Some astronomers have developed the oldest 'map' of the universe

So some astronomers have been able to determine what the universe looked like about 400,000 years after the 'big bang'.  The 'big bang' is what astronomers call the beginning of the universe - when something happened and the universe began to expand (get larger) from a single point in space and time. 

They still can't answer the questions:

How could something come from nothing? Or:  How could something always have existed?

So astronomers seem to be excited that they can learn a lot more about how the universe expanded.  Greater satisfaction would come from answering the two questions above.

Here's a funny rhyme:

How could something come from nothing? 
How could something always be?
It's the riddle you can't answer...
It's the answer you can't see.

The article:
http://news.yahoo.com/exquisite-map-cosmos-hints-universes-birth-114709816.html

The Universe Is Pretty Old

I want to try to present more scientific articles, so here's an article about the age of the universe.

The article:
http://news.yahoo.com/universe-older-thought-best-space-time-map-yet-143739816.html

Vocabulary:

the best map yet - the best map so far, up until this time

100 million = 100,000,000

cosmic - pertaining to the universe.  The universe is also called the cosmos

a microwave is a type of energy carrying wave that can travel through space

on the edge of their seats - eagerly waiting, very eager, anxiously waiting,

profoundly - deeply

a space mission - a mission is an activity meant to accomplish some goal

The Big Bang - this was the beginning of the universe when there was a sudden "explosion" from a single point.  Nobody knows what came before the Big Bang or what caused the Big Bang.  One philosopher once wrote, in Latin: Ignoramus et ignorabimus.  We don't know and we will never know.

dense - if something is dense it is filled tightly, for example dense traffic, or a dense crowd

to get mired in - to get stuck in

plasma - not a solid and not a liquid, in between solid and liquid and usually very hot; plasma can come from a volcano as well

protons, electrons and neutrons - particles that make up an atom. Atoms make up molecules.

precious - valuable

embedded in it - stuck inside it, found inside it

to be uniform - to be the same everywhere

to display - to show

variations in temperature - changes in temperature

to correspond to - to equal

fluctuations - changes

to clump - to group together

which posits - which suggests

random - not deliberate, not chosen or designed

tantalizing - teasing

to peel layers - if you wear many layers of clothing you have clothing on top of clothing. To peel off these layers means to remove them.

a constituent - a part of something else

an anomaly - something strange

to link - to join

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Yes, I'm the guy who wrote the very funny ESL book: New York City Sucks, But You'll Wanna Live Here Anyway.  
http://www.amazon.com/Sucks-Youll-Wanna-Anyway-ebook/dp/B004TSPAQS

If this page is useful to you, please buy the book (it's quite inexpensive and useful!!!!). If you don't have an e-reader, drop me a line at djg51qu@gmail.com and I'll send you a free copy via Word file. Let me know whether you have Word 2010 or an earlier version.
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Yes, I'm also the guy who created the scandal in Asia two years ago :P

http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100511000742

http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100512000682

http://www.shoutcastblog.com/2010/05/11/wondergirls-were-mistreated-by-jyp-entertainment/
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Me (at an art gallery in Chelsea, Manhattan)