Weirdest Scientific Theories

Our Universe is in a Black Hole!

Our universe might be so small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things, that it’s hidden inside the black hole of another universe, totally unbeknownst to theoretical sentient beings in that universe. And that means all the black holes so far found in our own universe could also contain doorways to alternate realities. This theory is based on new mathematical models of the spiraling motion of matter falling into a black hole. The matter absorbed by black holes isn’t necessarily destroyed – it could be expelled, to become the basis for new galaxies, stars, and planets. This could explain the mystery as to how the universe could have started with a singularity in the Big Bang theory – instead of just existing with no explanation, it was birthed by a white hole, the hypothetical escape hatch for matter at the other end of a black hole.

Multiverse: We Have Dopplegangers!

It’s highly unlikely that we live in the sole existing universe. We’re probably in one of many. Physicists have theorized that there could be infinite universes existing next to each other in a sort of giant patchwork quilt, that the Big Bang led to the generation of many other ‘bubble universes’ and that parallel universes hover just outside of our own. Columbia University physicist Brian Greene, author of the book ‘The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos’ says the latter theory supports the idea that we all have doppelgangers.

“The argument for doppelgangers is pretty straightforward. Assuming that space goes on infinitely far, in any finite chunk, matter can only arrange itself in a finite number of ways, like cards in a deck. You and I are just a configuration of particles, so sooner or later we’re going to repeat. Matter can almost repeat its configuration but not repeat it identically. Your physical body may repeat, but your mental configuration can be a little bit different, so there might be an evil version of you, and a version that loves skydiving.”

The Universe Is Just One Big Hologram

Maybe our universe is just one big holographic picture show projected onto a 2D surface. String theorists believe that everything we perceive as reality could be no more than the vibration of these 2D strings, and the scientists presenting the theory of a holographic universe take that one step further. Our entire existence could be a 3D projection on a 2D plane of information, but we can’t perceive that 2D surface because of its scale. (Apparently, this is what happens when you get into an argument with Stephen Hawking.)

Craig Hogan, a physicist in Illinois, is building two holometers that could prove or disprove this outlandish theory. The holometers monitor the smallest spaces in our universe to look for the smallest possible unit in the universe, called Planck units (10 billion times smaller than the width of a proton.) Initially stacked on top of each other, the holometers will scan for Planck ‘noise'; once it’s detected, they’ll be separated and the experiment will be run again. If the noise isn’t correlated between the two machines, that could indicate a limit to space-time’s resolution.

The physics community is skeptical that Hogan will actually be able to measure anything, but if he did, it would have a huge impact on fundamental physics: the first proof that space-time is quantized.

We Really Do Live in the Matrix

Could we really be living inside a computer-generated universe? The Matrix may be an outdated work of fiction, but its concept of an artificial reality still carries weight – even scientifically, perhaps, according to a team of physicists at the University of Washington. The team announced that there’s a potential test to see if we could be the creation of bored super-intelligent entities who are playing us like The Sims. It sounds totally ridiculous, and of course, causes science-minded people to bristle at terms like ‘intelligent design’ – though in this scenario, our creators aren’t exactly a bearded dude in the sky.

But some scientists and philosophers say that this theory could solve a few mysteries about the universe, like the fact that the exact conditions required to support life are so unlikely in the grand scheme of things. Small shifts in dark energy could easily have caused the universe to explode or implode a long time ago.

The UW team says that mega-computers of the far future could greatly expand the size of a theoretical Sim Universe, and that if we’re living inside such a program, there could be telltale evidence for the underlying ‘lattice quantum chromodynamics’ technique used by the computers. It could show up as a limitation in the energy of cosmic rays.

“We would have to suspect that post-humans running our simulation are themselves simulated beings; and their creators, in turn, may also be simulated beings,” says British philosopher Nick Bostrom. “Here may be room for a large number of levels of reality, and the number could be increasing over time.”

Presentism: Only The Present Is Real

The Presentism philosophy of time posits that the only things that really exist are those happening right this minute. Neither the future nor the past really exist – so basically, stop worrying about what you did or what you’re going to do and focus on what you’re doing now. It’s based on the philosophy of Heraclitus, written in 500 B.C.: “Transience is basic,a nd the present is primary. Those things which exist now do not abide. They slip into the past and non-existence, devoured by time, as all experience attests.”

How does this philosophy intersect with modern physics? It relates to a variety of theories about the passage of time, and of course the theory of relativity. Read more at Stanford’s Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Time is Actually Slowing Down

Why are supernova stars viewed at extreme distances moving away from us faster than those that are closer? Some scientists say dark energy is responsible or the acceleration, but others offer a different explanation: time itself is slowing down. Those galaxies only look like they’re accelerating from here, because the deep space telescopes are basically looking back in time to see them. Like the ekpyrotic scenario, it’s based on string theory, postulating that our universe is embedded in a multi-dimensional ‘brane’ (like a membrane) which is floating through a higher dimensional space that we’re unable to detect. What does that mean? Essentially, say the scientists responsible for the theory, time could come to a complete halt, freezing everything in place forever. But not to worry – even if this far-out theory is true, it won’t happen for billions of years.

The Ekpyrotic Scenario: Universes Colliding

Did our universe actually come about due to a collision of two three-dimensional worlds? The ekpyrotic scenario is a cosmological model of the origin and shape of the universe that illustrates it as a giant, stretched rubber band that could fly back into our faces at any moment. It contradicts the Big Bang theory, in which time and space began when something created a bubble of energy from nothing – a bubble that blew up into what we now know as the universe in a tiny fraction of a millisecond. Based on string theory (which suggests that once you get smaller than an atom, everything is a 2D unit called a quantum string – an attempt to marry Einstein’s theory of relativity with quantum physics), it’s highly controversial, but intriguing all the same.

In the ekpyrotic scenario, two three-dimensional worlds (branes) collide in a space with an extra (fourth) spatial dimension. It amends the earliest point of the Big Bang theory, stating that rather than beginning with nearly infinite temperature and density, the universe began cold and nearly vacuous.

“The hot expanding universe we know came as a result of a collision that brought the universe up to a large but finite temperature and density,” says Paul Steinhardt of Princeton University, who came up with the concept. “The rest of the story is as the Big Bang model would have it, but the beginning is different.”

“Quantum effects cause the incoming three-dimensional world to ripple along the extra-dimension prior to collision so that the collision occurs in some places at slightly different times than others. By the time the collision is complete, the rippling leads to small variations in temperature, which seed temperature fluctuations in the microwave background and the formation of galaxies. We have shown that the spectrum of energy density fluctuations is scale-invariant (the same amplitude on all scales). The production of a scale-invariant spectrum from hyperexpansion was one of the great triumphs of inflationary theory, and here we have repeated the feat using completely different physics.”