Be happy......

Ravija Badarinathi (ravij@UNCWIL.EDU)
Thu, 19 Feb 1998 09:18:42 -0500 (EST)

Universe will never die, says Nobel laureate

New Delhi: Unlike Big Bang, the giant explosion about 18 billion
years ago when the universe began, there will be no big crunch in
future when universe will shrink to an abrupt end. Instead, it
would go on expanding till a steady state arrived, said Nobel
laureate physicist Rudlof Ludwig Mossbauer. Nature is designed in
such a way the total mass of the universe is just the same as
required for maintaining the expansion for a long period before a
steady state is attained, Mossbauer, who was in the capital
recently, said.

The physicist who got the Nobel prize in 1961 for the famous
"Mossbauer Effect" that has immense applications in solid state
physics, is currently busy deciphering a mystery of the universe
associated with a bizarre sub-atomic particle called Neutrino.
Neutrino, predicted in the '30s and discovered in the '50s by
Clyde Cowen and Fredrick Reines, still remains a spooky particle
as physicists are yet to find its mass and other properties. A
significant decrease in the detection of Neutrinos emanated from
the sun and an astronomical object called Dark Matter are the two
riddles that has been puzzling scientists over a long period.

As the visible mass of the universe is only a tiny fraction of
its calculated total mass, cosmologists presume that invisible
but abundant Dark Matter are responsible for the undiscovered
mass. According to some physicists Dark Matter may consist of
Neutrinos although there is no experimental evidence. Mr
Mossbauer, however, said that success of his present experiments
may cast newer insight into the composition pattern of the Dark

Dear ASA members,

I just got this from a friend and thought to share it with you. The phase
"Nature is designed in such a way the total mass of the universe is....." is
interesting perhaps even telling.