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AS INFLATION theory leaps from success to success, there remains a radical alternative that no one can rule out. According to Paul Steinhardt of Princeton University in New Jersey, space and time did not erupt out of nothingness 13.7 billion years ago and inflate wildly to produce our Universe. Inspired by the extra dimensions of string theory, Steinhardt and his colleague Neil Turok argue that the Universe was instead created by the collision of two “branes” – three-dimensional worlds that oscillate back and forth along one of these extra dimensions. They say today’s Universe is simply part of an endless…