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Old 17-04-2012, 04:51 PM
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Dave2042 (Dave)
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Location: Newtown, Sydney, Australia
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Gravitational Lensing and the accelerated expansion of the universe

Interesting article here about a new study. The authors have looked at the statistics of gravitational lensing of quasars and shown that they are consistent with the current view that we live in a flat universe whose expansion is accelerating due to dark energy.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articl...16/3476013.htm

I particularly like the comment at the end from Professor Lineweaver about the importance of reaching the same conclusion from different methods. In a complicated universe where all experiments and observations are imperfect, it is really this that gives scientists confidence in theories, not a single perfect result.

And now for the rant...

Unfortunately, a certain type of person (rare in these esteemed fora but common in the world) seems unable to grasp this, but is forever insisting that a few odd points on a noisy graph of a complicated phenomenon means the whole theory has to be thrown out. Harrumph.
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