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Physicists struggling to reconcile gravity with quantum mechanics have hailed a theory - inspired by pencil lead - that could make it all very simple

"LONDON, Sep. 2, 2010 (Reuters) - God did not create the universe and the "Big Bang" was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics, the eminent British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book."

Ptolemy's view that the stars are fixed points in the sky and our earth lay at the center of the known universe seemed to verify Aristotle's notion of the universe. We sure thought a lot of ourselves, but it stood to reason at the time.  We couldn't really see too far out from our home.  But the view was so appealing that even the gathering anomalies would not dissuade believers for nearly 1500 years.  On one level, it's comical to consider that humans thought of things in this way, but it is clearly scientifically stout compared to the Genesis account of the firmament.

Physicist Brian Greene was propelled into the spotlight thanks to The Elegant Universe, his bestseller on string theory. Now he's turned his attention to parallel worlds. He tells Amanda Gefter about his favourite multiverse, why we might be living in a computer simulation and the questions that keep him awake at night