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So, I'm a big fan of TV shows related to the universe. I'm pretty curious about how the whole thing works. The last two shows I've been watching have been particularly awesome. I definitely recommend them if you haven't seen them. Morgan Freeman's Through the Wormhole and Everything You Know About the Universe is Wrong:

For those of you who are too lazy to go through all that, here's a quick summary of what the current standard model in astrophysics/cosmology states.

14 billion years ago there was nothing. Then, the 'Big Bang' brought everything into existence. At first, everything was pure energy which after time transformed into matter. After a few hundred thousand years, the first atoms formed. 1 billion years after, the first star was formed. Then, more stars, galaxies, us. Every atom is our bodies was created in stars.

However, something's wrong with this model. First problem is our universe has the same temperature all around, it's a smooth and uniformly-made universe. An explosion of the magnitude of the Bing Bang would've created a clumpy universe with different temperatures all around. This problem was fixed by the Theory of Inflation, which explained that at first everything was smaller for a longer time and inflated slowly like a bubble, which allowed temperature to remain the same. Then, suddenly, it dramatically expanded in size (a quadrillion quadrillion times). There's only one problem with the Theory of Inflation. No one knows what could've caused such a huge increase in size.

Second problem, from observation we've seen the ends of spiral galaxies rotate at the same speed as the inner area. This is impossible because there is not enough gravity to make them keep in rotation. Scientists solve this by adding 'dark matter' to the equation. Adding mass is a way to add gravity. Dark matter is supposedly some kind of different matter than 'normal' matter, and so can pass through solid objects and is basically non detectable. Also, if dark matter does exist there should be 5 times as much as normal mass. 

Third problem, eventually the formula says expansion should stop. However, the universe has been actually accelerating for the last 7 billion years (Google Sloan Telescope). Scientists can only explain this by adding a force to the formula. A force that is accelerating the expansion of the universe. Dark energy. No one knows what it really is. All this now fits into the Standard Model and it makes it simple to understand.

There is a new problem. People have observed there are a large number of galaxy clusters all speeding into the same direction. I'm talking about huge distances of billions of light years across. No one knows what this force is, and so now they called it dark flow. Apparently, this force could be the effects of another universe or region of space-time different than anything we know (the Theory of Inflation tends to produce an infinite number of 'pocket' universes).

Basically, that's it. Well, add black holes, supernovas, neutron stars, dwarf stars, galaxies crashing into each other, probably life in other worlds and a ton of stuff we probably haven't seen and can't imagine. For now, the Standard Model explains a lot, but it could actually be all wrong and we might be misunderstanding the universe as a whole. Whatever happens, the universe is a pretty awesome place and I shall follow new findings with lots of interest. Hopefully you made it through the blog post and agree! If you don't agree, then I don't believe you. And you are banished.

I was recently introduced to Louis CK. Man, he's funny. Next blog post, some PLO hands and personal goals for the next couple of years.