It sounds wild. But the idea that we live in a multiverse — a cosmos where an infinite number of universes exist beside our own — is no longer confined to science fiction. It’s a respectable theory among scientists, so much so that some are on the hunt for proof of a nearby universe.
Now, scientists might be one step closer. A study recently submitted to “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society” actually places the multiverse theory on firmer ground. Ruari Mackenzie, a graduate student at England’s University of Durham, took a deeper look at a region in the sky that’s so frigid and so large that most scientists don’t think it can be a statistical fluke. Instead, some astronomers think this so-called “cold spot” is an optical illusion produced by a lack of intervening galaxies. But Mackenzie and his colleagues found that those galaxies are no less dense than anywhere else in the universe, disproving that theory.
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The belief that there might be an infinite number of universes is no longer confined to science fiction. | Victor De Schwanberg | Science Photo Library/Getty Images
For the first time ever, scientists have captured a single DNA molecule replicating on video — and it’s changing the way we think about the entire process. One of the most surprising findings is how much randomness characterizes the process.
“It’s a different way of thinking about replication that raises new questions,” Stephen Kowalczykowski, molecular genetics professor at University of California, Davis, said in a press release. “It’s a real paradigm shift, and undermines a great deal of what’s in the textbooks.”
The researchers watched replicating DNA from E. coli bacteria. The first step in the process always sees the double helix “unzipping” into two strands — a “leading strand” and a “lagging strand.” Each of these become a template for a new strand that is made to match it, leaving two complete DNA molecules when the process has reached the end. The researchers wanted to measure how fast the enzyme machinery moving along the different strands in opposite directions worked.
When a bullet pierces flesh, it ripples through the tissue in a chaotic fury. It will inevitably shred nerves, blood vessels and muscle. It might fracture bone. Deposit in an organ. Or zip out through another body part, leaving blood to ooze from the open pit.
Sometimes, the bullet carves a fatal path: About 36,000 Americans were killed by a firearm in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The majority of those deaths — almost two-thirds — were the result of suicide and involved mostly men 45 and older taking their own lives. Another third of deaths were linked to homicides, while the remaining sliver involved accidental shootings.
Most often, however, the bullet fails to kill: In 2015, nearly 85,000 people who were treated in emergency rooms survived. For those gunshot victims, their wounds were likely non-life-threatening — in either the legs or arms, National Institutes of Health data show. A smaller percentage of assaults or accidental shootings involved getting struck in the head or neck, with only about one-third of those victims surviving long enough to reach a hospital.
For centuries, modern science has been shrinking the gap between humans and the rest of the universe, from Isaac Newton showing that one set of laws applies equally to falling apples and orbiting moons to Carl Sagan intoning that “we are made of star stuff” — that the atoms of our bodies were literally forged in the nuclear furnaces of other stars.
Even in that context, Gregory Matloff’s ideas are shocking. The veteran physicist at New York City College of Technology recently published a paper arguing that humans may be like the rest of the universe in substance and in spirit. A “proto-consciousness field” could extend through all of space, he argues. Stars may be thinking entities that deliberately control their paths. Put more bluntly, the entire cosmos may be self-aware.
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Physicist Gregory Matloff argues that a “proto-consciousness field” could extend through all of space. | NASA via Reuters
President Donald Trump appeared to confirm in a tweet on Friday that he is under investigation for firing former FBI Director James Comey and blamed what he called a “Witch Hunt” on “the man who told me to fire” Comey — a possible reference to the deputy attorney general.
“I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt,” Trump tweeted. NBC News has reported that federal investigators are examining whether the president attempted to obstruct justice.
A gunman in a UPS uniform killed three people and wounded two others before turning his weapon on himself as police approached at a company facility in San Francisco early Wednesday, authorities said.
The San Francisco Police Department said three people were killed and the suspect was dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Two others were wounded.
Assistant Chief Toney Chaplin said at a press conference Wednesday that officers responded to a call of several people shot at the UPS facility at around 8:55 a.m. local time (11:55 a.m. ET).
. UPS workers gather outside after a reported shooting at a UPS warehouse and customer service center in San Francisco on June 14, 2017. Eric Risberg / AP
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and three other people were wounded Wednesday morning when a gunman opened fire on members of the Republican congressional baseball team as they were practicing on a field in Alexandria, Virginia.
The gunman, James T. Hodgkinson, was then shot by police and later died of his wounds.
Scalise was standing at second base when the shooting erupted and he was hit in the left hip, witnesses said. He managed to drag himself into the outfield amid all the shooting and was later rushed back across the river to a Washington, D.C. hospital.
After undergoing emergency surgery, Scalise was in critical but stable condition, a spokesman for MedStar Washington Hospital Center said.
. James Hodgkinson of Belleville protests outside of the United States Post Office in Downtown Belleville, Illinois on April 17, 2012. Derik Holtmann / AP
And they did it in style, with 19,596 souls at sold-out Oracle Arena spending the fourth quarter standing and staring and screaming.
The Warriors, considered by many as a Super Team, derided by some as Super Villains, are Super Champions.
With Kevin Durant scoring a team-high 39 points and Stephen Curry tossing in 34, the Warriors outlasted a resilient Cavaliers team 129-120 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals Monday night to win their second title in three years.
Andre Iguodala fired in 20 points off the bench, Klay Thompson had 11 and Draymond Green added 10, along with a team-high 11 rebounds as the Warriors concluded the postseason at 16-1, the highest postseason win percentage in NBA history.
A nationwide manhunt is underway for two Georgia inmates who allegedly shot and killed two correctional officers before escaping in a Honda Civic early Tuesday, according to police.
Donnie Russell Rowe, 43, and Ricky Dubose, 24, allegedly overpowered two state correctional officers who were driving a bus transporting inmates, officials said during a press conference. Police said the fugitives then allegedly carjacked a “grass green” four-door Honda Civic and fled the scene.
The bus was on Georgia Highway 16 between Eatonton and Sparta, about 75 miles south of Atlanta.
The Georgia Department of Corrections later identified officers Christopher Monica, 42, and Curtis Billue, 58, as the two officers who were shot and killed. Monica had been with the force for more than seven years and Billue had served for nearly a decade, according to police.
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Escaped inmates Ricky Dubose, left, and Donnie Russell Rowe. Georgia Dept. of Corretions
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor after a tearful one-hour trial.
In a statement, the State Department said Warmbier was “en route to the U.S. where he will be reunited with his family,” adding it would have no further comment on his case, citing privacy concerns.
It said the department “continues to have discussions with [North Korea] regarding the three other American citizens who are detained.”
Warmbier’s parents told the Washington Post and the Associated Press that he was medically evacuated from the isolated nation in a coma. NBC News has attempted to reach Warmbier’s parents to confirm those reports. The student was evacuated via U.S. military base in Sapporo, Japan, the Post reported.
. Otto Warmbier is put in front of reporters in Pyongyang ahead of his conviction. Kim Kwang Hyon / AP file
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The belief that there might be an infinite number of universes is no longer confined to science fiction. | Victor De Schwanberg | Science Photo Library/Getty Images 
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Physicist Gregory Matloff argues that a “proto-consciousness field” could extend through all of space.
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James' World 2 