Why Nobel Laureates Are Getting Older

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Scientists are making major discoveries at more advanced ages than in the past


Image: Ted Spiegel/Corbis

Albert Einstein once commented that ?a person who has not made his great contribution to science before the age of 30 will never do so.? This may have been an accurate reflection of physics in his time, but it is no longer the case?for physics or any other field. Benjamin Jones, an expert in innovation at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and Bruce Weinberg of Ohio State University analyzed 525 Nobel Prizes awarded in physics, chemistry and medicine between 1900 and 2008. With a few exceptions?notably quantum mechanics discoveries of the 1920s and 1930s?the trend across all fields is toward researchers being older when they produce their greatest work.? ?

To explain the aging effect, Jones and Weinberg suggest a shift from theoretical work, in which youngsters do better, toward experimental work, which requires aggregation of knowledge. They also believe that as fields expand, it may take longer to accumulate the knowledge necessary to make a novel contribution. ?

Those younger than 30 need not despair, though. The anomaly of quantum physics suggests that, in the case of a scientific revolution where established knowledge can be a hindrance rather than a help, the trend might reverse. ?If there are future revolutions out there, it may make people younger yet again,? Jones remarks.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=72b6b99c5dca468b92b5537c2f816787

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Widow of Pluto's discoverer dies at 99

By Alan Boyle

Patsy Tombaugh, the woman who looked after the world her husband discovered, passed away Thursday at the age of 99 in Las Cruces, N.M., after a series of health problems.

She was the widow of astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, who found Pluto in 1930. After Clyde's death in 1997, Patsy took on the job of keeping Pluto in the spotlight, during a time when more worlds were being discovered on the solar system's edge. She was a guest of honor at the 2006 launch of New Horizons, NASA's mission to Pluto, and was in tears at liftoff. When Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet later that year, few people took it harder than Patsy. "I don't know just how you handle it," she told reporters. "It kind of sounds like I just lost my job."

But she didn't: Patsy continued to promote Pluto's planethood, sitting in the public gallery when the New Mexico House of Representatives passed a resolution creating "Pluto Planet Day." When I visited her in 2009, she had a feeling that people would still be talking about Pluto long after she was gone. "It looks like we're going to have to keep on discussing this," she told me.

Patsy is survived by her son, Alden; her daughter, Annette Tombaugh-Sitze; five grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. A memorial service is scheduled Feb. 12 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Las Cruces, where a stained-glass window already serves as a tribute to the Tombaughs.


Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/15/10159670-in-memoriam-patsy-tombaugh-widow-of-plutos-discoverer

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Nigeria president, unions end talks without deal (Reuters)

ABUJA (Reuters) ? Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and labor unions met late Sunday but failed to reach a compromise over the removal of fuel subsidies that has raised fears of a shutdown of Nigeria's oil industry, presidency sources said.

Jonathan was expected to make a public address following the talks and unions refused to give comment until he had spoken, but several sources said no agreement had been reached. The president's address may now be aired later Monday.

Unions said Sunday that nationwide strikes and protests would resume Monday if no agreement was reached.

Tens of thousands took to the streets for strikes over five successive days last week in protest against the sudden removal of a fuel subsidy on January 1 that more than doubled the pump price of petrol to 150 naira ($0.93) per liter from 65 naira.

(Reporting by Felix Onuah; Writing by Joe Brock)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120115/ts_nm/us_nigeria_strike

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Police: 2 people wounded in shooting at Mo. mall

(AP) ? A young man and woman were wounded Saturday in a shooting that locked down a suburban Kansas City mall and sent panicked shoppers running for cover.

Independence police spokesman Tom Gentry said two young men have been identified as persons of interest in the afternoon shooting at Independence Center. He said the two men had an altercation with the victims while going through a doorway and the shooting happened when the two pairs met up later.

Gentry said the victims were taken to a hospital with wounds that weren't considered life-threatening.

"Everything is fine, everything is secure" at the mall, Gentry told The Associated Press. "No one else is in a position to be harmed."

The mall, located about 10 miles east of Kansas City near Interstate 70, was locked down after the shooting and closed early. Mall officials did not immediately return a phone call to the AP for comment.

