Facts and ideas in modern cosmology

Facts and ideas from anywhere.

Elsewhere in this issue, Dr. Cristie Columbus talks about the emergence of disease-causing bacteria that are resistant to our most powerful antibiotics, and recently an article by Sheryl Cay Stolberg (1) on this subject appeared in the New York Times Magazine. While popular movies have appeared about the Ebola virus, the big danger lies in the common microorganisms that have developed resistanc...

Modern Cosmology and Anthropic

Abstract: The anthropic fine-tuning of the cosmos refers to the claim that the laws of nature, the constants of physics, and the initial conditions of the universe must be set to an enormous degree of precision for life to exist. Three major responses have been offered to this fine-tuning: the multiverse explanation; theism; and the claim that it is just a brute fact that requires no further ex...

Probiotics and health: new facts and ideas.

Many trials on probiotics are now published that use established methods to demonstrate their clinical efficacy. Convincing progress has been made in the field of inflammatory bowel disease and allergy prevention in infants. Experimental studies show clear differences (and even sometimes opposite effects) between apparently closely related probiotics and suggest new mechanisms for the observed ...

Gamma Ray Bursts: Some Facts and Ideas

Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) are the most explosive events after the big bang: their energy output corresponds to a sizeable fraction of a solar mass entirely converted into energy in a few seconds. Although many questions about their progenitors remain to be answered, it is likely that they are generated by a newly formed and fast spinning black hole. The colossal power characterizing GRBs is carri...

Modern ideas of evolution