UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN

IN BRIEF

Quantum mechanics and general relativity, the twin monuments of 20th Century genius, have done a remarkable job of explaining the way our universe works. But at the edges of knowledge, we're learning that they're only facets of a much larger picture.
Attempts to fashion a quantum theory of gravity, which unites the quantum and general relativistic realms, have resulted in a flurry of recent weird breakthroughs—including the bizarre notion that time might be the byproduct of entangled qubits residing on the temporal boundaries of the universe.

QUANTUM MECHANICS VS. GENERAL RELATIVITY

There are two theories that have essentially revolutionized our understanding of physics in the 20th century—quantum mechanics and general relativity.

Quantum mechanics attempts to explain the behavior of the smallest things in the universe—subatomic particles at the nanoscopic level. At this scale, time is universal and absolute.

On the other hand, Einstein’s general relativity posits that time is relative and dynamic—a result of how space, time, and matter interact with each other. Following the theory of relativity, the geometry of the “space-time fabric” can be distorted by large masses. Bodies that move through the distorted space-time fabric then appear as if they are being influenced by the gravitational force of the large mass.

Now, to describe and understand what we perceive in everyday life, we turn to physics. General relativity serves to explain the gravitational properties of large objects, which are massive enough that their quantum properties are negligible. Quantum mechanics accurately explains what happens on the smallest scales—but only where masses are insignificant enough that their gravitational effects are practically zilch.

The question is, how do we explain matter that is, at once, very heavy and yet very small? To that end, how will you reconcile the absolute and relative notions of time supported by each theory?

Image Credit: Olena Shmahalo/Quanta Magazine

RECONCILING DIFFERENCES

This gap in our understanding of physics is something that theories of quantum gravity can hopefully explain. And a new breakthrough in the study of quantum gravity gives us a glimpse of how the physics of general relativity and quantum mechanics can be resolved.

“I think we now understand that space-time really is just a geometrical representation of the entanglement structure of these underlying quantum systems,” said Mark Van Raamsdonk, a theoretical physicist at the University of British Columbia.

Did you catch all that? Essentially, the idea is that the universe of our experience, together with the matter and relativistic space and time within it, arise as emergent properties from quantum bits (qubits) of information, just as the universe of a computer game arises from the digital bits of information in a computer. This is the holographic notion of the universe.

Researchers illustrate how the universe can have a fisheye space-time geometry known as “anti-de Sitter” (AdS) space. As you move away from the center, spatial increments get shorter until eventually the spatial dimension from the center extends to nothing—smacking into a boundary. This boundary has one less spatial dimension than its interior, referred to as the “bulk,” wherein is projected the holographic universe—with all its matter and energy, and wonky time that moves in dramatic ways, bending and curving with space as described in general relativity.

But the entangled qubits residing on the boundary of this AdS space progress according to the ordered, non-relativistic time natural to quantum states; like a computer program executing its commands according to the precise ticks of its internal clock, yet creating a simulated universe within which time can warp and stretch and be as weirdly relative as it wants.

Graphical depiction of anti-de Sitter (AdS) space-time. Credit: Joao Magueijo et al.

So far so good. But our universe conforms to a de Sitter configuration, where space stretches the further out you look; and this presents some problems of understanding the emergent qualities of time. The boundary, in this case, appears to be the end of time; somehow, the qubits on the boundary of the de Sitter space give rise to an interior hologram with dynamical time.

As Brian Swingle of Harvard University notes, what all this research seems to uncover is that, “somehow, you can emerge time from timeless degrees of freedom using entanglement.”

And while the team behind the study has yet to discover how this is possible, they hope it will lead to answers about what we don’t yet understand about the physics of our universe.

'Star Trek' Science: Why Vulcans (and Other Aliens) Look Like Humans — Spock, portrayed by Leonard Nimoy in the original "Star Trek" series and films, was half human and half Vulcan. An evolutionary biologist suggests that such interbreeding could happen only if humans were related to Vulcans by a recent ancestor.
**Credit: Star Trek (via Facebook)**

Human life, seeded to other planets by an extraterrestrial civilization, could explain why so many of the aliens in the fictional "Star Trek" universe resemble human men and women.

