So, the universe may be a holographic projection.

Scientists have apparently conducted an experiment that may suggest we are living within a hologram. Via kottke.org

The holograms you find on credit cards and banknotes are etched on two-dimensional plastic films. When light bounces off them, it recreates the appearance of a 3D image. In the 1990s physicists Leonard Susskind and Nobel prizewinner Gerard ‘t Hooft suggested that the same principle might apply to the universe as a whole. Our everyday experience might itself be a holographic projection of physical processes that take place on a distant, 2D surface.

The “holographic principle” challenges our sensibilities. It seems hard to believe that you woke up, brushed your teeth and are reading this article because of something happening on the boundary of the universe. No one knows what it would mean for us if we really do live in a hologram, yet theorists have good reasons to believe that many aspects of the holographic principle are true.

What this may mean – if it means anything at all – I don’t know, but you can read more here.

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Early space station concepts

International Space Station (NASA, 09/08/09)

Image by nasa1fan/MSFC via Flickr

There’s a very cool list of some early space station concepts at Scienceray:

The conquest of outer space was on
the mind of men decades ago, with some surprising similarities to
today’s space platforms these visionaries seemed to predict the future.
A future that they could not an have possibly understood or fathomed.
Ultimately, we will need a new fleet of space shuttles to get there.

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The ten weirdest things in space

Most Magnetized Object in the Universe (artist...

Image by Goddard Photo and Video Blog via Flickr

By the sound of it, this must be quite a list – after all, since basically like everything, man, is “in space,” wouldn’t that make this a list of the ten weirdest things ever? Sorry to burst that bubble (although I would love to see such a list, if it exists) – this refers to cosmology. And the stuff on it is indeed strange, ranging from hypervelocity stars to magnetars to dark energy. You can check out the list, which was compiled by Dave Mosher at Discovery.com, here.

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