What is the meaning of life? Even the best of us couldn’t hope to answer that question in a Universe Today article. But there are those who would try to “constrain” it, at least in terms of physics. A new paper from Pankaj Mehta of Boston University of Jané Kondev of Brandeis that was recently posted to the arXiv preprint server looks at how the fundamental constants of physics might be applied to life as we know it—and even life as we don’t know it yet. Their idea doesn’t necessarily give the answer to the ultimate question, but it does tie two seemingly disparate fields nicely together.
Defining life with constants from physics
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About one-third of U.S. nonprofit service providers experienced a disruption in their government funding in the first half of 2025.This post was originally published on this site
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Since 2013, a hidden and lucrative economy of ransom-based human trafficking has emerged in Libya, run by traders who attempt to bring migrants and refugees to Europe via the Sahara and the Mediterranean Sea. Based [...]
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A new study from University of California San Diego has found that while a third of Californians use cannabis regularly, there are significant gaps in knowledge around cannabis use and driving. The researchers found that [...]
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The European Union’s legal ambiguity on the Western Sahara frozen conflict is an increasingly glaring source of vulnerability for Sahrawis, a new study shows.This post was originally published on this site
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Milk is one of the most familiar things in the world—comforting, wholesome, ordinary. But beneath this common perception lies something far more complicated.This post was originally published on this site
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A study led by Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) confirms the rise in ideological polarization and biased or false news posted on Facebook. This research analyzed over 6 million news-related URLs—from 1,231 different domains in the [...]
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In a time of tariffs and political trade disputes, new UBC Okanagan research shows that it’s not what you know but who you know—and how well you treat them.This post was originally published on this [...]
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In an era of heightened political polarization, merely longing for civility is no longer enough. Understanding just how to debate and respectfully disagree has become truly imperative, now more than ever and for a couple [...]
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In Australia, where turning up to vote is mandatory, deliberately spoiling your ballot is one of the only legal ways to protest or opt out.This post was originally published on this site
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According to a new study, offline social networks, revealed by co-location data, predict U.S. voting patterns more accurately than online social connections or residential sorting. Michele Tizzoni and colleagues analyzed large-scale data on co-location patterns [...]
