The Alabama Insert

Think ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-20
Author(s):  
Richard Dawkins
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Text Book ◽  
Gallup Poll ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Age Of The Universe ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe

Creationists believe that the Biblical account of the creation of the universe is literally true. God brought into existence the Earth and all its life forms in just six days. According to creationists, this event took place less than ten thousand years ago (they base their calculation of the age of the universe on the number of generations listed in the Bible).Creationists have succeeded in persuading large swathes of the general public that their theory is at least as scientifically respectable as the Big Bang/evolution alternative. A recent Gallup poll indicated that about 45% of US citizens currently believe that God created human beings ‘pretty much in [their] present form at one time or another within the last 10,000 years’.Two states, Arkansas and Louisiana, have even passed ‘balanced treatment’ laws requiring that creationism be taught alongside evolution in all state public schools. It was in Auburn, Alabama, shortly after that state required that a piece of paper be pasted into every biology school text book explaining why evolution is merely a ‘theory’ — and a highly questionable theory at that — that Richard Dawkins delivered the impromptu speech which forms the basis of the following.

scholarly journals COSMOLOGICAL CONSTRAINTS FOR THE COSMIC DEFECT THEORY

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (06) ◽  
pp. 1039-1051 ◽  
Author(s):  
NINFA RADICELLA ◽  
MAURO SERENO ◽  
ANGELO TARTAGLIA
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Hubble Constant ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Nuclear Species ◽  
Type Ia ◽  
Species Abundances ◽  
Age Of The Universe ◽  
Ia Supernovae ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe

The cosmic defect theory has been confronted with four observational constraints: primordial nuclear species abundances emerging from the big bang nucleosynthesis; large scale structure formation in the Universe; cosmic microwave background acoustic scale; luminosity distances of type Ia supernovae. The test has been based on a statistical analysis of the a posteriori probabilities for three parameters of the theory. The result has been quite satisfactory and such that the performance of the theory is not distinguishable from that of the ΛCDM theory. The use of the optimal values of the parameters for the calculation of the Hubble constant and the age of the Universe confirms the compatibility of the cosmic defect approach with observations.

scholarly journals From cosmos to intelligent life: the four ages of astrobiology

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 345-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Gleiser
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Elements ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
First Stars ◽  
History Of ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Intelligent Life

AbstractThe history of life on Earth and in other potential life-bearing planetary platforms is deeply linked to the history of the Universe. Since life, as we know, relies on chemical elements forged in dying heavy stars, the Universe needs to be old enough for stars to form and evolve. The current cosmological theory indicates that the Universe is 13.7 ± 0.13 billion years old and that the first stars formed hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang. At least some stars formed with stable planetary systems wherein a set of biochemical reactions leading to life could have taken place. In this paper, I argue that we can divide cosmological history into four ages, from the Big Bang to intelligent life. The physical age describes the origin of the Universe, of matter, of cosmic nucleosynthesis, as well as the formation of the first stars and Galaxies. The chemical age began when heavy stars provided the raw ingredients for life through stellar nucleosynthesis and describes how heavier chemical elements collected in nascent planets and Moons gave rise to prebiotic biomolecules. The biological age describes the origin of early life, its evolution through Darwinian natural selection and the emergence of complex multicellular life forms. Finally, the cognitive age describes how complex life evolved into intelligent life capable of self-awareness and of developing technology through the directed manipulation of energy and materials. I conclude discussing whether we are the rule or the exception.

Awe

2019 ◽  
pp. 120-152
Author(s):  
John Marsh
Keyword(s):  
Big Bang ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
James Agee ◽  
Grapes Of Wrath ◽  
Empire State Building ◽  
The Sublime ◽  
Long Jump ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
Island Universes ◽  
The Universe

By awe, philosophers and psychologists mean the sensation that overcomes someone in the presence of something simultaneously vast, powerful, and, when compared to humans, strangely humbling. The chapter begins with a review of amazing discoveries such as island universes, the expanding universe, and the Big Bang that altered the understanding of the universe and made the solar system “seem but a speck of dust in infinite space.” It then turns to other sources of awe, or the Depression sublime: the Empire State Building; Jesse Owens’s record-setting long jump at the 1936 Berlin Olympics; the moral heroism of the Joads in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath; and James Agee and Walker Evans’s deification of tenant farmers in Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Whereas most accounts of the sublime involve the vastness of nature overwhelming human beings, during the Depression human beings themselves became a source of the sublime.

