SPACE
The universe might be merging with other ‘baby universes’, causing it to expand
WORDS ANDY FELDMAN
A new theoretical study suggests that the universe is expanding due to absorbing a ‘baby universe’, rather than being driven by dark energy
© Alamy / Getty
Our universe is expanding at an ever-accelerating rate, a phenomenon that all theories of cosmology agree upon, but none can fully explain. Now, a new theoretical study offers an intriguing solution: perhaps our universe is expanding because it keeps colliding with and absorbing ‘baby’ parallel universes. Studies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) – the afterglow of the Big Bang – have revealed that our universe is experiencing accelerated expansion. For this observation to fit alongside the main theory of cosmic evolution, called the Standard Cosmological Model, physicists assume that the universe is filled with an enigmatic substance, dubbed dark energy, that drives this expansion. But this elusive form of energy does not manifest itself in any other way, leading many astrophysicists to question its existence and explore the possibility of an alternative cause for the universe’s expansion.