Boffins have blown a hole in an 100-year-old theory on how the universe behaves as the bombshell research could reconstruct our understanding of the universe. During their research space experts have developed new diagnostic tests for cosmology, challenging a pre-existing model . The theory – that the universe behaves uniformly on the largest scales – has long been held for years. However now astronomers have found new signs the theory might not be true, potentially pointing to new physics outside of the standard cosmological model. The Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker theory (FLRW) is a nearly 100-year-old mathematical framework in general relativity which describes a homogeneous, isotropic, and expanding or contracting universe. While observing distant exploding stars and large-scale galaxies physicists started seeing deviations from the traditional model in a new study. Speaking to Live Science study co-author Asta Heinesen, a physicist at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen and Queen Mary University, London, pulled the lid back on the research. The boffin said: "We saw a surprising violation of an FLRW curvature consistency test, hinting at new physics beyond the standard model," referring to the assumption that the space’s curvature is the same everywhere. The space wizz added: "This could potentially be due to various effects, but more research is needed to address the cause of the FLRW violation that we see empirically." The shocking findings were presented in a series of three papers which floated new diagnostic tests for cosmology. The study co-author added: "FLRW cosmology assumes a space-time that has spaces that are maximally-symmetric." The egghead added: "It is necessary to go beyond FLRW space-times when cosmological structures are present such as galaxy clusters and voids of empty space." The boffins found two possible effects which could be distorting the apparent geometry of the universe. The first is the Dyer-Roeder effect, which occurs because light from distant objects often travels mainly through empty regions of space instead of matter-rich environments. Heinesen said if this theory was true it would have radical implications for the universe. The physicist said: "which would make the universe appear emptier to us than it actually is.” The second explanation for distortion could be due to an effect called cosmological backreaction. This would mean the increase of large-scale cosmic structures affecting the average expansion and size of space itself. Commenting on these two potential explanations Heinesen said: "The main finding is that you can directly measure Dyer-Roeder and backreaction effects from available cosmological data, and clearly distinguish these effects from other alterations of the standard cosmological model, such as evolving dark energy and modified gravity theories.” "This was previously not possible in such a direct way, and this is what I think is the breakthrough in our work." For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking here .