One hundred years ago a Scientific American
article about the history and large-scale structure of the universe would have been almost completely wrong. In 1908 scientists thought our galaxy constituted the entire universe. They considered it an "island universe," an isolated cluster of stars surrounded by an infinite void. We now know that our galaxy is one of more than 400 billion galaxies in the observable universe. In 1908 the scientific consensus was that the universe was static and eternal. The beginning of the universe in a fiery big bang was not even remotely suspected. The synthesis of elements in the first few moments of the big bang and inside the cores of stars was not understood. The expansion of space and its
possible curvature in response to matter was not dreamed of. Recognition of the fact that all of space is bathed in radiation, providing a ghostly image of the cool afterglow of creation, would have to await the development of modern technologies designed not to explore eternity but to allow humans to phone home.
It is hard to think of an area of intellectual inquiry that has changed more in the past century than cosmology, and the shift has transformed how we view the world. But must science in the future always reflect more empirical knowledge than existed in the past? Our recent work suggests that on cosmic timescales, the answer is no. We may be living in the only epoch in the history of the universe when scientists can achieve an accurate understanding of the true nature of the universe. ...
[ more ]
Mstation general News
for a scroll down page of all news go here.
Wed, 05 Mar 2008
REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN FOR LIFE 2.0 SPRING
The leading virtual event on virtual worlds application and business
development
Life 2.0 Spring 2008
http://TIG.cmptechnetwork.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/mBHNC0NcUPv0UEB0Fowq0FS
March 15-21, 2008
CMP region (CMP 1, CMP 2, CMP 3, CMP 4), Second Life
http://TIG.cmptechnetwork.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/mBHNC0NcUPv0UEB0EwIj0Fg
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
TUTORIALS:
* LSL Bootcamp * Building with Light: Modeling and Rendering *
SYMPOSIUM:
* IP and Opensource *
TRACKS:
* Metaverse Marketing Now * Metrics, Meaning and Scale * Virtual
Worlds, Media and the Web * Emerging Metaverse Platforms * 3D
Ubiquity: The Meta-Metaverse *
SPECIAL EVENING NETWORKING SESSIONS:
* Public Works * Government * Education * Green Technology * Social,
Humanitarian, Philanthropic *
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
JUST ANNOUNCED: EBEN MOGLEN, CORY ONDREJKA TO JOIN IPPI PANEL AT LIFE
2.0
On Sunday, March 16, at 4 PM PST, Life 2.0's IPPI (Intellectual
Property, Privacy and Identity) symposium will kick off with a rousing
panel discussion on Opensource, IP and Privacy in Virtual Worlds --
including guests Eben Moglen, Director, Chair and Chief Counsel of the
Software Freedom Law Center and Cory Ondrejka, former VP of Product
Development at Linden Lab.
Moglen, professor of law and legal history at Columbia, is a pioneer
of the opensource movement, former general counsel for the Free
Software Foundation, and one of the architects of version 3 of the GNU
GPL. Ondrejka, now teaching at USC/Annenberg, is a co-creator of
Second Life and one of the world's leading specialists on virtual
worlds architecture.
The panel (still growing!) will be moderated by Tish Shute (Tara5 Oh),
who blogs on virtual worlds ( http://TIG.cmptechnetwork.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/mBHNC0NcUPv0UEB0Frwo0FT ) and CMP's John
Jainschigg (John Zhaoying)
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
DIRECTOR’S CUT: LIFE 2.0 - AS GREEN AS FIVE BRAZILIAN HOUSEHOLDS
A little more than a year ago, Nicholas Carr, author of "Does IT
Matter?" and other influential books produced a back-of-the-envelope
analysis of the environmental impact of Second Life. The relevant blog
entry can be found here:
http://TIG.cmptechnetwork.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/mBHNC0NcUPv0UEB0Frwq0FV
His math shows that the average resident of Second Life consumes about
as much energy, annually as the average citizen of Brazil. Subsequent
math, by Sun's Dave Douglas, quoted on Carr's blog, converts this to
the equivalent of about 1.17 tons of carbon, per avatar, per year.
Read more:
http://TIG.cmptechnetwork.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/mBHNC0NcUPv0UEB0Frwm0FR
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
MORE ON MITCH KAPOR KEYNOTE...
Linden Lab board chair, Lotus creator, opensource pioneer, EFF
co-founder and human-rights advocate Mitch Kapor
( http://TIG.cmptechnetwork.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/mBHNC0NcUPv0UEB0FqrG0Fh ) will keynote at Life 2.0. He will speak about
current work to enhance the user interface for virtual worlds,
enabling even more immersive experiences in the medium. You don't want
to miss this!
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
NEW TO SECOND LIFE?
Our Second Life QuickStart guide tells you all you need to know to
roll up an avatar come inworld and attend the show. Download and get
started: http://TIG.cmptechnetwork.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/mBHNC0NcUPv0UEB0FqrE0Ff
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
REGISTER FOR YOUR COMPLIMENTARY PASS TODAY!
http://TIG.cmptechnetwork.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/mBHNC0NcUPv0UEB0Fowq0FS
________________________________________
Think Services, a division of United Business Media LLC, 600 Community
Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030 USA
United Business Media LLC Privacy Policy:
http://TIG.cmptechnetwork.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/mBHNC0NcUPv0UEB0BFAH0F7
