ILLUSTRATION BY JOHN WATSON
Laura Mersini-Houghton’s big idea is that there is not just one universe but a huge number of them. And, incredibly, she has proof. In her new book published in July, Before the Big Bang, she claims that in the beginning there was cross-talk between our newborn universe and neighbouring universes in what she calls a “multiverse.” This multiverse has left an indelible imprint on the night sky. In 2006, Mersini-Houghton and her colleagues predicted that there existed a giant void chiefly defined by its low density of galaxies. This prediction was confirmed in 2013 with the discovery of the WMAP Cold Spot.