“Time travel is inherent in the basics of general relativity. … The question is, can you? Yes – in principle.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Will – Could – Time End?
“It is a disturbing prospect, more chilling even than the end of our universe, because in most of the ordinary scenarios of cosmic doom there remains the comforting possibility that a new universe might rise from the ashes of the old. But if time itself can end, then we surely have no get-out clause. …”
Want People To Believe A Lie? Put It In A TV Drama
“Newly published research suggests nuggets of misinformation embedded in a fictional television program can seep into our brains and lodge there as perceived facts. What’s more, this troubling dynamic seems to occur even when our initial response is skepticism.”
Who Was Nostradamus And Why Do People Keep Paying Attention To Him?
“His name and work have permeated our experience of doom and destruction, but the man himself is almost a cipher. Getting any kind of reliable understanding or impression of him takes some work.”
Found: The Oldest Art Studio Workshop On Earth
“In a tiny South African cave, archaeologists have unearthed a 100,000-year-old art studio that contains tools for mixing powder from red and yellow rocks with animal fat and marrow to make vibrant paints as well as abalone shells full of dried-out red pigment, the oldest paint containers ever found.”
How New Guinea Hunter-Gatherers Ended Up On Facebook
After anthropologist and filmmaker Jonnie Hughes did a documentary on the Insect Tribe in New Guinea’s Sepik Valley, tribe members asked if they could do a reverse visit – in effect, a field trip to England. You might be surprised at what they did, and didn’t, take from the trip.
Detroit Science Center Says It Needs $5M To Reopen
“Officials at the shuttered Detroit Science Center said today that the museum would reopen its doors on Oct. 27 – if the museum can lasso $5 million in emergency contributions in the next two weeks.”
Chatting Online? Have Your Avatar Talk With Its Hands
“Blank stares and rigid postures could be holding back virtual-reality conversations in environments like Second Life. Now, mapping real-world motions to virtual avatars has been shown to help people communicate better.”
Practicing Basketball Shots For Broadway
“At a pivotal moment in Lysistrata Jones, a musical comedy about basketball and sex that is coming to Broadway next month, the title character has to make a layup on the stage-turned-court.”
Paris Picasso/Matisse Thief Says He Threw Paintings In The Trash
“A man suspected of hiding precious artwork stolen from the Paris Museum of Modern Art last year claims that in a panic, he threw the paintings” – Picasso, Braque, Modigliani, Matisse and Leger, together worth about $134 million – “in a garbage bin on a Paris street and [that they may have been] destroyed with the rest of that day’s trash.”