Accepted cosmological theory postulates that every observable galaxy in the universe (each made up of billions of stars similar to our sun) is embedded in a massive “halo” of dark matter. Though unseen, dark matter can be clearly detected indirectly by observing its tremendous gravitational effects on visible objects.
This common understanding faced a severe challenge [...]

“This galaxy, named HUDF-JD2, appears to have bulked up quickly, within the first few hundred million years after the big bang. It made about eight times more mass in stars than are found in our own Milky Way, and then, just as suddenly, it stopped forming new stars,” said Bahram Mobasher of the Space Telescope [...]

Throughout the centuries reductionist philosophy has reigned supreme in physics. It has been assumed that it is possible in principle to describe the world by finding the tiniest building blocks and understanding how they interact. Not until the early 20th century was this view of the world seriously challenged, by quantum theory. Quantum theory is [...]

Nice article on space exploration and the space elevator by Arthur C. Clarke over at the Times: 1st floor: haberdashery, curtains. 35,780th floor: satellite in space