Throughout the universe, space-time is fizzing. Bubbles pop in and out of existence across the cosmos. Mostly, the froth is harmless. Yet at any moment, it could unleash a catastrophic reaction that rips through the fabric of space, destroying the universe and everything in it. Clearly, a killer bubble hasn't formed so far in the 13 billion years since the universe began. Yet Louis Clavelli believes that space-time bubbles are ripping stars apart on a daily basis. If he is right, the universe is a more dangerous place than you might think. It's a controversial idea. Most astronomers deny that anything as exotic is responsible for ripping stars apart. But Clavelli, who works as a physicist at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, insists that his findings come from reputable physics. The idea of a frothy universe springs from the view that space can exist in a number of different phases, similar to the way water can be a solid, liquid or gas depending on the amount of energy it contains. This view was bolstered in 1998 when astronomers studying distant supernovae discovered that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, and not slowing down as everyone had thought.
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