Really Really Big Questions about Space and Time [antikvár]

Maybe tomorrow, or maybe a decade or a century from now. boffins may make tfie most shattering discovery of all time: evidence of alien life. What kind of space and time would these aliens inhabit? Where would they call home? This book contains many questions such as these - questions that will stretch your brain and make you think. Have you ever looked up and wondered, "Is there a map of the Universe?" or "Why is the night sky so dark?" While waiting for a bus have you asked yourself, "Does time always go at the same speed?" Or have you wished you lived on another planet and pondered, "Do aliens look like me?" All of these questions are asked in these pages, and many more besides. Before you read these questions and the answers I've given, let's make one thing clear. While many of these questions have answers, many of them do not. Or they might have answers that will change in the future. These questions are all 'scientific'. Science is what we call 'cumulative*. It sort of rewrites itself as new things are discovered and new ideas are formulated. Our ideas about things change as time goes by, so at any one time science can only really be thought of as: "THE BEST CURRENT INTERPRETATION OF THE NATURAL WORLD" You and I are designed for the purpose of living on Earth, which is a planet - a part of the cosmos, the Universe. But you and I are also a part of the Universe. We are made of the same materials that can be found on the other side of the Universe. Those materials may not be assembled in the same order, but they are basically the same. So we can try to understand the Universe from this point of view, from the planet Earth, and build ideas about what things might be like 'out there'. But we can't touch, taste, see, hear and feet everything in the Universe close-up. At least, not yet. Once you've read these pages you'll be tempted to think. "Is that it. then? Have we finally grasped what the Universe is like?" But the answer to that is: probably not. In fact, to even suggest that we understand the Universe is very unscientific. Science is all about questioning things - ail the time. Even when we think our ideas are correct. Who's to say people won't look back and laugh at our ideas about the Universe one day? So the golden rule is: don't just listen to me - the Universe is right there in front of you Take a good look for yourself.