- Email: [email protected]
New Review 2007: In a universe far, far away
NASA/ESA/A. ALOISI (SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE INSTITUTE & ESA)
2007–
Here are some of the year’s highlights you probably didn’t hear about. A giant swarm of honeybees emerged from a void in space, and the head of the Dolphin Party ordered a satellite shot down because it was humming far too loudly for the delicate ears of their dolphin subjects. Meanwhile, US president Al Gore won prizes for investing in a new oil rig designed to drill through the ice sheet covering Australia’s frozen outback. OK, none of that actually happened, at least not here. But in 2007 we had to face up to the possibility that all of this and more could have played out in some parallel universe. The Many Worlds Interpretation of
www.newscientist.com
quantum mechanics was first raised 50 years ago by Hugh Everett, who wrestled with the notion that particles and atoms don’t have fixed properties until you look at them. Until particles are measured, so conventional wisdom goes, they can only be described as a “wave function” of many different states. Everett took the bold step of applying this aspect of quantum mechanics to the whole universe. In his view, every choice we make spawns parallel realities, one for each of the infinite quantum properties possible before you act. The idea was largely dismissed in Everett’s lifetime, but in September, physicist David
Deutsch at the University of Oxford and his colleagues struck a major blow for the theory. They showed that the mathematics behind parallel universes gives rise to some of quantum mechanics’ otherwise inexplicable equations – in other words, the existence of other worlds would explain a lot about the laws we already know. Bizarre as it may seem, we might have to accept that parallel worlds really do exist. So as 2007 draws to close, breathe a sigh of relief that you’re not ruled by sabre-rattling dolphins or celebrate the fact that you’ve had the best year of your life – at least in some universe. ZEEYA MERALI
22/29 December 2007 | NewScientist | 27
2007–
Here are some of the year’s highlights you probably didn’t hear about. A giant swarm of honeybees emerged from a void in space, and the head of the Dolphin Party ordered a satellite shot down because it was humming far too loudly for the delicate ears of their dolphin subjects. Meanwhile, US president Al Gore won prizes for investing in a new oil rig designed to drill through the ice sheet covering Australia’s frozen outback. OK, none of that actually happened, at least not here. But in 2007 we had to face up to the possibility that all of this and more could have played out in some parallel universe. The Many Worlds Interpretation of
www.newscientist.com
quantum mechanics was first raised 50 years ago by Hugh Everett, who wrestled with the notion that particles and atoms don’t have fixed properties until you look at them. Until particles are measured, so conventional wisdom goes, they can only be described as a “wave function” of many different states. Everett took the bold step of applying this aspect of quantum mechanics to the whole universe. In his view, every choice we make spawns parallel realities, one for each of the infinite quantum properties possible before you act. The idea was largely dismissed in Everett’s lifetime, but in September, physicist David
Deutsch at the University of Oxford and his colleagues struck a major blow for the theory. They showed that the mathematics behind parallel universes gives rise to some of quantum mechanics’ otherwise inexplicable equations – in other words, the existence of other worlds would explain a lot about the laws we already know. Bizarre as it may seem, we might have to accept that parallel worlds really do exist. So as 2007 draws to close, breathe a sigh of relief that you’re not ruled by sabre-rattling dolphins or celebrate the fact that you’ve had the best year of your life – at least in some universe. ZEEYA MERALI
22/29 December 2007 | NewScientist | 27