Infinity in the real world: Does space go on forever?

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MacGregor Campbell, consultant






It's an existential question most of us have probably pondered at some point: is space infinite? It's tricky to answer because there's not just one kind of infinity to consider. Even if the universe goes on forever, it may not be infinitely large. It could be bounded like the surface of the Earth, allowing you to travel indefinitely without ever finding an edge.








In this animation, we try to determine the size of space, and whether it could be never-ending.
Although infinity is easy to imagine mathematically, in the real world it's harder to pin down. Perhaps the universe is just really big but has a finite size. And if it has an upwards limit, what about the opposite: can it contain things that are infinitely small? Is there a smallest possible length?



If you enjoyed this video, check out our previous animations that tackle, for example, the true nature of reality, or why there's no such thing as nothing.




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BP banned from US government contracts

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WASHINGTON: British oil giant BP was banned from US government contracts on Wednesday after pleading guilty to criminal charges stemming from the deadly 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.

Two weeks after agreeing to pay $4.5 billion to settle Justice Department charges in the case, the US Environmental Protection Agency ordered BP temporarily blocked from contracts until it can prove it meets US government business standards.

"EPA is taking this action due to BP's lack of business integrity as demonstrated by the company's conduct with regard to the Deepwater Horizon blowout, explosion, oil spill, and response," the agency said.

The EPA cited BP's admission of guilt on November 15 to 11 counts of manslaughter, one count of felony obstruction of Congress and two environmental violations arising from the April 20, 2010 well blowout, which caused the worst ecological disaster in US history.

The blowout and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform left 11 people dead and spewed some 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over 87 days, blackening beaches in five states.

The EPA said the ban on BP and affiliates from receiving federal contracts will continue "until the company can provide sufficient evidence to EPA demonstrating that it meets federal business standards."

The November 15 deal settled most but not all federal criminal charges against the company.

Two of the British energy giant's on-board supervisors still face involuntary manslaughter, and a former BP executive is also charged with obstruction of justice for lying about how much oil was gushing out of the runaway well.

Announcing the settlement, US Attorney General Eric Holder warned that BP's legal troubles were far from over, saying: "Our criminal investigation remains ongoing - and we'll continue to follow all credible leads and pursue any charges that are warranted."

He also said that the Justice Department had yet to resolve a civil case on environmental fines which could amount to as much as $18 billion.

"We're looking forward to the trial - which is scheduled to begin in February of next year - in which we intend to prove that BP was grossly negligent in causing the oil spill," Holder told a press conference.

BP has signalled it will continue to aggressively pursue damages from rig operator Transocean and well operations subcontractor Halliburton, which BP blames for faulty work leading up to the blowout.

- AFP/de



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Kudos Audio's apartment-friendly tiny towers

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I don't know how I missed Kudos Audio before, but the company has been in business for more than 20 years. When I heard Kudos' little X2 speaker at Sound by Singer in NYC I knew it was a serious high-end contender, but one that can easily fit in the most cramped apartments. Andrew Singer knows his market, and even fairly wealthy New Yorkers live in small spaces. The X2 is a mere 31 inches high, unusually petite for a tower speaker.



The Kudos Audio X2 towers



(Credit:
Kudos Audio)



Though the speakers are made in England, the X2's 6-inch woofer and 1-inch tweeter are manufactured exclusively for Kudos by Norwegian driver specialist SEAS and were designed for use in the X2. I didn't see a bass port on the speakers' front or rear panels, but Singer told me the port is on the bottom of the speaker, which rests on a dedicated stand included with the X2. Bass is nicely fleshed out, so there's no need to add a separate subwoofer.



The high-density fiberboard-constructed cabinet, specifically chosen for its acoustic properties, is carefully tuned to minimize cabinet resonance. Rap your knuckles against the side of the cabinet, and you'll see this is one rock-solid design. The X2 is beautifully finished with real cherry, walnut, "rosenut," and maple veneers; build and sound quality are definitely commensurate with the $2,690-per-pair M.S.R.P.


The X2s' sound made a powerful first impression, but as I listened I was totally caught up in the music. The lively dynamics are remarkable for a speaker of this size; the X2 is a welcome alternative to more massive audiophile speakers that will never be a comfortable fit in an apartment.


If you're in or near New York City, come listen to the X2 at Sound by Singer. Kudos speakers are distributed in the U.S. by Fidelis AV, and it has dealers in Rochester, N.Y.; Detroit; St. Louis; West Palm Beach, Fla.; Austin, Texas; Denver; L.A.; San Francisco; and Seattle.


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Pictures: Falcon Massacre Uncovered in India

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Photograph courtesy Conservation India

A young boy can sell bundles of fresh Amur falcons (pictured) for less than five dollars. Still, when multiplied by the thousands of falcons hunters can catch in a day, the practice can be a considerable financial boon to these groups.

Since discovering the extent of Amur hunting in Nagaland this fall, Conservation India has taken the issue to the local Indian authorities.

"They have taken it very well. They've not been defensive," Sreenivasan said.

"You're not dealing with national property, you're dealing with international property, which helped us put pressure on [them]." (Related: "Asia's Wildlife Trade.")

