Dark Energy Wins Again

dark energy is really getting a high profile these days. the 2007 gruber cosmology prize was just awarded to the two teams that discovered the presence of dark energy in 1998: saul perlmutter (the supernova cosmology project) and brian schmidt (the high-z supernova search team). wonderful news. read more here. now, if we could just figure out what dark energy actually is, we'd be even better off. most recent suggestion, made by brian greene and janna levin, is that dark energy is lurking in hidden dimensions. if someone understands what that means and can explain it to me, please send me an email and we'll chitchat.

The Search for Dark Energy

may's issue of symmetry magazine is a joy to read, it's got lots of good stuff, including a nice article about the search for dark energy (my current research area) and a nice stringy article featuring a debate between brian greene and lawrence krauss. always entertaining, those two. and, with cartoons by new yorker cartoonist roz chast, there's even something for those who refuse to read. (image credit: symmetry magazine)

The Expanding Universe

a nice article in the ny times about the expanding universe and the inherent limitations of our observations of it.

Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the State of Cosmology

here is a very nice article from the nytimes about the current state of cosmology in its search for dark matter and dark energy. the university of chicago is nicely represented in the article, as it features michael turner, juan collar, josh frieman, and (as always) sean carroll (who is now at caltech). (image credit: here)