/oss/taxonomy/term/1552/all en /oss/article/did-you-know-technology/how-old-everything <p>Everything has a birthday. It’s the same day, about 13.77 billion years ago. <a href="https://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_age.html">Scientists claim that they are 99% certain</a> that this is the age of our entire universe. But how could they possibly know that?</p> Tue, 22 May 2018 23:28:33 +0000 Cassandra Lee, OSS Intern 7097 at /oss /oss/article/general-science-you-asked/time-conundrum <p><strong>I was fascinated by yesterdays announcement that "old light"
 revealed trace evidence in the background radiation of the earliest
  trillionth of a trillionth (and then some) of a second of the "big bang".
 What I don't grasp is the measurement of the timescale, if we are talking
 about the creation of the most elemental forces, aren't we talking about the
 creation of time itself too? If so how do we establish a time-scale to
  measure what involves-among other things- the creation of the time that we
 are measuring by?</strong></p> Wed, 19 Mar 2014 01:39:07 +0000 Gil Holden PhDc ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Physics Professor 2115 at /oss /oss/article/science-science-everywhere/atom-bomb-and-age-wine <p>The purveyors of fake wines probably never dreamed that they could be caught by a carbon atom. A special kind of carbon atom. One that in addition to the six protons in its nucleus has eight neutrons instead of the usual six. It’s called carbon 14. It’s very rare but can be a powerful tool in analytical chemistry. Let’s start at the beginning. In fact, the very beginning, the Big Bang. Over 13 billion years ago the universe began to expand from an extremely dense and hot core, spewing out the basic units of matter that would eventually form the chemical elements.</p> Sat, 18 Feb 2012 17:02:37 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 1661 at /oss