According to Conservation India, the same day the group filed their report with the government, a fresh order banning Amur hunting was issued. Local officials also began meeting with village leaders, seizing traps and confiscating birds. The national government has also requested an end to the hunting.

Much remains to be done, but because the hunt is so regional, Sreenivasan hopes it can eventually be contained and stamped out. Authorities there, he said, are planning a more thorough investigation next year, with officials observing, patrolling, and enforcing the law.

"This is part of India where there is some amount of acceptance on traditional bush hunting," he added. "But at some point, you draw the line."

(Related: "Bush-Meat Ban Would Devastate Africa's Animals, Poor?")

Published November 27, 2012

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Susan Rice Made Allies, Enemies Before Benghazi

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United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, on Capitol Hill this week answering questions about her role after the U.S. consulate attack in Benghazi, has become yet another player in the divide between the left and right, with her possible nomination as the next Secretary of State hanging in the balance.


But who was Susan Rice before she told ABC's "This Week" and other Sunday morning shows the attack was a spontaneous response to an anti-Islam film and not a premeditated act of terror? Four Americans died in the September attack.


Unlike many in government, Rice holds a rare claim to Washington, D.C.: she's a local. She hails from a prominent family with deep ties to the Democratic Party. She was born Nov. 17, 1964 to Emmett Rice, a deputy director at the Treasury Department who served as a member of Jimmy Carter's Federal Reserve board, and Lois Dickson Rice, a former program officer at the Ford Foundation who is now a higher education expert at the Brookings Institution.








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As a high school student at the all-girl National Cathedral School in Washington, Rice was known as an overachiever; valedictorian, star athlete and class president. After graduating high school in 1982, she went on to study history at Stanford, where she graduated as a Truman scholar and junior Phi Beta Kappa. Rice also attended Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.


The family has roots in Maine. In an interview with the Portland Press Herald in 2008, Lois Dickson Rice said that she held the same high expectations for her children as her mother had held for her. According to the paper, Ambassador Rice's drive to achieve spanned generations. Her maternal grandmother, an immigrant from Jamaica, was named Maine State Mother of the Year in 1950. Rice's father was only the second African-American man to be chosen for the Federal Reserve board.


Two years out of Stanford, Rice joined Massachusetts Democrat Michael Dukakis as a foreign policy aide during his 1988 run for president. After his defeat, Rice tried her hand in the private sector, where she went on to work as a management consultant with McKinsey and Company. After President Clinton's election in 1992, she joined Clinton's National Security Council, eventually joining her mentor, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. She served as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.


A profile of the diplomat from Stanford paints the Rices and Albrights as old family friends.


"The Rice and Albright kids went to school together and shared meals at Hamburger Hamlet," Stanford Magazine reported in 2000.




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Grapefruit makes drugs pack a stronger punch

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A healthy breakfast of half a grapefruit? Not advisable if you are taking certain prescription drugs – the interaction with the fruit could result in an inadvertent overdose.












To find out the extent of the effect, David Bailey of the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, reviewed the literature and prescribing information of various drugs for any mention of a reaction. He found that of the 85 drugs known to interact with grapefruit, 43 can result in severe adverse effects. The number has increased by 24 per cent since 2008 because new drugs have come onto the market.












Chemicals in the fruit destroy an enzyme in the body that normally breaks down substances such as drugs. That means the drug keeps circulating in the body, which can lead to overdose. A glass of the juice is enough, even if drunk hours before taking a drug, says Bailey.












The most serious adverse effect is a condition known as torsade de pointes, which can cause cardiac arrest and death. It can occur if you mix grapefruit and anticancer drugs.












"Care should definitely be taken with certain drugs," says Bill Widmer of the US Horticultural Research Laboratory in Fort Piece, Florida, but he adds that there are people who "believe the problem is overstated".












Journal reference: Canadian Medical Association Journal, DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.120951




















































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Govt to offer steady supply of residential land in 2013: analysts

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SINGAPORE: The government is expected to offer a steady supply of land for residential developments in the first half of 2013.

Property-watchers said the sites offered this year have seen strong interest from developers, pushing land prices up by an average of some 10 per cent on-year.

To meet demand, the government has ramped up its land sales programme this year.

For both the first and the second half of 2012, it offered sites which could yield more than 14,000 private homes.

Of those, about half were placed under the Confirmed List, and the remaining under the Reserve List.

Analysts said the demand has been strong, with an average of 6 to 8 bids per site for land plots costing above S$200 million.

New land supply is expected to be on tap in the first six months of 2013 as well.

Nicholas Mak, executive director of SLP International Property, said: "The government is likely to offer about the same number of development sites on the Confirmed List with about another 12 to 15 other development sites on the Reserve List.

"The number of private homes that can be potentially be developed on these Confirmed List sites will probably be 6,500 to 7,500."

Under the Reserve List system, a site will only be put up for tender if the developer's minimum bid price is acceptable to the government.

Analysts said there will likely be sites for more executive condominiums, private homes and mixed developments.

