Extra dimensions, other-worldly football, the ISS at night and more

By Tushna Commissariat

This week, we came across the above video on “extra dimensions”, in which physicist Don Lincoln talks about the possible physical reality of such dimensions and why we need them. The video begins with Lincoln pointing out just how weak a force gravity is, especially when compared with, say, magnetism. He then goes on to talk about how gravity may exist in more than the three dimensions we experience, making sure to point out that these “extra dimensions” are not of the Hollywood variety in which a different reality may exist. This video is part of Fermilab’s “Big Mysteries” video series – be sure to take a look at the rest.

In other news, as football fever spreads across the globe this week, with the beginning of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Guardian blogger and astronomer Stuart Clark looks at the possibility of playing the game on one of the other bodies in our solar system – or not. Following a comment made by FIFA president Sepp Blatter – when he talked about the future of football and wondered if the game will one day be played on another planet – Clark explains in detail why it would be nearly impossible (Mars), exceedingly difficult (Jupiter) or very dangerous (Venus and Io) to play football on any of the other bodies in the solar system. “Talk about rain stopped play: rain stopped play by melting ball (and players). Nasty,” – I must agree with Clark.

If football is not for you, find out why particle accelerators are so indispensable to our modern way of life, in an article in Nautilus magazine. In “10 reasons why you can’t live without a particle accelerator” writer Lina Zeldovich tells you about the many unexpected places where accelerator technology is currently used, from sealing milk cartons or bags of crisps, to irradiating fruit and vegetables of bacteria, to other potential applications in the oil and gas industry, and more.

Also: take a look at this Tesla Motors’ blog in which CEO Elon Musk revealed that the company will no longer patent their electric vehicle technology; sign up to help researchers classify sunspots and see if you get creeped out by these views inside the ISS at night.