Thursday, September 25, 2008

The Universe is Moving!


In the past week, a group of NASA researchers were observing about 700 different clusters of galaxies x-ray emitting gases. They came to a discovery that was very shocking because it didn't agree with many theories. This discovery is that the galaxy clusters are moving towards some thing with an immense gravitational pull that is not visible in our universe, and they're moving at about 200 million miles per hour. This observation was made using an experiment called the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (VS) effect which basically shows how much movement there is with a cluster of galaxies against the background.
Now, one might ask, what does this mean, and where is everything headed towards? Scientists have no definite explanation to this very odd phenomenon, they only have theories that are intertwined with how the universe came to be in the Big Bang. One of these theories is that when our universe was created, its twin universe (which is unobservable from this universe) inflated and spread out less evenly than ours did, which would make it more dense and give it a greater gravitational pull. This theory ties into the observations from the NASA team because all of these moving clusters of galaxies (by the way, the Milky Galaxy is included) are headed in the same direction. IT is very difficult to comprehend how our universe would be able tobe attracted to another universe, and that there even can be an end to the universe, but a good way to think abouthow this is possible is by using string theory, which is a very complex concept.
In reality, there's no real need for us to worry about this movement affecting our lives, because it isn't anything new that is happening in the universe, it's just something that was recently discovered.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Aaron Rodgers, The Next Brett Favre?

Last night, Aaron Rodgers started at quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, replacing Brett Favre who was traded to the New York Jets. Rodgers started his first game of the season against the rival Minnesota Vikings led by running back Adrian Peterson. Rodgers and the Packers had a generally good game winning 24 to 19, as for the 24 year old specifically, perhaps one of the greatest debut performances in the history of the NFL. First off, one can't look past the part of him scoring both a rushing touchdown and a passing touchdown in the game, totaling at 178 passing yards and 35 rushing yards. He also completed 18 out of 22 of his passes which puts him around 81% for completion percentage. This figure is the 2nd highest completion percentage for a quarterback debut ever. Which brings us back to my original question, is he as good as Favre? My opinion is no. After all, he has had the past few years to watch and study the hall of famer Brett Favre. Anybody that has this opportunity should be able to pick up a few tricks. And while Aaron Rodgers may turn out to be a very good quarterback in this league, no one can replace Brett Favre.