“inflating” solitonic 2-brane whose worldvolume is given by a codimension-two de Sitter space (the surface of the bubble). We have obtained numerical examples of these bubbles which asymptotically match the pure compactification geometry. We have presented our construction using the simplest field theory that possesses the minimal ingredients for the scenario to work, but we believe this kind of instability should be a generic feature of other non-supersymmetric flux compactifications. In particular, it will be straightforward to implement these ideas in a model based on a 6 d Einstein – Maxwell theory, where one finds a sizable landscape [5, 12] of dS$_{4}$ , M$_{4}$ and AdS$_{4}$ vacua. As explained in [12], this theory possesses 2-brane solutions that could be used to construct instantons which interpolate between vacua of differing flux numbers. One can then extend this model to an Einstein – Yang – Mills – Higgs theory [3]. The new degrees of freedom incorporated in this model allow for smooth codimension-three solitonic 2-branes. One should then be able to find a magnetically charged de Sitter 2-brane with the correct asymptotics, similar to those in [22]. This type of bubble represents a significant departure from existing constructions, since the degenerating sphere is of dimension > 1. One consequence of this topology is that spin structure will not play a role in excluding the instability. We are currently studying such solutions and will present our results in a separate publication. An alternate perspective of the solutions presented here is as the critical case of a flux- changing instanton whose final vacuum has zero flux. Typical flux-changing transitions do not exhibit large backreaction on the spacetime geometry, provided one considers the nucleation of a single-charge brane, i.e., small relative changes in flux. On the other hand, the bubble of nothing corresponds to the extreme case, where the brane acts as a sink for all the flux found in the asymptotic compactification. It is not surprising that the effect on the geometry is drastic, since a zero-flux vacuum is unstable to collapse. One can see this in our model by examining the effective 4 d theory for the KK radion, which in the absence of flux is parameterized solely by the contribution from the negative bulk cosmological constant. The resulting tachyonic potential is divergent as one approaches zero-size compact dimension (See [12]). This suggests that one should be able to understand the bubble of nothing from a purely 4 d point of view by including the field f as a new scalar degree of freedom in the 4 d effective theory. Such a solution may appear singular from the four-dimensional perspective, but this is just an artifact of the dimensional reduction, much like the case of Witten’s bubble [19]. 13