![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/outer-space-viscous-fluid-paper.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\tIllustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins \/ Futurism. Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
There\u2019s endless debate among cosmologists about what really makes up the emptiness of outer space<\/a>, though many believe that mysterious stuff that we now call dark matter and dark energy<\/a> represent a significant portion.<\/p>\n In a new yet-to-be-peer-reviewed paper<\/a> flagged by Live Science<\/a>, a researcher at the Indian Institute of Technology in Jodhpur named Muhammad Ghulam Khuwajah Khan proposes an intriguing theory: that space is something akin to a viscous fluid, like a slow-moving honey. If borne out \u2014 a significant \u201cif,\u201d to be clear \u2014 the model could go a long way to explaining certain discrepancies that have rankled scientists about the universe.<\/p>\n Currently, astronomers generally embrace the Lambda Cold Dark Matter Model<\/a> \u2014 often shortened to the \u039bCDM model \u2014 to explain mathematically how the Big Bang Theory<\/a> occurred, how dark matter<\/a> keeps galaxies together, and how dark energy<\/a> is driving the expansion of the universe. The energy density of space is known as the cosmological constant, written as the Greek letter Lambda or \u039b, and is considered an unchanging quality.<\/p>\n But recent data captured by the The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey in Arizona<\/a> and the Dark Energy Survey in Chile<\/a> suggests that scientists may need to update the \u039bCDM model of the universe; astronomers picked up discrepancies<\/a> between telescopic observations and the \u039bCDM model that seems to point towards the idea that dark energy, long thought to be an immutable throughout space time, has instead weakened<\/a> as the universe has accelerated and grown older.<\/p>\n Khan\u2019s theory, an attempt to reconcile this mismatch, posits that we should instead mathematically treat outer space as a viscous, stretchy fluid that can contain a quality he calls \u201cspatial phonons,\u201d or vibrations emitted by atoms<\/a> \u2014 which create waves of tension in space.<\/p>\n The theory is that dark energy pushes space to expand, but these phonons subtly push back, meaning the universe\u2019s expasion isn\u2019t uniform; layering this idea over the dark energy observations picked by DESI resolves the discrepancy noticed by astronomers that deviates from the \u039bCDM model.<\/p>\n It\u2019s an intriguing idea that keeps the idea of dark energy as a cosmological constant that pushes the expansion of the universe, while introducing a theoretical wrinkle that can explain weird observations that seem to violate it.<\/p>\n But more data from these dark energy surveys will be needed to see if this theory can hold up or confine this wacky idea to the dustbins of history. We\u2019ll be watching.<\/p>\n