entire understanding of everything...as Professor Hawking was asked by John Oliver on the subject -
" ...so there's a universe where I'm smarter than you ?"
Professor Hawking replied : " Yes - and there's also a universe where you're funny"
The paper is due for publication in a major journal, very soon.
The launch of the James Webb Telescope is currently scheduled for sometime in early/ mid 2019.

Does Cosmic Background Radiation hold clues to a multiverse ?

 New discoveries in science come from all quarters, these days - many from ' citizen scientists ' , most recently the discovery of aurora named Steve, in Canada
sometimes, though, it can go horribly wrong, and you may find yourself wishing that the Earth would swallow you - for instance, the excitement generated by the apparent 'discovery' of a bright object in the sky. This paper on the discovery is highly technical , but the fact is that someone just re-discovered Mars.
Embarassing, yes - to go public with it, even moreso - but the icing on the cake here is that the discovery was made by a Professor of Astronomy...

I wonder if he'll frame the diploma ?

Just When You Thought Conspiracy Was Dead...


We hear that Cambridge Analyica have been harvesting user data from millions of people for nefarious reasons which are mostly about interfering with elections and keeping corrupt politicians in power.
On the other hand, the article about this comes from the Cambridge University Trustworthy Technologies, so obviously they are the GOOD guys, the important word being ' Trustworthy'.
So that's alright, then.

Hmmmm

Mammoths, Moon Express and MOFs

Extensive samples and research by hardy types who don't mind extreme cold, tells us a wealth of detail about former mammoth denizens who populated Wrangel Island , Siberia and St Pauls Island , Alaska, until relatively recent times - well, approximately 5000 years ago.
Isolated island populations with no real predators to worry about, so why the decline ?
It turns out that these isolated populations became extinct through riverbank erosion, and the gradual decline of water sources.
No fiery comet from above, just the everyday depletion of resources.

Wrangel island

All aboard the Moon Express!
For the first time ever, a commercial company has been cleared to fly to the moon . Ticket prices are yet to be finalised, though, and I'm personally concerned about which sunblock to wear.
Obviously factor 10,000 in some places - but on the dark side ?


It has been claimed that the reason we are alone in the universe is that we are too early , and there could be a gap of a few trillion years before we find other intelligent species to show off our snapshots of lunar holidays and such - ahem.
I think this is a defeatist idea, and we should rather devote resources to actively looking for such aliens - for instance - how about a giant ' x ' in space ?
Too obvious ?
Apparently a giant x-shaped structure has been found at the centre of the universe, although for the life of me I can't see it in the photos.
black holes can kill us from a distance - more bad news for those who prefer to impose order on their worldview.
Luckily we are just a tad too far away...allegedly

The strange case of ' Tabbys Star' continues with new measurements from Keppler that seem to confirm that there is indeed unnatural stuff going on.
The excitement is almost palpable , and now that crowdfunding to buy telescope- time is complete, we should soon have further evidence .
Of course, it wouldn't be social media without someone raining on the parade, so it has been mooted that this possibly epic event happened 1500 years ago, and even if we arrived almost immediately, it's quite possible that the advanced race of beings are no more.
Ho-hum, but hey - let's not be defeatist, they could also be heading our way, bearing gifts and the secret of good wi-fi connections, that sort of thing.

Bio - luminescent technology is becoming quite the buzzword.
The idea that we can encode organisms to grow in any form and provide bacteria - based illumination is creeping out from the realms of sci-fi , and into reality.
I think hybrid bio - mechanical forms have the potential to greatly enhance our environment - as long as we resist the Gigeresque mutations...in the same vein (pun intended) , deep in a Siberian mine, they have discovered unique elements which are known as MOFs - metal organic frameworks.
These oddities are very rare, but bursting with potential.
Their appearance would seem to be partly due to thawing permafrost - so it's not all bad...don't forget though, about the recently awakened anthrax from the thawing permafrost - also, in Greenland, we learn that all sorts of debris from Cold War military base ' Camp Century' , and toxic waste from project ' Iceworm' will come to light soon, as relentless thawing ice reveals its secrets.
Oops...
 

