Scientist Meet To Ask 'What If We Are Wrong About The Universe?'

If you zoomed out on the universe, well beyond the level of planets, stars or galaxies, you would eventually see a vast, evenly speckled expanse with no notable features. At least, that has been the conventional view.

- Hannah Devlin

The principle that everything looks the same everywhere is a fundamental pillar of the standard model of cosmology, which aims to explain the big bang and how the universe has evolved in the 13.7bn years since. But this week leading cosmologists will convene at London's Royal Society to ask: what if this assumption is wrong?

The meeting comes after a number of astronomical observations have challenged the view, according to Prof Subir Sarkar, a cosmologist at the University of Oxford and coorganiser of the meeting. "We are, in cosmology, using a model first formulated in 1922," he said. "We have great data, but the theoretical basis is past its sell-by date. More and more people are saying the same thing and these are respected astronomers."

The conference brings together some scientists behind these findings. These include observations that suggest the universe is expanding more quickly in some regions than others, and hints at megastructures in the night sky.