[QUOTE=ewmayer;519272]As a point of order, can we please all stop using the ridiculous and antiquated term "Big Bang" (BB) for the general-consensus cosmology and switch to the current accepted term with the field, "[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horrendous_Space_Kablooie]Horrendous Space Kablooie[/url]" (HSK)?[/QUOTE]Why not: Beautiful Loquacious Awesome Mega Mesmerising Outburst - BLAMMO.

Or: Gorgeously Organised Decidedly Directed Initial Distribution Intentional Trickery - GODDIDIT

[url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01880-6]The secret social lives of viruses[/url] | Nature
[quote]The viruses] were chattering away, passing notes to each other in a molecular language only they could understand. They were deciding together when to lie low in the host cell and when to replicate and burst out, in search of new victims…. [Geneticist Rotem Sorek] and his colleagues had found phages actively discussing their choices. They realized that as a phage infects a cell, it releases a tiny protein — a peptide just six amino acids long — that serves as a message to its brethren: ‘I’ve taken a victim’. As the phages infect more cells, the message gets louder, signalling that uninfected hosts are becoming scarce…. The viruses, it turns out, did not depend on bacterial cues to make their decisions. They controlled their own destiny…. Sorek named this viral peptide ‘arbitrium’, after the Latin word for decision.[/quote]

[url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/the-case-against-quantum-computing]The Case Against Quantum Computing[/url] | Mikhail Dyakonov, IEEE Spectrum
[quote]While I believe that such experimental research is beneficial and may lead to a better understanding of complicated quantum systems, I’m skeptical that these efforts will ever result in a practical quantum computer. Such a computer would have to be able to manipulate—on a microscopic level and with enormous precision—a physical system characterized by an unimaginably huge set of parameters, each of which can take on a continuous range of values. Could we ever learn to control the more than 10^300 continuously variable parameters defining the quantum state of such a system?

My answer is simple. [i]No, never.[/i]

I believe that, appearances to the contrary, the quantum computing fervor is nearing its end. That’s because a few decades is the maximum lifetime of any big bubble in technology or science. After a certain period, too many unfulfilled promises have been made, and anyone who has been following the topic starts to get annoyed by further announcements of impending breakthroughs. What’s more, by that time all the tenured faculty positions in the field are already occupied. The proponents have grown older and less zealous, while the younger generation seeks something completely new and more likely to succeed.

All these problems, as well as a few others I’ve not mentioned here, raise serious doubts about the future of quantum computing. There is a tremendous gap between the rudimentary but very hard experiments that have been carried out with a few qubits and the extremely developed quantum-computing theory, which relies on manipulating thousands to millions of qubits to calculate anything useful. That gap is not likely to be closed anytime soon.[/quote]

[URL="https://www.nbcnews.com/better/lifestyle/musicologist-explains-science-behind-your-taste-music-ncna1018336"]A musicologist explains the science behind your taste in music[/URL]

[URL="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ruthumoh/2019/06/10/how-google-is-using-ai-to-make-voice-recognition-work-for-the-disabled/#442458b3c3e9"]How Google Is Using AI To Make Voice Recognition Work For People With Disabilities[/URL]

[URL="http://bcs.mit.edu/news-events/news/neurons’-“antennae”-are-unexpectedly-active-neural-computation"]Neurons’ “antennae” are unexpectedly active in neural computation[/URL]

[URL="https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/probing-the-intimacies-of-atom-to-atom-contact"]Probing the intimacies of atom-to-atom contact[/URL]

[URL="https://phys.org/news/2019-06-mysterious-majorana-quasiparticle-closer-quantum.html"]Mysterious Majorana quasiparticle is now closer to being controlled for quantum computing[/URL]

[URL="https://www.quantamagazine.org/mathematician-disproves-hedetniemis-graph-theory-conjecture-20190617/"]A 53-Year-Old Network Coloring Conjecture Is Disproved[/URL]

[URL="https://techxplore.com/news/2019-06-artificial-intelligence-nerve-cells.html"]Artificial intelligence learns to recognize nerve cells by their appearance[/URL]

