First for scale, remember we're earth, just one little sand speck in an outer ring of the Milky Way Galaxy.



and there are Hundreds of Billions of Galaxies in the universe.



suddenly I feel very very small.



Hubble Ultra Deep Field 3D

Cheap and efficient hydrogen... Maybe...

Scientists split water into hydrogen, oxygen utilizing light, nanoparticles | Science Recorder

I think a "speck of sand" overstates our size & importance. ;)

Ian

BTW - there are only certain time spans during which an intelligent being could live, and fewer time spans during which they could observe the entire universe and determine its age.

The universe is also going to die pretty soon, so enjoy the party while it lasts!

Yea, just a couple of billion years to go.

Nonsense, we are caught in an infinite loop destined to repeat ourselves forever...oh wait, thats the abortion thread Fauxpause started...

Maybe not nonsense. It could happen tomorrow:

Collapse of Universe 'More Likely Than Ever And May Have Already Started'

TANSTAAFL. You may decrease the initial energy and the losses, but the difference between the two energy states requires putting in that amount of energy.

If someone said that a catalyst plus sunlight would produce hydrogen and oxygen, I can accept that, since the sunlight is the energy source. But you are never going to get more energy in storage than the sum of all energy put in. And then, you will always lose a little to inefficiency.

It could still be cheap and efficient. And low pollution.

interesting.

the eventual result of the big bang is either inevitable heat death of the universe, or a closed loop series of big bangs, and then collapses. i thought it had more or less be proven that there was not enough mass in the universe to cause a closed loop, but maybe thats why these new calculations show something different.

Whats are the chances of this going mainstream?

Algae to crude oil: Million-year natural process takes minutes in the lab


I was thinking the same thing when the inevitable electrical parts fail.

There was a similar process many years ago with the idea of using organic waste. The biggest problem was people would throw out too much regular stuff with the garbage.

The issue, as with all of these things, is how much of the earth's surface are we willing to give up to making the energy we need? It is a solar energy solution.

I really like the idea of this. The question is simply, what is the net energy after the process? I would then look at the "collection area" and calculate the solar efficiency. I doubt it beats PV.

Don't get excited but

BBC News - Youth-drug can 'reverse' ageing in animal studies

Ctenophores are "out".
Science Magazine - 13 December 2013

First Exomoon Possibly Glimpsed

now if I was gonna have a space ship...this maybe the style most affordable

For those interested in another research update in "dark matter & dark energy"

BBC News - Cosmic 'web' seen for first time

Cheers
JB

I guess this should actually be "Cool Science Story of Tomorrow" but
World Science U | Welcome


Just saw the interview on the Colbert Report.

Looks like the BICEP2 study has come through with more evidence supporting the Big Bang and inflation.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ZlfIVEy_YOA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

It is hard for most people to really understand how astonishing this is, and it's astonishing to me that it's not on the front page of CNN for example. Of all of the things mentioned in this thread, this one is an actual Nobel event, and will spawn 2 or 3 more in the next 10 years (measuring the quantization of gravity and/or calculating the Unification energy).