The Music of the Times

So I got up this morning and found a cool tool for my iTunes. Apple lets you use some HTML code to let people know the kind of music you have been buying. Ah Oh! Now my secrets are out.

The Elegant Universe - Part 3: Welcome to the 11th Dimension

And finally we come to the main problem with String Theory - how do you test it? The basic tenants of science demand that all explanations be testable and if they are not then we usually don't include them in science (philosophy is more the venue for such a notion, but not science). Will we be able to test this theory in the not to distant future? That's the $64,000 question. But, for now, we are able to approach the Universe in a way that was never possible until string theory cam along and that opens up exciting possibilities:


Part 3/1 - Welcome to the 11th Dimension



Part 3/2 - Welcome to the 11th Dimension



Part 3/3 - Welcome to the 11th Dimension



Part 3/4 - Welcome to the 11th Dimension



Part 3/5 - Welcome to the 11th Dimension

The Elegant Universe - Part 2: The String's the Thing

And so the unification of all the fundamental forces of the Universe has become the "Holy Grail" of theoretical physics, but the job of doing this has been illusive as a phantasm in the night. Then along comes string theory and seems to fit the bill. But why bother? Why not just use Gravity and Quantum Mechanics as needed? Well, that's what we have been doing... and it turns out the conflict between the two is not allowing us to explain the places where gravity must work on the very small level like the atom.... string theory does. In case you don't know it, searching for such answers led us to the computer and information age in which we live because of the work originally done with quantum mechanics back in the 1920's and 30's because it allowed us to explain how we could get semi-conductors to do what they do and that is the basis of the microprocessor. So, now for the 2nd part of The Elegant Universe - The String's the Thing:

Part 2/1 - The String's the Thing



Part 2/2 - The String's the Thing



Part 2/3 - The String's the Thing



Part 2/4 - The String's the Thing



Part 2/5 - The String's the Thing

The Elegant Universe - Part 1: Einstein's Dream

Some of you out there may have heard of the new theory in physics termed "String Theory" but may also be asking "What is it? What do you mean 'strings'?" Ok, well on of the best books I ever read on this new theory is The Elegant Universe. The author is Brian Greene from Columbia University and he did a great job of explaining it. Ok, ok... you don't want to read some 'dry' book on physics... just explain it to me without all the math and such. All right... thanks to the beauty of the internet, I give you The Elegant Universe with Brian Greene:

Part 1/1 - Einstein's Dream



Part 1/2 - Einstein's Dream



Part 1/3 - Einstein's Dream



Part 1/4 - Einstein's Dream



Part 1/5 - Einstein's Dream