No privilege for earthly observers

No privilege for earthly observers
http://physics.aps.org/synopsis-for/...ett.107.041301

According to most cosmologists, there is nothing special about us as
observers of the universe. Still, some theories shirk this so-called
Copernican principle, suggesting that the universe is not homogenous.
Rather, these theories explain the observed accelerated expansion of the
universe without invoking dark energy, and instead assume we are near
the center of a void, beyond which denser matter pulls outwards.
In a paper appearing in Physical Review Letters, Pengjie Zhang at the
Shanghai Astronomical Observatory and Albert Stebbins at Fermilab show
that a popular void model, and many others aiming to replace dark
energy, don’t stand up against telescope observation.

See: http://physics.aps.org/synopsis-for/...ett.107.041301