The Oscillating Universe

An alternative theory to inflation

Three-dimensional branes, each housing its own universe, can exist inside an area known as “the bulk”. Two such branes are seen here. Image by Deep Sky.

It was the hottest time of day when the shark washed up on the crowded beach. Directly overhead was the blistering yellow face of the sun, its gleaming rays falling into the pits of footprints in the sand or into plastic buckets painted with sunscreen and melted ice cream. I caught glimpses of the shark — the white clay color of his belly, slackened jaws and then flashes of blood and teeth — during brief openings in the pillars of people gathering ‘round. He must have only been recently killed because he was perfectly preserved and still bearing that signature of life, still appearing as if he might move his eyes at any moment to look out at the busy Florida shore. But instead his eyes remained fixed on me. Or so I felt. A sundry melted grey watching me even as I kneeled beneath the broad brim of a far away umbrella.

I am separated by that shark now in many ways. His body is in another state, buried or decomposed or consumed by other wildlife. There is the natural separation that occurs across species where he cannot understand my fears and desires just as I will never understand his. And now, since this is a memory from years ago, we are separated by time. The event and everything within it still exists but is no longer accessible to me because it exists in the past. Relativity shows us that, similarly, the events of…