In the Beginning there was Nothing and Nothing was in the Beginning. Then, in one Cosmic Explosion Everything was Created and in a Big Bang the Universe came into Existence. Energy became Matter and out of Darkness came Light. And when Darkness was Night and Light was Day, so there was Time. Then Stars moved across the Universe, and so there was Space. This is the Creation Myth of Modern Science. Is it wrong? Doesn’t it sound frightfully familiar? Is Everything We Know About the Universe Wrong? That’s the question the most recent installment of my favorite program BBC Horizon asks. First of all, this Creation Myth cannot explain the origin of Time and Space; it leaves open the question what came Before and what is Beyond. A while ago we spoke about the Inflation Theory of the Universe, which implies that there are an infinite number of universes infinitely expanding. This theory helps to explain why temperature remains constant throughout the universe, which shouldn’t be the result of a giant explosion, but could be due to inflation.
Another problem is that galaxies do not behave according to the laws of gravity: they move like a disc, with all the stars within a galaxy going at the same speed, rather than going faster the closer they get to the gravitational center. So another theory was proposed to account for this behavior. Can you guess what they called the theory? “Dark Matter”! Ooh, how sinister! Recent observations, moreover, appear to have discovered a motion of galactic clusters in the same direction (i.e., rather than outward), which has been dubbed “Dark Flow.” Evil, dark flow! Even more recent observations have lead to the conclusion that the universe isn’t just expanding infinitely, but is in fact expanding at an accelerated rate. This can only mean that there is some mysterious increase of cosmic energy, which – as you can guess by now – has been dubbed “Dark Energy”... A cosmic big bang, invisible dark matter, evil dark flow, omnipresent dark energy... It does make you wonder... we must be missing something, because this can’t be how the universe operates. There are too many exceptions and additional explanations required to make the theory work. Perhaps one day our children or our children’s children will learn an entirely new Creation Myth in school!
Another problem is that galaxies do not behave according to the laws of gravity: they move like a disc, with all the stars within a galaxy going at the same speed, rather than going faster the closer they get to the gravitational center. So another theory was proposed to account for this behavior. Can you guess what they called the theory? “Dark Matter”! Ooh, how sinister! Recent observations, moreover, appear to have discovered a motion of galactic clusters in the same direction (i.e., rather than outward), which has been dubbed “Dark Flow.” Evil, dark flow! Even more recent observations have lead to the conclusion that the universe isn’t just expanding infinitely, but is in fact expanding at an accelerated rate. This can only mean that there is some mysterious increase of cosmic energy, which – as you can guess by now – has been dubbed “Dark Energy”... A cosmic big bang, invisible dark matter, evil dark flow, omnipresent dark energy... It does make you wonder... we must be missing something, because this can’t be how the universe operates. There are too many exceptions and additional explanations required to make the theory work. Perhaps one day our children or our children’s children will learn an entirely new Creation Myth in school!
