Word: turneritis
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These discoveries raise more questions than they answer. For example, just because scientists know dark matter is there doesn't mean they understand what it really is. Same goes for dark energy. "If you thought the universe was hard to comprehend before," says University of Chicago astrophysicist Michael Turner, "then you'd better take some smart pills, because it's only going to get worse...
...would act just like Einstein's disowned antigravity. Problem was, this force would have been so powerful that it would have blown the universe apart before atoms could form, let alone galaxies--which it clearly did not. "The value particle physicists predict for the cosmological constant," admits Chicago's Turner, "is the most embarrassing number in physics...
...goes for the universe, but with one more dimension. According to Einstein, the whole thing could be positively or negatively curved or flat (but don't try to imagine in what direction it might be curved; it's quite impossible to visualize). "What the new measurements tell us," says Turner, "is that the universe is in fact flat. Draw a triangle that reaches all the way across the cosmos, and the angles will always add up to 180[degrees...
...particles add up to only about 35% of what you would need. Ergo, the extra curvature must come from some unseen energy--just about the amount, it turns out, suggested by the supernova observations. "I was highly dubious about dark energy based only on supernovas," says Princeton astrophysicist Edwin Turner (no relation to Michael, though the two often refer to each other as "my evil twin"). "This makes me take dark energy more seriously...
Frederick Jackson Turner had it easy. The historian forecast the end of the American frontier--and then he died. Dan Burden is left with the complicated reality of a country not just short on frontier but seemingly out of space altogether. Even in midsize cities and 'burbs, traffic congestion can be so extreme that a walk to the market is impossible, biking downtown a flirtation with death. Burden, director of the High Springs, Fla., nonprofit Walkable Communities Inc., has figured out what to do. He's the guy people call to get their space back...