THERE鈥橲 an oft-repeated story, probably an urban myth, of a cosmologist accosted by an old woman after a lecture. The universe, insisted the woman, is flat and rests on the back of a turtle. The cosmologist asked what the turtle rests on. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 make a fool of me that easily,鈥� said the woman. 鈥淚t鈥檚 turtles all the way down.鈥�
It is easy to mock any cosmological thinking that strays from the mainstream as 鈥渢urtles all the way down鈥�, but that is short-sighted. Our best attempt at describing the history of the universe 鈥� a big bang followed by a super-fast expansion 鈥� has observational support, but it creates many questions, and we can鈥檛 be sure it is the last word.
The idea that the universe was born inside a dying star (see 鈥淒o the cosmic twist鈥�) is far from mainstream, and it remains to be seen how it fits with astronomical observations. Yet it comes from reputable scientists, and offers one difficult-to-swallow idea to replace the clutch of problems thrown up by mainstream cosmology. Accept this idea, and mechanisms behind dark energy, inflation, black hole formation and the big bang are all resolved.
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Where the dying star came from, of course, is a mystery. Presumably it was born inside another star, and so on; infinite regressions are not the exclusive preserve of turtle cosmology. But until we have a firmer grip on cosmology, new ideas should be welcomed. Only by thinking afresh will we make the turtles go away altogether.
