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It’s a physics world

From FT, a special section on the new physics, including Clive Cookson on how Britain’s “top scientist” Martin Rees says our brains may not yet have evolved sufficiently to unlock the secrets of the cosmos. Steven Weinberg on physics: What we do and don’t know. A digital copy of the universe, encrypted: As physics prepares for ambitious projects like the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, the field is seeking new methods of data-driven discovery. Jonathan Ree reviews Newton and the Origin of Civilisation by Jed Buchwald and Mordechai Feingold. The cosmos is cracked: Clara Moskowitz on how a computer simulation of the universe shows that it may be filled with “defects in spacetime”. The Big Bang may not have spawned the universe after all: Our universe might actually be the result of the collapse of a four-dimensional star. Rhett Allain on a media guide for physics. The secret to the universe is at the bottom of a hole in South Dakota. Mark Jackson on how theoretical physics is like sex, but with no need to experiment. There could be 40 billion habitable Earthlike planets in our galaxy alone — this has been another semi-regular reminder of your insignificance. Adam Mann on the experiments most likely to shake up the future of physics. It’s a physics world: Philip Ballon how distinctions between “discoveries” and technological “spinoffs” are meaningless, even misleading.