Paul Sutter writes:

Astronomers around the world are in a bit of a tizzy because they can’t seem to agree about how fast the universe is expanding.

Ever since our universe emerged from an explosion of a tiny speck of infinite density and gravity, it has been ballooning, and not at a steady rate, either — the expansion of the universe keeps getting faster.

But how quickly it’s expanding has been up for a dizzying debate. Measurements of this expansion rate from nearby sources seem to be in conflict with the same measurement taken from distant sources. One possible explanation is that, basically, something funky is going on in the universe, changing the expansion rate.

And one theorist has proposed that a brand-new particle has emerged and is altering the future destiny of our entire cosmos. [Continue reading…]