In my new novel, The Signature, scientists discover a message encoded in the universe’s fundamental constants. A signal from the stars that contains the blueprint for life itself. It’s a thrilling ‘what if’ scenario that drives the plot. But how much of this is fiction?

The truth is, you don’t need to look for a radio signal to find evidence of design. The evidence is already here, written into the fabric of the cosmos.

In the novel, Dr. Sarah Mitchell and her team are stunned to find that the universe’s physical constants—like the strength of gravity or the mass of an electron—are so exquisitely precise that if even a hair’s breadth altered them, life as we know it could not exist. This concept, known in cosmology as the Fine-Tuning of the universe, is a scientific fact.

For example, if the expansion rate of the early universe had been different by just one part in 10^120, it would have either collapsed back on itself or expanded too rapidly for stars and galaxies to form. No stars, no planets, no life. That’s a level of precision far greater than hitting a one-inch target from the other side of the observable universe.

This isn’t a fringe theory; it’s a central mystery in modern physics. Scientists like Paul Davies and Luke Barnes have written extensively on how the universe appears to be ‘just right’ for life. While the cosmic signal in The Signature is a fictional device, the underlying scientific mystery that captivates Dr. Mitchell is very real.

I wrote the novel to explore a simple question: what would happen if we found definitive, undeniable proof that this fine-tuning was intentional? How would humanity react to the knowledge that we are not cosmic accidents, but intended participants in a grand design?