Just when the search for exoplanets looked like the undisputed
fashionable field of study for 2010, the cosmic microwave
background (CMB) is stepping to the forefront of astronomy and
cosmology. Last month, it was Oxford’s Roger Penrose claiming
that he’d found evidence of a cyclical universe in patterns of
concentric circles in the CMB, suggesting our universe is just
one of many that have come before it (and will come after it).
Now, another group of researchers are claiming the CMB contains
evidence of other universes that exist concurrently (and outside
of) our own. The new evidence, put forth by a group of
researchers at University College London, is based upon the
model of “eternal inflation,” which is predicated on the idea
that our universe is part of a larger and ever-expanding
multiverse. Our universe is contained in a kind of cosmic bubble
that exists alongside other universes contained in their own
bubbles, and in these universes the rules of physics could be
far different than in our own.If the e