ESO/VVV Research/D. Minniti. Approved.
Since the universe began 13.8 billion years ago, a variety of characters have appeared on the stage: stars, planets, moons, quasars, and more. But for those who can't get comfortable in the theater, we have some bad news: this cosmic stage will continue for at least another 100 billion years. This begs the question: are we living in a special moment, an interlude cliffhanger? Or is this just an inconsequential moment in the middle of the story?
One hint that this is a special moment lies in the set of observed properties of the universe known as fundamental constants. These include the strength of gravity and the fine-structure constant, called alpha, which determines how matter and light interact and, ultimately, how stars burn up. If these values were just slightly different from today, it might not be possible for life to exist.
Why is everything perfect? One possible answer is that these constants aren't that constant. Perhaps they've been gradually changing over the lifetime of the universe, and we just happen to be living in a lucky time. John Webb Webb of Cambridge University has been working on this idea for decades, in his case as it relates to alpha. Based on precision measurements of the universe, Webb argues that alpha has indeed changed in the past, but that it is now I think those claims were wrong…
Source: www.newscientist.com
