For those curious, the donut shaped universe shown isn't what the theoretical universe model actually looks like,

What it represents is an "asteroids like" geometry of a two dimensional universe where exiting one "side" brings you to a corresponding point on the other.

The proposed donut geometry of the universe is what's called a 3-roid or 3-tauroid, which is basically the same idea as the asteroids like 2D universe but for a prism instead of a rectangle. Meaning that our ability to return to the starting point is based on the fact that we are moving along a 3-D "surface" of a 4th dimensional object, the way the Asteroids ship loops back to the start by moving across the 2-dimensional surface of a 3-D geometry.

Part of me wonders if this means that the actual boundaries of the universe are at 0+ and 0- along the W/A axis in 4-D space, and if that means that every character who has some power related to moving in 4-D space would actually just fall out of space and time if they ever tried using their abilities for real.

Scientists still currently unsure on if the universe has sprinkles or not.

Source article can be viewed here at ScienceNews.org

I always wondered if Steven Hawking was ever actually a guest on The Simpsons or any other cartoon he appears in. Surely he had the easiest voice to fake back before modern robo voices and AI.

mmmm universe

Son of a bitch...

Since it’s useless to post links like this without an AI summary:

Physicists report the possibility of the universe having a complex, doughnut-like geometry, challenging the belief in its trivial topology.

Topology

The universe may have nontrivial topology, similar to a doughnut, allowing for travel across the cosmos and ending up back where you started.

Research

Scientists have searched for signs of complex topology in the cosmic microwave background, but have not found evidence yet.

New Study

A new study evaluated 17 possible nontrivial topologies for the cosmos, finding that most of these topologies have not been ruled out.

Future Analysis

Future analyses of the cosmic microwave background could reveal hints of complex topologies, and machine learning techniques may be required for computational challenges.

Motivation

There is motivation to look for nontrivial topology as some features of the cosmic microwave background hint at asymmetry, which could be explained by nontrivial topology.

Further Research

Scientists plan to hunt for signs of nontrivial topology in upcoming data from surveys of the distribution of galaxies in the cosmos.

aka torus

When they say the universe "may have" a complex geometry, is this speculation about what's possible or based on some evidence that suggests this is the case instead of the simpler "it's just 3d space plus time with all extending outwards in each direction that we are already aware of"?

Don't get me wrong, I love me some speculation about what other realities would fit in with what we've observed, but actual evidence would be more cool, especially given that I don't even know what such evidence would even look like, other than being able to see ourselves in some far off direction (though even then, I'd wonder how we could be sure it's actually us and not some others that just look just like us and happen to do the same things at the same time).