This Week’s Science News from SWTG

AI Goes Wrong & Space From Qubits

This new idea explains dark energy AND dark matter (maybe)

It is not every day that I have a new theory for dark energy and dark matter to talk about. But yes, today I can report that a physicist has found a way to solve both problems at the same time. Two for the price of one. Somewhere, a grant committee is very happy.

In our current theories, space and time is fundamental, it’s a smooth continuum that isn’t made of anything else. But if the history of science has taught us one thing, it’s that more often than not things are not what they seem to be. So maybe space and time are just made of something else.

“And then what?,” You might ask. Well, even if we don’t know exactly what they’re made of, that gives us a general expectation. It’s that the continuum of space and time should be imperfect. It should have irregularities. It should have defects, much like a crystal.

The interesting thing about defects in solids is that even if they are rare and tiny, they do change some observable properties of the entire crystal. Like, for example, impurities of nitrogen or titanium change the colour of diamonds to red or blue, creating rubies and sapphires.