We are 12 billion light-years from the edgeThat September, science journalist Simon Singh took issue with her words in an op-ed he published in The Guardian. Noting that the latest data indicates that the age of the universe is actually 13.7 billion years, he wrote:
That's a guess
No one can ever say it's true
But I know that I will always be with you.
Katie Melua has no right to call the age of the universe "a guess" or quote it as 12 billion years when we now know it to be 13.7 billion years old. You might think that I am being rather uptight, but the role of the scientist is slowly being undermined with a growing belief that scientific results are merely subjective guesses that go in and out of fashion. In fact, scientific results are a careful attempt to objectively measure reality, and although they may be refined over time, they are always our best hope of getting at the truth. In light of this, I propose that Miss Melua rewrite her opening verse so that it reads:Here's the kicker: at James Randi's Amazing Meeting 8 this weekend in Las Vegas, Singh recalled that the day after his article appeared in the newspaper, Katie Melua contacted him and invited him to a nearby recording studio -- where she re-did the song with his lyrics!
We are 13.7 billion light-years from the edge of the observable universe,
That's a good estimate with well-defined error bars,
Scientists say it's true, but acknowledge that it may be refined,
And with the available information, I predict that I will always be with you
Labels: picture of the day, skepticism