Ins and Outs of the Universe

Roen Kelly

Not everyone was heartened by the announcement that instruments had found measurable gravitational waves that could validate the inflationary theory of a universe that started with a "big bang" (http://somanyinterestingthings.blogspot.com/2015/04/no-longer-in-dark.html, http://somanyinterestingthings.blogspot.com/2014/03/bubbles-of-infinity.html). Those who were, were then deflated (pun intended) when it was shown that what those instruments saw could be explained in another way, too, as caused by cosmic dust. But while the failure to find gravitational waves may leave one theory in question for now, it gives new life to another intriguing one, called the cyclic model, in which the universe expands and contracts over and over again. Still, the perfection, the beauty of the inflationary theory has scientists reluctant to give up on it: https://cosmosmagazine.com/physical-sciences/new-model-cosmos-universe-begins-again