Essentially, the "inflationary Big Bang" theory proposes that the Big Bang led to a brief period where the universe seemed to expand faster than light, which would lead to a lot of really weird effects on gravity, among other things (this is way over my scientific head). And they've found a gravitational wave that seems to support this theory rather conclusively.
If this is true, I think I agree with the article: there's at least one Nobel Prize coming out of this.
edited 17th Mar '14 3:12:00 PM by Ramidel
V
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
...and the possible foundations for a hyperdrive?
HGW XX/7
Probably not, sadly. But we all have to believe one anti-science crank position: mine is that Einstein was wrong and that FTL is possible. Why? I like sci-fi, that's why.
If it is possible, but improbable, you bet someone is going to spend a lot of time on that.
I have a theory that economics is fundamentally a more powerful force than physics. That is to say, no matter what the people of any one era believe is physically impossible, if it is also lucrative enough, somebody will end up doing it anyway.
Bonus points if they play music from Gurren Lagann while doing it.
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The Wanderer
New view of supernova death throes in 3-D
Astronomers complete cosmic dust census
The Wanderer
Re Titan: "The findings, recently published online in Geophysical Research Letters, also indicate that the solid terrain surrounding the sea is likely made of solid organic materials and not frozen water."
Way to drop a tantalizing hint. Those seas are made of mostly methane, am I right?
Gross, a sea entirely made of shit
I read that as "a sea of explodium".
I wish it was a sea of shit. That would imply life...
Indiana Solo
@knight given enough oxygen it would be. 
Very definitely. Things not to pack when going to Titan: too many spare oxygen tanks. And, an open flame. Disaster is just begging to happen over there with that combo.
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
What kinda fucked up super space monsters leaves a sea of poo that big?
Hell no I don't want aliens that scary.
Oh really when?
In the last Cosmos Tyson had a nice little sequence where his ship dives under the sea on Titan and goes exploring a submerged cave. There was something alive down there.
Indiana Solo
it'd be freaking awesome if there was.
I'm baaaaaaack
Could someone link me to that show?
Try this. We're discussing episode 2 right now.
I wonder if a species that evolved on Titan could ever make its way to the land. It's pretty far from the sun so it wouldn't get a lot of light and Saturn would block it off entirely at times. That would leave petrothermal vents as the primary source of energy which makes anything living too far from them unlikely from what I know. If I'm wrong on this feel free to correct me.
edited 21st Mar '14 3:31:26 PM by Kostya
Just remember that from Titan's point of view we're 70% lava and breathe a substance that would make their oceans explode.
That's a good point. We'd probably have to be careful we don't kill them by accident if we ever visited.
Indiana Solo
If we visited We'd probably want to stay at a distance.
It'd.be awesome if there was a whole under-methane civilization though.
I'm baaaaaaack
So methane is flammable. Does that mean if one of our machines accidentally emitted a spark we'd set the entire moon on fire?
edited 21st Mar '14 1:57:53 PM by Kostya
No, because there isn't enough O2 to burn it in Titan's atmosphere.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Doesnt Titan already have lightening?
I lost the link to that cosmos tv special. I'm not sure if it was this thread or the xkcd thread where someone gave it to me