New estimates of universe's age

"Look at the sky. We are not alone. The whole universe is friendly to us and conspires only to give the best to those who dream and work." 
--A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

By Alex P. Vidal

HOLLYWOOD, California – A major goal of astronomy has been to determine the age of the universe. Astronomers have been forced to accept imprecise estimates because of uncertainties in the data used in their calculations, according to The Five Biggest Ideas in Science co-authors Charles Wynn and Arthur Wiggins.

One technique for making estimates involves running the expansion of the universe in reverse, as though it were a movie film, they explain.

In the reversed movie, instead of moving away from each other, galaxies approach one another. 
They explain that the age of the universe in this scenario is the time it takes for the galaxies to meet simultaneously, re-creating the primeval fireball.

EXPANDING

“Assuming that the rate at which the universe is now expanding has been constant (and, thus, the rate in reversal is constant), the age of the universe can be calculated from the distances separating the galaxies now and the rate at which the universe is expanding,” write Wynn and Wiggins.

According to early data, the age of the universe was estimated at 2 billion years. 
But this value was inconsistent with the Earth’s estimated age of over 4 billion years! 
Subsequent data gave the universe an age of about 20 billion years.


QUESTION

Recently, the previously accepted age of the universe came under serious question because of more precise data obtained from the Hubble space telescope.

These data resulted in a much lower estimated age, 12 to 15 billion years. 
This age has created a crisis in astronomy as earlier estimates and the theories associated with them are reconsidered in light of the new findings.

Five biggest ideas in science

"No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right: A single experiment can prove me wrong." ALBERT EINSTEIN

By Alex P. Vidal

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- What is the big idea? 
Actually, there are five: 1. The Atom 2. The Periodic Law 3. The Big Bang 4. Plate Tectonics 5. Evolution

Let us get a handle of these ideas and we are well on our way to a better understanding of life on earth and in the universe.

Are there really just five ideas that can help us appreciate and understand physics, chemistry, astronomy, earth science, and biology--in other words, the entire universe of science? 
The Five Biggest Ideas in Science does just that: It will give us the background we need to understand all of the ways in which science explores the natural world.

Because it makes sense to start with the basics, we will begin by learning about the basic building blocks of all matter--atoms. 
We will find what atoms look like, how were they discovered, and why they're so important.

Are there different kinds of atoms? 
"Sure," according to The Five Biggest Ideas in Science authors Charles M. Wynn and Arthur W. Wiggins, "and the question leads to the second idea, Chemistry's Periodic Law, where all the elements are arranged according to the configuration of their atomic structure."

"Then, Astronomy's Big Bang Theory explains how the universe began, where all of these atoms came from, and maybe even where they're going," write Wynn and Wiggins. 
"Getting back down to earth, the Plate Tectonic Model explains how the matter of the universe is arranged here on our home planet."

"And finally, evolution explores the origins and development of life itself. You'll find out how scientists go about putting these ideas to work and how they've changed our world."

IDEAS

Can just five fundamental ideas open up a way to comprehend, appreciate, and evaluate the world of science? 
Taken as a group, the five ideas in the book do exactly that, say the authors. 
Chosen especially for their power to explain phenomena, they provide a comprehensive survey of science.

Each idea represents science's tentative answer to a question about natural and artificial phenomena. 
"We say 'tentative' because as you will see, science is a never-ending search for answers to the universe's mysteries," stress Wynn and Wiggins.
"This book takes away some of the mystery and invites you to discover the reasoning that is the essence of science itself."

"Beginning with a search for the basic building blocks in universe (essentially atoms), we will explore the behavior of the different kinds of atoms that make up the universe. We will go on to ponder the past, present, and future states of the universe, consider the nature of our home planet, and, finally, study life on Earth from a molecular perspective."

Here's the list of the five biggest ideas and the questions that they answer as provided by Wynn and Wiggins. 

Question: Do basic building blocks of matter exist? If so, what do they look like? Answer: Big Idea No. 1--Physics' Model of the Atom.

Question: What relationships, if any, exist among different kinds of atoms, the basic building blocks of the universe? Answer: Big Idea No. 2--Chemistry's Periodic Law.

Question: Where did the atoms of the universe come from, and what is their destiny? Answer: Big Idea No. 3--Astronomy's Big Bang Theory.

