For the time being, this is a highly speculative area of modern cosmology that uses the tools being developed in the search for a quantum theory of gravity, to address some outstanding, and fundamental, problems in cosmology such as what were the conditions like AT the Big Bang, and not just 10^-35 seconds afterwards. It also tries to explore new ways of thinking about how the universe got 'jump started' in the first place. Most of the discussions are the stuff of science fiction; or at least sound that way, but the practitioners feel that they are all 'on to something'. It's just that no one really has a clue how any of their predictions can ever be properly tested.