Exactly how many universes are out there in the vast expanse of space? Are we the only one? The idea of multiple universes, possibly with their own set of natural laws, coalesced into a giant multiverse has been gaining ground recently-- only it's not something that at this time is more than just speculation. Cosmologists Andrei Linde and Vitaly Vanchurin at Stanford University in California calculate that the number of universes dwarfs the 10⁵⁰⁰ universes postulated in string theory, and raise the provocative notion that the answer may depend on the human brain.

After we posted the story about how a couple of physicists think that a time travel paradox is preventing the Large Hadron Collider from working correctly, IHC reader wangel sent a link from the BBC about how the LHC, when it's reduced to its correct operating temperature is colder than the coldest parts of deep space-- around -273 degrees Celcius.

While this theory could easily be thrown in the "equal time for nutjobs" bin, because it involves time travel, real physicists and the Large Hadron Collider, we're gonna run with it. The theory, proposed by a couple of otherwise respectable physicists goes something like this: The LHC broke because the discovery of the Higgs boson is so abhorrent to nature that its creation would ripple backward through time and stop the collider before it could make one, like a time traveler who goes back in time to kill his grandfather. Really, that's what they said.

This is a cool 19 minute video about the largest black hole ever detected in the universe-- OJ-287. The narrator sounds a little like he's channeling William Shatner, but it's still definitely a nice way to spend a short part of your Sunday.

NASA and other national space exploration organizations often use the gravity of objects in space to their advantage to save fuel. Often by slingshotting around planets and moons, you can use half the fuel you would normally, even if the distance is longer because essentially it's like gliding a bike downhill. Now some scientists have figured out a way to use gravity to create an incredibly efficient zone of interplanetary travel.

If there's any cutting edge physicist that I total have a man-crush on, it's Dr. Michio Kaku. He's just so damn intriguing and interesting. Here he is talking about the discoveries of multiple universes and parallel universes that we may be on the verge of discovering. Via: Geeks are Sexy

On April 26th, 1986, the worst possible scenario happened at the Chernobyl Nuclear plant in Pripyat, Ukraine. After a series of four reactor explosions, over four hundred times the amount of radiation from the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined spread over the Soviet Union and Europe. This 90 minute documentary, "The True Battle of Chernobyl Uncensored" looks at a good amount of information, photos and video that have previously been unreleased. Like exactly how close the world came to seeing a second enormous blast that could have made almost all of Europe uninhabitable.

Maybe I'm just a dork, but I love me some good lectures. And while I suck ass at math, I love hearing about advanced physics. If I could, I would hire quantum physicists to just hang around my house talking about quantum physics and superstring theory while a constant stream of porn stars give me carnal pleasures. So here's Brian Greene (not Brian Austin Green mind you) giving a TED talk about string theory. Groovy.

Okay, okay I hear you say-- enough with the Watchmen crap. But this is part Watchmen, part hard science. Comic books are well known for taking liberties with science for the purpose of creating a character or advancing a story, but here, a physics professor from the University of Minnesota explains how the superhuman character of Dr. Manhatten might happen through quantum mechanics.