Saturday, May 03, 2008

In your own humble opinion

What would you say is the greatest single achievement of Mankind? The Great Wall of China? The Internet? The Printing Press? Philosophy? The ability to laugh at ourselves? Democracy? Landing on the moon? Mathematics? The Golden Rule?

Conversely, how about the most embarrassing? Religious warfare? Pee Wee Herman? ”Santa Claus Conquers the Martians”? Recycling? Politics?

In yet another part of our ongoing series about pointless information, I can tell you one thing that has happened in the universe that would never have happened without our intervention - refrigeration. Before humanity came along, there was nothing in the universe that was colder than the temperature of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) - at about 2.7 degrees Kelvin (-454.81 Fahrenheit). We have managed to lower temperatures under lab conditions at MIT to about one-half of one billionth of a degree (0.5 nanoKelvin/500 picoKelvin) above Absolute Zero.

Trust me, that’s cooooooold.