Police were interviewing a dozen or more witnesses. Gentry didn't know whether they were talking to the two persons of interest.

He said he didn't know where the shooting happened in the mall. But television station KMBC reported that the shooting happened just outside of the Sears store.

Police Capt. John Cato told the station that two people entering the store got into an argument. "That verbal altercation progressed into a physical altercation and eventually shots were fired," he said.

People left strollers behind in the parking lot because they were in such a rush to leave the mall, KSHB-TV reported.

"We just heard, 'Pop, pop, pop,' and I literally just started screaming to my boss, 'Run! There was gunshots.' And we just, we grabbed our stuff, shut the alarm on and just took off running," Andrew Boyce told KMBC. "I mean there were probably a couple of hundred people running toward the southeast exit."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-14-Mall%20Shooting-Missouri/id-0ed71a8c1439444ea538be83bc6901ee

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Tanker carrying fuel nears iced-in Alaska town

This image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard shows the Coast Guard Ice Breaker Healy breaking ice near the city of Nome Alaska Jan. 14, 2012. The Healy is breaking ice near Nome to assist the Russian tanker Renda move into final position for offloading nearly 1.3 million gallons of petroleum products to the city. Russian tanker carrying much-needed fuel to Nome moored less than a half mile from the town's iced-in harbor Saturday evening, Jan. 14, 2012starting final preparations for delivering the diesel fuel and gasoline, the Coast Guard said. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard, Chief Petty Officer Kip Wadlow)

This image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard shows the Coast Guard Ice Breaker Healy breaking ice near the city of Nome Alaska Jan. 14, 2012. The Healy is breaking ice near Nome to assist the Russian tanker Renda move into final position for offloading nearly 1.3 million gallons of petroleum products to the city. Russian tanker carrying much-needed fuel to Nome moored less than a half mile from the town's iced-in harbor Saturday evening, Jan. 14, 2012starting final preparations for delivering the diesel fuel and gasoline, the Coast Guard said. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard, Chief Petty Officer Kip Wadlow)

RECROPPED VERSION OF NY115 - In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard the Coast Guard Ice Breaker Healy guides the Russian tanker Renda closer to the fuel transfer mooring point Saturday Jan. 14, 2012. Russian tanker carrying much-needed fuel to Nome moored less than a half mile from the town's iced-in harbor Saturday evening, starting final preparations for delivering the diesel fuel and gasoline, the Coast Guard said. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Charly Hengen)

In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard the Coast Guard Ice Breaker Healy guides the Russian tanker Renda closer to the fuel transfer mooring point Saturday Jan. 14, 2012. Russian tanker carrying much-needed fuel to Nome moored less than a half mile from the town's iced-in harbor Saturday evening, starting final preparations for delivering the diesel fuel and gasoline, the Coast Guard said. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Charly Hengen)

In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard The Coast Guard Ice Breaker Healy breaks ice in the Nome Harbor Jan. 13, 2012. The Healy has been escorting and breaking ice for the Russian tanker Renda since Jan. 3, 2012, on its way to Nome to deliver 1.3 million gallons of fuel. Now comes the tricky part: getting more than a million gallons of diesel and gasoline to shore through a mile-long hose without a spill. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Charly Hengen)

In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard The Kigluaik Mountains can be viewed as the Russian tanker Renda transits toward the Port of Nome Jan. 13, 2012. The Renda has been assisted by the Coast Guard Ice Breaker Healy since the vessels left Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Now comes the tricky part: getting more than a million gallons of diesel and gasoline to shore through a mile-long hose without a spill. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Charly Hengen)

(AP) ? The ice that has cut off a remote Alaska town for months will connect it to the world again when crews build a path over it to carry fuel from a Russian tanker that was moored a half-mile from the town's harbor Sunday morning.

Workers were waiting for disturbed ice to freeze again so they could create some sort of roadway across the 2,100 feet from tanker to the harbor in Nome, upon which they'll rest a hose that will transfer 1.3 million gallons of fuel.

A storm prevented Nome's 3,500 residents from getting a fuel delivery by barge in November. Without the tanker delivery, supplies of diesel fuel, gasoline and home heating fuel Nome are expected to run out in March and April, well before a barge delivery again in late May or June.

