The Universe Is Made of Tiny Bubbles Containing Mini-Universes, Scientists Say

[Judi Lynn]

Tech by VICE


'Spacetime foam' might just be the wildest thing in the known universe, and we're just starting to understand it.
By Carly Minsky
Oct 24 2019, 7:00am

A persistent cosmological puzzle has been troubling physicists since 1917: what is the universe made of?

Complicating this already-mind-boggling question is the fact that our best theories conflict with our observations of the universe. Albert Einstein, according to scientific folklore, felt a unique responsibility for introducing this entire problem, reportedly referring to it as his "biggest blunder."

Essentially, Einstein's novel theory of general relativity didn’t hold up when used to describe the universe as a whole. General relativity described the "geometry" of spacetime as being a trampoline-like surface; planets are heavy bowling balls that distort the surface, creating curves. If a less heavy ball (like a marble) was placed near the bowling ball, it would roll along the surface just like the motion of planets in orbit. Thus, orbits are explained not by a gravitational “force” but by curvature in spacetime.

This proposal worked when considering small regions of spacetime. But when Einstein applied it to the entire universe, its predictions didn't fit. So, Einstein introduced the "cosmological constant," a fixed value that represents a kind of anti-gravity, anti-mass, and anti-energy, counteracting gravity’s effects. But when scientists discovered that the universe was expanding rather than static, as Einstein had believed, the cosmological constant was set to zero and more or less ignored. After we learned that the universe’s expansion is accelerating, however, scientists could no longer conveniently cancel out Einstein’s anti-gravity suggestion.

More:
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/j5yngp/the-universe-is-made-of-tiny-bubbles-containing-mini-universes-scientists-say?utm_source=vicefbus&fbclid=IwAR0AVA7s61NcoyZIhQiOZ22P8VeacKIcIgH16EzOpbWrNpwWq3gax2_2bxw

[Botany]

1. Thus, orbits are explained not by a gravitational "force" but by curvature in spacetime.

So that is where my sun glasses went. I have always though that the area where things go
when they are lost is a curvature in spacetime of behind my couch.

[Jarqui]

2. Very interesting article. Thanks nt

[Wounded Bear]

3. Cue the Don Ho video in 3...2...1...

[Javaman]

6. look down thread. LOL nt

[keithbvadu2]

4. This stuff is way beyond my ken. I need the Reader's Digest or USA Today version.

This stuff is way beyond my ken.

I need the Reader's Digest or USA Today version.

[customerserviceguy]

8. Somebody's been reading too many science fiction books

and then they make a theory about it that cannot be either proved or disproved. It's sort of like religion.

[Javaman]

5. ...

[pscot]

7. I like this idea better

than the notion that we're all NPCs in computer simulation.