Notes From Anthropocene Man - The Gates of Hell, Falcon 9, and Supermassive Black Holes

STOP PRESS!

As this micro blog goes to press, Space X made history today by launching the Falcon 9 rocket to restock the ISS and then landing the first stage booster with pinpoint accuracy on a barge / 'droneship' in the Atlantic !
History is made !
Meantime, the Dragon craft is docking with the ISS to replenish supplies , and deliver an inflatable extension !

The West Coast  droneship used for the landing

It is a piece of history now, and surely the first step in a new, commercial, space race.

The image below appeared on my FB feed as a timely reminder that we see everything from a human scale, but in the grand scheme of things, we really are miniscule. Further feelings of insignificance came with the announcement of the discovery of a supermassive black hole in an otherwise empty corner of the universe.
The very phrase ' empty corner of the universe' is surely a euphemism...

Endeavour leaves Earth for the final time.          Pic NASA

I find it tempting to laugh at the ludicrous terminology - 'Supermassive', not just ' large' .
'Supermassive' black hole applies to anything over the size of ten billion* suns.
This one is the size of seventeen billion suns, so it's quite big, then.
but not the biggest.
This led me to wonder how they classify black holes , but I confess I'm none the wiser ...apparently the naming convention is ' primordial, stellar and supermassive' .
If you want to ponder, the link is here.

If you just want to see some great images from our solar system , the link is here, with thanks to The Atlantic.com

The giant listening 'ears' of SETI are being redirected.
The latest thinking is that intelligent life, should it exist, is more likely to be found in the habitable, or 'goldilocks' zones of planets in a tight orbit around red dwarf suns.
This information was gathered by the Keppler mission, and given that three quarters of the stars in our own Milky Way are red dwarf stars, that makes them much more practical (i.e. closer to home).
I laughed when I read the phrase 'They are the dim bulbs of the universe'.
This made me sit up, though - why so many red dwarf stars  in our galaxy ?
Are we a dying galaxy ?
Anyway, I hope the revised SETI search produces results - although I prefer another theory which states that our reliance on radio waves as a communication carrier might itself be at fault.

I also hold the belief that advanced alien civilisations might be hiding rather than attempting to communicate.
Who can blame them ?

MEANWHILE , BACK ON  EARTH...

Apparently the new, more energised world of the Large Hadron Collider leaves us open to dangerous possibilities .
Even Pope Francis has spoken out, saying " Scientists risk opening the gates to hell ".
If you ask me (or any old gamer) it sounds like a script for Doom .

In which science unleashes the hordes of hell...    

Either way, there's no denying that with increased power available, the world of the LHC is necessarily getting stranger.
Which makes me wonder -
Is there a global strangeness index ?
Personally, I reckon the world is a lot stranger than it was , but my Googling of the term ' Global Weirdness' only turned up a slew of Climate Change info, which is a frightening reality , but not 'weird '.

IN OTHER NEWS...

NVIDIA are developing supercomputers capable of intricate 'Deep Learn' style Artificial Intelligence.
The aim of this is to develop a system which approaches problems from a variety of angles, much as we humans do.
I only hope the resultant Artificial Intelligence doesn't decide to wipe us out and reboot...which brings us to the title of this post .

Apparently we are living in the Anthropocene era, when our impact on the Earth is unavoidably altering it - and not for the better.
As well as the obvious Climate Change, the search for rare earth elements is a potential eco-disaster.
These rare substances are essential components in smartphones and all things tech,, but do not exist in sufficient quantities to mine , except on the sea - bed.
The caveat is that wholesale destruction of fragile marine ecosystems is necessary to procure enough of them.
Of course, it's possible that many asteroids contain abundant 'rare-Earth' minerals - which, along with todays successful landing by Space-X, tells us that the new 'Space Race' is on - hopefully without the political edge...






* NASA claim that anything over 4 million suns is supermassive