Science News of Interest
1. Cosmological study concludes that there should be nothing, rather than something.
2. Those with episodic amnesia are not “stuck in time“, says Carl Craver (Washington U. in St.Louis).
3. Does a simulation of time-traveling photons help resolve the grandfather paradox?
4. Biology and politics: people are more likely to vote if they have low levels of cortisol, a stress hormone.
5. Are fish smarter than we think, and does that matter?
The cosmological study is misleading. Its argument is that *if* the recent BICEP2 “observation” of B-mode polarisation is correct, *then* the universe should not exist. However, serious questions have been raised about the BICEP2 finding. In particular, it appears that the BICEP people might have seriously underestimated B-mode polarisation from ordinary cosmic dust–a fact which, if it turns out to indeed be the case (this isn’t clear yet), would render the new paper (“the universe shouldn’t exist) a red herring.