[URL="http://money.com/money/longform/theres-a-treasure-chest-worth-millions-hidden-somewhere-in-the-rocky-mountains-these-searchers-are-dedicating-their-lives-and-savings-to-finding-it/"]There's a Treasure Chest Worth Millions Hidden Somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. These Searchers Are Dedicating Their Lives and Savings to Finding It[/URL]

[URL="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/surprising-artistry-of-fruit-stickers"]The Surprising, Overlooked Artistry of Fruit Stickers[/URL]

[URL="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/06/t-rex-had-amazing-sense-of-small-genes-reveal-dinosaurs-olfaction/"]T. rex had an amazing sense of smell, gene study suggests[/URL]

[URL="http://www.openculture.com/2019/06/leonardo-da-vincis-huge-notebook-collections-the-codex-forster-now-digitized-in-high-resolution.html"]Leonardo da Vinci’s Huge Notebook Collections, the Codex Forster, Now Digitized in High-Resolution: Explore Them Online[/URL]

[URL="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/06/10/730611589/a-musical-brain-may-help-us-understand-language-and-appreciate-tchaikovsky"]A Musical Brain May Help Us Understand Language And Appreciate Tchaikovsky[/URL]

[URL="https://www.quantamagazine.org/amie-wilkinsons-only-constant-is-change-20190613/"]A Mathematician Whose Only Constant Is Change[/URL]

[URL="http://fortune.com/2019/06/11/robots-artificial-intelligence-japan/"]The Next Generation of Robots Will Be Powered By Artificial Intelligence: Eye on A.I.[/URL]

[URL="https://daily.jstor.org/the-seal-that-flew-1000-miles-to-get-home/?"]The Seal That Flew 1000 Miles To Get Home[/URL]

[URL="https://www.npr.org/2019/06/10/731284296/50-years-young-how-the-music-of-sesame-street-keeps-up-with-the-times"]50 Years Young: How The Music Of 'Sesame Street' Keeps Up With The Times[/URL]

[URL="https://getpocket.com/explore/item/does-scrabble-need-to-be-fixed"]Does Scrabble Need To Be Fixed?[/URL]

[url]https://link.aps.org/accepted/10.1103/RevModPhys.90.025008[/url]

[url]https://phys.org/news/2018-12-gravity-mathematically-dynamics-subatomic-particles.html[/url]

[url]https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.231302[/url]

[url]https://www.quantamagazine.org/quantum-physicists-attack-the-riemann-hypothesis-20170404/[/url]

This last article lists a few people who have written papers expanding upon this theme. There are some questions regarding the validity of this speculated equivalence but it is an interesting tack.

There are some very impressive images here [url]http://chara.gsu.edu/astronomers/science-highlights/55-eclipsing-binaries[/url]

[URL="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/our-brain-uses-a-not-so-instant-replay-to-make-decisions/"]Our Brain Uses a Not-So-Instant Replay to Make Decisions[/URL]

[URL="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/26/science/robot-insect-flight-engineering.html"]Unleashed, Robo-Insect Takes Flight[/URL]

[URL="https://www.rit.edu/news/new-evidence-shows-crash-antlia-2-gave-milky-way-ripples-its-outer-disc"]New evidence shows crash with Antlia 2 gave the Milky Way the ripples in its outer disc[/URL]

[URL="https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-06-deciphering-brain-encodes.html"]Deciphering how the brain encodes color and shape[/URL]

[URL="https://neurosciencenews.com/speech-processing-14316/"]Unraveling mechanisms of speech processing in the brain[/URL]

[URL="https://daily.jstor.org/a-grain-of-solar-made-sea-salt/?utm_term=A%20Grain%20of%20Solar-Made%20Sea%20Salt&utm_campaign=jstordaily_06272019&utm_content=email&utm_source=Act-On+Software&utm_medium=email"]A Grain of Solar-Made Sea Salt[/URL]

[URL="https://www.fastcompany.com/90368723/dramatic-scene-apollo-13-return-to-earth-that-you-wont-see-in-tom-hanks-movie"]The dramatic scene of Apollo 13’s return to Earth that you won’t see in the Tom Hanks movie[/URL]

[url=https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-48824181]Scientists 'speechless' at Arctic fox's epic trek[/url] - BBC News: [i]A young Arctic fox has walked across the ice from Norway's Svalbard islands to northern Canada in an epic journey, covering 3,506 km (2,176 miles) in 76 days.[/i]

Ignorance is bliss...
 

