what alcohol can tell us about the fate of the universe
December 19, 2012  particle decay at the lhc  Once upon a time,
we looked at an explanation for dark matter involving a theory
about how all matter around us could decay over 6.6 × 10^33
years and noted that there’s a controversy as to whether protons
actually decay. To help settle this, astronomers took advantage
of the fact that telescopes are relativistic time machines, and
peered through them at a galaxy known as PKS 1830-211 — a name
only a scientist could love — that just so happens to be a
gravitational lens allowing us to see some 7 billion years back.
To be a bit more precise, it lets us look at clouds of alcohol
molecules formed eons ago in deep space and compare their
spectrum to that of booze analyzed in a lab right here on Earth.
Don’t worry, no hard liquor was harmed in the process as the
alcohol in question is methanol, the kind used in fuel and
manufacturing, and which causes blindness if ingested, not the
ethanol in which we can indulge