nosh nook #102 - tuesday, august 4, 2009

five snacks that are shaped like the universe (link)
08.03.09 - new scientist - by michael marshall

science! is there anything it can't do? if you say there is, then you're just a hater & there's only room for one hater on this blog & that's me. kindly step aside & act passive while i explain the universe to the good people. first off, the universe is big. second off, it's full of junk. third off, it was created by god as part of a revenue-sharing deal with disney. while scientists have spoke of the universe as being sphere-shaped in the past, there are now a bunch of alternative shapes that they're considering...tasty snacklike shapes.

i'm not really as up on crazy universe science as i initially led on, so i'm going to let new scientist take over from here. as they explain, since physicists don't know for sure exactly what shape the universe is, they've proposed five alternative, non-sphere shapes--a ring doughnut, a pringle, a peanut, a bugle & an apple. the pringle is obviously the tastiest option there & because of some science stuff, if the universe is pringle-shaped, "it could explain why time only moves forwards (sic), and possibly why the universe is expanding so fast." i'm going to take their word for that.

as for the other shape options, the peanut option sounds boring. the ring doughnut shape is a popular choice & some even suggest "that the doughnut has a single twist – like a möbius strip that has been inflated." the bugle shape somehow helps explain "some puzzling observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation: the relic radiation left over from the big bang." the apple shape somehow helps explain string theory. obviously. personally, i prefer to think that the universe is shaped like a combo.