"Published by the American Physical Society, the survey queried over 1,600 experts from disciplines ranging from astrophysics to particle physics, along with a chunk of respondents who identified as "science enthusiasts." The results showed that there're still quite a few strikingly differing opinions on the standard model of cosmology, the scientific culmination of our understanding of our physical world which describes the origins of our universe and how it functions on a grand scale today."
""I think the most surprising finding was the gap between the public perception of scientific consensus and what scientists actually said when asked," coauthor of the survey Niayesh Afshordi at the University of Waterloo in Canada and the Perimeter Institute told Gizmodo. "Ideas often presented as the standard view, such as inflation, string theory, particle dark matter, or a constant dark energy, did not command overwhelming support.""
"The closest thing to a consensus came from the question "What is the Big Bang?" to which 68 percent said it was a "hot dense state - which may or may not correspond to a beginning of time." But the flip side of that was revealing: just 20 percent answered that it was the "absolute beginning of time with a singularity at its start.""
"There was even more disagreement over dark matter, a hypothetical substance that we can see the gravitational fingerprints of everywhere and which appears to make up 80 percent of the mass in the universe, but which we are yet to prove exists because it's invisible to all forms of direct detection. It's an essential part of the standard model, but it doesn't elucidate what dark matter is. Naturally, opinions differ, with only 10 percent holding"
A large physics survey queried over 1,600 experts across astrophysics and particle physics, plus some science enthusiasts. Results showed wide variation in views about the standard model of cosmology, including how the universe began and how it operates on large scales. The survey found a gap between public expectations of scientific consensus and the range of opinions held by scientists. Inflation, string theory, particle dark matter, and constant dark energy did not receive overwhelming support. The closest consensus appeared for the definition of the Big Bang, with most describing it as a hot dense state that may or may not mark the beginning of time. Dark matter produced even stronger disagreement because it is inferred from gravity but not directly detected.
Read at Futurism
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]