I thought I had posted this before, but I can't find it at the moment.

Lawrence Krauss explains "A Universe from Nothing"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo

He has now written a book on it which I won't get around to reading for a while (unless I bump a few things down my list).
http://www.amazon.com/Universe-Nothing-There-Something-Rather/dp/145162445X

Krauss argues that what we normally think of as "nothing" isn't really "nothing." That is, even a "vacuum" contains energy.

Like all experiments, we shouldn't just accept the results until they've been repeated and the scientific community has had a chance to put the results and methodology through the wringer, but here's one seems to support Krauss:
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-11-scientists-vacuum.html