The Skeptics Society & Skeptic magazine

Scientists are edging closer to providing logical and even potentially empirically testable hypotheses to account for the universe. In this week’s eSkeptic, Michael Shermer discusses 12 possible answers to the question of why there is something rather than nothing.

WHEN AND HOW DID THE UNIVERSE BEGIN? Why are we here? Why is there something rather than nothing? What is the nature of reality? Why are the laws of nature so finely tuned as to allow for the existence of beings like ourselves? And, finally, is the apparent “grand design” of our universe evidence of a benevolent creator who set things in motion — or does science offer another explanation? Don’t miss this lecture by Leonard Mlodinow.

In Parallel Worlds, world-renowned physicist and bestselling author Michio Kaku takes readers on a fascinating tour of cosmology, M-theory, and its implications for the fate of the universe. Kaku begins by describing the extraordinary advances that have transformed cosmology over the last decade, forcing scientists around the world to rethink our understanding of the birth and fate of the universe…