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jake-head-shot.jpgJake Young is a MD/PhD student at Mount Sinai School of Medicine focusing in Neuroscience. He is due to graduate in 2032. He received a BS and a MS in Biological Sciences from Stanford University -- where he spent most of his time drinking heavily and building vegetable catapults instead of learning information that would now be eminently useful. When he is not failing terrifically to perform his sworn duties, he enjoys watching bad movies, ethnic food, and running.

Pure Pedantry is a blog about science -- social sciences and otherwise -- as well as academic and scientific culture. No one can live on science alone, so I also like to dwell on pop culture, periodically explore the humanities, and indulge in other types of geeky goodness.

Jake is joined periodically by two wonderful guest bloggers: Kara Contreary and Kate Seip. See the About Page.

DISCLAIMERS: 1) Jake Young is not a licensed physician (yet). He is merely a medical student. The information published on this site is not intended for use in medical decision making. Please seek advice from a licensed, medical professional before making any health decisions. 2) The opinions expressed are my own or those of my co-bloggers. They do not represent the views of SEED magazine or the educational establishments we currently attend.

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Universe discovered to be older than previously stated, brings statements about Universe's prenuptial virginity into question

Category: Astronomy
Posted on: August 8, 2006 2:04 PM, by Jake Young

It's all the lying that really gets me:

The universe could be 2 billion years older than thought, according to a new report by an international team of astronomers. The scientists have found that a nearby galaxy is 15% farther away than previous results suggested. That could mean the age of the universe is off by the same amount. But other experts think it's too early to draw such far-reaching conclusions.

Astronomers have been able to determine relative distances of remote galaxies using observations of a particular type of star that periodically changes its brightness. But in order to know how many lightyears away all these galaxies are, they need to directly measure the distance between a few galaxies and our own Milky Way. Such measurements are hard to come by--for many years, the only galaxy for which a reliable distance has been determined is the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud, but some astronomers worry its unusual chemical makeup could skew calculations.

Read the whole thing.

Comments

Torbjorn Larsson seems to be quite skeptical that the age reported in this new study can be accurate.

Posted by: somnilista, FCD | August 8, 2006 3:27 PM

Oh this is heartache. It brought up similar problems for me -- a matter of credibility, straight up, right? You think you know a Universe, and this kinda thing happens. Plus we really can't say anymore, with any degree of certainty, if our Universe has been seeing other Universes too. Is ours the only one? And what if Universe has been lying because it has other things to hide, as you suggest w/r/t the pre-nup?

Posted by: Benjamin Cohen | August 8, 2006 3:33 PM

Here's my (rather long) take on this:

http://brahms.phy.vanderbilt.edu/~rknop/blog/?p=85

Posted by: Rob Knop | August 8, 2006 3:45 PM

Another new study reaches a different conclusion:

Chandra Independently Determines Hubble Constant


A critically important number that specifies the expansion rate of the Universe, the so-called Hubble constant, has been independently determined using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This new value matches recent measurements using other methods and extends their validity to greater distances, thus allowing astronomers to probe earlier epochs in the evolution of the Universe...

Posted by: somnilista, FCD | August 9, 2006 10:15 AM

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