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Cosmology
With so many early galaxies of unexpectedly large brightnesses, JWST surprised us all. Here's how scientists made sense of what we see.
The question of why the Universe is the way it is is an ancient one, and none of the answers we have come up with are satisfying.
With such a vast Universe and raw ingredients that seem to be everywhere, could it really be possible that humanity is truly alone?
The laws of physics don't prefer matter over antimatter. So how can we be certain that distant stars & galaxies aren't made of antimatter?
The hot Big Bang was an energetic, brilliantly luminous event. Today's Universe is alight with stars. But in between, the dark ages ruled.
Named "Supernova H0pe," it shows how JWST plus gravitational lensing can be used to solve the greatest puzzle facing astronomy today.
How does star-formation, occurring in small regions within galaxies, affect the entire host galaxy that contains it? JWST holds the answers.
Cosmology is unlike other sciences. When our view of the Universe changes, so does our understanding of philosophy and science itself.
Neutrons can be stable when bound into an atomic nucleus, but free neutrons decay away in mere minutes. So how are neutron stars stable?
Dark matter hasn't been directly detected, but some form of invisible matter is clearly gravitating. Could the graviton hold the answer?
A spherical structure nearly one billion light-years wide has been spotted in the nearby Universe, dating all the way back to the Big Bang.
6mins
A physicist discusses the boundaries of reality and experimentation.
Three fundamental forces matter inside an atom, but gravity is mind-bogglingly weak on those scales. Could extra dimensions explain why?
Newton thought that gravitation would happen instantly, propagating at infinite speeds. Einstein showed otherwise; gravity isn't instant.
Looking at our planet with post-Copernican eyes has the power to change how we relate to it and each other.
There are a few clues that the Universe isn't completely adding up. Even so, the standard model of cosmology holds up stronger than ever.
12mins
Quantum wormholes are mathematically possible — but might also be physically impossible. Physicist Janna Levin explains Hawking’s famous information paradox.
The biggest, brightest galaxies are the easiest to spot, but the tiniest ones teach us about how the Milky Way assembled and grew up!
A clock, designed and built in Europe, ran hopelessly at the wrong rate when brought to America. The physics of gravity explains why.
When the average person has a "theory," they're just guessing. But for a scientist, a theory is the pinnacle of what we can achieve.
5mins
Gravity defies quantum mechanics. What does that mean for a theory of everything?
The "Ring Nebula," known for almost 250 years, is so much more than a Ring. With JWST's capabilities, we're seeing more than ever before.
The Universe isn't just expanding, the expansion is also accelerating. If that's true, how will the Milky Way and Andromeda eventually merge?
Despite the vast number of planets in the Universe, Earth's specific evolutionary history guarantees that its life forms — including humans — are utterly unique.
The first observational evidence showing the Universe is expanding is 100 years old now: in 2023. Here's the story of its 100th anniversary.
9mins
Ever wonder what would happen if we got sucked into a black hole? Turns out we could live in it for a while — if it was big enough.
How fast is the Universe expanding? Two major methods disagree. New JWST data, just released, strengthens this Hubble tension even further.
Two fundamentally different ways of measuring the expanding Universe disagree. What's the root cause of this Hubble tension?
The visible Universe extends 46.1 billion light-years from us, while we've probed scales down to as small as ~10^-19 meters.
From when its light was emitted, the El Gordo galaxy cluster might be the most massive object in all of existence. Here's how JWST sees it.