Life is a cosmic thing. – Bing video
The Answer To Life, The Universe — And Everything? It’s 63
Often, as we go through the world, the key is to ask the right question.
When it comes to figuring out the nature of physical reality, part of that process starts
at the absolute edge of the observable universe — the cosmic horizon, a distant layer
from which light has only just, in this very instant, managed to reach us after more
than 13 billion years of racing through space.
This intangible boundary between the knowable and the unknowable is, at present, roughly a thousand, trillion, trillion meters across — should you possess the means to measure it.
At the other end, in the deepest innards of every single speck of cosmos, is a scale of a hundred billion, trillion, trillionths of a meter. It represents the last meaningful physical scale within our present understanding of physics, a place where space-time itself gets choppy, uncertain, and decidedly problematic.
These two extremes span a jaw-dropping 63 orders of magnitude. To be fair, though, this isn’t an immutable constant of nature. Turn the clock back more than 13 billion years and you’d be able to find a moment when this number was merely 1. Over time, the expansion of the cosmos and the passage of light has unlocked all of those other scales, each one a new opportunity for novelty and complexity.
It wasn’t until the cosmic horizon spanned a colossal 10-15 meters that the possibility
of a coherent, causally connected atomic nucleus even existed, had the universe been
cool enough. It was another nail-biting wait before the observable universe covered
10-10 meters so that a whole atom could, in principle, exist as we know it.
A self-respecting universe couldn’t have a hope of ever producing a bacterium
if it hadn’t opened up to a scale of at least half a micrometer. And, in truth, for anything like a microorganism to exist, the causally connected universe had to become much, much larger. Sizeable enough for its innards to begin to feel their mutual gravitational attractions across a mammoth range of distances, from 109 meters to at least 1021 meters.
Enough for it to have a chance of brewing the stars and elements — ingredients that would, in turn, feed their novelty back to a microscopic scale, unleashing a blizzard of chemistry and complexification that would eventually build something akin to a single-celled living thing.
In other words, the real question is:
How big a universe is needed to allow you to be sitting here reading these words?
Actually, 63 orders of magnitude might be a little more than is absolutely necessary.
After all, the cosmos has been churning out stars and planets since well before our solar system came along, back to a time when we might drop a couple powers of ten in the scale of the cosmic horizon. But we don’t yet know whether anything quite like us has happened before, so the only thing we can say with certainty is that — in our very specific case —
63 is, and will always be, the magic number.
Our own horizon of ignorance has crept gradually outwards and inwards from a place surprisingly close to the logarithmic midway point of this cosmic range. That touchstone sits at about a tenth of a millimeter, like the very tip of your sharpened pencil, or the thickness of an eyelash. Barely a century ago, we hadn’t appreciated the real size of the universe that surrounds our sun and our galaxy. And while the nature of the tiny atomic and subatomic realm was rapidly becoming apparent, that inner gulf hadn’t revealed its true depths. It’s unarguable that, since then, we have made pretty spectacular progress.
But we don’t step back very often to take a look at the whole thing, our map of existence
as it stands today, from end-to-end.
I got to do this recently while writing, and wrestling with, a book — The Zoomable Universe. This project started out with a modest idea: revisiting the themes of several illustrated classics, from Robert Hooke’s Micrographia to Charles and Ray Eames’s famous Powers of Ten. It quickly evolved into a genre-bending, mind-twisting exploration of all we know and, more critically, an exposé of all that we don’t know.
Some of the most obvious gaps in our knowledge of the physical universe occur in what also appear to be the most boring pieces of existence: the spaces between luminous matter on a cosmic scale, and the more-than-million-trillion-fold span between the size of a proton and the Planck scale.
On the large scales, it’s the puzzle of unseen gravitating matter and unseen cosmic pressure, the dark stuff — matter and energy. On the small scales, it’s the decidedly bizarre nature of the subatomic, or at least the bizarre implications of our current physical models for the subatomic. Virtual quarks swarm around inside protons and neutrons, making these nuclear specks themselves composites of fields and their quanta, with perhaps little or no structure in the usual sense of the word. That peculiar condition seems to persist across some 20 orders of magnitude in scale.
These are great mysteries. Except I think that the mysteries with the biggest impact on how we perceive reality are those happening in plain sight, across that cluttered midway point in scale, and our realm of the senses. It’s on our biological scales that the universe does something very, very funky.
Billions of years of elemental and chemical brewing have produced structures capable
of awareness, and capable of trying to decode the very thing out of which they’ve come.