The tanker began its journey from Russia in mid-December and has slowly made its way toward Nome, stalled by thick ice, strong ocean currents and one Alaska's snowiest winters in memory. It picked up diesel fuel in South Korea, then headed to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, where it took on unleaded gasoline. Late Thursday, the vessels stopped offshore and began planning the transfer to Nome, more than 500 miles from Anchorage on Alaska's west coast.

A Coast Guard cutter cleared a path through hundreds of miles of Bering Sea ice for the tanker.

Now, residents await the journey's final leg, which comes with its own hurdles: In addition to waiting for the ice to freeze, crews must begin the transfer in daylight, a state mandate. But Nome has just five hours of daylight this time of year.

"It's kind of like a football game. We're on the 5- yard line and we just want to work into the goal line," said Sitnasuak Native Corp. board chairman Jason Evans, whose hometown is Nome. Sitnasuak provides fuel and other services to the region.

Despite the complicated logistics of delivering fuel by sea in winter, Sitnasuak opted for the extra delivery after determining that it would be much less costly and more practical than flying fuel to Nome.

A Coast Guard spokesman didn't know how long it will be before fuel flows as crews must wait 12 hours, or until about 5 a.m. local time Sunday (6 a.m. Pacific), to ensure that the disturbed ice has refrozen.

"We were able to successfully navigate that last bit of ice," Coast Guard spokesman Kip Wadlow said. "We were able to get it pretty much right on the money, in the position that the industry representatives wanted to start the fuel transfer process."

The crew of the 370-foot tanker Renda was working to ensure the safe transfer of the fuel through a segmented hose that will be laid on top of the ice to the harbor, located about 2,100 feet from the ship, Wadlow said in a telephone interview from Nome on Saturday night.

Once crews create a suitable path for the hose to rest on, its segments will have to be bolted together and inspected before the fuel can begin to flow.

Though the transfer must start during daylight, it can continue in darkness, Betty Schorr of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has said. It could be finished within 36 hours if everything goes smoothly, but it could take as long as five days, she said.

Earlier Saturday, Evans gave details of the transfer process.

Once the hose is laid down, he said personnel will walk its entire length every 30 minutes to check it for leaks. Each segment of hose will have its own spill containment area, and extra absorbent boom will be on hand in case of a spill.

Evans said he hopes the crew will begin unloading Sunday.

Evans, however, cautioned that delivering the fuel is only half the mission.

"The ships need to transition back through 300 miles of ice," he said. "I say we're not done until the ships are safely back at their home ports" in Seattle and Russia.

___

Online:

Coast Guard webcam, http://bit.ly/wEsemi

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-15-Nome%20Iced%20In/id-5fd94b7a5d454d17a34d2d319a619128

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Perry: Marines in video are 'kids,' not criminals (AP)

WASHINGTON ? GOP presidential hopeful Rick Perry is accusing the Obama administration of "over-the-top rhetoric" and "disdain for the military" in its condemnation of a video that purportedly shows Marines urinating on dead bodies in Afghanistan.

No one has been charged in the case, but officials in the U.S. and abroad have called for swift punishment of the four Marines.

A military criminal investigation and an internal Marine Corps review are under way. The Geneva Conventions forbid the desecration of the dead.

Perry tells CNN's "State of the Union" that he thinks the Marines involved should be reprimanded, but not pursued with criminal charges.

Perry said "18, 19-year-old kids make stupid mistakes all too often and that's what's occurred here."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120115/ap_on_el_pr/us_perry_marines_desecrated_corpses

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Judge upholds reporting by gun store owners (AP)

WASHINGTON ? A federal judge has dismissed a firearms industry association's lawsuit seeking to block the Obama administration from requiring gun store owners in Southwest border states to report when customers buy multiple high-powered rifles.

U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives properly limited its requirement to purchasers of two or more semi-automatic rifles greater than .22 caliber within five days in the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico or Texas

The requirement was imposed after ATF acknowledged during congressional hearings it made mistakes in Operation Fast and Furious, a Phoenix-area investigation designed to catch weapons-trafficking kingpins. Agents lost track of many weapons they were trying to track to smuggling ringleaders, and some guns ended up at crime scenes in Mexico and the U.S.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120113/ap_on_re_us/us_fast_and_furious_lawsuit

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ROLL CALL: Robert Pattinson Debuts Buzz Cut (omg!)