scholarly journals PROPORTIONS IN ARCHITECTURE

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 126-133
Author(s):  
Minakshi Rajput Singh
Keyword(s):  
Complex Geometry ◽  
Golden Section ◽  
Golden Ratio ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Celestial Bodies ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe

The uniqueness of His creation is reflected in different fields of life by the great masters throughout the ages that have born with the formation of the universe, from the big bang, till times still to come. Special ratio that can be used to describe the proportions of everything from nature’s smallest building blocks, such as atoms, to the most advanced patterns in the universe, such as unimaginably large celestial bodies. One of the key evidences presented for creation is the recurring appearance of the Divine proportion, or golden section, throughout the design of the human body and other life forms. An attempt has been made to relate Sri yantra and golden ratio and the various forms that seem to exemplify in the plan and elevation of the Indian temple. The yantra which is a complex geometry has been perfected to be used for the development of temple forms of different eras. The following paper will be a tool for the researchers to use the yantra in deriving the spaces of Indian temples.

scholarly journals Cosmology from quantum potential in a system of oscillating branes

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (01) ◽  
pp. 1650004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alireza Sepehri
Keyword(s):  
Generalized Uncertainty Principle ◽  
Scalar Fields ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Fundamental String ◽  
Extra Energy ◽  
Age Of The Universe ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
M Theory ◽  
Derivatives Of ◽  
The Universe

Recently, some authors proposed a new mechanism which gets rid of the Big Bang singularity and shows that the age of the universe is infinite. In this paper, we will confirm their results and predict that the universe may expand and contract many N fundamental strings decay to N M0–anti-M0-branes. Then, M0-branes join each other and build a M8-anti-M8 system. This system is unstable, broken and two anti-M4-branes, a compactified M4-brane, a M3-brane in addition to one M0-brane are produced. The M3-brane wraps around the compactified M4-brane and both of them oscillate between two anti-M4-branes. Our universe is located on the M3-brane and interacts with other branes by exchanging the M0-brane and some scalars in transverse directions. By wrapping of M3-brane, the contraction epoch of universe starts and some higher order of derivatives of scalar fields in the relevant action of branes are produced which are responsible for generating the generalized uncertainty principle (GUP). By oscillating the compactified M4-M3-brane and approaching one of anti-M4-branes, one end of M3-brane glues to the anti-M4-brane and other end remains sticking and wrapping around M4-brane. Then, by getting away of the M4-M3 system, M4 rolls, wrapped M3 opens and expansion epoch of universe begins. By closing the M4 to anti-M4, the mass of some scalars become negative and they make a transition to tachyonic phase. To remove these states, M4 rebounds, rolls and M3 wraps around it again. At this stage, expansion branch ends and universe enters a contraction epoch again. This process is repeated many times and universe expands and contracts due to oscillation of branes. We obtain the scale factor of universe in this system and find that its values only at t [Formula: see text] shrinks to zero. Thus, in our method, the Big Bang is replaced by the fundamental string and the age of universe is predicted to be infinite. Also, when tachyonic states disappear at the beginning of expansion branch, some extra energy is produced and leads to an increase in the velocity of opening of M3. In these conditions, our universe, which is located on this brane, expands very fast and experiences an inflation epoch. Finally, by reducing the fields in 11-dimensional M-theory to the fields in four-dimensional universe, we show that our theory matches with quantum field theory prescriptions.

scholarly journals The Hubble Constant

2000 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Mould
Keyword(s):  
Globular Clusters ◽  
Hubble Space Telescope ◽  
Hubble Constant ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Accelerating Universe ◽  
De Sitter ◽  
Age Of The Universe ◽  
Extragalactic Distance Scale ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe

AbstractWith the completion of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance Scale, it is interesting to form the dimensionless quantity H0t0 by multiplying the Hubble Constant by the age of the Universe. In a matter dominated decelerating Universe with a density exceeding 0·26 of the critical value, H0t0 < 1; in an accelerating Universe with the same Ωm = 0·26, but dominated by vacuum energy with ΩV ≥ 1 – Ωm, H0t0 ≥ 1. If the first globular clusters formed 109 years after the Big Bang, then with 95% confidence H0t0 =1·0 ± 0·3. The classical Einstein–de Sitter cosmological model has H0t0 = ⅔.

