42.

In 1997, a team of Cambridge scientists came up with an important number.  This team spent three years using a new technique for determining  the Hubble Constant – the speed at which galaxies are flying apart.  By determining this number, it becomes possible to calculate the age of the universe, something that is vitally important because…uh,….just because.  Whatever the case, the number these high-falutin’ scientists came up with (as measured in kilometres per second per megaparsec) was 42.

(Cue laughter)

If you’re not laughing, allow me to explain:  in a novel by Douglas Adams, a computer called Deep Thought, after several millions of years thought, found the answer to life, the universe and everything to be 42.

Coincidence, maybe.  Out-and-out error by the Cambridge folks, possibly.

If you’re a super-genius, you’ll have spotted the problem.  Should the Hubble Constant actually be “42,” then the universe is actually younger than some of the stars contained within it.

None of this is new (or news, really), but the recent publication of the latest installment in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series has me thinking about these things again….