Robert Pattinson accepts Favorite Drama Movie Award for 'Water for Elephants' onstage at the 2012 People's Choice Awards at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in Los Angeles on January 11, 2012 -- Getty Images

RPatz Messes With His Trademark Locks Yet Again : "Twilight" fans might be in a state of mourning today following the debut of Robert Pattinson's (almost) shaved head. The actor turned up last night at the People's Choice Award to accept the award for Favorite Drama Movie for "Water for Elephants," with a new close cut. So, which Robert do you like best - shaved and smooth or grown out and messy? VOTE HERE!

Kylie Plays Nice : There doesn't appear to be any bad blood between pop star Kylie Minogue and ex-boyfriend Olivier Martinez. The Aussie singer took to Twitter on Wednesday to congratulate Olivier on his reported engagement to Halle Berry, writing, "Congrats to Olivier Martinez and Halle Berry!! #wedding" Isn't it nice to see former star couples behaving like adults? But is it even an engagement? According to TMZ, the rock Halle has been sporting is not an engagement ring. Check out more on the ongoing "are they or aren't they getting hitched" saga, HERE!

PLAY IT NOW: 2012 People?s Choice Awards: Josh Hutcherson - Will ?The Hunger Games? Be Bigger Than ?Twilight??

Rehabbed "Real Housewife" Spotted : "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Kim Richards was spotted out on Wednesday night in, where else, but Beverly Hills. The reality star, who is fresh out of rehab, looked great after having dinner with sister Kathy Hilton at Mr. Chow. We're glad to see Kim back in the 90210 and looking better than ever.

People's Choice Awards Style Hits & Misses! : The stars brought out plenty of interesting style choices at Wednesday's People's Choice Awards. We loved Julianne Hough's sexy backless gown (see it HERE!), but we're not sure what "Hunger Games" star Jennifer Lawrence was thinking... was she watching "The Little Mermaid" when she picked out THIS GOWN? Check out her brave aquatic dress choice, HERE and vote - FAB OR FLUB!

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Robert Pattinson: Hollywood?s Hottest Vampire!

-By Jesse Spero

Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Lawrence Krauss On 'A Universe From Nothing'

Copyright ? 2012 National Public Radio?. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

IRA FLATOW, HOST:

Speaking of dark matter and space-time, one of the major questions about our universe is how did it all come into being, and my next guest tackles that question in his new book, "A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing." Lawrence Krauss is also a foundation professor and director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University in Tempe. He's also in our NPR Washington studios. Welcome back, Lawrence.

LAWRENCE KRAUSS: It's always good to be back, Ira.

FLATOW: What about this graininess stuff? You were listening to that. What do you think about that experiment?

KRAUSS: Well, that was a speculative idea, and most speculative ideas are wrong, and that's why it takes a while to make progress. And so I - in some sense I wouldn't call it a failure for theory. One of the most exciting, or two of the most exciting states to be in if you're a theorist are either wrong or confused.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

FLATOW: Speaking of which, I'm sure you're going to leave us in an enlightened state by the time you're done today, talking about your book. The title of your book, give us a thumbnail sketch of how you get something from nothing.

KRAUSS: Well, the title of the book, "A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing" deals with this question. It's been around for as long as people have really started to ask questions about the universe and is really at the heart of a lot of the world's religions. Why is there something rather than nothing?

If we live in a universe full of stuff, how did it get here? And many people think that very question implies the need for a creator. But what's truly been amazing, and what the book's about is the revolutionary developments in both cosmology and particle physics over the past 30 or 40 years that have not only changed completely the way we think about the universe but made it clear that there's a plausible case for understanding precisely how a universe full of stuff, like the universe we live in, could result literally from nothing by natural processes.

And while it's a little pretentious, I'll be pretentious anyway, the idea, I think, is similar, if you think about it, to the origin of life, Darwin's demonstration that life, which appears to be designed here on Earth, the diversity of life can actually arise, that diversity can arise by natural causes.

