http://space.newscientist.com/article/mg19926673.900
Is our universe fine-tuned for life?
02 August 2008
From New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.
Michael Brooks
DON'T take our starry skies for granted. If you were unlucky enough to be living
in some other universe, you might have nothing to stare at but black holes.
At least, that's the view of a new study that examines the nature of other
universes that might support life and suggests that our cosmic habitat is
nothing special after all - wondrously starry skies apart.
The idea that certain aspects of our universe make it uniquely suited to life
has never been properly tested, says Fred Adams of the University of Michigan in
Ann Arbor. "You hear people say our universe is fine-tuned for life, that stars
are rare and couldn't form if certain things were different," he says. "The
truth is, no one has done the calculations." Adams has now rectified that
situation and found that it is not unusual for stars to form that can support
life.
