Thanks for the ping, dear MHGinTN!
Another recent article was considering higher dimensional geometry in lieu of the big bang/inflationary model. And this particular article is running directly towards Max Tegmark's Level IV parallel universe model, roughly that what we experience in 4D is a manifestation of mathematical structures which actually do exist outside of space and time.
P.S. Wesson is a pioneer physicist in higher dimensional dynamics. His theories suggest a higher time-like dimension, that what we observe as reality in 4D could be as little as a single particle in a higher dimension, multiply imaged 1080 times.
And, of course, he also proposed that physical death in that geometry could simply be a phase shift.