'The Fabric of the Cosmos' with Brian Greene

Tonight at 9pm EDT, PBS is kicking off their brand-new NOVA miniseries called 'The Fabric of the Cosmos' with renowned American theoretical physicist Brian Greene. Greene specializes in string theory, one of science's most recent and well-known attempts to unite Einstein's general relativity with quantum mechanics. The show will explore the cutting-edge scientific theories that modern physicists are using to tackle the mysteries of the universe, such as space, time, and quantum and cosmic-scale interactions.

I am interested to see how intellectual an approach the series will take. These types of shows deal with incredibly complex theories, and as such they tend to be dumbed down in order to appeal to a broader, less theoretically-minded audience. After viewing the preview (video below), 'The Fabric of the Cosmos' appears to be rife with computer-generated graphics and highly-simplified scenarios. I hope that the show's video effects are used to illustrate concepts intelligently and do not detract from the actual substance of the topics they address.

Theoretical physics truly is the greatest playground for an inquisitive mind. It attempts to answer the most fundamental and awe-inspiring questions of the universe in which we live. In my opinion, there is no higher pursuit in science than discovering the very nature of the time and space that we invariably occupy. I hope we are in for a treat with this series.

Black holes may hold universes, not singularities

A recent paper published by Nikodem J. Poplawski of Indiana University theorizes that black holes might not contain singularities after all but instead spawn the creation of another universe. Theoretically, a singularity is a point where the curvature of spacetime is infinite. In other words, it is a point of zero volume and infinite density that contains the total mass of the black hole. According to Poplawski, the gravitational collapse toward a singularity is not the end result of a black hole; instead, it triggers a chain of events that ultimately generates an incredible amount of mass and energy in another universe.

The current theory concerning empty space is that particle and anti-particle pairs are consistently popping into and out of existence, constantly annihilating one another (For more on this concept, check out these recent article describing scientific efforts to build the largest laser on Earth.) According to Poplawski, the conditions near the center of a black hole disrupt this mutual annihilation of particles, spawning the generation of an enormous amount of mass and energy which manifests itself as the big bang of another universe. 

For those of you willing to brave the scientific jargon (including gems such as "Parker-Zel'dovich-Starobinskii quantum particle production in strong, anisotropic gravitational fields"), I encourage you to check out the paper.