Question: How is the matter of the universe arranged in planet Earth? Answer: Big Idea No. 4--Geology's Plate Tectonics Model.

Question: How did life on Earth's originate and develop? Answer: Big Idea No. 5--Biology's Theory of Evolution.

The authors acknowledge that these and other scientific ideas are just ideas until someone makes decisions about whether and how to apply them and weighs the potential benefits of a proposed action against potential risks.

The book is accompanied by hilarious cartoons that will have us laughing as we learn and gives us a great way to open our mind to the wonders and challenges of science.

The Ages of Gaia

"All through my boyhood I had a profound conviction that I was no good, that I was wasting my time, wrecking my talents, behaving with monstrous folly and wickedness and ingratitude--and all this, it seemed, was inescapable, because I lived among laws which were absolute, like the law of gravity, but which it was not possible for me to keep." GEORGE ORWELL, A Collection of Essays


By Alex P. Vidal


LOS ANGELES, California -- In his follow up to his ground-breaking book Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth, James Lovelock, an independent scientist and inventor, describes, for both scientists and non-scientists, his new theory of evolution.
He explains how the appearance of life on Earth nearly four billion years ago irreversibly changed our planet so that life and the material Earth evolved together as a single system, Gaia, and not separately as conventionally taught.
Lovelock explains his inspirational Gaia theory in detail and outlines the history of the Earth from a geophysiologist's point of view, from the first signs of life in the Archean to the present day. 
He also warns of the damage man is causing to natural ecosystems as well as the physical threats of greenhouse gases and depletion of the ozone layer to our planet.
In a forward note, Dr. Lewis Thomas, editor of The Commonwealth Fund Book Program, emphasizes that "most working scientists have an awareness and respect for the history of the fields in which they labor, but what they generally have in mind is a series of endeavors strung through the volumes of their specialized journals that are still held in the library stacks--not at all the much longer stretch of time and work that professional scholars would require for a proper history of science."


MEMORIES


According to Thomas, it is not that researchers have short memories, but that "they learn and retain only the events that set their fields atremble in the first place."
"And for most of science these days, perhaps all of it, the great changes that launched this century's vast transformation of human knowledge began within this century, or at least seemed to," Thomas explains. "The modern postdoctoral student in a laboratory engaged in molecular biology, for instance, feels no dependence on generations of forebears more than 20 years back.
"The contemporary physics may track their ideas back almost a century, to the beginnings of quantum theory, but it is the concepts emerging in only the past decade that are regarded as the real history. The cosmologists are out on totally new ground, looking in amazement at strange, unanticipated kinds of space and time, making educated guesses at phenomena far beyond the suburban solar system or the local galaxy, even speculating about universe bubbling out at the boundaries of this one."


NEW WORLD


The editor believes that "we are, quite literally, in a new world, a much more peculiar place than it seemed a few centuries back, harder to make sense of, riskier to speculate about, and alive with information which is becoming more accessible and bewildering at the same time. It sometimes seems that there is not just more to be learned, there is everything to be learned." 
He points out that "this is far from the general public view of the matter, as reflected in the science sections of newspapers and newsmagazines. The non-scientific layman tends to take technology to be so closely linked to science as to be the center of the enterprise. The progress of science and that of technology seem to be all of a piece--machines, electronics, computer chips, Mars landing, nonbiodegradable plastics, the ozone hole, the bomb, all the rest of what now looks like twentieth century culture."
What is so clearly seen is the newness of the scientific information itself, the strangeness, and, where meaning is to be discerned, the meaning, Thomas stresses. "There is a great difference between the intellectual product of modern science and the various technologies that are sometimes (nothing like as frequently as the public might guess) derived from that product."


CLARIFY


The books in this series represent an attempt to clarify this distinction, as well as to provide a closer look at what goes on in the minds of scientists as they go about their work, says Thomas.
He concludes: "The book by James Lovelock describes a set of observations about the life of our planet which may, one day, be recognized as one of the major discontinuities in human thought. If Lovelock turns out to be as right in his view of things as I believe he is, we will be viewing the Earth as a coherent system of life, self-regulating, self-changing, a sort of immense organism.
"This is not likely, in my opinion, to lead directly or indirectly to any specific piece of new technology to be put to use, although it may very well begin to influence, in new and gentler ways, the other sorts of technology we might be selecting for use in the future."