This Giant Ring In Space Poses A Massive Problem For Cosmology

Scientists say that they’ve just detected a massive cloud of gas some 3 billion lightyears in diameter, floating in space roughly 7 billion light years away from us. This is pretty cool, but the problem is that our current models of the universe say that it (and other massive structures like it) just shouldn’t exist. Let’s take a look.

New Theory Explains How Time Began

The biggest open problem in the foundations of physics is that Einstein’s theory of gravity, General Relativity, does not cooperate with quantum mechanics. Physicists have tried to solve this issue by coming up with a theory of quantum gravity, but those theories fall apart when you need them most – inside of black holes and at the Big Bang. Recently, though, physicists published a new calculation for the Big Bang, with a theory called quadratic gravity, which lets us skip over quantum gravity entirely, and that could explain the origin of time. Let’s take a look.

The Simulation Hypothesis Gets Scientific Backing

Do we live in a computer simulation? So far this question has been pursued mostly by philosophers because it was just too vague to make scientific sense of it. But this situation has changed now. Physicists are beginning to explore the consequences of the simulation hypothesis and a computer scientist has proposed a scientific framework to make sense of it. Let’s take a look.

Physicists Rethink Time… And It Solves Several Big Problems

Einstein’s general relativity predicts singularities, such as those found inside black holes. These are places where spacetime ends and the curvature becomes infinitely large. This isn’t just mathematically uncomfortable, it also causes problems when you try to combine gravity with quantum physics. Luckily, a group of physicists claim they’ve figured out a solution to this problem. Let’s take a look.

The Multiverse Just Killed Our Dreams of a Final Theory

A unified theory – that explains the interactions in the standard model of particle physics from one common origin – has been a goal of physicists ever since the completion of the standard model. But according to a recently published paper which analyzed the properties of the laws of nature in a multiverse, a unified theory might be incompatible with the presence of life in our universe. Let’s take a look at both of these ideas and why they might be incompatible.

Action at a Distance Can Explain Dark Matter, Physicists Show

Physicists don’t actually know what the universe is really made of. The currently most popular theory is that most of the universe is made of dark matter, a mysterious type of matter that we can only detect through its gravitational pull on other objects. But according to a new paper, we’ve misunderstood how gravity works. The authors say that gravity really can do action at a distance and that explains the observations that we currently ascribe to dark matter. Let’s take a look.

Physicists Prove That Universe is not a Simulation

The Simulation Hypothesis is the idea that our universe is actually an algorithm being run on a mysterious supercomputer. In a recent paper, a group of physicists say they’ve disproved this theory by using Goedel’s theorem. Let’s take a look.

Nobel Prize for Dark Energy Awarded in Error?

The 2011 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded for the discovery that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. This conclusion rested on data from supernovae. A new analysis now looks at a larger set of supernovae data and finds that the Nobel Prize winning conclusion doesn't hold up.

Quantum Knots Created Matter, Physicists Say

In a recently published paper, a group of physicists outlined a new theory which might explain why our universe contains solid matter. According to the paper, the universe was at one point filled with tiny knots made up of pure energy. This sounds crazy, but the paper’s implications could rock the world of physics. Let’s take a look.

Physicist Solves 100 Year Old Problem. Really?

The idea that the constants of nature are not actually constant has been around since at least the 1930s. Physicists across the decades have put forth that speed of light, the strength of the electromagnetic force, and the strength of gravity all change over time. Now, a physicist claims that changing constants explain dark energy and dark matter, both of which are just an “illusion”. Well, wow. I’ve had a look.

Why is the Universe so Big? These physicists say they know

Our universe started with an incredibly rapid phase of expansion, growing exponentially before that expansion eventually slowed down. This idea is called “inflation,” but physicists are still unsure what caused the rapid expansion and why it stopped. In a new paper, researchers say they’ve come up with an elegant new explanation for that inflation. Let’s take a look.

Black Holes Cause Dark Energy, Physicists Claim

According to a growing body of physics research, the dark energy in our universe is weakening over time. This indicates that our current standard cosmological model does not fit reality. Recently, a team of researchers came up with a theory which they claim does fit the new observations – they say that dark energy is caused by black holes. Let’s take a look.

Singularities are Inevitable, Physicist Claims

According to Einstein’s theories, the universe started with a Big Bang singularity and is slowly expanding until it disperses into nothingness. But physicists have also come up with theories claiming that the Big Bang was non-singular and can repeat, restarting the cycle over again. These are called “cyclic models,” and they’ve re-emerged into the spotlight now that there’s mounting evidence that dark energy is weakening over time. However, a physicist from UC Berkeley recently published a paper which he claims “categorically rules out” cyclic models. Let’s take a look.

New Observations Fit Neatly With String Theory, Physicists Find

According to a growing body of data, dark energy is not constant. Instead, physicists claim, it’s slowly getting weaker. This has understandably shaken our understanding of the universe – this week, physicists show that the new data is compatible with string theory, and that the universe will eventually collapse. Let’s take a look.

New Theory: Space Has Memory, Stores Information

Gravitational memory” is the idea that gravity’s ability to duplicate information from other forces should somehow store that information in certain masses. A group of physicists has now published a series of papers claiming that this idea might solve the black hole information loss problem and explain dark matter. Really? Let’s take a look.

The Cosmology Crisis Just Got Even Worse

We’ve already discussed the crisis in cosmology multiple times on this channel. Recently, that crisis was only made worse thanks to new data from the South Pole Telescope. Their numbers again show that dark energy – which drives the expansion of the universe – weakens over time, which could mean that the universe is destined to collapse one day. I find this very surprising because honestly I thought I would have to tell you that this crisis disappeared, but not so. Let’s take a look.

My Take On Stephen Hawking’s Final Theory

Soon after Stephen Hawking died in 2018, his collaborator Thomas Hertog published his posthumous “final theory.” Basically, the theory builds on the idea of eternal inflation, which says that new universes are constantly being created from an even-larger sea of quantum fluctuations. Hawking’s theory sought to explain that these births happened more gradually and less disruptively, bringing the theory closer to what we observe in our universe. How groundbreaking is this theory really? Let’s take a look.

The Entire Universe Seems to Spin, New Data Reveal

A new study has found that the universe might be spinning. What does that even mean? Let’s have a look.



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Cosmology Crises are only Getting Worse

Cosmology, the branch of physics that deals with the universe, is facing a bit of a crisis right now. Four crises, actually. Let’s take a look at the biggest problems with our current understanding of the universe and how we got here to begin with.



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New Theory of “Cosmological Stasis” Could Explain Dark Matter

Physicists have come up with a new idea for how our universe began, and it could also explain dark matter. They say that if our universe has small extra dimensions, then these can temporarily store energy, causing a “cosmological stasis” in which the universe expands but nothing else happens. Then the stasis ends and dark matter remains. Sounds wild. What are we to make of this?