Stephen Hawking’s Quantum Perspective on the Cosmos

Weekend Edition

This weekend’s stories include: “With the icy moons of Jupiter, we have good reasons to believe that there is more water than on Earth,” Gravitational waves could reveal hidden histories of black holes, and more...

Stephen Hawking’s quantum perspective on the cosmos: The grand paradox at the heart of Stephen Hawking’s cosmology: Though he renounced philosophy, Stephen Hawking's final theory of the universe redraws the basic foundations of cosmology, reports Big Think. "The multiverse paradox was central to Stephen Hawking’s quantum perspective on the cosmos."

Are there are places around Jupiter where life could have started? "We need to find a place with internal energy and liquid water,” said Olivier Witasse, the mission’s project scientist. “With the icy moons of Jupiter, we have good reasons to believe that there is more water than on Earth,” reports The Guardian.

Scientists Want to Use Asteroids to Search for Hidden ‘Fifth Force’--Tiny changes in the motions of space rocks could reveal a hidden force that might help explain major mysteries, such as dark matter and dark energy. reports Becky Ferreira for Motherboard/Vice Science.

An Alien World? Why Movement Of A Star Stunned Scientists. Indicating the existence of a neighboring planet, astronomers noticed a kink in the velocity of the star HIP-99770, reports NDTV.

Scientists Create ‘Slits in Time’ in Mind-Bending Physics Experiment--Researchers have replicated the classic double-slit experiment using lasers. But their slits are in time, not space, reports Anna Demming for Scientific American/Live Science.

Gravitational waves could reveal hidden histories of black holes, reports Physics World. "Researchers argue in a new paper that gravitational waves could tell us in some detail about how black holes swallow up objects as they grow – and in doing so help resolve the information paradox brought about by Hawking radiation."

What life could be like in alien oceans, explores BBC Future. "The European Space Agency has launched a spacecraft to search for signs that Jupiter’s moons could support life in the oceans beneath their frozen surfaces. If they can, what would organisms look like?"

What are the prospects for life on the icy moons Europa and Enceladus?--As far as we know, there are three main ingredients required for life: liquid water, an energy source and complex chemistry. Do Europa or Enceladus have them all? Explores Leah Crane for New Scientist.

How do we know how far away and early in the universe galaxie are? asks Robert Lea for Space.com. The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted some of the earliest and most distant galaxies, but how can we be sure these early galaxies aren't closer and more recent?

NASA’s TESS Discovers Planetary System’s Second Earth-Size World--Using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey (TESS) Satellite, scientists have identified an Earth-size world, called TOI 700 e, orbiting within the habitable zone of its star – the range of distances where liquid water could occur on a planet’s surface. The world is 95% Earth’s size and likely rocky. Astronomers previously discovered three planets in this system, called TOI 700 b, c, and d. Planet d also orbits in the habitable zone.