Black holes, predicted Einstein, are supposed to have a singularity—a point that is so small and dense that our human brains can’t even comprehend it. But what if some phenomena that look like black holes are actually cosmic objects full of dark energy –an enigmatic phenomena that has been described as everything from a fifth force to a new form of matter, but so far, no direct evidence has been found of its existence. About which Noble-Prize winning physicist Adam Riess says: we have absolutely no clue what dark energy is. Dark energy appears strong enough to push the entire universe – yet its source is unknown, its location is unknown and its physics are highly speculative.
“The Galaxy Report” provides summaries and links to headline news by leading science journalists about the amazing discoveries, technology, people, and events changing our knowledge of Planet Earth and the Cosmos beyond. Our caffine-inspired curation team scours the world, doing your work for you –all in one place.
Dark energy has been described as everything from a fifth force to a new form of matter, but so far, no direct evidence has been found of its existence. Noble Prize winning physicist Adam Riess says: “I have absolutely no clue what dark energy is. Dark energy appears strong enough to push the entire universe – yet its source is unknown, its location is unknown and its physics are highly speculative.”
From dark-matter life to billion-year old technological civilizations: In 2019, several leading astrophysicists from NASA to Harvard and Columbia universities have publicly announced their view that aliens are not science fiction: that advanced and ancient technological civilizations may exist but be beyond our comprehension or ability to detect. As early as the NASA Contact Conference in 2002, which focused on serious speculation about advanced extraterrestrial life, an attendee loudly interrupted the keynote speech with the observation that “We have absolutely no idea what is out there!”
“If space is truly infinite,” observes Dan Hooper, head of the Theoretical Astrophysics Group at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, in At the Edge of Time, “the implications are staggering. Within an infinite expanse of space, it would be hard to see any reason why there would not be an infinite number of galaxies, stars, and planets, and even an infinite number of intelligent or conscious beings, scattered throughout this limitless volume. That is the thing about infinity: it takes things that are otherwise very unlikely and makes them all inevitable.”
“I have absolutely no clue what dark energy is. Dark energy appears strong enough to push the entire universe – yet its source is unknown, its location is unknown and its physics are highly speculative,” said physicist Adam Riess in an interview. Riess of Johns Hopkins University is one of three researchers just awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for their part in the discovery that the expansion of the universe is accelerating.
