Sabine Hossenfelder's Blog, page 9

We’ve Got Mass Extinctions Wrong, Scientists Say

For decades, researchers have treated mass extinction events as global ecological reset buttons, with the fittest survivors taking over. But according to new research, mass extinctions are not the great wipe-out we thought they were. What does this mean for the mass extinction that we currently seem to be causing? Let’s take a look.

Interstellar Object Might Be Alien Probe, Astronomer Claims – What’s the Evidence?

On July 1, the ATLAS survey telescope in Chile detected a new interstellar object named 3I/ATLAS entering our solar system. This is just the third-ever interstellar object to come to our solar system, and there are a few interesting things about 3I/ATLAS that make it particularly interesting. Some people are even saying it could be an alien probe. Let’s see what evidence they have.

Nuclear Waste Barrels Found Leaking On Ocean Floor

A French research ship recently found more than 3,000 barrels containing nuclear waste sitting on the ocean floor off their country’s coastline, and some of them are leaking. How bad is it? Let’s take a look.

Unexpected Result of NASA’s Asteroid Deflection Test

In 2021, NASA launched its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, which aimed to change the course of an asteroid by slamming a spacecraft into it at high speed. The impact occurred in 2022, and we’ve just now got a data analysis of how exactly the crash affected the asteroid. The results are unexpected.

New Experiment Rules out Bohmian Mechanics. It’s Serious.

In the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, everything is described by a wave-function. But according to Bohmian mechanics, quantum mechanics actually describes point-like particles that follow a guiding wave. In a recent paper, physicists ruled out Bohmian mechanics, settling a 70 years long debate. Let’s take a look.

More Evidence That We Live In A Giant “Hole” In Space

The idea that our planet and its surroundings are inherently special probably sounds unscientific to you. But according to a growing pile of evidence, our galaxy actually does exist in a special place – more specifically, our planet and the space surrounding it (out roughly a billion light years in each direction) is strangely devoid of galaxies. Astrophysicists have called it the “local hole”.

These 10 Maths Facts Will Blow Your Mind (I Promise)

Here are my top 10 favourite mind blowing maths facts for all the maths lovers out there. And for the haters too, just so you know what you’re missing out on.

The Problem with Eric Weinstein

A brief comment on the recent appearance of Eric Weinstein and Sean Carroll on Piers Morgan's show, and the fallout that followed afterwards.

The Cosmology Crisis Just Got Even Worse

We’ve already discussed the crisis in cosmology multiple times on this channel. Recently, that crisis was only made worse thanks to new data from the South Pole Telescope. Their numbers again show that dark energy – which drives the expansion of the universe – weakens over time, which could mean that the universe is destined to collapse one day. I find this very surprising because honestly I

The Top 10 Physics Myths, Debunked

Physics is one of the most fascinating topics in the world (THE most fascinating one if you ask me), but media coverage of physics is full of misconceptions. In this video I debunk the top 10 most widely spread physics myths.