And we don't yet know the true origin of life, but we think we'll understand it by chemistry, and what we're discovering is that in fact physics has suggested that maybe the same is true for the whole universe, that we don't need a creator.

And I guess most importantly that the question why is there something rather than nothing is really a scientific question, not a religious or philosophical question, because both nothing and something are scientific concepts, and our discoveries over the past 30 years have completely changed what we mean by nothing.

In particular, nothing is unstable. Nothing can create something all the time due to the laws of quantum mechanics, and it's - it's fascinatingly interesting. And what I wanted to do was use the hook of this question, which I think as I say has provoked religious people, as well as scientists, to encourage people to try and understand the amazing universe that we actually live in.

FLATOW: 1-800-989-8255 is our number, we're talking with Lawrence Krauss author of a new book, which talks about, you know, how the universe began, where it's heading, how we got here, all that kind of stuff, "A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing."

And if you'd like to ask Lawrence a question and get in on the conversation, maybe you have a question about how the universe is working, as I say our number is 1-800-989-8255. Tweet us @scifri, @-S-C-I-F-R-I. Go to our Facebook page, /scifri, and our website at sciencefriday.com.

We'll take all of your questions and put them all together and ask Lawrence to talk about them. So stay with us. We'll be right back after this break.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

FLATOW: I'm Ira Flatow. This is SCIENCE FRIDAY, from NPR.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

FLATOW: You're listening to SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Ira Flatow. We're talking with Lawrence Krauss, who is author of "A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing." He's also a foundation professor and director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University in Tempe.

Our number, 1-800-989-8255. How did the idea - how did - you said that the physics has changed, what we know about the universe has changed so much, dramatically over the last few years, especially the idea that what we think of empty space is really not empty, correct?

KRAUSS: That's exactly right. Empty space is a boiling, bubbling brew of virtual particles that pop in and out of existence in a time scale so short that you can't even measure them. Now, that sounds of course like counting angels on the head of a pin; if you can't measure them, then it doesn't sound like it's science, but in fact you can't measure them directly.

But we can measure their effects indirectly. These particles that are popping in and out of existence actually affect the properties of atoms and nuclei and actually are responsible for most of the mass inside your body. And in fact, really one of the things that motivated this book was the most profound discovery in recent times, and you even alluded to it in the last segment, the discovery that most of the energy of the universe actually resides in empty space.

You take space, get rid of all the particles, all the radiation, and it actually carries energy, and that notion that in fact empty space - once you allow gravity into the game, what seems impossible is possible. It sounds like it would violate the conservation of energy for you to start with nothing and end up with lots of stuff, but the great thing about gravity is it's a little trickier.

Gravity allows positive energy and negative energy, and out of nothing you can create positive energy particles, and as long as a gravitational attraction produces enough negative energy, the sum of their energy can be zero. And in fact when we look out at the universe and try and measure its total energy, we come up with zero.

I like to think of it as the difference between, say, a savvy stockbroker and an embezzler. The savvy stockbroker will buy stocks on margin with more money than they have, and as long as they get that money back in there before anyone notices, and in fact if the stocks go up, they end with money where they didn't have any before, whereas the embezzler, of course, is discovered.

Well, the universe is a savvy stockbroker. It can borrow energy, and if there's no gravity, it gets rid of it back before anyone notices. But if gravity is there, it can actually create stuff where there was none before. And you can actually create enough stuff to account for everything we see in the universe.

But, you know, it's more than that because some people would say, and I've had this discussion with theologians and others, well, you know, just empty space isn't nothing. You know, there's space. How did the space get there? But the amazing thing is, once you apply in fact quantum mechanics to gravity, as you were beginning to allude again in the last segment, then it's possible, in fact it's implied, that space itself can be created where there was nothing before, that literally whole universes can pop out of nothing by the laws of quantum mechanics.

And in fact the question why is there something rather than nothing then becomes sort of trite because nothing is unstable. It will always produce something. The more interesting or surprising question might be why is there nothing. But of course if we ask that question, well, we wouldn't be here if that was true.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

FLATOW: 1-800-989-8255. In your book you talk about dialing backwards, first the idea that the universe is expanding at greater than the speed of light. Is that correct, still expanding?

