I liked how the group arguing against dark energy said that if it is as strong as predicted, nothing we know would even exist. I deffinitely don't like how scientists find an obvious contradiction to their existing theory (that the universe expansion should be slowing down) and chose to "explain it away" they come up with "dark energy" fron out of the blue, rather than re-eveluate their original theory. We must start fresh. Everything seems to be based on the "red shift" and I'm not so sure the "expansion" of space is what is causing it. Time and the gravity present in the universe may eventually elongate the wavelength of light. That, to me, would sound more reasonable than the fabric of space somehow growing... The best science is yet to come!

"Each theory raises deeper questions about why the universe currently seems to be set up just right for our existence." This comment inverts cause and effect in a most unscientific manner. New theories do not necessarily raise any questions about human existence: the universe is not set up just right for us, we have become set up just right for the the environment we are in -- that's what evolution is. If the environment was different life would be different or even non-existent but it would be just right for the way the universe is set up.

speed of light: they say nothing can go faster then the speed of light? then how come some particles do go faster! i believe that you can go faster then the speed of light, we just haven't done it yet.

More scientific guessing. Maybe the Easter bunny is causing it. Dark Bunnies!

Now you know the joy of science. Questions! Isn't this more fun than being handed a book of myths and legends and being told that all the answers are in the book? Can't you feel you mind expanding instead of contracting?

Great Point, Wade! I also love how it doesn't take rocket science to at least speculate about modern aspects of science. You can tell the earth was round (not flat) for example, by looking at earth's shadow on the moon! You can tell the circumference of the earth by measuring the shadow cast by two sticks a know distance apart... You could speculate about atoms and perhaps even evolution (as the Ionians did in 500 BC) just by basic observations.

Christian Huygens pretty correctly figured out the distance to a nearby star in the 1700s when he drilled several small holes in a brace plate and held it up to the sun. The hole that seemed as bright as the star he saw the night before was 1/25,000 the diameter of the sun. Thus he deduced that the star was 25,000 times further away than our own star. He got it wrong only because the star he chose was intrinsically brighter than our own sun. Otherwise, he was dead on! Pretty cool eh?

Arvin, I've also heard about what I think are called Tied Electrons that somehow know when the other has been observed. Even if the two are sent in opposite directions the other will know "instantly" I think when the other has been observed. It's been a while since I've read the theory but they hoped to encrypt data sent over the net in this way. Upon arrival, they'd be able to look at it and know if someone else had already viewed it.

I believe this ties into the Heisenberg Principle of uncertainty where the act of observing something actually is a force in nature and effects what we see. Isn't a light wave a particle when it is observed and a wave when it is not? To me, this all points to something far more grand than we are aware of currently. Reality is just so different than our humdrum 3D senses can detect.

Speculatively speaking, if the 'Big Bang' theory of cosmological beginnings is valid, was the empty, black vacuum of Space always "there" to receive the expanding matter, or was Space itself created at the exact nanosecond of the expansion [i.e. Is there another "canvas" upon which the vacuuous darkness of 'empty' spread itself to actually construct Space just ahead of the exploding noisy mass of Universe]? Could such an abstract idea define the 'dark energy' which seems to be a component of the Cosmos within which we exist?

The biggest problem I see is the use of negative numbers. Negative numbers are relative to some chosen orgin, but if we knew the actual point of orgin of the univers and its actual size, we could pick a point of refrence that would allow all measurement to be positive. As for energy, there is no negative energy is an oxymoron by definition. Any amount of energy is positive. Ditto for mass, there is no such thing as a negative mass. Finally, there is time which is actually an abstraction of distance, so it can't really be negative. When a reference point is picked, things can be negative with respect to it, but in actually if you travel in the negative direction, you travel a 'positive' distance.

The concept of DARK ENERGY MUST BE DEFINED. Undefined Universe lands in Confusion and Utter Chaos. Plasmas and Electro-magnetic Energy concepts fit-in much well into most of the Hubble Space data released. A search beyond GRAVITY beyond SUN-PLANETARY region reveals clearly CREATION, STABILTY and Dissolution concepts within the HEART OF THE UNIVERSE. The COSMOS EXPANDS beyond this and Time-Phase relationship becomes a BIG-QUESTION. Search Cosmic Pot-Projection of the Universe-STSCI SYmposium-May 2003 and Cosmology Structures- Carnegie Centennial Symposium-3, 2003. Universe is part of Cosmos and Multi-Universe means EXPANSION. Search Further: Cosmology Interlinks Vedas. The Detailed Process seems to have not been understood by Scientists properly. An open-mind approach helps to remove many cob-webs in COSMOLOGY

I suspect the "Big Bang is a misnomer. Consider that you are inside an infinitely dense material that expands or inflates. You would be on the inside trying to look out, but there is nothing outside the expanding mass (space/time) to see. Poul Anderson did an interesting take on this in one of his books. Tau Zero, I think. Sorry, memory lapse. If he was right you could survive an oscillating universe! The problem with Dark Matter and Dark Energy is that we don't know enough to define them. So, we get stuck with a frustratingly obsure description as a substitute for knowledge. Press On!

