Science & Technology

The singularity at the center of a black hole is as inescapable as expected

Steve Nadis
Quanta Magazine
Mon, 02 Dec 2019 19:02 UTC

For the first time, physicists have calculated exactly what kind of singularity lies at the center of a realistic black hole.

In January 1916, Karl Schwarzschild, a German physicist who was stationed as a soldier on the eastern front, produced the first exact solution to the equations of general relativity, Albert Einstein's radical, two-month-old theory of gravity. General relativity portrayed gravity not as an attractive force, as it had long been understood, but rather as the effect of curved space and time. Schwarzschild's solution revealed the curvature of space-time around a stationary ball of matter.

Curiously, Schwarzschild noticed that if this matter were confined within a small enough radius, there would be a point of infinite curvature and density — a "singularity" — at the center.

Bits and Bytes at the Bottom

Ken Pedersen and Jonathan Witt
Evolution News
Mon, 22 Jun 2020 18:12 UTC

Scientific materialism is an atheistic worldview that sees all reality as the result of accidental collisions and combinations of elementary particles governed by a mysteriously fortuitous set of laws that control how matter interacts. It's a worldview devoid of higher meaning and purpose.

Today, scientific materialism has captured much of the academic world. Science itself has virtually come to be defined as the study of this mechanical, robotic, meaningless, accidental combination of particles of matter and energy. Any belief in design, purpose, ultimate meaning, inherent values, morality, or beauty is ridiculed as equivalent to belief in the Easter Bunny.

Although scientific materialists in the last century didn't usually pretend to have all the answers, most did express confidence that it was only a matter of time before any shortcomings in their paradigm would be shored up by fresh discoveries.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the 21st century.

It from Bit

The computer revolution and information age, combined with advances in microscopy and theoretical physics, have transformed our understanding of the power of information processing and opened our eyes to the deep structures of physical reality. The central insight: the essence of the physical world is energy and information. There is no such thing as mere "solid" matter. Instead, the substructure of physical reality is an unbelievably complex network of interlocking information-processing systems all working in harmony to afford progressively more capable information-processing systems.

Newly detected chi Phoenicids meteor shower

SETI Institute
Mon, 22 Jun 2020 22:17 UTC

The ongoing night-time video surveillance of the night sky called "CAMS" has discovered a meteor shower caused by yet another unknown long-period comet that passed close to Earth's orbit in a past return. SETI Institute meteor astronomer Peter Jenniskens reports that this shower was briefly seen on June 10 by southern hemisphere networks of the CAMS project in New Zealand, Namibia and Chile (see the map for June 10 at this project website.

The meteoroid stream is unusual in that its orbit is nearly exactly perpendicular to the plane of the planets, having an inclination of 90.2 +/- 1.0 degrees. The shower has received the name "chi Phoenicids" and has been added as number 1036 to the list of meteor shower names maintained by the International Astronomical Union. A telegram announcing the discovery (CBET 4798) was issued today.

The Universe: A cosmic dashboard with no objective physical world

Bernard Kastrup
Scientific American
Fri, 24 May 2019 00:00 UTC

© Getty Images
Relational quantum mechanics suggests physics might be a science of perceptions, not observer-independent reality.

One of the weirdest theoretical implications of quantum mechanics is that different observers can give different — though equally valid — accounts of the same sequence of events. As highlighted by physicist Carlo Rovelli in his relational quantum mechanics (RQM), this means that there should be no absolute, observer-independent physical quantities. All physical quantities — the whole physical universe — must be relative to the observer. The notion that we all share the same physical environment must, therefore, be an illusion.

Such a counterintuitive prediction — which seems to flirt dangerously with solipsism — has been clamoring for experimental verification for decades. But only recently has technology advanced far enough to allow for it. So now, at last, Massimiliano Proietti and collaborators at Heriot-Watt University, in the U.K., seem to have confirmed RQM; as predicted by quantum mechanics, there may well be no objective physical world.

Yet, our perceptions of the world beyond ourselves are quite consistent across observers: if you were to sit next to me right now, we would describe my study in very similar, mutually consistent ways. Clearly, observers must share an environment of some sort, even if such an environment is not physical — i.e., not describable by physical quantities.

One-fifth of Earth's ocean floor is now mapped

Jonathan Amos
BBC
Sun, 21 Jun 2020 12:00 UTC

© Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project
The black is where we still need modern measurements at a reasonable resolution

We've just become a little less ignorant about Planet Earth.

The initiative that seeks to galvanise the creation of a full map of the ocean floor says one-fifth of this task has now been completed.

When the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project was launched in 2017, only 6% of the global ocean bottom had been surveyed to what might be called modern standards.

That number now stands at 19%, up from 15% in just the last year.

Some 14.5 million sq km of new bathymetric (depth) data was included in the GEBCO grid in 2019 - an area equivalent to almost twice that of Australia.

Comment: See also:

Unexplained signal appears in hunt for dark matter

Paul Rincon
BBC
Sun, 21 Jun 2020 20:46 UTC

An experiment searching for signs of elusive dark matter has detected an unexplained signal.

Scientists working on the Xenon1T experiment have detected more activity within their detector than they would otherwise expect.

This "excess of events" could point to the existence of hypothesised particles called axions, some of which are candidates for dark matter.

Dark matter comprises 85% of matter in the cosmos, but its nature is unknown.

Comment: See also:

And check out SOTT radio's:

You thought asteroids were bad? ESA warns COMETS may do far 'MORE DAMAGE' if they hit Earth

RT
Sat, 20 Jun 2020 16:36 UTC

Comets are not harbingers of doom, just harmless lumps of ice that produce majestic sky displays when passing the Sun, right? Not according to the European Space Agency, which has warned of their deadly capabilities.

