strings to atoms Some say that matter comes into existence because a little fluff of vibrating strings of energy somehow transforms spacetime into particles that gang up to form atoms. Atoms are always in motion, always organizing into molecules and then cells and then rocks and squid and so on. Atoms play endless different roles as the arrow of Time moves forward (and never backward, although some argue that the past is pulled forward by the future and not the other way around). NEXT

the ephemeral Writers about quantum physics tell us that when you get right down to it and start observing fundamental particles and measuring them, they change state from waves (non-matter) to particles (matter) and back. They argue that particles cannot be said to exist in a certain space and time until they are observed. Only humans are able to look and imagine this deeply into Everything, which might imply that humans are needed to observe Everything into existence. But we can barely see into the atomic world and less so into the particle world, and we need lots of imagination to explore...

the seamless web  Here is how the philosopher Deepak Chopra explains Everything: “In their essential state, our bodies are composed of energy and information, not solid matter. “This energy and information is an outcropping of infinite fields of energy and information spanning the universe. “Your body appears to be composed of solid matter that can be broken down into molecules and atoms, but quantum physics tells us that every atom is more than 99.9999 % empty space, and the subatomic particles moving at lightning speed through this space are actually bundles of vibrating energy. “These...

no permanent parts Until pretty recent times, there was widespread acceptance among physical scientists and even philosophers that there is a single Universe that erupted about 13.78 billion years ago, and today it contains approximately a zillion galaxies and a gazillion stars that power planets spinning around them, and at least one of those planets has life on it, and that life is entirely supported by sunlight (starlight) and all of the Universe’s parts are made up of stardust. There is also a growing acceptance among scientists and philosophers that really, we’re fundamentally talking...

cosmoses The basic story is that a system of order we call “Cosmos” contains all possible concepts and universes. But the nature of the discussion about The Cosmos includes the possibility that there are infinitely many cosmoses contained in some other infinite concept, and so on. The image above is a vision of multiple Big Bangs creating multiple universes, simultaneously and everywhere. What will we think of next? NEXT

the Mystery Some think we will gradually understand Everything and others think it is impossible more or less by definition to understand Everything. In any event, most Everything is still a mystery. There are clues but not much evidence. Imagination is much faster than Science, so the scientific evidence lag is getting pretty substantial. We aren't really talking about science any more. The Big Mystery is what came before the Big Bang. Millions of humans believe there is a mind at work, and some call that the Mind of God. Scientists tend to believe as an article of faith that there is no God,...

Cosmos big This Cosmos thing is pretty big, and so far has been proven to be bigger than any human’s brain. There is disagreement about whether “Cosmos” is a container for “Universe” or vice versa. The words are used more or less synonymously, but some scientists and philosophers believe there are multiple universes, not just the one we know, and so it’s a little clumsy to refer to Everything as The Universe. Cosmos is conceivably less confusing, implying a sense of Allness, or Oneness. Which, in the current discussion, is increasingly The Point. In these posts, for the moment, we'll...

solar system Near the edge of this whirling mass is a middle-sized star we call the Sun, and around the Sun whirl a number of planets in a group we call the Solar System. One of those planets is called Earth, and on Earth life formed and grew. Earth seems like a lonely planet because while there is evidence that life could exist on other planets there is no evidence that it does. NEXT

stars A star is a luminous sphere of plasma held together by its own gravity. Plasma is one of the four fundamental states of matter, the others being solid, liquid, and gas. Stars are constantly coming and going. When they go, they throw off metals and other matter. That stardust is the matter we are familiar with, especially the living matter. Physicists like to say we are made of stardust. NEXT

mother cluster When work on this book was started, it was said that our Milky Way Galaxy is in The Virgo Supercluster but as the book has moved along, so has the Milky Way’s home. It’s now said to be in a supercluster named Laniakea, which is one of millions of superclusters in the observable Universe. Laniakea is Hawaiian for "immeasurable heaven.” It looks sort of like the image above without all the fanciful lines and colors. Those lines are flows of movement of galaxies, most of them moving toward the Great Attractor at the center of Liniakea. This is another visualization of Laniakea....