Cosmology is at a tipping point—we may be on the verge of discovering new physics

A series of controversies have rocked the well-established field of cosmology.

The predictions of the standard model of the universe appear to be at odds with some recent observations.

There are heated debates about whether these observations are biased, or whether the model may need a rethink.

Some even claim that cosmology is in crisis.

But excitingly, we are on the brink of finding that out.

The standard cosmological model has a smoothness problem, by predicting that matter in the universe should be more clustered together than we actually observe.

Early galaxies appear to be much more massive than expected that expected.

JWST has highlighted other challenges to the standard model.

But if the balance tips the other way, we will be ushered into uncharted territory, where new physics will have to be discovered. This could lead to a major paradigm shift in cosmology, akin to the discovery of the accelerated expansion of the universe in the late 1990s . But on this path we may have to reckon, once and for all, with the nature of dark energy and dark matter, two of the big unsolved mysteries of the universe. Provided by The Conversation.