--- title: "Our Universe Is Swallowing Baby Parallel Universes As It Expands, Scientists Suggest" description: "Hungry Hungry Universe That the universe is constantly expanding is commonly agreed-upon science. The why piece, however, remains more mysterious; most researchers agree that dark energy is responsible for our universe's ever-creeping growth, but dark energy has never actually been observed by science — so far, we've only been able to infer its existence by the […]" date: "2024-02-08" modified: "2024-02-08" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/universe-swallowing-baby-universes-as-it-expands" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "expanding universe" - "parallel universe" - "the digest" - "the universe" --- # Our Universe Is Swallowing Baby Parallel Universes As It Expands, Scientists Suggest ![]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Hungry Hungry Universe It's broadly agreed that the universe is constantly expanding. The *why* of it all, though, is a little more mysterious. Most researchers agree that dark energy is responsible for our universe's ever-creeping growth. The problem with that: dark energy has never actually been observed by science — so far, we've only been able to [infer its existence]() by the theoretical celestial stuff's effects on other objects. Enter a [study published December 2023]() in the *Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics,* in which researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the Tokyo Institute of Technology argued that our universe could simply be *swallowing "baby" parallel universes*, leading to a sustained cosmic bloating. Or as lead study author Jan Ambjørn, a physicist at the University of Copenhagen's Niels Bohr Institute, [told *LiveScience:*]() "The main finding of our work is that the accelerated expansion of our universe, caused by the mysterious dark energy, might have a simple intuitive explanation, the merging with so-called baby universes, and that a model for this might fit the data better than the Standard Cosmological Model." In other words, our cosmos' expansion might not require dark energy as a constant, as the field's [Standard Cosmological Model]() necessitates. It could just be out here... swallowing stuff. Like a cosmic [Blob Monster]() consuming parallel worlds. ## Noflaton The paper is more or less a mathematical exercise, but pieces of it are compelling nonetheless. For one thing, as *LiveScience* points out, it accounts for the [intense inflation]() that our universe experienced in the first few milliseconds after the Big Bang. The accepted theory is that a hypothetical field, commonly referred to as the "[inflaton]()," was responsible; conversely, this new study suggests that our universe, then a "baby" itself, could have simply been blob-devoured by *another,* older universe. That would explain immediate rapid growth — without the need for the hypothetical inflaton. "The fact that the Universe has expanded … in a very short time, invites the suggestion that this expansion was caused by a collision with a larger universe," the researchers write in the study, "that is, it was really our Universe which was absorbed in another 'parent' universe." Again, though, this is all just math. As the researchers themselves noted in the study, they don't have insight or detailed observations into what the mechanics of the universe-gobbling-universe process might fully entail, so their conjectures are as unproven as the rest. Still, it's a fascinating reminder of how little we know about our cosmos — and how even some of astronomers' leading hypotheses remain just that. **More on worlds definitely colliding:** [*Hubble Snaps Alarming Pic of Two Galaxies Crashing into Each Other*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()