  We discuss the effect of the time evolution of extra dimensions on CMB
anisotropies and large-scale structure formation. We study the impact of scalar
fields in a low-energy effective description of a general class of brane world
models on the temperature anisotropy power spectrum. We show that when the
coupling between these scalar fields and matter evolves over cosmological
timescales, current observations of the CMB anisotropies can constrain
primordial values of the fields in a manner complementary to local, late-time
tests of gravity. We also present the effect of these fields on the
polarization anisotropy spectra and the growth of large-scale structure,
showing that future CMB observations will constrain theories of the Universe
involving extra dimensions even further.