It’s the ultimate bootstrap, going from a near featureless primordial reality to something
that reduces its own existence. We’re Getting Closer to Understanding Why Our Moment
of Death Is So Peaceful : Science Alert
A Strange Form of Life Could Flourish Deep Inside of Stars, Physicists
(NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team/AURA/STScI)
By MICHELLE STARR
When searching for signs of life in the Universe, we tend to look for very specific things, based on what we know: a planet like Earth, in orbit around a star, and at a distance that allows liquid surface water. But there could, conceivably, be other forms of life out there that look like nothing that we have ever imagined before.
Just as we have extremophiles here on Earth – organisms that live in the most extreme and seemingly inhospitable environments the planet has to offer – so too could there be extremophiles out there in the wider Universe.
For instance, species that can form, evolve, and thrive in the interiors of stars.
According to new research by physicists Luis Anchordoqui and Eugene Chudnovsky
of The City University of New York, such a thing is indeed – hypothetically, at least –
possible.
It all depends on how you define life. If the key criteria are the ability to encode information, and the ability for those information carriers to self-replicate faster than
they disintegrate, then hypothetical monopole particles threaded on cosmic strings – cosmic necklaces – could form the basis of life inside stars, much like DNA and RNA
form the basis of life on Earth.
“Information stored in the RNA (or DNA) encodes the mechanism of self-replication,” Chudnovsky told ScienceAlert. “Its emergence must have been preceded by the massive formation of random RNA sequences until a sequence was formed capable of self-replication. We believe that a similar process would occur with necklaces in a star,
leading to a stationary process of self-replication.”
Strings and monopoles are thought to have emerged in the early Universe, as it cooled down from the Big Bang, and the particle soup of quark-gluon plasma that filled it underwent a symmetry-breaking phase transition and condensed into matter –
like vapors condensing into liquid.
Although we have yet to detect cosmic strings (one-dimensional linear objects) or monopoles (elementary particles with only one magnetic pole), a lot of thought has gone into how they might behave. In 1988, Chudnovsky and his colleague, theoretical physicist Alexander Vilenkin of Tufts University, predicted that cosmic strings could be captured by stars. There, the turbulence would stretch the string until it formed a network of strings.
According to the new study, cosmic necklaces could form in a sequence of symmetry-breaking phase transitions. In the first stage, monopoles emerge. In the second, strings. This can produce a stable configuration of one monopole bead and two strings, which in turn could connect to form one-, two-, and even three-dimensional structures – much like atoms joined by chemical bonds, the researchers say.
A one-dimensional necklace would be unlikely to carry information. But more complex structures potentially could – and they could survive long enough to replicate, feeding off the fusion energy generated by the star.
“Compared to the lifetime of a star, its lifetime is an instantaneous spark of light in the dark. What is important is that such a spark manages to produce more sparks before it fades away, thus providing a long lifespan of the species,” the researchers write.
“The complexity evolving through mutations and natural selection increases with the number of generations passed. Consequently, if lifetimes of self-replicating nuclear species are as short as lifetimes of many unstable composite nuclear objects, they can quickly evolve toward enormous complexity.” Hypothetically speaking, it’s perhaps possible that such a life-form could develop intelligence, and maybe even serious smarts, Chudnovsky says.
What such a species would look like is a feast for the imagination. But we don’t have to know what they look like to search for signs of their presence. Because such organisms would use some of the energy of their host star to survive and propagate, stars that seem to cool faster than stellar models can account for could be hosts for what the researchers call “nuclear life”.
Several such stars have been observed, and their slightly accelerated cooling is still a mystery. Stars that dim erratically without explanation could be a good place to look, too – like EPIC 249706694. The researchers are careful to note that to link these stars to nuclear life would be an extremely long bow to draw. But there are interesting anomalies out there. And interesting possibilities too.
“Since they would be evolving very fast, they could find a way to explore the cosmos beyond their star, as we have done,” Chudnovsky told ScienceAlert. “They could establish communication and travel between stars. Maybe we should look for their presence in space.”
It’s all extremely theoretical, but wild ideas can be a good way to make new discoveries. The researchers plan to continue their line of inquiry by developing simulations of cosmic necklaces in stars. It may not lead us to glittering star aliens – but even if it doesn’t, it could give us a better understanding of cosmic strings and monopoles.
And honestly?
It’s just a really fun thing to think about.
“It is a fascinating thought that the Universe may be packed with intelligent life that
is so different from ours that we failed to recognize its existence,” Chudnovsky said.
