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Does Time Run Backward in Other Universes?

Thu, 22 May 2008 00:10:28 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

One of the most basic facts of life is that the future looks different from the past. But on a grand cosmological scale, they may look the same

As a teaser, here is a timeline of the history of the universe according to the standard cosmology:

Space is empty, featuring nothing but a tiny amount of vacuum energy and an occasional long-wavelength particle formed via fluctuations of the quantum fields that suffuse space.

High-intensity radiation suddenly sweeps in from across the universe, in a spherical pattern focused on a point in space. When the radiation collects at that point, a “white hole” is formed.

The white hole gradually grows to billions of times the mass of the sun, through accretion of additional radiation of ever decreasing temperature.

Other white holes begin to approach from billions of light-years away. They form a homogeneous distribution, all slowly moving toward one another.

Tags: universe, time

100 explosions recorded on the Moon

Wed, 21 May 2008 23:04:46 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.usatoday.com

Not so long ago, anyone claiming to see flashes of light on the Moon would be viewed with deep suspicion by professional astronomers. Such reports were filed under "L" ... for lunatic.

Not anymore. Over the past two and a half years, NASA astronomers have observed the Moon flashing at them not just once but one hundred times.

"They're explosions caused by meteoroids hitting the Moon," explains Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). "A typical blast is about as powerful as a few hundred pounds of TNT and can be photographed easily using a backyard telescope."

Tags: moon, astronomy

Out of a job and out of luck at 54

Wed, 21 May 2008 22:49:59 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: money.cnn.com

A growing number of older workers are losing their jobs as the economy weakens. And many are having a harder time landing new positions.

Too young to retire, too old to get a new job. That's how many older workers are feeling these days.

While it's not easy to land a job in this weak economy, older workers are in a particularly tough spot. Corporate downsizings are hitting this group hard, with many companies looking to shed the higher-paid positions these employees often occupy. Even worse, older job seekers are discovering the search is even rougher as many employers shy away from hiring those closer to retirement than to the start of their careers.

The downsizings come at a bad time for older workers. Not only can't they afford to retire, but many were counting on beefing up their 401(k) accounts in the years before they exit the labor force. Compounding the problem is the slumping stock market, which has left them with a deflated 401(k) cushion to draw on while looking for a new post.

Tags: retirement, economy, united states

The walls still keeping untouchables out

Wed, 21 May 2008 20:42:19 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

What do many higher caste Hindus in parts of India's Tamil Nadu state still not share with the Dalits, formerly known as untouchables?

They insist on separate glasses for drinking tea and they do not allow the untouchables to go to the same barber shops.

They ban them from temples, cremation grounds and river bathing points, among other examples.

All this in a state that prides itself on being one of the most politically progressive and educationally advanced parts of the country.

But studies have found at least 45 different forms of "untouchability" being practised by upper caste Hindus against Dalits in Tamil Nadu.

Tags: india, racism

Muslim Youth Try Humour to Rout

Wed, 21 May 2008 20:16:51 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: "Most people hear fatwa and they think of Don Muhammad Corleone issuing a hit on some poor infidel,"

Clip Source: www.ipsnews.net

"There are almost 1.2 billion Muslim people in the world. And at least 15 of us are not terrorists. It could even be more than that. Maybe even a lot more," quipped Obaida Abdul-rahim, 28, owner of the Muslim t-shirt business Phatwa Factory.

The Calgary, Canada-born Abdul-rahim runs one of several Middle Eastern-accented t-shirt businesses that have sprung up in saucy retort to the outpouring of anti-Muslim sentiment in years after 9/11. From Rootsgear's "100 percent Randomly Searched at the Following Airports" (followed by a map of U.S. airports) and casualdisobedience.com's "Enemy Combatant" tees, to the lighter "Lebanese Princess", and "Allah's Little Angel", they are getting their message across.

"I'd like Muslims to know that it's okay to laugh, and non-Muslims to know that we have a sense of humour," he said.

Tags: humor, muslims

Egyptian whiz kid

Wed, 21 May 2008 19:45:27 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Egyptian whiz kid

CNN's Aneesh Raman profiles a child prodigy who wants to be the next Albert Einstein.

• CNNI Programs - Today on CNN International

Tags: egypt, genius

No star left behind - Astrometry.net

Wed, 21 May 2008 19:27:07 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.nature.com

An open-source software project could help unify every existing astronomical image into a single data set.

Everyone knows the experience: a pile of old photos in a dusty attic — or more likely now on a dusty disk drive — with no indication of who is in them or when they were taken. As long as the subjects are astronomical features, though, there's now an answer at hand.

Astrometry.net is an open-source software project, run out of the University of Toronto in Canada and New York University, which aims to recognize any starscape and place it in its proper coordinates within seconds — specifying not just which patch of the sky is shown, but when.

Tags: astronomy, open source

Astronomers Witness Supernova's First Moments

Wed, 21 May 2008 19:16:03 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Lucky catch supports longstanding view of supernova shock wave

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Astronomers have observed for the first time the thunderclap of x-rays that announces a star has exploded into a supernova. Researchers monitoring spiral galaxy NGC 2770, approximately 88 million light-years away, observed a brief but intense flash of x-rays in early January, followed by a prolonged afterglow of visible and ultraviolet light—the hallmark of a supernova.

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Although the x-ray outburst lasted only seven minutes, it flashed 100 billion times brighter than the sun in that time. Based on that brightness and the duration of the flash, researchers conclude that the star (SN 2008D) was approximately 20 times the size of the sun and was blown apart by a shock wave expanding outward at 70 percent the speed of light.

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Writing in Nature, the group says the discovery offers the first direct evidence for astrophysical models of supernova shock waves that date to the 1970s.

Tags: astronomy, star, supnova

Cell phone users may get break on fees

Wed, 21 May 2008 18:04:18 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Better than nothing

Clip Source: breakingnews.nypost.com

The government is quietly negotiating to help cell phone customers avoid expensive fees when they cancel contracts with wireless companies, The Associated Press has learned.

Cell phone companies routinely charge customers $175 or more for quitting their service early. Under a proposal to the Federal Communications Commission, the wireless industry would give consumers the opportunity to cancel service without any penalty for up to 30 days after they sign a cell phone contract or until 10 days after they receive their first bill.

The proposal also would cap such fees and reduce them month by month over the course of a contract based on how long customers have left, according to people familiar with the offer speaking on condition of anonymity because the FCC has not accepted it. The plan would not abolish cancellation fees entirely and would not refund such fees to anyone who paid them.

Tags: cell phone, united states