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It's Official: You're Lost In a Directionless Universe (sciencemag.org)

Posted by msmash on from the confirmed dept.

Reader sciencehabit writes: Ever peer into the night sky and wonder whether space is really the same in all directions or if the cosmos might be whirling about like a vast top? Now, one team of cosmologists has used the oldest radiation there is, the afterglow of the big bang, or the cosmic microwave background (CMB), to show that the universe is 'isotropic,' or the same no matter which way you look: There is no spin axis or any other special direction in space. In fact, they estimate that there is only a one-in-121,000 chance of a preferred direction -- the best evidence yet for an isotropic universe. That finding should provide some comfort for cosmologists, whose standard model of the evolution of the universe rests on an assumption of such uniformity.

14 of 213 comments (clear)

  1. So I have a purpose by jaymemaurice · · Score: 5, Funny

    I guess my purpose is to lead a meaningless, directionless life.

    --
    120 characters ought to be enough for anyone
    1. Re:So I have a purpose by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Welcome to Slashdot! :)

  2. Speak for yourself by Empiric · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Neither "lost" nor seeing how the topology of the universe is pertinent in any sense to that.

    Rather a long stretch from the science to a populist click-bait philosophical "conclusion"...

    --
    ~ Whence do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?
  3. You're Lost In a Directionless Universe... by MetricT · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is what happens when you use Apple Maps for directions...

    1. Re:You're Lost In a Directionless Universe... by Voyager529 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I love how Apple has become the new Microsoft here.

      Clearly, you've been out of the loop recently. Let me catch you up:

      Facebook is the new Google.
      Google is the new Apple.
      Apple is the new Microsoft.
      Microsoft is the new IBM.
      IBM is the new Xerox.
      Xerox is the new Smith Corona.

    2. Re:You're Lost In a Directionless Universe... by Quirkz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      ... Corona.

      And now I want a beer.

      --
      The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay
    3. Re:You're Lost In a Directionless Universe... by flopsquad · · Score: 5, Funny

      So... just for my own understanding, the Slashdot Hierarchy of Evil goes, in order from Most Evil to Most Good:

      systemd - First Post AC trolls - Voldemort - "GOTO" statements - Satan, the Great Deceiver Himself - SCO - Uber - Hitler - RCA (wtf did cash registers ever do to you?) - North Korea - Flash - Apple - Sony - Microsoft - JavaScript - parking tickets - Google - not getting a raise, but not getting fired - Ruby on $whatever - Linus - "free as in speech" - Python - Stallman - "free as in beer" - xkcd - (extremely) Hot Grits - C and its variants - rolling a natural 20 - meeting a girl outside of Mom's basement who is not Mom

      Is that about right?

      --
      Nothing posted to /. has ever been legal advice, including this.
  4. This doesn't convince me... by RavenLrD20k · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This doesn't convince me that the universe isn't just a bunch of left over particulates from the power stroke of an ICE. A few hundred billion more years and we're probably going to start getting pushed out the exhaust valve.

  5. Colossal Space Adventure by grasshoppa · · Score: 4, Funny

    You are in a universe full of twisty little galaxies, all alike.

    --
    Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
  6. Re:What if the universe is much much bigger by 110010001000 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I am a Cosmetologist. I also have a BS in Astrology. That pretty much makes me a scientist.

  7. Re:What if the universe is much much bigger by 110010001000 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm a scientist, not a miracle worker!

  8. Re:Look harder by similar_name · · Score: 4, Informative

    //It was quickly realised that this dipole was the result of our Galaxy moving at 600 km/sec with respect to the CMB radiation//
    source

  9. Look on the bright side by Torodung · · Score: 3, Informative

    Hey, you're not lost. Look on the bright side. You're always at the center of the universe. ;^)

  10. Re:ROFL by number6x · · Score: 3, Funny

    You sound way too rational to be an AC here at Slashdot.

    Have you considered signing up for an account? Or, alternatively, commenting on sites that are much more serious than this one? Reading your post, I have the feeling your rational thoughts are going to waste here. You might actually help people think if you keep doing posting well reasoned statements here.