Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog – Page 11

Get the latest international news and world events from around the world.

Log in for authorized contributors

Aerobic respiration began hundreds of millions of years earlier than previously thought, study suggests

Oxygen is a vital and constant presence on Earth today. But that hasn’t always been the case. It wasn’t until around 2.3 billion years ago that oxygen became a permanent fixture in the atmosphere, during a pivotal period known as the Great Oxidation Event (GOE), which set the evolutionary course for oxygen-breathing life as we know it today. A new study by MIT researchers suggests some early forms of life may have evolved the ability to use oxygen hundreds of millions of years before the GOE. The findings may represent some of the earliest evidence of aerobic respiration on Earth.

In their study published in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, MIT geobiologists traced the evolutionary origins of a key enzyme that enables organisms to use oxygen. The enzyme is found in the vast majority of aerobic, oxygen-breathing lifeforms today. The team discovered that this enzyme evolved during the Mesoarchean —a geological period that predates the Great Oxidation Event by hundreds of millions of years.

The team’s results may help to explain a longstanding puzzle in Earth’s history: Why did it take so long for oxygen to build up in the atmosphere?

Big Bang May Not Be The Beginning of Everything, New Theory Suggests

The Big Bang is often described as the explosive birth of the Universe – a singular moment when space, time and matter sprang into existence.

But what if this was not the beginning at all? What if our Universe emerged from something else – something more familiar and radical at the same time?

In a new paper, published in Physical Review D, my colleagues and I propose a striking alternative. Our calculations suggest the Big Bang was not the start of everything, but rather the outcome of a gravitational crunch or collapse that formed a very massive black hole – followed by a bounce inside it.

Los Alamos Forms Quantum Computing-Focused Research Center

PRESS RELEASE — Los Alamos National Laboratory has formed the Center for Quantum Computing, which will bring together the Lab’s diverse quantum computing research capabilities. Headquartered in downtown Los Alamos, the Center for Quantum Computing will consolidate the Laboratory’s expertise in national security applications, quantum algorithms, quantum computer science and workforce development in a shared research space.

“This new center of excellence will bring together the Laboratory’s quantum computing research capabilities that support Department of Energy, Defense and New Mexico state initiatives to achieve a critical mass of expertise greater than the individual parts,” said Mark Chadwick, associate Laboratory director for Simulation, Computing and Theory. “This development highlights our commitment to supporting the next generation of U.S. scientific and technological innovation in quantum computing, especially as the technology can support key Los Alamos missions.”

The center will bring together as many as three dozen quantum researchers from across the Lab. The center’s formation occurs at a pivotal time for the development of quantum computing, as Lab researchers partner with private industry and on a number of state and federal quantum computing initiatives to bring this high-priority technology closer to fruition. Laboratory researchers may include those working with the DARPA Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, the DOE’s Quantum Science Center, the National Nuclear Security Administration Advanced Simulation and Computing program’s Beyond Moore’s Law project, and multiple Laboratory Directed Research and Development projects.

Why the Multiverse Is Real | Leonard Susskind

The multiverse is often dismissed as speculation — a science-fiction idea with no place in serious physics. But for many theoretical physicists, the multiverse is not a fantasy. It is a conclusion.

In this video, we explore why the multiverse may be real.

This is not an argument based on imagination or popularity. It is based on what happens when modern physics is taken seriously. Well-tested ideas like cosmic inflation, quantum mechanics, and high-energy theory naturally lead to a picture in which our universe is not unique.

Drawing on ideas associated with Leonard Susskind, this documentary explains how the multiverse emerges as a consequence, not as an assumption. In inflationary models, different regions of space stop inflating at different times, producing universes with different properties. In theories with many possible vacuum states, the laws of physics themselves can vary from one region to another.

This framework helps explain one of the deepest puzzles in physics: fine-tuning. The constants of nature appear precisely adjusted for the existence of complex structures and life. In a single-universe picture, this looks mysterious. In a multiverse, it becomes a selection effect — we observe this universe because only certain universes can be observed at all.

The multiverse raises uncomfortable questions. It challenges prediction, explanation, and even the traditional goals of science. But discomfort is not a reason to reject a theory. If the multiverse is real, physics must adapt.

Continue reading “Why the Multiverse Is Real | Leonard Susskind” | >
/* */