A new energy form unknown to science, Dark Energy, is expanding the Universe

The year was 1998 and two highly competitive groups of astronomers were each rushing toward the same goal: they hoped to hunt down the effects of gravitational braking in the universe. Ever since astronomers had accepted the idea of the Big Bang, they had been out hunting for its subsequent cosmic deceleration.

While the Big Bang blows space apart (it literally stretches all points of space-time away from each other), the gravitational pull of matter should, over time, slow down that initial burst of cosmic expansion.

As data was gathered and analyzed, both the Harvard and Berkeley groups were stunned to find no evidence for deceleration. Instead, everything pointed in the opposite direction.

According to observations, the expansion of the universe was speeding up — it was accelerating. Cosmic acceleration became big news.

Which means there exists a Dark Energy pushing the universe outwards:

In 1999, the newly discovered cosmic acceleration made it clear that some form of anti-gravitational energy had to exist. As nothing was known about this energy…it was called Dark Energy

The discovery of cosmic acceleration and Dark Energy upended cosmology almost overnight.

keep reading at Cosmos and Culture

 

(thx Joseph Armstrong)

What is the Dark Side of the Moon?

Does the Moon rotate?

And if the Moon rotates, why do we alway see the same side – it never seems to change.

Well, the Moon does rotate. In fact, the Moon takes 27.3 days to turn once on its axis. But the Moon also takes 27.3 days to complete one orbit around the Earth. Because the Moon’s rotation time is exactly the same amount of time it takes to complete an orbit, it always presents the same face to the Earth, and one face away (the Dark Side).

Because it only presents one face to the Earth, astronomers say that the Moon is tidally locked to the Earth. Although the Moon looks like a perfectly smooth ball, it has slight differences in the shape of its gravity field. A long time ago, the Moon did rotate. But each time it turned, the Earth’s gravity tugged at it, slowing down its rotation until it only presented one face to the Earth. At that point, the Moon was tidally locked, and from our perspective, it doesn’t seem to rotate.

Many other moons in the Solar System are also tidally locked to their planet. In fact, most of Jupiter’s large moons are tidally locked.

via Universe Today

Award winning short film, CatCam, documents the mysterious life a cat outside the house

Mr. Lee, an adopted stray cat, routinely disappeared from his South Carolina home for days on end. Intrigued by Mr. Lee’s whereabouts, his owner Juergen, a German engineer, created a camera designed to fit around the feline’s neck. Engineered to capture continuous photographs, Juergen hoped to discover the mysterious life of his cat. After many unsuccessful attempts, Mr. Lee returned with the camera in tact and photographic evidence of his travels. Intrigued by his findings, Juergen published the photographs on the internet, unaware that his small invention would send shockwaves around the world and alter his life forever.

 

CatCamTheMovie.com

 

Thx to Laughing Squid

The Dalai Lama is on Google+

The Dalai Lama is on Google+ and has a growing fan base of 1.3 million followers and frequently shares photos and nuggets of Buddhism.

“There is a saying in Tibetan that “at the door of the miserable rich man sleeps the contented beggar.” The point of this saying is not that poverty is a virtue, but that happiness does not come from wealth, but from setting limits to one’s desires, and living within those limits with satisfaction.”

“When each of us learns to appreciate the critical importance of ethics and makes inner values like compassion and patience an integral part of our basic outlook on life, the effects will be far-reaching.”

“Education and knowledge by themselves do not bring inner peace to individuals, families or the society in which they live. But education combined with warmheartedness, a sense of concern for the well-being of others, has much more positive results. If you have a great deal of knowledge, but you’re governed by negative emotions, then you tend to use your knowledge in negative ways. Therefore, while you are learning, don’t forget the importance of warmheartedness.”

 

Thx to Alex Howard

UCLA turns to social media as a means of researching the Middle East

I love that they are calling the project the “International Digitizing Ephemera Project.”

Ephemera – (1) something of no lasting significance, or (2) paper items that were originally meant to be discarded after use but have since become collectibles.

 

The UCLA Library announced last month a new project aimed at recording and cataloging all relevant forms of social media and photographs involving the Arab Spring, a wave of protests and demonstrations that have swept through the Middle East and North Africa over the past year.

(The project) is largely funded by a $3.4 million donation from the Arcadia Fund, an organization that supports preservation and digitization projects. Libraries apply for grants from the fund and receive money based on the scope of their work.

“The shelf life of these materials is not very long, so it is important that we start our work while the events are taking place, enabling us to have a greater database available to us,” said Todd Grappone, associate university librarian for Digital Initiatives and Information Technology at UCLA.

Data will be collected from verified sources, such as the Twitter accounts of journalists in the region, and stored according to their content and subject matter.

Projects like this are important for scholarship, she said, because they reflect a trend toward the use of digital media as a means of research for current affairs in the Middle East.

via Daily Bruin

1 World Trade Center – tallest building in NYC and most expensive in the world

One World Trade Center hit a milestone at the end of January when it passed the 90th floor and became the most expensive building in the world.

Now, with construction passing the 93rd floor, it’ll soon hit another milestone: in the next few weeks, it will pass the Empire State Building to become the tallest building in NYC.

Eventually, the 104-story tower will be taller than 1776 feet (including spire and antennae). “It’s a statement of fortitude and determination and the absolute best of mankind.” The tower’s three-level observation deck on the 100th, 101st and 102nd floor—around 1,269 feet up—is projected to be open to the public by early 2014.

Gothamist also has a video that takes place around 1,200 feet up.

 

Photos from @WTCProgress:

Great Night Shot of 1 WTC - taken tonight, Dec 12, 2011
For today, check out the morning fog from the 84th floor of T1 - overlooking Jersey and downtown NYC.
1WTC - 80th Floor Looking East. Hello Brooklyn!
Looking up the Western facade of 1 WTC, Feb 1, 2012