Universal discovery

Gravity; the one thing in this universe that everyone could once upon a time agree, was a constant. 

Not anymore. 

Because you see, if our understanding of gravity were correct, the rate of expansion of the universe following the big bang should be slowing down as time goes on. But it is not slowing down. It is accelerating, increasingly. 

This has recently been proved by three American astronomers, warranting them winners of last year's Nobel-Prize in physics. Their observations of the phenomena of supernovae (exploding stars) indicated that the rate of universe expansion is indeed continually accelerating. 

Above: Adam G. Riess, Saul Perlmutter and Brian P Schmidt - 2011 Physics Nobel Prize winners.

And the culprit causing this strange universal acceleration? Physicists suspect it is the mysterious force appropriately named dark energy.

So, what might be the long term effects of this discovery mean for the human race? 

These questions are ones that American scientists have longed to be able to answer for some time now - an answer which could lie with a further understanding of the complex concept of dark energy. However it appears the American's have been too late in launching their investigations into dark energy - the Europeans are already on it. They plan to launch a spacecraft known as Euclid on a mission to investigate dark energy in 2019.
Euclid means overall positive things for the global science/astrophysics community, however, many American researchers are upset about having to take the backseat on a project where the initial discovery was theirs. While I understand their anguish, given that the implications of this discovery are literally universal, it might be time for the American's to swallow their pride, and just be glad that progress is being made. 

Further investigations into the implications of dark energy will give our race a greater understanding of the nature of the universe, and will help us to further understand the possibilities of multiple universes existing alongside ours.

The frontier science around dark energy is rapidly evolving, and holds incredibly exciting prospects for the human race in the near future. 

Click here to read the full NY Times article.