Is the Universe Shaped Like a Funnel?

Posted by michael on Friday April 16, 2004 @02:11AM from the down-down-down-to-that-burning-ring-of-fire dept.

DrMorpheus writes "A new theory of the shape of the Cosmos posits that the Universe may be shaped like a medieval horn, according to Frank Steiner at the University of Ulm. This theory, if true, could explain several strange observations about the microwave background radiation. The Universe would be stretched out at one end into a long tube and flared out into a bell at the opposite end. The technical name for this shape is a 'Picard topology'. To quote the article, '...our Universe is curved like a Pringle, shaped like a horn, and named after a Star Trek character. You could not make it up.'"

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Re:Someone enlighten me.... by skinny.net · 2004-04-16 07:29 · Score: 0, Flamebait

RTFPost. Did I say 3 points in a plane? um, no. Thanks for the troll. A plane is not defined by 3 points anyway; it is described that way.

If I pick any 3 points, anywhere, a straight line between them is straight, not curved along a surface. The shortest distance between 2 points is never a curved line, unless you have a distorted view. It is not a triangle. Drawing on the curve of a ball or the earth is drawing a curve. Why is that so hard?