This is fun, and part of why we philosophers are fond of physicists sometimes.

For Astronomers, Big Bang Confirmation
By DENNIS OVERBYE

The most detailed and precise map yet produced of the universe just after its birth confirms the Big Bang theory in triumphant detail and opens new chapters in the early history of the cosmos, astronomers said yesterday….

In a nutshell, the universe is 13.7 billion years old, plus or minus one percent; a recent previous estimate had a margin of error three times as much. By weight it is 4 percent atoms, 23 percent dark matter — presumably undiscovered elementary particles left over from the Big Bang — and 73 percent dark energy. And it is geometrically "flat," meaning that parallel lines will not meet over cosmic scales….

"The data are good enough to rule out whole classes of inflationary theories," Dr. Spergel said. That is a boon, he said, for particle physicists, who want to know what laws governed the universe at the beginning of time.

"It really is a big hint for them," he said.

Dr. Andrei Linde, a cosmologist at Stanford and one of the fathers of inflation theory, and the inventor of the model that was ruled out, said that it was "great" that theories were getting culled.

He said that it was "painful" for him that one of his theories got killed, but that it was good news that several of his other versions were doing well.

I guess the quote from Linde about it being “great” that one of his theories was refuted is slightly playing to the media. But it is nice to see the importance of testability acknowledged in such a way. On the other hand, it’s 96% ‘dark’ stuff. And we thought philosophy still had some questions to answer.