There's a story in this morning's Washington Post about an idea Einstein junked that may be right after all:

Astronomers announced yesterday they had found strong new evidence that a theory Albert Einstein proposed but later discarded may have been right after all, providing crucial new clues to the fundamental nature and eventual fate of the cosmos.

A detailed analysis of light from ancient exploding stars has yielded powerful support for the idea that recently discovered "dark energy" that pervades the universe might be what Einstein originally dubbed the "cosmological constant." If confirmed, the findings support theories that the cosmos will continue its slow expansion toward nothingness instead of violently ripping apart or collapsing, astronomers said.

The story goes on to talk about how Einstein considered this theory his "greatest blunder," then...

"This is sort of like a time machine," Riess said in a telephone interview. "By finding them at different distances, we can look at different times in the universe and we can ask how fast the universe was expanding then. It's like looking at tree rings to get a glimpse back in history."

In a paper to be published in the Astrophysical Journal, the researchers concluded that the strength of dark energy was consistent with Einstein's predicted cosmological constant, and that it appeared fairly consistent over time, also as Einstein had theorized. The researchers said they were now twice as confident as they were before that dark energy is consistent with Einstein's idea.

"It looks like Einstein may turn out to have been right, after all," Riess said.

Pretty good work for a dead guy, huh?

earworm: "Voodoo Candle," Jay Farrar

rec: DOGLAND, Will Shetterly

namecheck: Christopher "Non-Volunteer" Rowe