[vannrox]

WOW!

[ALS]

rats! Now they'll have to make up a whole new confusing set of erroneous terms!

[Arthur McGowan]

Time is caused by the fact that things don't all happen at once. Space is caused by the fact that some things are over here, and other things are over there. These scientists who insist on making things complicated just kill me.

[Windcatcher]

As someone with a Master's in Physics, all I can say is...

KA-BOOM!

The conclusion, if true, is going to cause decades of dogma to be tossed out the window.

[paul51]

I was just thinking about this the other day too!....Just before COPS came on

[TheLion]

"Using existing theories, the team led by Dr. Roberto Ragazzoni from the Astrophysical Observatory of Arcetri, Italy, and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, calculated that infinitesimally small quantum-scale variations in space time would blur images of galaxies seen from vast distances across the universe".

This is based solely on the statement above. Is it true? Seems like they just took their word. If light doesn't blur, it might not be because of the new theory.

Maybe someone could enlighten me.

[TopQuark]

They are messing with my existence again...

[aruanan]

Since the expected blurring "signature" of quantum space time isn't seen, however, it might mean that time isn't made of quantum bits, and neither are space or gravity.

Yah think it could be sumpin else?

[dogbyte12]

All we are in dust in the wind dude--- "Ted" Theodore Logan.

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[rolling_stone]

Does this mean I have to have my tax return done on April 15 or not?

[happygrl]

A fun read. Thanks.

[wolfman]

The German astronomer wasn't Hans Blix was it?

[Bullish]

I'm glad you cleared that up for me.

[metacognative]

This is cool,PH. Science with humility instead of Established Religion. Like the good old days. Can gravity and time be kind of the same thing?

[Consort]

The Ultimate Unified Theory of Everything consists of: Photons, Croutons, Neurons, Futons, Carrions, Gravitons, Crayons, and Morons. All else is irrelevant.

[The Lake City Gar]

Ummmmm....

Anybody want to dumb this down for the Homer Simpson like amongst us? Not ME, mind you...I'm just thinking of others. Yeah, that's it!

[seams2me]

Cub Scout Astronomy Belt Loop BUMP

[Servant of the Nine]

Do not panic.

This aplies only to Quantum gravity / space / time.

Quantum effects will continue to operate sort of reliably in the electromagnetic spectrum for the time being. Your apliances will continue to function as well, or poorly, as ever.

So9

[Anticommie]

Astronomers Deal Blow To Quantum Theories Of Time, Space, Gravity

Historically every 'theory' in physics, astronomy, biology etc. was replaced by another 'theory', Enstein is no god and his 'theory' will be eventualy replaced with another 'theory'.

[JoeSchem]

Einstein's cosmological constant also doesn't work for the observed universe. Einstein felt that there was a built-in red shift with distance -- no doppler effect required. However, the effect turned out to be too small to be observed. I've often wondered if the Red Shift we do observe is Einstein's cosmological constant in action. But that would imply that the universe is much, much smaller than we perceive. Spiral galaxies became dusty star clusters, quasars become normal stars red-shifted by the cosmological constant.

A silly idea, but it would also explain why we're not seeing a quantum blurring effect when we look at supposedly distant galaxies. IE, the galaxies aren't distant enough to have a blurring effect!