We've just realised our understanding of the universe might be wrong
New research suggests the 'cosmological principle'—the idea that the universe is uniform on a large scale—may be incorrect. Observations of galaxy patterns indicate a 'stringy, bumpy' structure that challenges current scientific models of the cosmos.
Why it matters
If confirmed, this discovery could fundamentally alter our understanding of dark matter and the mathematical laws governing the evolution of the universe.
We’ve thought this one thing about the universe for 100 years (Picture: Getty/Metro)
The universe, that 13.8billion-year-old thing we call home, is a weird place.
But one thing that has made sense to scientists for the better part of a century is the belief that the cosmos is surprisingly uniform.
This is known as the cosmological principle, or the idea that if you took a step back – a very big step back – and took a photo of the universe, it would look smooth and blurry, like you forgot to wear glasses.
A paper published in the journal Nature, however, argues this might not be the case.
Rather, things look different from every direction you look at from a large scale, and the galaxies line up almost into patterns.
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