Are We Drastically Wrong About the Age of the Universe to Did Oppenheimer Discover Black Holes?
Weekend Edition
Oppenheimer Almost Discovered Black Holes Before He Became ‘Destroyer of Worlds’--Before leading the Manhattan Project, J. Robert Oppenheimer co-authored a paper--Before he was the scientific leader of the U.S. Manhattan Project, the World War II–era crash program to build the first-ever atomic bombs. At the time, the black hole paper was scarcely noticed, as Germany had just invaded Poland, launching World War II. Oppenheimer never wrote on the topic again, reports Scientific American.
Are Apollo astronaut footprints disappearing from the Moon?--Over 50 years since humans last walked on the Moon, astronaut footprints and rover tracks are still visible. But they won't last forever, argues Ethan Siegel for Big Think.
Alien biology: How will astronomers actually know if they've found extraterrestrial life? explores Salon.com.-- "What are the standards for saying that we have found microbial life in the solar system, what is it going to take?" Penn State's Jason Wright asked. "It's probably going to be a scenario where it's an accumulation of evidence over time, of ambiguous evidence, until all of the evidence that comes together is overwhelming."
Will AI kill humanity by 2100? --“Superforecasters” and experts disagree on the odds--The Existential Risk Persuasion Tournament gathered predictions from experts and superforecasters about existential threats, including AI's potential to cause humanity's extinction by 2100. AI experts estimated a 3% chance, while superforecasters were more optimistic, predicting a 0.38% likelihood of AI-caused extinction.
Alien Civilizations Might Harness Nearby Red Dwarfs Using Dyson Spheres, argues Bruce Dorminey for Forbes. "They have estimated lifetimes that range from tens of billions to tens of trillions of years. Thus, they represent an energy source that can pretty much span the age of the universe."
Are We Drastically Wrong About the Age of the Universe? It's long been believed that the Universe is 13.8 billion years old. But there was a puzzle for many scientists, because some early stars seemed too well formed to fit that timeline. Now a new study by professor Rajendra Gupta, of the Department of Physics at the University of Ottawa has put the age of the universe at almost double what has long been believed - 26.7 billion years old. Could we have been that far off? Why? And what does it matter?
Congressman Says He Saw 'Top Secret' UFO Info on Extraterrestrial Craft, reports Newsweek. Representative Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican, claimed on Friday to have seen "top secret" information about extraterrestrial crafts.
Curated by The Galaxy Report editorial staff