KRAUSS: Oh, absolutely. In fact, the discovery of this dark energy has told us that the future will be quite different than we thought, and that's one of the things I talk about in the book. Because of this dark energy, this energy of empty space, which is gravitationally repulsive, it's causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate, to speed up.

In fact, the discovery of that was awarded this year's Nobel Prize. But if you think about what that implies for the future, distant galaxies are moving away from us faster and faster, and eventually they indeed will all be moving away from us faster than the speed of light, which is allowed in general relativity, and we won't see them.

And the universe, in the far future, will be cold and dark and empty. So in fact as my late friend Christopher Hitchens, who was writing the forward for the book before he passed away, used to say: Nothing is heading towards us as fast as it can. So another answer to the question why is there something rather than nothing is just wait.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

FLATOW: And of course we're getting questions already. Here's a tweet from Maggie Kelley(ph), who says: So if space is infinitely expanding, what is it expanding into?

KRAUSS: Well, that's a good question. It's a question people often ask. And the answer is it doesn't need to expand into anything. The only two ways I know to try and explain this - well, the simplest way perhaps is to think of a rubber bedsheet that's infinitely big. Now stretch it. It's now bigger, but it wasn't expanding into anything because it was already infinitely big.

Now, if you don't like infinities, and there's a good reason to not be comfortable with infinities, just think of a balloon, and of course when you blow up a balloon, you think, sure, it's expanding into the room, but that's because you've embedded this two-dimensional surface of a balloon into this three-dimensional space.

But if the two-dimensional surface of the balloon was all there was, as it expanded, the balloon would get bigger, and every dot on that balloon, if you painted dots on that balloon, would move away from every other dot, but it wouldn't be expanding into anything, it would just be getting bigger.

So our universe, in fact, doesn't need to expand into anything. Space can expand on its own, whether the universe is finite or infinite, without boundary and without expanding into anything.

FLATOW: Let's go to Scott in San Francisco. Hi Scott, welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY.

SCOTT: Hi, and thanks for taking my call. I'll make it quick. I was just wondering if - are some ideas being investigated in space-time recently, in terms of the Higgs field and the Higgs Boson, are these in some way kind of a revisiting of the idea of aluminiferous ether, as they used to talk about? I know there's differences, but is this kind of ether revisited now?

KRAUSS: Well, that's a good question. In a kind of philosophical sense, yes. Both the Higgs field and this dark energy that's permeating everything are indeed permeating empty space. And in that sense empty space is - has properties that you would not otherwise imagine, just like we - they used to imagine as an ether.

Of course, a difference was the ether was thought to be necessary to propagate light, and it was also thought to create a special frame of reference, and neither of these things do that. So neither of these things are of ether.

But in a philosophical sense they hearken back to the idea that empty space is full of something.

FLATOW: 1-800-989-8255. You mentioned in your book that we are lucky to be living in this time in the universe.

KRAUSS: Yeah, I mean for a variety of reasons. One is in the far future, and by the far future I mean hundreds of billions of years, astronomers and radio hosts on planets around other stars will look out at the universe, and what they'll see is the universe we thought we lived in 100 years ago, all of the other galaxies will have disappeared expect for our own, and people will assume, or beings will assume, they live in a universe that's basically infinite, dark and empty except for one galaxy, with no evidence of the Big Bang.

So we're living at this rare cosmic instant in which we're lucky enough to observe the Big Bang. By rare - by cosmic instant I mean a few hundred billion years, but in a cosmic sense that's an instant. And so we're fortunate to be able to see that. At the same time, of course, it should give us some cosmic humility because it suggests - it indicates something that's very important to realize.

When you're talking about the whole universe, we're limited by what we can see because science is an empirical discipline, and we have to be able - and the universe continues to surprise us, and it only can surprise us if we can measure it. And we're stuck in one universe, and we're stuck at the time we live in, 13.72 billion years after the Big Bang, and maybe a lot earlier we might have been able to discover other things, or a lot later, but we are fascinatingly lucky at this point to be able to see the evidence of the Big Bang.

