Giant cold spot evidence of parallel universes - or materialist hype?

A recent Softpedia article announces,

In August this year, astronomers studying the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation or CMB, a 'remnant' of the Big Bang, discovered a texture of a giant cold spot in the universe, completely empty of any normal matter or dark matter and even any kind of radiation. In order to explain how such a void might have formed in the middle of our universe, physicists and cosmologists developed a theory in which the giant void might be evidence of another universe developing in the one we are part of.

Hot pa-TOOT!

Well, not really. The LAST graff of the story reads,

The large void is positioned in the northern hemisphere of the sky related to the Earth. Scientists predicted that eventually another large cold spot will be found somewhere in the southern hemisphere. However the claims made by the Mersini-Houghton team are mostly speculative, but nevertheless interesting, until further experiments are made to validate or reject their theory.

Speculative but interesting? Hmmm. That is the way I would describe claims I have heard for ghosts, fairies, and leprechauns. All by people who swear on their grandmothers’ graves, too.

Hey, I never say that the alternative universes are not happening - but I WILL say this: The entire story is in perfect conformity to the unwritten rule of the pop science media: Any speculation, no matter how hasty or ridiculous, can be advanced if it promotes a materialist view (a zillion universes happen randomly).

But information that promotes a non-materialist view - like the definite evidence for the fine tuning of the universe - is treated with deep suspicion - no matter how well grounded.

Note that, inverting the usual news writing formula - where you put the most important stuff first, the fact that the ideas are “mostly speculative” - is saved for the very last sentence.

Well, if they can’t make it, they fake it, I guess.