scholarly journals Nuclear Constraints on the Age of the Universe

1983 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 241-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
David N. Schramm
Keyword(s):  
Cosmological Constant ◽  
Nuclear Physics ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Distance Scale ◽  
The Other ◽  
Single Measurement ◽  
Age Of The Universe ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Fair Degree

In this paper a review will be made of how one can use nuclear physics to put rather stringent limits on the age of the universe and thus the cosmic distance scale. As the other papers in this session have demonstrated there is some disagreement on the distance scale and thus the limits on the age of the universe (if the cosmological constant Λ = 0.) However, the disagreement is only over the last factor of 2, the basic timescale seems to really be remarkably well agreed upon. The universe is billions of years old - not thousands, not quintillions but billions of years. That our universe has a finite age is philosophically intriguing. That we can estimate that age to a fair degree of accuracy is truly impressive.No single measurement of the time since the Big Bang gives a specific, unambiguous age. Fortunately, we have at our disposal several methods that together fix the age with surprising precision.

scholarly journals Resolving Hubble tension with the Milne model

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (14) ◽  
pp. 2043025
Author(s):  
Ram Gopal Vishwakarma
Keyword(s):  
Hubble Constant ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
New Physics ◽  
Late Time ◽  
Standard Cosmology ◽  
Evolution Dynamics ◽  
Age Of The Universe ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Big Bang Singularity

The recent measurements of the Hubble constant based on the standard [Formula: see text]CDM cosmology reveal an underlying disagreement between the early-Universe estimates and the late-time measurements. Moreover, as these measurements improve, the discrepancy not only persists but becomes even more significant and harder to ignore. The present situation places the standard cosmology in jeopardy and provides a tantalizing hint that the problem results from some new physics beyond the [Formula: see text]CDM model. It is shown that a nonconventional theory — the Milne model — which introduces a different evolution dynamics for the Universe, alleviates the Hubble tension significantly. Moreover, the model also averts some long-standing problems of the standard cosmology, for instance, the problems related with the cosmological constant, the horizon, the flatness, the Big Bang singularity, the age of the Universe and the nonconservation of energy.

scholarly journals The H0 Key Project: Cepheids in NGC925, M101 and M100

1995 ◽  
Vol 155 ◽  
pp. 258-259
Author(s):  
S. M. G. Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Standard Model ◽  
Hubble Space Telescope ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Distance Scale ◽  
Space Telescope ◽  
The Standard Model ◽  
Age Of The Universe ◽  
Extragalactic Distance Scale ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe

AbstractAs part of the Extragalactic Distance Scale Key Project, the Hubble Space Telescope has been used to identify Cepheids in M100, M101 and NGC925, and to measure distances derived from the Cepheid PL relation. For M100, the distance of 17.1 ± 1.8 Mpc has been used to infer a preliminary value for H0 of ~ 80 km/s/Mpc, which brings the age of the Universe derived from the standard model of the Big Bang into conflict with the ages of the oldest stars.

The oldest stars and the age of the Universe

2002 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
GISELLA CLEMENTINI ◽  
RAFFAELE GRATTON
Keyword(s):  
Lower Limit ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Stellar Systems ◽  
Large Uncertainty ◽  
First Stars ◽  
A Value ◽  
Cosmological Data ◽  
Age Of The Universe ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe

The Big Bang created primordial material from which the first stars formed. These stars exploded as supernovae and polluted the material from which subsequent generations of stars were made. Astronomers have had difficulty in finding stars made of the pure Big Bang material, but they have found stars with very little polluting material. The age of these cosmological relics of the first eras sets a lower limit for the age of the Universe we live in. European astronomers and their colleagues worldwide have joined in the effort to discover and date these, the oldest stars, and cast a glance into the obscure phases between the very first seconds of the existence of the Universe and the epoch at which galaxies and clusters of stars matured. Many independent techniques have been devised to date the oldest stars and stellar systems in the Universe. Some of them are briefly reviewed. The age of the oldest stars is now converging on a value in the range from 12 to 15 thousand million years. However, a large uncertainty still exists and a value as a large as 17 to18 thousand million years cannot be totally ruled out. Such a large value would be difficult to reconcile with the age of the Universe based on cosmological data. Significant improvements in the uncertainties of this situation are expected from the 8–1 m telescopes and space missions of the next decade.

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