This [url=https://www.nass.usda.gov/Newsroom/Notices/2019/07-01-2019.php]Agricultural Statistics Board Notice[/url] might be of interest: [quote]The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will not collect quarterly data this July for the annual Honey Bee Colonies report, which is still scheduled for release Aug. 1 at 3 p.m. ET. The report will contain data from Jan. 1, 2018 to April 1, 2019. The Honey Bee Colonies report allows the USDA, beekeepers, and other interested parties to compare quarterly losses, additions, and movements and to analyze the data on a state-by-state basis.

Before deciding to suspend data collection, NASS reviewed its estimating programs against mission- and user-based criteria as well as the amount of time remaining in the fiscal year to meet its budget and program requirements while maintaining the strongest data in service to U.S. agriculture. The decision to suspend data collection was not made lightly but was necessary given available fiscal and program resources. NASS will continue to review its federal agricultural statistical programs using the same criteria to ensure timely, accurate, and useful statistics.[/quote]

Very interesting article in Nature, Oscillations of the baseline of solar magnetic field and solar irradiance on a millennial timescale:

[URL="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-45584-3"]https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-45584-3[/URL]

From the Abstract:

[CODE]These oscillations of the baseline solar magnetic field are found associated with a
long-term solar inertial motion about the barycenter of the solar system and closely
linked to an increase of solar irradiance and terrestrial temperature in the past two
centuries. This trend is anticipated to continue in the next six centuries that can
lead to a further natural increase of the terrestrial temperature by more
than 2.5 °C by 2600[A.D.].[/CODE]

[URL="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/02/magazine/dead-pig-brains-reanimation.html"]Scientists Are Giving Dead Brains New Life. What Could Go Wrong?[/URL]

[URL="https://daily.jstor.org/art-is-good-for-your-brain/?"]Art Is Good for Your Brain[/URL]

[URL="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/historic-moon-maps-astronomy-exhibit"]See How the Moon Has Been Mapped Through Time[/URL]

[URL="https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/are-we-living-simulated-universe-here-s-what-scientists-say-ncna1026916"]SCIENCE
Are we living in a simulated universe? Here's what scientists say.[/URL]

[URL="https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/b09004/seeking-the-essence-of-the-novel-a-short-history-of-meiji-literature.html"]Seeking the Essence of the Novel: A Short History of Meiji Literature[/URL]

[URL="https://www.washington.edu/news/2019/07/01/play-a-video-game-using-only-your-mind/"]How you and your friends can play a video game together using only your minds[/URL]

[URL="https://kottke.org/19/06/emma-willard-americas-first-female-mapmaker"]Emma Willard, America’s First Female Mapmaker[/URL]

[URL="https://bigthink.com/mind-brain/brain-intelligence"]Where does intelligence reside in the brain?[/URL]

[QUOTE=rogue;521237][URL="https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/are-we-living-simulated-universe-here-s-what-scientists-say-ncna1026916"]Are we living in a simulated universe? Here's what scientists say.[/URL][/QUOTE]I think there is an unstated assumption in that article that the "creator" (whatever it is, god, or a computer programmer, whatever) is following and watching [i]us[/i]. That we are somehow the showcase item in the universe for those running the simulation to focus upon.

But I see no particular reason that any creator (whatever it is, or if it exists) would necessarily even be interested in what is happening within. Perhaps is it just a program still in the start-up phase that has become corrupt, and soon the operator will get the error 0xc0000005. Thus they have no knowledge, or concern, about what the rogue code is doing, any more then we can know what all the bits in our computers RAM represent and any given time.