How Many Universes Are There?

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The universe is big, but it’s peanuts compared to the eternally inflating multiverse. But just how many universes are there? What are they like? And most importantly, what can they tell us about … aliens?

Challenge Answer Winners

Steven Mertens
David DeLaney
Chris Lotery
Eneko
Fabien Sangouard
Ian Bonnell

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Hosted by Matt O'Dowd
Written by Matt O'Dowd
Graphics by Leonardo Scholzer
Directed by: Andrew Kornhaber
Executive Producers: Eric Brown & Andrew Kornhaber

End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg:    / @julesschattenberg  

Imagine it: the observable part of our universe is 93 billion light years across, and that’s just a small fraction of the stuff created in our Big Bang. But in the eternal inflation picture, ours is just one among uncountable bubble universes. Bubbles that are continuously appearing and growing within a vastly larger spacetime that itself expands at an exponentially accelerating rate. A greater inflationary spacetime whose expansion never ends. We looked at the bizarre idea of eternal inflation in recent episodes – but we stopped short of exploring the full implications of this proposition. Those implications are, frankly, completely nuts. Some may also be true.

Big Bang Supporters:
Alexander Tamas
Anton Lifshits
David Barnholdt
David Boyer
David Nicklas
Fabrice Eap
Juan Benet
Justin Lloyd
Matt Miller
Morgan Hough

Quasar Supporters:
Mark Heising
Mark Rosenthal
Vinnie Falco

Hypernova Supporters:
Chuck Zegar
Danton Spivey
Donal Botkin
Edmund Fokschaner
Hank S
Joe Pearce
John Hofmann
John R. Slavik
Jordan Young
Joseph Salomone
Matthew
Matthew O'Connor
Syed Ansar

Gamma Ray Burst Supporters:
A.G.
Adrian Molyneux
Alec Zero
Andreas Nautsch
Bradley Jenkins
Brandon Labonte
Brian
Dan Warren
Daniel Lyons
David Behtala
DFaulk
Dustan Jones
Geoffrey Short
Greg Smith
James Flowers
James Quintero
John Funai
John Michael Kerr
John Pollock
John Robinson
Jonathan Nesfeder
Joseph Dillman
Josh Thomas
Kevin Lee
Kevin Warne
Kyle Hofer
Malte Ubl
Mark Vasile
Nick Virtue
Nick Wright
Paul Rose
Scott Gossett
Sean Warniaha
Steve Bradshaw
Tim Stephani
Tonyface
Yurii Konovaliuk