Once upon a time, I thought the closest that “Goldilocks and the 3 Bears” came to the realm of hard science was some questionable thermodynamics. Has anyone else ever wondered how the mother’s medium-sized bowl got cold while the baby bear’s small bowl stayed “just right?” No? Just me? Actually, I know at least one other person pondered that question, because one illustrated version shows the medium bowl as broad and shallow, while the small bowl is deep. The medium bowl holds more porridge, but has a greater surface area to allow more heat exchange and thus faster cooling.
But actually, scientists have found the world we live in is also “just right” when it comes to the laws of physics. These mathematical formulas, which represent our current best description of the behavior of the universe, include a number of numerical constants. These are properties of the world that we can measure or estimate, but cannot calculate from any known equations. In other words, based on our current theories, these constants could hypothetically take on any value; we only know from observation which particular values they have, and that those values do not appear to change over space or time. [Read more…] about Science in Review — April 2013