A Call from the Universe Next-Door

In my last post I talked about the possibility of a Universe next-door. By next door I mean, only about 10 to 35 meters away from the edge of our Universe. In that post it was suggested that the dark matter could be the gravitational pull from the Universe next door. As I kept reading posts in The Daily Galaxy I came across this post: “From the X Files Dept: Mystery Radio Waves Emitted From Nearby Galaxy Still Unsolved”. According to Tom Muxlow of Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics M82 is emitting a radio wave like we have never observed before.

M82 is a nearby Galaxy, only about 12 million light-years away. This galaxy is also referred to as the cigar galaxy and can be found in the constellation of Ursa Major. According to Wikipedia, this Galaxy is 5 times as bright as our galaxy and 100 times brighter than our galaxy center. What we know so far about M82 is that this is an energetic galaxy that is creating a ton of new stars, much more then what our galaxy is creating.
Back to the radio waves. Muxlow states that the radio wave emission is not at all what we are used to see. According to The Daily Galaxy, Muxlow asks the question whether the black hole in the center of M82 is dragging material from one universe into yet another universe? The Daily Galaxy goes on and states, the nested universe concept suggests that a violent short wave gamma burst in a larger universe somehow make an appearance as a long wavelength radio wave in the smaller universe.
Nested universe concept? OK, I know we had a lot to cover in Astronomy 101, but the text book did not mention any thing about the nested universe concept. Even Wikipedia does not have an entry on nested universe. But this could be the link to the parallel universe I talked about in my previous post. This could be our ticket to our universe next door.

Is Stephen Hawking a Cyborg?

No, I don’t think he qualifies as a cyborg. To qualify as a cyborg one has to have mechanical or electronic things implanted into one’s body that enhance someone’s life experience. Using a computer externally does not make someone a cyborg, but installing a USB port on someone’s head facilitating the uploading of information directly into someone’s brain, well that is a cyborg.
How did I get started thinking about cyborg’s? This article in The Daily Galaxy got me thinking. We know, we have to leave this planet in about 3 ½ to 4 billion years. By that time the Sun will be out of fuel, and things will get unfriendly here on Earth. Starting a colony on the Moon or Mars will not help. We will have to look for a new solar system. We also know that there is nothing really close by, so we will have to travel for a while, most likely several generations.
Over the last few years we have learned how inhospitable space really is. Lack of gravity causes all kinds of problems, loss of muscles just to name one. Robots and computers are much better suited for the task in space. Take the advantage of a robot, fuse it to a brain, and the ultimate cyborg is ready for space travel.
In addition to the physical limitation of a human body in space we have this need to dominate and conquer. At the current stage of our evolution I wonder how long we would last on a space ship. Cramming several hundred people into a tin can, travel for several generations… I don’t see it. We can’t live in peace next to each other here on earth why would that change in space? But convert our courageous space travelers to cyborgs by removing the aggressiveness, have the individuals work for the good of the collective, now this would work. Maybe the story line of Star Trek and the Cyborg’s is not so far off. The Cyborg they encountered is just a borg that went bad.
Oh, by the way, if it ever comes to the choice between converting to a cyborg or left behind on Earth, I will stay behind. Losing my individuality… No Thank You!

What is Happening?

I have found something interesting! Oh yea, by the way, I love Twitter! No, I don’t care for the tweets between individuals that tweet about, “OMG this guy just spilled coffee on me”. I love the tweets from news organizations or individuals that tweet short updates on news event with a link to the full article.  This gives me a quick review on what is happening, plus if I find the news item interesting enough I can read the full article. One of the organizations I have been following is The Daily Galaxy. Some of the writing is very interesting! For example: “There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened”. This of course is kind of a “cute” thought, sort of leads to the thinking of the Anthropic Principle. “The universe had to create an intelligent live form that is capable to observe it, without an observer, the universe cannot exist.”  Personally, I don’t buy it, but what the heck do I know.
A more interesting article is titled: “Is Gravity from a Parallel Universe Dark Energy?” Now that is way more interesting! The idea is based in string theory, 10 dimensions plus time etc.  Neil Turok of Cambridge University and Paul Steinhardt, Albert Einstein Professor in Science  and Director of the Center for Theoretical Science at Princeton think that there are 3 dimensional plus time branes (flat looking sheets) that collide every trillion years or so creating the big bang ultimately creating us. According to Turok and Steinhardt, the branes are still very close to each other about 10 to 35 meters apart, so gravity could bleed from one universe to the other creating the mysterious dark matter. Cool! I understand their idea in principal. There is a link to a video that shows that collision between the branes, but somehow I have difficulties to imagine a universe such as ours, about 92 billion light years across, right next to another parallel universe of similar size, only 10 to 35 meters apart. The question comes up, what is the space made off between the universes? But here is the exciting news. As a science fiction writer, this opens up the possibility for some really interesting writing. Think about it, dark matter is here, it’s everywhere, linked to a parallel universe that is only at most 35 meters away from us. All the deja vue, ghosts, un-natural stuff, alien abduction, feelings of I have seen that before, all caused by a universe that is only 35 meters away from us. Very interesting!
For the full article, check out The Daily Galaxy!