Elmo celebrated his birthday earlier this month.
The muppet has been in the news lately after he went viral with atweetasking How is everybody doing?
Toward the end of the segment, the hosts made a passing reference to Elmos age.
Image: Shutterstock; Sesame Workshop. Graphic: Vicky Leta (Shutterstock)
You have a birthday coming up, Today show host Hoda Kotb said.
On Saturday, youre going to be three and a half again!
Elmos going to be three and a half, Elmo said.
Elmo pictured in 2004, age three and a half.Photo: Library of Congress
Just like last year, and the year before, and the year before.
Elmos birthday is a matter of canon.
Whenever Elmos age comes up, he cheerfully explains that hes three and a half.
Elmo seems to have aged to three and a half years before transitioning to Monster Time, physicists say.Graphic: Courtesy of Steven Harrellson
But no matter how many birthdays Elmo has, he always turns three and a half.
Its also worth highlighting that February 3rd is Elmos birthday, not his half-birthday.
Yet Elmo is already halfway through the year when the big day comes around.
The theory of Monster Time explains how Elmo’s age is three and a half years, regardless of when we measure it, as described by the equation above.Graphic: Courtesy of Steven Harrellson
Sesame Street has been on the air since the Nixon administration.
However, scientists do offer some possible explanations.
Its an idea developed by Albert Einstein.
In places where gravity is stronger, time passes more slowly.
On the other hand, the human residents of Sesame Street do seem to get older.
Local music teacher Bob Johnson, for example, was clearly subject to the ravages of time.
A tiny black hole at Elmos home could be an explanation, Law said.
Some experts Gizmodo contacted suggested that time travel could be the culprit, but Law said thats unlikely.
His friendSnuffleupagusis only five.
Elmo counts his birthday in monster years, a Sesame Workshop spokesperson replied matter-of-factly.
The spokesperson didnt address questions about black holes or time travel.
Without more information, its hard to say exactly what that means from a scientific perspective.
But at that point, Elmo shifted over to Monster Time, and his age started to oscillate.
At that point, the process repeats itself.
That requires some additional assumptions.
One of the fundamental underpinnings of science is that the laws of physics dont change; theyre just complicated.
In our human experience, time flows only in one direction.
Einsteins equations imply that Monster Mass must exist, but thats future work, Harrellson said.
The theory of Monster Time and Monster Energy is still in its infancy.
There could be major implications for technology and industry if scientists could harness the understanding of Monster Energy.
But for now, it seems theres something that Elmo isnt telling us.
Or perhaps he doesnt understand it himself.
After all, hes only three and a half years-old.
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