What if the dark energy was simply all the expended energy and light of stars and galaxies. It would make some sense that this dark energy would not start to win over the balance of gravity unless it was increasing. Such would be the case around 3 or 4 billion years after the big bang. At that point the universe would really be lighting up something brilliant. If this were true then it would seem to me to be easily verified with mathmatical theory. Or perhaps its a sort of sling shot effect that is constant and is part of the mechanism that initiated the big bang. But the early universe was still clumped too close together and the collective effect of gravity was concentrated enough to override that universal constant until the galaxies and matter drifted far enough apart for the dark energy to become overriding. Perhaps if this is true then maybe the envelopment of matter and energy into blackholes some how gives impetus to this expansion as the matter is injected or the semblance of its remains or transformative energy is swallowed into the subspace fabric causing the accelerating expansion as more and more super black holes form and pull in the surrounding universe until there is nothing left to ingest at which point it seems concievable that the expansion would coast to a stop and then reverse. Perhaps some or all of these things are acting synergisticly and synchronously and the total mechanism is the functionality of space-time and the architechure of the universal integument.

I have detailed my ideas on the before mentioned theories as well as my thoughts on the multiverse and the role of a sentient nexus originating from the collective energy of all life in existance on my Myspace profile (ASTROCHRONIC) check it out. Mumbo-jumbo maybe but its seems logical if not rational.

It occured to me that my above hypothesis was rather vague. Let me illustrate my first point by suggesting that the universe is only as big as the light and energy from the big bang has traveled and is traveling. This force might possibly be part of the impetus inflating space-time. All the subsequent light and energy simply acts as a continuous engine feeding that expasion. Or maybe matter acts against the integument of space analogous to soap bubbles on the surface tension of water. The bubbles always congregate but the soap in effect pushes the surface tension apart which inturn allows for the formation of the bubbles by making the surface tension more pliable or elastic. If the integument of space is curved(such as an inflating blister or membrane)then that would suggest a resistance against counter structure formation. Such as bubbles forming under the surface-tension instead of on top. These inverse structures(anti-matter) would negate the structure of normal matter thus annihilating both. This curvature itself would in effect explain why matter is prevalent and anti-matter is not. I am certainly no physicist so I cant say if this holds up to any mathmatical extrapolation or if even the physics are possible outside of my imagination just that imagination is the first block of the foundation of science and the application would be the keystone.

Cold contracts + Heat expands = Cosmic Heartbeat. All forms of energy generate heat and thus expands. All forms of 'gaps' suck inward and thus contract. All forms of magnetism hold the balance between contraction and expansion = VACUÜM of the VOID. Dark Energy is mostly understood as a substance in space. It actually is a Cosmological constance between matter in one form of another (filling up space) and anti-matter (gaps in space). Hence Dark Energy should indeed be redefined.

SEARCH FROM THE HERT OF UNIVERSE-The concepts will become more self-evident TO HEART OF THE UNIVERSE SEARCH HEART: SET MIND and Conscious Planes Search beyond Dark matter Want to know beyond Blackhole-psychology want to know Cosmos Expansion want to know Cosmos-Dazzling Phenomena A DIWALI Gift or Christmas Lights: Search COSMOLOGY FROM THE HEART OF THE UNIVERSE Set your scale at 10 log Years and Centre at 5 Logscale Light Years. Milky way derives Energy from the Heart of The Universe-That is NATURE'S DIVINE FUNCTION. READ : Vision series-I and Vision series II. The Dynamic Function is driven from the Heart- See next Vision series III to follow-up. UTHISTA UTHISTA UTHISTA- RAISE UP the Consciousness beyond FILTRATION OF MINDS ? QUALIFY FOR WORLD PEACE - YOU ARE DIVINE RECEPTOR. NOTES: A NEW BOOK- Nov 2006 under Copy right Application-USA-author Vidyardhi Nanduri Readers requested to wait for few weeks vinandi41@gmail.com

Astronomers such as Adam Riess, Robert P. Kirshner, and Alex Filippenko are astronomers working at the cutting edge of this exciting research. To learn what they're discovering, see Kirshner's book THE EXTRAVAGANT UNIVERSE.  For a simpler discussion of the recent discoveries about dark energy and dark matter, see THE MYSTERIOUS UNIVERSE (Houghton Mifflin), 2008, which includes breathtaking photos.

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