"If it's not gaussian then we have to re-think inflation or maybe inflation is more complicated than the simplest models suggest, " said Prof Marc Kamionkowski from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.
Although people in every population come in all shapes and sizes, body types and physiological characteristics follow a Gaussian distribution curve as a result of evolutionary adaptations by our ancestors to extremely varied environmental challenges.
The first filter that is applied to the height map is a simple Gaussian blur, which the GPU handles with ease, but which -- if left to its own devices -- would simply smooth out all the dramatic extremes in the height map and leave us with a bunch of bland rolling hills.