Interesting information from a Slacker Astronomy podcast.

At the recent AAS meeting, someone presented a method of calculating the expansion of the universe using gamma ray bursts. This technique allowed the expansion to be calculated farther back in the past than the current supernova method. The preliminary results showed that the expansion due to dark energy has not been constant over time, that is the cosmological constant isn’t constant.

The presenter, Brad Schaeffer, was very clear that the results were preliminary and interesting, but not final. He also emphasized that what he was presenting was a new technique that could help answer the cosmological constant question.

According to the podcast, another researcher whose primary work is in supernova analyses of cosmological expansion, openly told people in the press that this result and technique were meaningless and wrong. It came over that he was rejecting something without adequate analysis, with the implication he was doing so because his funding for supernova research might be challenged. Go figure.