Some people took a survey among scientists to see what sort of consensus there was about some of the big questions on their minds today. The results might be surprising.
The big bang has been well established by the observations of galaxies, of the abundance of light elements, and of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). But what is not agreed upon is what we actually mean by the phrase big bang.
Observations of supernovae suggest that the cosmic expansion is not slowing down—as would be expected if gravity were the only force acting between galaxies. What is the most likely candidate to be causing the universe to accelerate in its expansion?
The observed rotation rates of galaxies are faster than expected, given the gravitational pull of the light-emitting matter contained in the galaxies. These rotation rates and related observations have led to proposals for “new physics” either in the form of dark matter or of modifications to the laws of gravity.
Quantum mechanics can provide exceptionally accurate predictions of real-world phenomena. Yet, physicists cannot explain how the reality we experience emerges from the laws of quantum mechanics.
Next time someone tells you that scientists are conspiring to lie to us about something, send them here.
Here’s a video (over an hour) all about it.
rjb
