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Constants Not Constant?

Posted by Hemos on from the or-is-it dept.

grytpype writes: "According to this story, a team of astronomers have determined (based on their observations of distant quasars) that [certain physical constants] may have been different in the far past of the universe. The discovery (if validated) is said to be good news for string theorists."

6 of 494 comments (clear)

  1. Re:fp by Mike+Schiraldi · · Score: 5, Funny

    first post!

    Yeah, but in another part of the universe, the number on your post might be something else.

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    Mod up a post Rob doesn't like and you'll never mod again

  2. Reminds me of a short story... by Masem · · Score: 5, Funny
    Name and author long forgotten, but the story talked about how scientists had found the gravitation constant and others to be bouncing around (within 0.01% that is) in both directions, with increasing frequency for about a year, and they realized that a 'wavefront' between the old universal constants and the new ones was about to hit the earth. The story specifically focuses on a couple that retreat to an isolated island as rioters and 'end-of-the-universe' fanatics rampaged through citiss right before the wavefront hit. The wavefront does occur, but the world doens't end; the couple emerge from their location with the sky looking slightly redder, feeling a bit lighter, but no worse for wear.

    Of course, the other thing this reminds me of is a TNG episode where the temporarily mortal Q is in engineering as the crew try to figure out how to deflect an asteroid landing on a planet, and Q blurts out "Why not just change the gravitational constant of the universe?"

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    "Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
    "I can see my house from here!" - ST:
  3. Good news for creationists too by al_d · · Score: 5, Funny

    One theory that 'explains' how the universe can be only 6000 odd years old, yet some starlight can have travelled many billions of (current) light-years to reach earth is that the speeed of light is slowing down...

  4. Re:Constants Aren't So Constant! by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 5, Funny
    GOD [tapping watch]: You know, I was expecting visitors eons ago. Wonder what's holding them up?

    [ls -l /etc/]

    -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 766 Jul 31 14:16 /etc/c

    GOD: Oops.

    [chmod 666 /etc/c]

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    How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
  5. One wonders... by daeley · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does this mean the constant requests for my personal information (a la the NYT article linked to in the story) may have been at a different frequency in the past?

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    I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
  6. Re:Does it work in programming? by CMiYC · · Score: 5, Funny

    I once read in a C programming book something along the lines of, "always use CONST for a value of something you will use throughout the program. That way if you need to change this value, you only have to change it once. An example would be making 3.14 a constant named PI. That way if PI ever changes, you only need to change one line of code."