Not long ago I wrote about misleading science articles, where it was claimed something in science was proved by a group of authors, one of which responded to the post (thank you, Christian Hoelbling). Now here’s a better article which is properly leading.
WASHINGTON – Mysterious dark energy, which likely causes the universe to keep expanding, seems to have another effect: It prevents the biggest clusters of galaxies from getting too fat. Astronomers used X-rays to study the formation of galactic clusters billions of years ago. Their research supports the hard-to-fathom concept of dark energy as a potent force that governs the growth of the universe.
It also means Albert Einstein’s century-old theory of general relativity passes another crucial, but not conclusive, real-world test.
Emphasis added.
Science is about disproving, not proving. By relativity “pass[ing] another crucial…test” it is meant that it was not falsified; it does not mean that anything was proven. The continued inability to falsify general relativity simply reinforces the theory.
Incidentally,
“[Dark energy] much more important and abundant in the evolution of the universe than the atoms that make us up,” said Princeton theoretical astrophysicist David Spergal.
Filed under: Misc | Tagged: Alexey Vikhlinin, astrophysicist, Chandra X-ray Observatory, Dark Energy, Einstein, General Relativity, Michael Turner, NASA, University of Chicago | Leave a comment »
For the Sake of Science 