And moreover, in even a grander sense, when one talks about a universe that could easily have come into existence by accident, I even show how current theory suggests maybe even the laws of physics themselves came into being by accident, with no purpose, no design, you might get depressed.

But from my point of view, it's really exciting and should energize us because it suggests that we're unbelievably fortunate that we happen to live in a universe that not only supports life but that consciousness has evolved, and we can appreciate this remarkable universe around us, and we should make the moment - most of our brief moment in the sun.

We should provide the meaning of the universe in the meaning of our own lives. So I think science doesn't necessarily have to get in the way of kind of spiritual fulfillment. In fact, I would argue the real story of the universe is far more interesting than any myths or fairy tales that people wrote thousands of years before they even knew the Earth went around the sun.

FLATOW: We're talking to Lawrence Krauss, author of "A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing." Let's go to John(ph) in Salt Lake City. Hi, welcome.

JOHN: Thank you. Yeah, I just had a comment. I thought maybe it would be a better idea to call it God's glue rather than dark matter, just to comment. Thanks.

FLATOW: All right.

KRAUSS: Well...

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

KRAUSS: Well, you know, you hearken back to the statement of Steve Weinberg, which is really true. I put it a slightly different way. The universe is the way it is whether you like it or not. And you can call it whatever you want, but - and you might - and scientists might want something, and religious people might want something too. And I think the great difference and the great wonder of science is that our faith is shakable, not unshakable, that if we discover the universe isn't the way we wanted it to be, well, too bad.

In fact, we learn to like it even better.

FLATOW: 1-800-989-8255. Gary in Groveland, California. Hi, Gary.

GARY: Hi, thank you for taking my call.

FLATOW: Go ahead.

GARY: With all due respect, and I find what you're saying fascinating, but where is the practicality for us on Earth? What is it doing for us today or even in the very near future?

KRAUSS: Well, you know, it's a good question. And I put it back to you. I'd say, well, what does a Bach cantata or a Picasso painting do for us? I think the point is we are human beings, and one of the most wonderful aspect of being human beings is being creative and asking questions and trying to understand our place in the universe. And it is absolutely true that understanding the beginning and end of the universe is not going to produce a better toaster. But I'm always amazed that people - for me, one of the great virtues of science is it's a cultural activity, like art and literature and music. It enhances the experience of being human, and it addresses the questions that I'm sure you've asked about your own existence.

And if we can get new insights into our own existence and our place in the cosmos, well, that's what happens when we attend a good play or see a good painting. It gives us a new perspective of our place in the universe. And I happen to think that is worth it for its own sake. Plus, I happen to think these ideas are among the most remarkable and astounding ideas human beings have ever come up with. And we owe it to - we scientists owe it to the people to try and explain what's happening, and I think they enhance the quality of our existence. And...

FLATOW: And - I'm sorry.

KRAUSS: ...you know, it's not just technology. I think that's what is really important. Now, of course, there are always side benefits of doing - of every time we build a new big machine like the Large Hadron Collider and push the limits of technology, we develop tools that later on are used in society. But I don't think we should justify this remarkable adventure just because of the side effects.

FLATOW: 1-800-989-8255 is our number. Here - a tweet from Nate Koch(ph) says would there theoretically be no time if there were no matter or energy?

KRAUSS: It's a very good question. Of course, the answer is we don't know, but we do know that space and time are related to matter and energy and general activity. And we cannot follow the laws of physics back to T equals zero, because we don't have a full theory of quantum gravity. But it is quite possible, and indeed quite plausible, that time itself arose just as space arose. And there was no concept of time. It's something that arose as the world became classical. So it could be that the question what happened before the big bang is not even a good question, because before it had no meaning.

It's not necessarily the case because we really don't know. We are at the limits of our knowledge. And I guess that's something I want to stress for people who think, you know, I don't want to claim that we know the universe came from nothing. What is amazing is that we can see plausible mechanisms by which that happened. And I find that development truly astounding, and remarkable and worth celebrating.

FLATOW: I'm Ira Flatow. This is SCIENCE FRIDAY from NPR. Talking with Lawrence Krauss, author of "A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing." Let's go to Bens Red(ph) in Manchester, New Hampshire. Hi there.

