Science! (8 Viewers)

[Optimus Prime]

Physicist Claims Our Universe Was Born With an 'Anti-Universe' Twin

A radical new theory challenges everything we know about the universe’s origins. A quantum twist could explain the cosmos’ most baffling mysteries. Dark matter and dark energy might finally have an answer.

dailygalaxy.com

Goatees for everyone!

 

[Optimus Prime]

Seems like I’ve heard the theory that there was the Big Bang, universe expands, then slows and stops then reverses and contracts back down to a single point then there is another Big Bang

And that repeats an infinite number of times

In our current universe the first or the billionth?

Kind of wild to think about
======================
Dark energy, the mysterious force powering the expansion of the universe, appears to be weakening, according to a survey that could “overthrow” scientists’ current understanding of the fate of the cosmos.

If confirmed, the results from the dark energy spectroscopic instrument (Desi) team at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona would have profound implications for theories about the evolution of the universe, opening up the possibility that its current expansion could eventually go into reverse in a “big crunch”.

A suggestion that dark energy reached a peak billions of years ago would also herald the first substantial change in decades to the widely accepted theoretical model of the universe.

Prof Alexie Leauthaud-Harnett, a co-spokesperson for Desi and a cosmologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said: “What we are seeing is deeply intriguing. It is exciting to think that we may be on the cusp of a major discovery about dark energy and the fundamental nature of our universe.”………

Desi uses its 5,000 fibreoptic “eyes” to map the cosmos with unprecedented precision. Its latest data release captures 15m galaxies, spanning 11bn years of history, which astronomers have used to create the most detailed three-dimensional map of the universe to date.

The results suggest that dark energy reached a peak in strength when the universe was about 70% of its current age and it is now about 10% weaker. This would mean the rate of expansion is still accelerating, but that dark energy is gently lifting its foot off the pedal.

Prof Carlos Frenk, a cosmologist at the University of Durham and member of the Desi collaboration, said: “What we’re finding is that, yes, there is something pushing galaxies away from each other, but it is not constant. It is declining.”

The results do not meet the so-called five-sigma threshold of statistical certainty that is the gold standard in physics for claiming a discovery. But many in the collaboration have shifted in recent months from a position of scepticism to confidently backing the finding………

Dark energy: mysterious cosmic force appears to be weakening, say scientists

Findings could open up possibility the universe will end in a reverse big bang or ‘big crunch’, say cosmologists

www.theguardian.com

 

[Consigliere]

Seems like I’ve heard the theory that there was the Big Bang, universe expands, then slows and stops then reverses and contracts back down to a single point then there is another Big Bang

And that repeats an infinite number of times

Dark energy: mysterious cosmic force appears to be weakening, say scientists

Findings could open up possibility the universe will end in a reverse big bang or ‘big crunch’, say cosmologists

www.theguardian.com

The notion of it all crunching and re-big-banging is somehow a lot more comforting than the "big rip" hypothesis of all of space time expanding forever. There would be people forever, just maybe a little different.