A comet is "likely to cause more damage than an average asteroid of the same size," the agency says - despite the fact that comets tend to weigh less than asteroids of similar size because the material they are made of is less dense.

This tidbit of alarming knowledge comes ahead of Asteroid Day later this month, as the ESA tries to raise public awareness of the dangers space may pose to Earth.

Ericsson increases forecast for global 5G subscriptions, 2.8 billion by 2025

Catherine Sbeglia
RCR Wireless
Tue, 16 Jun 2020 12:00 UTC

The June 2020 edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report proved to be somewhat unique as it included an evaluation of how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the communications industry. The report concluded that the past few months have seen "a rapid shift of network traffic from business to residential areas" and "that mobile and fixed networks are increasingly playing a bigger part of critical national infrastructure."

Despite the unexpected events of 2020, however, 5G deployment and adoption is still strong, with 190 million 5G subscriptions forecast by end of 2020, and 2.8 billion by the end of 2025, according to Ericsson. The report results actually encouraged Ericsson to increase its year-end 2020 forecast for global 5G subscriptions.

"Beyond measuring the success of 5G in subscriptions, its impact ultimately will be judged by the benefits it brings to people and enterprises," commented Fredrik Jejdling, EVP and head of networks at Ericsson. "5G was made for innovation and this crisis has highlighted the true value of connectivity and the role it can play in restarting economies."

Comment: Ironically, installing 5G in an attempt to avoid putting self in danger of contracting an illness may in fact hasten a deterioration in one's health and increase one's susceptibility to a real outbreak. For more on the risks, check out SOTT radio's: Objective:Health #15 - The Dangers of 5G & WiFi - With Scott Ogrin of Scottie's Tech.Info

This is what the entire sky looks like through X-ray eyes

Michelle Starr
Science Alert
Fri, 19 Jun 2020 17:48 UTC

A space telescope launched in July 2019 has just completed its first survey. For months, the eROSITA telescope aboard the Spektr-RG space observatory has been scanning the entire sky, collecting observations for the deepest all-sky survey in X-ray wavelengths.

Now, all those data have been compiled into a map containing over 1 million bright X-ray objects - approximately doubling the number of such objects from the entire 60 years of X-ray astronomy prior.

"This all-sky image completely changes the way we look at the energetic universe," said astrophysicist Peter Predehl, eROSITA principal investigator at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE).

"We see such a wealth of detail - the beauty of the images is really stunning."

Most astronomical objects emit X-rays, but in different proportions to other wavelengths. X-rays have very short wavelengths, and are therefore very high energy - emitted by the hottest and most energetic objects, like black holes, neutron stars, quasar galaxies, and supernova remnants.

Coronavirus was circulating in Italy back in DECEMBER, sewers show

Medical Xpress
Fri, 19 Jun 2020 17:09 UTC

Comment: Regular Sott.net readers already know this, but it's good to see it confirmed from further studies.

© Associated Press/Health Protection Agency
This undated image released by the British Health Protection Agency shows an electron microscope image of a coronavirus

The coronavirus was present in two large Italian cities in December, more than two months before the first case was detected, a national health institute study of waste water has found.

That suggests the virus appeared in Italy around the same time it was first reported in China.

Researchers discovered genetic traces of SARS-CoV-2 — as the virus is officially known — in samples of waste water collected in Milan and Turin at the end of last year, and Bologna in January, the ISS institute said in a statement seen by AFP on Friday.

Italy's first known native case was discovered mid-February.

The results "help to understand the start of the circulation of the virus in Italy," the ISS said.

They also "confirm the by-now consolidated international evidence" as to the strategic function of sewer samples as an early detection tool, it added.

The results feed into an effort by scientists around the world to trace the virus's family tree.

Comment: One question that arises: Was the virus steadily increasing among the population until the alleged peak in February, leading to the deaths that spiked after the imposition of lockdown? Or had the virus already spiked, and the deaths were mostly the result of the lockdown? See:

Italy thus joins France, Iran, Israel, Sweden, and the US in reporting suspected and/or 'probable' Covid-19 cases as far back as November 2019.

Which further renders the entire premise of the crazy lockdowns - 4/5 months after the horse had bolted - even more redundant.

Quote of the Day

State power has its own limits defined by the fact that it is authority that reaches people from outside. State power cannot oversee and dictate the creative states of the soul and mind, the inner states of love, freedom and goodwill. The state cannot demand from its citizens faith, prayer, love, goodness and conviction. It cannot regulate scientific, religious and artistic creation. It should not intervene in moral, family and daily private life, and only when extremely necessary should it impinge on people's economic initiative and creativity.

- Ivan Ilyin

He's bloody moron and West's stooge. He was kissing frau Merkel's ass only a few weeks ago.

sinip

No way. Have you noticed that conspiring is practically, the most common social activity in existence? So how could that be?

sir_isO

RT = CNN So this piece is likely agitprop. "The beatings will continue until morale improves." Please, just follow the $cience.

DeliciousTears

Whats a Lizzo? Is that like a Lesbo? Asking for a friend....

Bezel Bub

New York hospitals prepare for staffing crisis as vaccination mandate forces mass firings [Link]

Serig

Science & Technology

The singularity at the center of a black hole is as inescapable as expected

Bits and Bytes at the Bottom

Newly detected chi Phoenicids meteor shower

The Universe: A cosmic dashboard with no objective physical world

One-fifth of Earth's ocean floor is now mapped

Unexplained signal appears in hunt for dark matter

You thought asteroids were bad? ESA warns COMETS may do far 'MORE DAMAGE' if they hit Earth

Ericsson increases forecast for global 5G subscriptions, 2.8 billion by 2025

This is what the entire sky looks like through X-ray eyes

Coronavirus was circulating in Italy back in DECEMBER, sewers show

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