The research has been published in Letters in High Energy Physics.
That’s what exploring 63 orders of magnitude leads us to. The nature of us.
So, I’m hoping that somewhere among the pages of The Zoomable Universe, filled with galaxies, planets, moons, mountains, wildlife, molecules, and quanta, someone will find the inspiration they need to figure out the next big question — and maybe find the answer, too.
Caleb Scharf is director of astrobiology at Columbia University and author of Gravity’s Engines, The Copernicus Complex and The Zoomable Universe (Scientific American/ Farrar, Straus & Giroux, October 2017). Follow him on Twitter @caleb_scharf.
What Are Cosmic Connections and How to Recognize Them
Post author: Kirstie Pursey
Everything is connected, so there is no such thing as a chance meeting.
The people in your life are not there by chance but because of cosmic connections.
The universe is as complex and interconnected as a spider’s web.
Everything that happens affects everything else.
While this can be a scary prospect, it can also be inspiring.
It means that everything in our lives is a result of cosmic connections.
Your existence here on the material plane may not be your only experience of life.
Many traditions believe that we have many lives and that, between those lives, we are in a spiritual realm. You existed before you were born and will continue to do so after you die.
While we are in that spiritual realm we get to make choices about our next life. Our souls choose what experiences we wish to have and what purpose we desire to achieve. We choose those things that help us to grow spiritually. And we choose the cosmic connections that will enable us to do so.
Cosmic connections are those people who come into our lives to help us develop and grow. These people are vital to our spiritual progression. They come into our lives for a moment or a lifetime. Either way, they can change the course of our lives forever.
Our cosmic connections may not be beings full of love and light. Often we learn as much from the difficult people in our lives as we do from the ones who are a pleasure to be around. Those we are cosmically connected to come into our lives to help us look at things in a new way, heal our pain and change direction.
People come into your life for a reason, some a season, and so…
So, how do you recognize a person in your life who is a cosmic connection?
They shake things up
Cosmic relationships often disrupt our lives. These people force us to look at the way we are living and decide whether this is the way we wish to carry on. They may awaken us to injustice, remind us of our true values, encourage us to follow our dreams or simply remind us to appreciate the wonder of being alive on this planet.
They heal us
Our cosmic partners often provide deep healing to our souls.
They believe in us and help us to overcome the pain of our past. These people remind
us that all that we have been through is part of our spiritual journey. They can help us
to move forward instead of remaining stuck in pain.
They inspire us
When a person comes into our lives who is living a life that we can only dream of, they inspire us to change. They can remind us that our dreams are possible and help us get out of our rut. Often, we can gain an immense sense of personal power from spending time with these people who believe that anything is possible.
They remind us of our life purpose
Sometimes, when we meet someone, there is an instant connection. It feels like we have known them for a lifetime. And something about them reminds us of who we really are. It’s as if a switch is flipped and we suddenly remember our connection with the divine and our sole purpose.
Through the expectations of our parents, peers, and society as a whole, we can go off course in our lives. We learn to make decisions based on what others think, rather than what our souls are calling us to do. Our divine connections can help us to remember our true calling and spiritual purpose in this incarnation.
They cause us pain
Cosmic relationships don’t necessarily make life easier for us. When they come
into our lives they challenge the status quo and force us to look deeply into ourselves.
This is often painful. We would sometimes rather stay in our comfort zones and live mediocre lives. We don’t always have the courage to face the truth and become who
we are meant to be.
Our cosmic friends can force us out of our comfort zones.
They may do this gently, or they may be harsh about it. Sometimes kind words
are not enough. Sometimes we need a bit of a kick to help us change our path.
Difficult relationships in our lives can sometimes provide this impetus to change
better than more gentle ones.
This is not to say we should seek difficult or damaging relationships.
It is simply to remind us that we can learn from the pain we have experienced.
They teach us to be open
When we recognize that people come into our lives for a reason it helps us to open our hearts. Instead of being fearful, we become peaceful because of our understanding of the higher purpose behind all our life experiences. By freeing us from fear and hate our cosmic partners can transform us, awakening us to the divine connections in the universe and our place in the cosmic sphere.
Closing thoughts
Every person we meet has the potential to help us grow, from the man on the bus who smiles at us to our grandmother who offers unconditional love to the difficult partner or colleague.
Understanding the cosmic significance of these people in our lives helps us to deal
with them better and make the most of what they have to offer us on our journey.
Recognizing our cosmic connections can change our lives.
When we look at each individual who crosses our path as a
divine messenger our attitude towards them changes.