LB: I have read that space appears to be spread out like a curtain instead of a speriod
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Rr: Where did you read this? It isn't true. A recent study found that the universe is shaped like a dodecahedron:
I'll bet that what LB is referring to is the observation that clusters of galaxies within the universe are distributed in sheets and filaments, with big (really, really big) relatively empty "bubbles" in between. All this structure, big as it is, is small compared to the whole enchilada, or soccer ball, or "Poincare dodecahedral space" that is the universe.
Apparently, one can go putz around with what that "P. d. space" looks like at
I'm going there to see if it hurts my eyes, or just reminds me of an album cover from 1969, momentarily.
Added by edit: you can see the articles from
Nature for free by going to the links in the 8 October item here:
http://geometrygames.org/ESoS/CosmologyNews.html
[This message has been edited by Coragyps, 10-21-2003]