TWO STRANGE PHENOMENA: Number 1: Madonna in her Jewish phase. “Esther”, as she would have it. The Material Girl as Queen of Kabbalah. Far out.

Number 2: Cosmic strings. Even farther out. These aren’t your usual superstrings. Many cosmologists think that the universe went thru some heavy changes during the first minute of its existence, changes that included phase transition and symmetry breaking. When things goes thru phase transitions, they often develop topological defects; sort of like the cracks that develop when water turns to ice. Some of these defects in the Universe may turn out to be huge strings of pure energy that warp the fabric of spacetime. If you were to get caught between one of these strings and a black hole, you might even get transported into the past (if you could survive the crushing gravity force).

Next year, the LIGO project to detect gravity waves will become operational. If there are cosmic strings out there, this may be the thing that will pick them up. But whatever the LIGO scientists detect, the observation of gravity waves will open up a whole new way of looking at space; it will probably be responsible for some really important discoveries over the next couple of decades. Definitely far out. Check out http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/NumRel/LIGO.html