New X-Ray Map of Cosmic Megastructures Unravels Subatomic Mysteries
A new catalog of more than 12,000 galaxy clusters is helping scientists better understand the universe’s clumpiness, dark energy and some of the smallest particles in the cosmos: neutrinos
Dwarf Galaxies Set the Universe Alight after the Big Bang
Some of the faintest objects ever observed suggest that small galaxies were responsible for clearing the “fog” pervading the early cosmos
Read all the stories you want.
How Analyzing Cosmic Nothing Might Explain Everything
Huge empty areas of the universe called voids could help solve the greatest mysteries in the cosmos
Vitamin D Hope and Hype, Cosmic Voids and Preventing Depression
Alaska’s rusting rivers, einstein tiles and the new science of asexuality
The Most Shocking Discovery in Astrophysics Is 25 Years Old
A quarter of a century after detecting dark energy, scientists are still trying to figure out what it is
A Possible Crisis in the Cosmos Could Lead to a New Understanding of the Universe
Several unexplained measurements are threatening to upend scientists’ understanding of the universe’s origin and fate
Why Is the Sky Dark Even Though the Universe Is Full of Stars?
The darkness of the night sky offers a profound insight on the nature of the cosmos
Many-Mirrored Galaxies Deepen Dark Matter Mystery
A surprisingly complex galaxy cluster suggests that in the search for dark matter, nothing is as simple as it seems
Ho’oleilana, a Billion-Light-Year-Wide Bubble of Galaxies, Astounds Astronomers
This enormous structure could help explain processes close to the dawn of time—or it could be a random cosmic fluke
Bizarre Quantum Theory Explains Why Your Coffee Takes So Long to Drip through a Narrow Filter
Physicist John Cardy and his colleague just won the 2024 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. We spoke with Cardy about conformal field theory, 2D black holes and coffee filters
Will the Universe Ever Stop Expanding?
Scientists debate what the future of the cosmos looks like and whether space will ever stop getting bigger and bigger
Time Flowed Five Times Slower Shortly after the Big Bang
Voracious black holes feeding on matter in the early universe display the curious spacetime phenomenon known as time dilation