Interview with the author

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

How much do we know about the Universe?

In theory, we know what the Universe is made of, that all matter-energy content is ‘normal’ matter, dark matter or dark energy. But ‘normal’ is only about four per cent of the total matter-energy content, and that includes us. Humans are not just abnormal because there is only one Earth, it’s because most of what we see is a tiny percentage of the Universe’s matter-energy content. The rest is dark matter and dark energy.

What do we know about the Big Bang?

People think of the Big Bang as like an explosion, but if it really was a thing, it’s a moment in time that happens everywhere. When the Universe was less than a second old, space-time expanded exponentially. Perhaps lots of bubbles of spacetime popped off at the same time, so we’re in one bubble and there are others that have been forming eternally into the past and the future. Maybe there wasn’t a beginning, but there are many starts to different parts: something that’s always been happening and always will be.

Are the Universe’s laws universal?

Data is fairly consistent that laws don’t change, but our understanding may be limited. Maybe we don’t have gravity worked out, but everything is self-consistent. We have a tapestry of equations that work, whether we’re looking through a scope or an electron microscope. The one thing all human societies have had in common is that they’ve looked at the sky and told stories about it; it’s part of who we are.

Dr Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

is a theoretical physicist and an assistant professor at the University of New Hampshire