BENS RED: Hi. Thanks for taking my call. My question is, is (unintelligible) the essence of the sun shine? I mean, why the sun even shines? Why the (unintelligible)? Why do we assume (unintelligible) because it's kind of interesting the sun would shine every day and (unintelligible)? (Unintelligible) we don't understand, it doesn't make us that - should not allow us to say that no creator. It's kind of - we don't have an answer, and we (unintelligible) because maybe we (unintelligible) trying to get an explanation for our existence. So if our - I'll take my answer off the air.

FLATOW: OK. Thanks.

KRAUSS: Well, you know, look, I think the point is can - often, by the way, when we ask why questions, what we really mean is how. We don't really mean why. If we ask why are there nine planets or eight planets, if we get rid of Pluto, which I'll never do, we really mean...

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

KRAUSS: We really mean, you know, how did those planets formed. And what's remarkable is to try and understand how the universe evolved, and that's what science tries to do ? not really. And so - and when we ask why does the sun shine, what we really mean is what are the processes that cause the sun to shine? And one of the truly great and remarkable developments of the 20th century, which again is worth celebrating, is that we understand the processes that actually power the sun.

We do understand how the sun shines. Or, if you wish, why the sun shines, we have discovered nuclear energy. We've discovered that if you have a collapsing gas and it heats up, the nuclear reactions will produce an object that will burn brightly for 10 billion years, and we can actually predict its structure and compare it with observation. And that is amazing. That - without ever having been inside the sun, we now know how the sun works. Those things are worth celebrating.

And if you say, well, look, you don't need someone inside the sun, some divine intelligence constantly producing energy, I don't think that diminishes the universe. As Richard Feynman used to say, you know, just - if you understand how a rainbow works, it doesn't make it any less magnificent. It makes it more magnificent. And if it means that we don't need an intelligence intervening every day in our lives, I happen to think that makes the universe actually even more fascinating.

FLATOW: 1-800-989-8255 is our number. What about the idea of a multiverse, that there are infinite numbers of other universes around?

KRAUSS: Well, you know, that's something I deal with at the end of the book because, you know, it's not a concept that I'm pretty fond of, but it - we seemed to be driven there by our theories, and it does suggest the last bit, because some people, indeed when I debate this question of nothing, they say, well, look, you can get rid of space. You can get rid of stuff in space, the first kind of nothing. You can even get rid of space, but you still have the laws. Who created the laws?

Well, it turns out that we've been driven both from ideas from cosmology - from a theory called inflation or even string theory - that suggests there may be extra dimensions - to the possibility that our universe isn't unique, and more over, that the laws of physics in our universe may just be accidental. They may have arisen spontaneously, and they don't have to be the way they are. But if they were any different, we wouldn't be here to ask the question. It's called the entropic idea, and it's not - it's - it may be right.

It's not an idea I find very attractive, but it may be right. And if it is, then it suggests that even the very laws themselves are not fundamental. They arose spontaneously in our universe, and they're very different in other universes. And in some sense, if you wish, the multiverse plays the role of what you might call a prime mover or a god. It exists outside of our universe. And some people said, well, you know, physicists have just created this multiverse because they want to get rid of God.

Nothing could be further than - to - from the truth. The multiverse, we've been driven to it by our discoveries in cosmology and particle physics. We've been driven to that possibility, which seems plausible and maybe even likely. And if as a corollary, it allows for our universe to be spontaneously created and even the laws created, well, that's OK, but we weren't driven there because of some philosophical prejudice against a creator. That didn't even enter into the discussion.

FLATOW: All right, Lawrence. Thank you very much. You're always short of words, as usual.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

FLATOW: That's always great. (Unintelligible). Lawrence Krauss' new book "A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing." You're getting even better as a writer. I mean, my standard is George Gamow, and you come very close to him as a writer in this book. So...

KRAUSS: Well, that's a great compliment. Thank you very much.

FLATOW: Terrific, easy read on this, "A Universe from Nothing: Why There is Something Rather than Nothing," Lawrence Krauss.

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Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/01/13/145175263/lawrence-krauss-on-a-universe-from-nothing?ft=1&f=1007

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