Some of these sites could be in Woodlands, Jurong Lakeside and the north-eastern part of the island.

Chua Yang Liang, head of research at Jones Lang LaSalle, said: "Your Punggol, Sengkang belt coming down downtown, that area is likely to see significant proportion of overall sales, and the state will continue to use the sale programme to drive urbanisation in these areas."

Some analysts said the price gap between land prices under the government land sales programme and collective sales has narrowed somewhat this year and it could spur more activity in the enbloc sales market in 2013.

Donald Han, special advisor at HSR, said: "The pace of price increase that we saw, about 10 to 15 percent in the last 12 months for just government land sales of sites.

"That narrowing factor would moved some developers from GLS market to look at collective sale market.

"(Developers could look into the collective en bloc sale) as a purpose of land banking, rather than the GLS (which is) more for immediate turnaround, and sell into the market place)."

Analysts expect prices for government land to continue to increase, but at a slower pace next year.

- CNA/lp



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iPhone 5 helps iOS retake smartphone market from Android in Q3

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The
iPhone 5 has proved to be a major factor in
Android's battle with Apple's iOS.


According to new data published today by research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, iOS was able to nab 48.1 percent of the U.S. smartphone market during the 12-week period ended October 28, just beating out Android's 46.7 percent share.


However, elsewhere around the world, iOS isn't nearly as popular. According to the research firm, Android was running on 73.9 percent of all smartphones purchased in Germany during the same period. Android took 81.7 percent of Spain's smartphone market.



Apple's success during the 12-week period came byway of the iPhone 5, Kantar said. The company noted that the last time iOS led Android in its studies was when the
iPhone 4S hit store shelves last year. iOS held on to the top spot for three consecutive periods before eventually giving ground to Android.

Apple launched the iPhone 5 in late-September, giving it only one month to affect the Kantar survey. Kantar didn't say how many iPhone 5 units Apple sold during the period, but the company noted that 62 percent of iPhone 5 buyers in the U.S. already owned an iPhone. The research firm found that 13 percent of Android owners switched to the iPhone, compared to 6 percent of BlackBerry device owners.

Apple has benefited most from customer loyalty. According to Kantar, 92 percent of those who own an iPhone will upgrade to another Apple smartphone when they can.

Kantar's study comes just a few weeks after research firm IDC offered up its own evaluation of the smartphone market during the third quarter. That company found that Android owned 75 percent of the worldwide smartphone market, leaving just 14.9 percent to iOS.

(Via Patently Apple)

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Space Pictures This Week: Space "Horse," Mars Rover, More

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Record Powerball Jackpot to Grow Even Bigger

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The jackpot for Wednesday's Powerball drawing now stands at $425 million -- the richest Powerball pot ever -- and it's likely to get even sweeter.


"Back in January, we moved Powerball from being a $1 game to $2," says Mary Neubauer, a spokeswoman for the Iowa lottery. "We thought at the time that this would mean bigger and faster-growing jackpots."


It's proved true. The total, she says, "has been taking huge jumps -- another $100 million since Saturday." (The most recent drawing, on Saturday night, produced no winning numbers.)


Until now, the biggest Powerball pot on record -- $365 million -- was won in 2006 by eight Lincoln, Neb., co-workers.


In Photos: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners


Lottery officials in Iowa, where Powerball is headquartered, have started getting phone calls from all around the world. "When it gets this big," says Neubauer, "we start getting inquiries from Canada and Europe from people wanting to know if they can buy a ticket. They ask if they can FedEx us the money."






Don Smith/The Record (Bergen County)/AP Photo











Powerball Drawing No Winner; Jackpot Grows to $425 Million Watch Video









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The answer she has to give them, she says, is: "Sorry, no. You have to buy a ticket in a member state from a licensed retail location."


About 80 percent of players don't choose their own Powerball number, opting instead for a computer-generated one.


Asked if there's anything players can do to improve their odds of winning, Neubauer says no -- apart from buying a ticket, of course.


Lottery officials put the odds of winning Wednesday's Powerball pot at one in 175 million, meaning you are 25 times more likely to win an Academy Award.


Skip Garibaldi, a professor of mathematics at Emory University in Atlanta, provides additional perspective: You are three times more likely to die from a falling coconut, he says; seven times more likely to die from fireworks, "and way more likely to die from flesh-eating bacteria" (115 fatalities a year) than you are to win the Powerball lottery.


Segueing, then, from death to life, Garibaldi notes that even the best physicians, equipped with the most up-to-date equipment, can't predict the timing of a child's birth with much accuracy.


"But let's suppose, however, that your doctor managed to predict the day, the hour, the minute and the second your baby would be born," Garibaldi says. The doctor's uncanny prediction would be "at least 100 times" more likely than your winning Wednesday.


Even though he knows the odds all too well, Garibaldi says he'll usually play the lottery. "When it gets this big, I'll buy a couple of tickets. It's kind of exciting. You get this feeling of anticipation. You get to think about the fantasy."


So will he be purchasing two tickets for Wednesday's Powerball? "I can't," he tells ABC News. "I'm in California" -- one of eight states that doesn't offer Powerball.



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