After studying scenes from the various shows and movies, one evolutionary biologist posited that the galaxy-wide distribution of Earth-based life-forms could help to explain some of the resemblance between Kirk and Spock.

"This model ignores things like the difference in heart placement — perhaps unlikely — or the Vulcan copper, rather than human iron-based, blood — also unlikely," Mohamed Noor, an evolutionary biologist at Duke University in North Carolina, told Space.com by email. "But the overall principle is more probable than the notion that the species evolved completely independently to look almost the same after billions of years." Noor presented the results of his off-hour research this summer at Atlanta's Dragon Con. [How 'Star Trek' Technology Works (Infographic)]

The seeds of humankind

Life on Earth might not have originated on the planet itself. Scientists have long considered the possibility of panspermia, the idea that our planet's life or its precursors came from outer space. After drifting, unplanned, into the habitable environment, the seed material might have developed into life as we know it today.

A similar idea was investigated in an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." In "The Chase" (Season 6, Episode 20), an ancient alien species called the Preservers was revealed to have seeded many planets with the same genetic material. Over billions of years, similar plants, animals and humanoids developed on a variety of worlds, according to the story presented in the episode.

But Noor doesn't buy it. "Sounds good, but no way," Noor said. Even with the same initial conditions, he said, the probability of plants and animals with similar appearances — and, in species like Vulcans, able to breed with humans — developing on multiple worlds from only genetic material is incredibly low. With the passage of so much time, the various worlds would evolve creatures very different from one another.

"By their [the show's] model, we are literally more closely related to grass or an amoeba than we are to a Vulcan," Noor said. "I don't imagine us having kids with those other species." [Where No Films Have Gone Before: The Complete 'Star Trek' Movie List]

Instead, Noor proposed that the seeding occurred much more recently than portrayed in the episode. If the human ancestor Homo erectus, along with plants and other animals, were taken by the Preservers only a million years ago, rather than the proposed billion, and were seeded onto planets like Vulcan, the resulting life-forms could be more closely related, Noor said.

"It would require an extreme version of fast terraforming, but from a biological perspective, it's at least possible," Noor said.

Meanwhile, the Homo erectus individuals who remained on Earth could have evolved into humans while those on Vulcan evolved to become pointy-eared aliens.

"The two modern species would surely look similar, but it's likely there would be some physical differences," Noor said, pointing to Vulcans' unusual ears and eyebrows. The close genetic relationship among the different descendants of Homo erectus could even allow them to produce an offspring born of both, such as the half-human, half-Vulcan Spock.

Kissing cousins

As a longtime "Star Trek" fan, Noor has enjoyed examining the accuracy of the show. In college, he and his professors would joke about the unfeasible scientific explanations presented in "The Next Generation," the series on the air at the time. To prepare for his Dragon Con presentation, Noor spent time reviewing various episodes from multiple series of the show, and then discussing the science with biologists and chemists.

"I think the idea of trying to imagine what life in outer space could be is fascinating," he said. "I have really enjoyed researching this."

If human life in the "Star Trek" universe was indeed seeded on multiple planets, Earth would be the most likely original source, Noor said. That's because life-forms on Earth are clearly related to one another in a hierarchal way. Humans would be more closely related to aliens such as Romulans and Klingons than they are to chimpanzees.

Confirming this would be "remarkably easy" for an evolutionary biologist in the "Star Trek" universe, Noor said. By comparing DNA samples from other human-like aliens to those of Earthlings, biologists would be able to discover the close genetic relationship between them, which would easily rule out the idea of random, undirected panspermia.

"We may even be able to infer approximately how many years ago this happened from the difference in the DNA sequence," Noor said.

Follow Nola Taylor Redd on Twitter @NolaTRedd or Google+. Follow us at @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.