[Kosh]

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=dark-energy-confirmed


Cool. So what can we do with it?

[redsniper]

Well, we can't see it.

[ssmit132]

This is great news!

Hopefully it can do something constructive. 

[BloodEagle]

*ahem*, this is an independent study. Just sayin'.

[Rian]

*ahem*, this is an independent study. Just sayin'.

What do you mean by that? It’s a good thing, it means that two unrelated experiments have given the same result.

[BloodEagle]

*cough*cold-fusion*cough*

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Cool. So what can we do with it?

Well if history is any teacher we will eventually figure out how to use it as some kind of weapon.  Then; if we survive, figure out something useful to do with it.

[eliex]

The existence of dark energy has been under a lot of debate so that's really cool. 

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Does dark energy make up the blackness of space?

[Aardwolf]

Dark energy = ?

I think somebody couldn't remember whether he was talking about "Dark matter" or "Negative energy" and ended up making up something. Cuz I've never heard of it before.

[ssmit132]

Some boffins figured out that the universe was expanding slower/faster (which one is it?) than it should be, so they hypothesized a new type of energy, called Dark Energy.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

I recall that the Large Haldron Collider was built to study dark matter or dark energy, among other things.

I find all this darkness a bit attractive.

[Grimper]

Does dark energy make up the blackness of space?

The blackness of space is caused by the absence of light, not dark energy.
Is dark energy and dark matter the same thing?

[ssmit132]

No, otherwise there wouldn't be classed as different things in the universe composition pie chart.

But, we can't be sure until we discover the make-up of both Dark Matter and Dark Energy.

[Molybdenum]

Good link: http://preposterousuniverse.com/preposterous.html

Helped me understand.

[General Battuta]

What can we do with it? Well, we might be able to use it to prop open wormhole mouths.

*cough*cold-fusion*cough*

Not at all comparable. This group was headed by a Harvard-Smithsonian researcher, and their results have been peer reviewed.

Plus, the entire problem with cold fusion is that it can't be replicated. These observations can and have been.

Dark energy = ?

I think somebody couldn't remember whether he was talking about "Dark matter" or "Negative energy" and ended up making up something. Cuz I've never heard of it before.

They are different and distinct. Dark energy makes up a large chunk of the universe, larger than dark matter. It's a repulsive force, homogeneous throughout space, that seems to function as a kind of antigravity.

[Kosh]

What can we do with it? Well, we might be able to use it to prop open wormhole mouths.

Wormhole like DS9 or wormhole like Babylon 5's hyperspace vortexes?

[StarSlayer]

...or wormhole like My name is John Chriton and I've been flung into the unfriendly part of the galaxy with badass muppets?

[General Battuta]

What can we do with it? Well, we might be able to use it to prop open wormhole mouths.

Wormhole like DS9 or wormhole like Babylon 5's hyperspace vortexes?

Well, it wouldn't like much look either of them. Or much like anything.

[Mr. Vega]

They haven't proved the existence of dark energy yet. All they've done is confirm their original observations. They still haven't determined if dark energy is real or if gravity behaves differently over extremely large distances, and it will be a long time before they can.