These 8 mind-bending moments in science made us question reality in 2023

Multiverse, concept (Getty Images/VICTOR HABBICK VISIONS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY)

We’re often told that, by all accounts, the universe has been in a state of constant expansion since the Big Bang. Astronomers and cosmologists argue that we’re also headed for a Big Crunch, or major contraction. But some scientists outside of the mainstream think the universe has actually been oscillating since the Big Bang — expanding and contracting repeatedly. 

“Not unlike the 1993 romantic comedy ‘Groundhog Day,’ starring Bill Murray as a weatherman stuck in a time loop, reliving the same day over and over, our universe could be repeatedly cycling through different iterations. Crunch, bang, crunch, bang,” writes Salon science and health editor Troy Farah.

Farah explores one cyclical theory about the universe that’s been given a new life by a handful of astronomers as research into the possibility of dark matter challenges traditional models of our known reality.